Cannonball

Looking fwd to this ride on Sat. Heard only good things about the race - however tough. Be safe out there.

Fair enough. But I still see the max efforts, to which you refer - to cater for your so called energy spikes, as "icing-on-the-cake", if you cant sustain 75% efforts for 3-4 hours (where I would focus my training efforts) then I personally don't see much point doing max-effort training. But then again, maybe that's why I'm not a coach. Thanks for your explanation, and the time you took to answer my questions. I respectfully disagree (at the moment) but I'm happy to keep an open mind and keep reading what you and others have to say on the subject of Epic type training.

"Seeing you only got 3 posts and recently joined you should know that you have to post a pic of your bike on your couch and introduce yourself...." You show me yours and I'll show you mine...

Also to be clear. I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm honestly interested in the viewpoints and picking up tips. So please don't be defensive?

Anyone can ride at max effort for short periods - I hardly think a determinant of someone's ability at Epic. My response was to the impression created ( perhaps incorrectly on my part) that max effort intervals of 10 minutes were required this far out from the Epic, if ever. For a race of that nature wouldn't sustained efforts and threshold repeats be more likely to deliver the appropriate stimulus of long stages over a multi-day event, as opposed to short all out intervals which would be more appropriate for say a track cyclist? Training for short bursts of acceleration strikes me as odd this far out from epic, perhaps for XC and road cycling it's required to bridge gaps and break away but I cant see huge upside to taking yourself way above threshold in an event like epic for anyone but the top teams. On the literature point: I can find literature anywhere to support all sorts of claims - my point was and remains: do you really think all out efforts are optimal for Epic training? If that's the case, lets have marathoners and Ironman athletes doing 100m repeats rather than the sustained threshold efforts? I'm not saying there is no place for max effort / VO2 training, just struggling to see it being appropriate for guys who don't know exactly what they are doing (lets say outside top 25 teams). Maybe my assumption of what constitutes max-effort should also be clear. It means you cant go any harder :ie max HR. Sorry to disagree with you but endurance sports just don't see long periods of sustained max efforts.

Hi Guys, apologies for my first post to be a little attacking but: Is it just me or would anyone else be concerned if a coach advocated doing 100% max efforts 3-4 months out from a 8 day stage race. I'm all for intervals but I think Enticements battle plan will lead to a "battle to start the epic", assuming I have read this correctly and he is indeed advocating multiple max effort repeats of 10 minutes 4 months out from the event. I'm not a qualified coach but I've done enough endurance events at the very front of the field to give that kind of advice a swerve. It's a pity because I think people are truly interested in picking up some knowledge and advice on this thread from wherever it might come.