I was sent this article via email, I'm not sure of the source: When Lance decided to return to professional cycling, he could not simultaneously flip a switch and erase all plans he had made for the late summer and fall. There were meetings and events on his schedule that had been planned months in advance, and he wasn?t going to back out of them simply because he?d decided to race his bicycle again. This made his training schedule for October more of a challenge than usual, but he still managed to get on the bike for 20-24 hours a week throughout this month. Here?s a look at an outline of his training plan for the month: Lance?s Training Outline for October 2008 2 x per week 5-5.5 hrs endurance pace 2 x per week 3-4 hrs endurance pace with 2 x 20minutes at just below LT pace (380-400watts) 1 x per week Tuesday-nighter 1 x per week 3-4 hrs with 2 sets of 4 x 20seconds max effort x 40 seconds recovery 1 x per week day off-travel, rest. Overall his training is progressing quite well. His performance during his longest endurance rides has stayed pretty consistent over the past few weeks, but these rides are taking less and less out of him. That indicates he?s adapting to the increased training volume and it?s time to incorporate more intensity. He?s been doing relatively long intervals just below his estimated lactate threshold power to start building his sustainable power at threshold, and some efforts above threshold to bring up his power at VO2 max. I say ?estimated lactate threshold power? because we haven?t gotten him into the lab yet, but with 15 years of data and Lance?s knowledge of his own performance, our estimates are typically within 10 watts of his actual LT power. In addition to putting in the miles and starting on some structured intervals, Lance spent some time out on the road with aerodynamics guru Steve Hed. After more than three years off a time trial bike, we didn?t want to just throw Lance back into the same time trial position he used in 2005. Although we?re not starting from scratch, the time off actually allows for greater opportunities to make significant changes to his TT position. The time with Steve was quite successful and we expect to see very good (meaning low) drag numbers when we go to the wind tunnel on Monday, November 3. The next day we?ll test any tweaks we make to his position using a power meter in real-world conditions to confirm that changes made in the wind tunnel actually make him faster on the road. I would guess LA's weight is around 75kg at this stage. He was down at 72kg's when racing TdF'sbruce2008-10-30 02:01:28
