End of June, ready for July

This last three week block of training has flown by, this weeks rest week snuck up on me big time. June by design was a stabilization month. Keeping the training load and training stresses level was the key. Result was a rested and fresh feeling all month, good training days and positive race results. PMC chart translates this well.

End of June training before rest week PMC





Sunday my plan to race Lost Valley changed for an unexpected trip to St Joe, MO, but I did have time to take advantage of how good I felt for a threshhold and other power testing before I headed West.


I do a 15 min effort then take 95% of that to determine threshold. End result was 4.35 w/kg. This was up from last year this time by 5%. Happy with results of course and also this gets me thinking what does a power profile look like for a cross racer?

So I plug my most recent peak numbers into the Power Profile chart and this is what is shows.

Result is (/) Distinctly upsloping plot. the classical time-trialist pattern, i.e., weak in neuromuscular power and anaerobic capacity, but with a relatively high aerobic power and especially a high lactate threshold. While such athletes may improve their performance by working on their weaknesses, this may not necessarily be true if it results in a decline in their strength, which is sustainable power. More info here

If I had to pick a power profile that works best with cross it would be the time trialist pattern or an all rounder over pursuiter or sprinter.

Here is a good article that I found about the power demands of cross. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3.

From these articles it suggests that it is not the person who can push the most watts per kilogram, or the person who can push 1000+ watt sprints. Its the people who come into the cross season in great shape, race a smart race, conserve energy and handle their bikes well. That is what makes cross such an awesome sport, levels the playing field more so than other discpline and is multi dimensional.

After this rest week July is focused on increasing threshold, technical skills and grow slowly grow training load.

The numbers are fun, I like to analyze them, compare them and see what I can use to make me faster come September. But bottom line is when September gets here the only number that will count will be at the end of the race when I look at the results. This bike racing is serious business :)

87 days till cross