My peaking strategies have changed dramatically over the past few years. In high school and college, it was easy to peak because my racing and training schedule was basically the same from the beginning of road season in March, to Junior Nationals in July. This was my weekly schedule:
Monday – easy or off
Tuesday – threshold intervals
Wednesday – longer endurance ride, possibly with intervals
Thursday – easy ride
Friday – openers
Saturday – race
Sunday – race
Play on repeat for four months…
This schedule gave me an ample amount of hard training, with a sufficient amount of recovery, each and every week. It was perfect, it was simple, and it was easy. My form would start out low at the beginning of the season, as I was barely hanging on to the front group of local group rides in March. But over the course of the season, my form would slowly and steadily build, before reaching a peak in June and July, just in-time for Nationals.
Focusing on stage races is different. Races are not just once or twice every day; some races are separated by three months, while others are separated some by three days. And don’t forget the travel component – in high school and college, I rarely raced outside the Midwest; almost every race was within a 2-3 hour drive. Nowadays, I travel four, six, even 12 hours (and sometimes 24 if I’m stuck driving the van…) across the country to get to the next stage race. Some are in Vermont, others are in Tennessee; a few are in California, one in New Mexico and one in Arkansas, another in Oregon… As you can see, it’s a lot.
In terms of peaking for stage races, my training plan is just as complicated as my travel plan. My coach and I closely monitor my training, weight, form, and overall feeling year-round, but still it is hard to know when I should be training hard versus ‘resting hard’ – In truth, we still have yet to master the art of peaking for stage races, but I think we’re getting the hang of it…
Over the past couple of seasons, here are a few key things that have worked for me:
Two-week training block – starting 3-4 weeks before my target race, these training blocks are designed to push me to my absolute limits. On the 6th or 7th day of the block, my legs are dead. This is the level of fatigue (i.e. functional over-reaching) that is hard to come back from if you’re not careful. So I take a rest day, completely off the bike, completely off of training. During functional over-reaching, the submaximal and maximal heart rate becomes significantly depressed, and fatigue and lethargy is strong, both on the bike and off.
Surprisingly, I am usually able to perform high-intensity work at close-to-normal power numbers during functional over-reaching, but the feeling is not the same. I feel like crap, but can still push my body close to its physiological limit. But the toll is greater, and every day it takes longer and longer to recover from these efforts. But this is exactly how stage races are. And I know that if I can train my mind and body to push through the pain in training, I can do it again in a couple weeks’ time.
Another important note: I do not try to lose weight during this two-week training block. I need to fueled each and every day for 3-5 hour rides, many of which include high-intensity intervals. If I am a little bit over race weight, it usually comes off in the taper period, just in time for the race. I believe this is due to, among other things, reduced inflammation and caloric intake (because I’m not riding as much), in addition to a boost in metabolism following a big two-week block.
Tapering – the last 7-10 days before the race, training volume is cut down substantially (30-40%), while still maintaining most of the intensity (cutting only 10-20%). This allows the body time to repair itself, including replenish its glycogen stores, heal micro-tears in the muscles, and allow for the cardiovascular system to finish generating minor adaptations which create a new baseline, such as a lower resting heart rate and increased ventricle size.
Not trying to peak on the first day – this has been a difficult, and sometimes frustrating realization for me. Sometimes good and sometimes bad, peaking for Stage 1 of a five-day race is a risky game to play. In a race such as Redlands, peaking on day one would not beideal for me. My goal was the Overall GC, which would come from peak performances on Stages 3 and 5 – the Oak Glen mountaintop finish, and the infamous Sunset Loops, respectively. These two stages would result in GC time gaps of minutes; Stage 1 was a short, individual time trial that would result in GC time gaps of just a few seconds. By avoiding a peak on Stage 1, my goal was to build my form over the course of the race, and (hopefully) achieve a peak performance when it matters most: Stage 5.