Performance Plateau

Performance
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1

Hi all, I’m hoping to get some general guidance/ideas to help with a hit of a performance plateau I’ve arrived at.

I’m a really keen local rider and racer, and have been racing on the (strong) local scene for years.

I feel like I’ve got a bit stuck where I am in my performance, and am just unsure on where to go next.

Interested to get people’s thoughts and advice on things like training, bike fitting, off-bike training, etc with local racing in mind.

(Sorry, I know this is a super broad question!)

2

Reckon it would help if you describe your circumstances and history, define the plateau you mention, share patterns you’ve observed, and where you want to get to. Then, like you say, ask a question.

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3

I’d like more info to give an actual response … but I’d guess the best answer is to ride more

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4

I’d suggest finding an actual coach. Sometimes less is more, sometimes as mentioned it’s more specific hours on the bike. Many people overtrain or train poorly.

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5

Unfortunately, without giving more information, nobody will really be able to give you advice. We need to know what you’re currently doing before we can discuss optimizing.

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6

Thanks all. I do think I probably do just need to be riding more, and that riding be more structured.

Currently doing about 5-6 hours a week (not including any races). Its going fairly hard, but not really proper structured intervals.

Races are usually around 1 hour / 40km, and will probably do between 15-20 races a year.

7

Okay, if you’re riding 5-6 hours per week without any real structure there is some really low hanging fruit for you to improve on. If you’ve never done any structured training before and don’t want to get a coach, start with trainer road or any of these other basic planning apps and start doing real intervals with real structured rest days. Maybe 2-3 hard workouts per week and the rest EASY endurance pace.

Increasing volume will help immensely provided its not too hard and you can recover from it.

Also nutrition, 60-80g per hour of sugar per hour during workouts and long rides. This is pretty much the bare minimum.

check out empirical cycling podcast if you’re looking to learn more about physiology and training philosophy.

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8

The Fast Talk podcast is another good one. Fast Talk Podcast with Trevor Connor and Chris Case

From the information given, I’d think it would be worth trying a more polarized approach with structured high intensity and low-intensity volume.

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9

Maybe just consciously try something different.

Over the last year I’ve subscribed to Xert, and get a lot of value out of the “magic buckets” for doing intervals on outdoor rides. There is also a focus on “breakthroughs” which encourages you to do some max efforts every so often.

Probably the main benefit is it splits my outdoor rides into very hard, where I’m really pushing myself, and easy, where I keep pressure on the pedals but keep it mid to high Z2. I just use adaptive training so don’t have a fixed plan.

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10

Thanks for the advice all! And quite reassuring that there may be real improvements to be found.

I’ll have a look into a proper training plan and getting a bit more time on the bike.

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Don’t overlook off-the-bike work, especially in the off-season. You can make significant gains in strength and stability .

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