Warm up today is part of the intervals. Most of the ride is at about 70% of 60 min max power or Threshold. Try to be at the level that allows for burning equal amounts of fat and carbohydrate. This usually happens at a level that can be maintained for a very long time. This prevents muscle damage and sets up the rider for a great ride tomorrow.Today’s ride will not have us doing any really hard intervals.
Today’s ride requires 60-70% for 75 minutes and won't interfere with being able to ride hard tomorrow.
The pops are done at a very particular level. These spikes help create a little bit of a stress on the aerobic system and alert the body that it needs a little more energy. It will start recruiting more fat as a fuel source during these pops.
Cadence-80 RPM is great for this ride. Lower RPM will recruit the fast twitch fibers to do slow twitch work. This boosts fat burning which is not a great workout if the goal is to be a great sprinter. The cost for low RPM is potential muscle damage for tomorrow’s ride. So depending on your goal, the recommended RPM for this ride is 70-80.
Today Robbie talks about how nutrition impacts our cycling:
Daily Nutrition-High caloric dense foods like fruits and veggies to increase carb intake but not increase overall weight.. Lean protein and good fats..
Ride Nutrition- Carb requirements for different types of rides:
Easy rides=low carb needs
Ride length and difficulty dictate how many carbohydrates are needed.
Training the gut how to handle taking on the carbs during a long event is important. Tune into the ride commentary to hear how Robbie trains his gut to process carbs during a long event/ride when carbohydrates are necessary.WE start with 200 calories of carbs and go up from there using more types of carbs to help the body process more.. 60 grams ( 240 calories) is the theoretical max if you just use maltodextrin but you can tolerate 90 grams (90 x 4 equals the total calories so 360 calories of carbs) if you integrate fructose as well as a fuel source.
Post Ride Nutrition- It is important to replace glycogen after a workout- Try to replace within 60 minutes upon finishing the workout...Get out of your chamois first though! (More on this next week!) This sets the stage for the next big day. Most people think protein is necessary for optimal recovery. Read some of the interesting research about this. The results are varied and it is best to review meta-analysis of research when deciding what is best for your needs (see studies below)
Metabolic testing - (which you can do at VQ anytime you want) gives the best information for what fuels are burned at different intensity levels. This information is also supported by ride data files. Often the 6 and 4 hour power numbers are good data points for normalized as well as average power. This data informs how to fuel for the various types of rides. Robbie provides an in depth explanation of this during today’s ride. This is a definite reason to have the sound turned up to make sure not to miss this lesson!
You will also get to play Name That DJ during today’s ride! See which songs were submitted by which VQ athlete for today’s playlist.
Robbie is doing a little experiment...Interested in going us? If you are interested in riding every Wednesday morning (We are scheduling a low intensity ride each Wednesday). Each Tuesday evening, after you finish your dinner, fast until after the Wednesday morning ride. Water and coffee without cream and sugar are ok. As soon as the ride is over, we will refuel with glycogen.This is not going to be a published study; rather, a short experiment within our group. Please let Robbie know if you are interested in participating.
Fun Fact From Robbie: Most people burn 400 to 700 calories overnight depending on how long you sleep and how heavy you are.. This is super important to know when doing fat-burning rides… This burn is a mix of fat and carb.
https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1113/JP273230
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-015-0400-1
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/jappl.1992.72.5.1854
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640410701213459