Is watt/power based training better than distance based training?

[SillyBilly]

I am signed up for a criterium series, starting in May this year... now, its absolutely freezing here in the UK, and WAY too much rain. I have my indoor trainer working over time, now my question is:

 

Is watt based training better than distance training? Especially in terms of Cat 3 criterium racing?

 

Thanks all.

[DieselnDust]

If you're just training according to ho far you're riding without monitoring your Heart rate or RPE then anything is better.

Studies at the Sports Science Institute suggest that it doesn't matter whether you have a Heart rate, RPE or Power based training plan but that the biggest benefit comes from having a plan. They even gave HR based training a slight edge (which was surprising to me), 

[Duane_Bosch]

 They even gave HR based training a slight edge (which was surprising to me), 

This is interesting.

 

Would you also regularly do a HR test to test thresholds? For me I tend to get trapped by the numbers. I've started with a 10 week power based program and I'll see how that goes.

[RocknRolla]

yes.

[dave303e]

distance is a silly measure though.

 

10km on prefect tar,

10km on gravel,

10km on single track

10km on a mountain pass.

10km at 10% gradient

10km on -10% gradient

 

Same metric but no where near the same effort required...

[Jewbacca]

Yes

[riteshm]

I am signed up for a criterium series, starting in May this year... now, its absolutely freezing here in the UK, and WAY too much rain. I have my indoor trainer working over time, now my question is:

 

Is watt based training better than distance training? Especially in terms of Cat 3 criterium racing?

 

Thanks all.

Just riding distance has limited benefits regarding adaptation, unless you are new to cycling.

Power-based training is the only way to go IMO, provided you have a proper training plan.

The training plan will depend on the time available to train and the events you are training for.

As a rule, I have 2 very hard indoor sessions a week, with the other days focused on active recovery, leg speed and zone 2. A time-crunched cyclist may focus more on Sweetspot however I prefer Zone 2 as I have more time to train. 

[SillyBilly]

Dave303e, that's a way of looking at it that I never thought about...

 

I'm using a trainingpeaks plan, with an FTP of 250. I guess my real concern is that after a session, I feel as if I haven't actually done a workout! Riteshm has pretty much describes the plan I'm on, zone 2 for the most part, with 2 hard sessions a week, 5 sessions in total a week....

[dave303e]

Dave303e, that's a way of looking at it that I never thought about...

 

I'm using a trainingpeaks plan, with an FTP of 250. I guess my real concern is that after a session, I feel as if I haven't actually done a workout! Riteshm has pretty much describes the plan I'm on, zone 2 for the most part, with 2 hard sessions a week, 5 sessions in total a week....

 

everything is relative though, if you doing similar rides on similar surfaces then distance can be an ok measure, but ya not all km's are equal.

[Duane_Bosch]

Dave303e, that's a way of looking at it that I never thought about...

 

I'm using a trainingpeaks plan, with an FTP of 250. I guess my real concern is that after a session, I feel as if I haven't actually done a workout! Riteshm has pretty much describes the plan I'm on, zone 2 for the most part, with 2 hard sessions a week, 5 sessions in total a week....

I watch a guy on youtube. Dylan Johnson. He's a coach at CTS and he preaches the following

 

The twice a week hard sessions are good. You don't want to go hard too often as the effectiveness of those sessions will diminish if you do too many. It's not the workout that makes you stronger it's the rest that comes afterwards. Not enough rest means less gains.

[RobertWhitehead]

It is yes, with km based training you can easily add some "junk miles" just for the sake of reaching your weekly goals. Putting structure into your training sessions - hard numbers to crunch will be more beneficial in the long run. 

 

PS: This is just my opinion and there's a lot of guys on here that know way more than I do 

[SillyBilly]

Until I'd started this training plan, my training has always been - get on the bike and ride. Didn't have structure or a goal, get as many km in as my legs could handle in one session.

[RobertWhitehead]

If I were in your position I would look at apps like: Sufferfest or Rouvy (I'm not a big fan of Zwift) and then get more out of an hour or two spinning sessions than just staring at the wall or YouTube  . 

 

Until I'd started this training plan, my training has always been - get on the bike and ride. Didn't have structure or a goal, get as many km in as my legs could handle in one session.

[SillyBilly]

RobertWhiteHead that exactly what I use - Rouvy. Also not a fan of Swift, and Rouvy connects directly to Trainingpeaks, so downloads the days training session automatically. Using an Elite Drivo for indoor.

[SwissVan]

Dave303e, that's a way of looking at it that I never thought about...

I'm using a trainingpeaks plan, with an FTP of 250. I guess my real concern is that after a session, I feel as if I haven't actually done a workout! Riteshm has pretty much describes the plan I'm on, zone 2 for the most part, with 2 hard sessions a week, 5 sessions in total a week....

2 hard sessions a week is enough, as long as they are at the right intensity, which they should be if you following training peaks with your correct ftp.

 

The other rides where you feel like it’s not hard enough are necessary for your body to recover and adapt. To improve you need both hard and easier rides, if you only did hard rides your body will not recover and adapt sufficiently

[DieselnDust]

This is interesting.

 

Would you also regularly do a HR test to test thresholds? For me I tend to get trapped by the numbers. I've started with a 10 week power based program and I'll see how that goes.

 

Pretty much the same frequency as one would do an FTP test which is either never, once or monthly