Checking in on your systems

The trick with training is that it does affect each of us differently. And the impact, or adaptations, to the training you are doing may not be what you expect.

At Sans Chaine we believe in the value of making your aerobic system as strong as possible. As riders though, we do need the ability to do work in all of our systems. That means we need to check-in periodically to make sure that when doing one type of training, say a tempo block, that our other systems - let’s say VO2 - aren't degrading too much.

This is why we want to periodically do some efforts that let us get insight into how our systems relate to one another. We want to keep an eye on that tempo to MAP ratio we use to determine where to take our training. Our hour of tempo workout is a good proxy for the aerobic system, and our 5-minute time trial for the VO2.

The cool part is you may be surprised to find how your tempo training impacts your VO2 system. We think that to make the 5-minute time trial better we need to do VO2 training, but this is not always the case. Riders may progress their intervals in a VO2 block, and then find at the end when they do a 5-minute time trial that they struggle with the wattage they expect to hold.

Conversely, as you build your tempo block, or blocks as it may be, you may find that your aerobic system progresses while the VO2 remains stable. You are improving that tempo to MAP ratio.

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“Seems like the patient and consistent approach is moving up my endurance and tempo levels without impacting my top end”, from a Sans Chaine client.

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The aerobic and anaerobic systems are like a teeter totter, changing in relationship to one another. In part this is why our training progress isn’t linear. Checking in periodically on your systems will allow you to understand how the training is impacting you and make decisions on where to take your training.