I have plenty of time to my next A races (cross triathlon). Is it better to have more time for strength training or should I start later?
My plan is
32 weeks strength and base for 70.3
6 weeks hill climbing or cross country intervals
6 weeks cross country intervals
2 weeks taper
I have also planed some spare weeks for b-races, festives, illness and others.
As I found last year’s 10 weeks strength quit short, I prefer to stretch the strength now to 15 to 18 weeks. Good or bad idea? And if so, which phase should I extend?
Just 10 weeks of strength training is more than enough.
Looking at the season as a whole you will have 2 - 3 week off season where you need to have time off the bike, maybe a week or two of doing cross training, some other form of aerobic work. Then you should have the 10 week resistance training phase, leading into a big base period, intensity, race specific, goal event, mid season break, second build, second peak, fall foundation and finally back to offseason break.
So there is a lot to get into. With the plans you laid out that is a good start. Have to leave weeks for rest weeks as some of those plans go straight from one to the other without a regeneration week as they are separate plans.
Hi @stefankumli - I think when making that decision you want to look at your previous data and see where your limiters were: raw power output? Like race winning power OR endurance (how high of a CTL did you achieve) or a combination of both?
I supposed what I’m suggesting is review your season, identify what went well, what did not and make those adjustments for 2020. I would go with your instincts that more weight training is more beneficial - I’d increase the “power” phase by a week or two. Keep the Strength phase at 2 weeks and maybe the Hypertrophy by a week but no more than 3 weeks.
It was the first time I was lifting weights last fall and I think it helped with a less consistent training later in base and build phase to reach my goals anyway. It was definitely not ftfp.
My first adjustment was to trade out the advanced to the basic plans for a better ftfp and consistent training.
My second adjustment is trying to get more beneficial and work on some disbalances during strength phase.
I think endurance is not the key limiter it’s more the power output beside bad mtb skills.
Two leg exercises. Cycling you are using both at the same time. You can do single leg drills or lifts but what you do with one leg you need to do with the other.
