Competitive Cycling Tips : Training for Criteriums in Competitive Cycling

[TwoAura34]

um

[derekalv911]

The 100% he's talking about is a power (wattage) based on a time. If he's telling you to go for 60 minutes, then he means as hard as you can for 60 minutes. If it were 30 minutes, your effort would be higher because you only have to go 30 minutes, but it's still effectively as hard as you can go, i.e. 100%. 110% efforts in a 90 minute crit are unsustainable, yes, but luckily you're not riding the whole race at that power.

[cerealrulz]

@derekalv911 He'll just be talking about effort (unmeasured) so if it's 110% then you're just trying harder than your comfortable exertion

[AeraLure]

I'm sure that he is talking about LT when he speaks of 100% and 110% because obviously if you are going as hard as is possible for you, that is 100% and there is no such thing as 110%. With 100% being equivalent to 100% of your LT, ie at your LT, then yes, one should be able to hold that for an hour or more, and then again yes, one has the ability to go at 110% and even higher, its just that its not possible to sustain that for an hour, let alone half an hour, so one has to manage that.

[ghankypanky]

ya a crit is full of hard accelerations and lulls in action, not constant speed

[Lookatmills]

What kind of moron coach would tell you to sustain 100% for an hour...glad he's not my coach

[patallison23]

Most good coaches now days talk in % of LT. Thats the only way he could say 110%. What you can do is bring your LT up over 90% of your max and hold that for and hour. So my advice would be to find your LT and do intervals a little above and below it. Adding in come jumps and long sprints at the end.

[Stonzy69]

Some good tips there but i do agree with Brankog1, No one in the world can sustain 100% effort for an hour. You can sustain a very high rate just under your anerobic threshold for an hour but if your at 100% effort eg: Max heart rate and maximum anerobic state you can only sustain that for around 15-30 secs max!!!

[122ffsdd]

yeh ummmmm... these guys dont know what they are talking about. 100% the entire time. how about 70 90 70 100 70 90. in a crit you accelerate then deccelerate. i think what he means is its not like a road race were there is a constant speed.

[brankog7]

you can't sustain 100% for an hour

[glooer]

Thanks for the advice!