Highlights
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One factor contributing to the curvilinear relationship between exercise intensity and various metabolic responses (e.g., glycogen utilization, blood lactate concentration) is the recruitment of Type II, or fast-twitch, muscle fibers. Specifically, when you are pedaling at a typical cadence and power output is well below lactate threshold, there is little engagement or utilization of fast-twitch fibers. But with progressive increases in power output, more and more of your muscle fibers must be recruited to generate the required force. For example, while riding at Level 2 (Endurance), you could be using 90 percent slow-twitch, or Type I, muscle fibers, and only 10 percent fast-twitch, or Type II, muscle fibers. When you pick up the intensity to Level 4, you will continue to use those slow-twitch fibers, but you will begin to recruit significant numbers of fast-twitch fibers as well. In other words, the more intense the effort, the greater your reliance on fast-twitch muscle fibers.
Location 2209
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Scientific studies using a wide variety of techniques (e.g., electromyography spectral analysis, muscle biopsies) suggest that threshold power represents not only a threshold in terms of the power that an athlete can sustain, but also somewhat of a threshold in terms of fast-twitch fiber recruitment.
Location 2219
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Elite cyclists actually pull up on each upstroke slightly less than non-elite cyclists. Instead of pulling up on the pedals, elite cyclists minimize the power absorbed on the upward stroke.2 • Riders who deliberately pull up on the pedal stroke actually use more energy and are less efficient, that is, pulling up on the pedal stroke is costlier than not.3 • Deliberately modifying the pattern of force application throughout your pedal stroke to emphasize pulling up reduces your metabolic efficiency. Your pedal stroke can be as unique as your fingerprint, and changing your pedal “print” can hurt your efficiency.
Location 2461
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The art in applying the Performance Manager lies in determining the precise combination of TSB and CTL that results in maximum performance. To put it another way: In the Performance Manager concept, an individual’s CTL (and the composition of the training resulting in that CTL) determines his or her performance potential (at least within limits). The individual’s TSB influences his or her ability to fully express that potential. Actual performance at any point in time will therefore depend on both CTL and TSB, but determining how much emphasis to accord to each is now a matter of trial and error—that is, experience—not science.
Location 2912
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In our experience, across a wide variety of athletes and disciplines (for example, elite amateur track cyclists, masters-age marathon mountain-bike racers, and professional road racers), the “optimal” training load seems to lie at a CTL between 100 and 150 TSS per day.
Location 3015
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Specifically, a four- to six-week plateau in CTL during a time when the focus of training has not changed and performance is constant is generally evidence of training stagnation. Athletes in this situation might feel they are training well by being very consistent and repeatedly performing the same workouts, but in fact this is not training at all. It is simply maintaining, because the overload principle is not being applied.
Location 3027
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We have found that most cyclists can increase their CTL at a rate of 3–7 TSS per day per week.
Location 3038
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Fitness changes, from your Pmax to your FTP, happen irregularly. In other words, your fitness does not just improve in a linear fashion, every day gaining 1 watt on your FTP; rather your FTP will stay the same for weeks at a time while you train it, and then you after you take a rest week, your FTP will suddenly appear to increase by 10, 15, or 20 watts. It can seem like it happens overnight. Of course, the improvement is due to an accumulation of training stress and subsequent adaptation that was revealed after you “shed some fatigue” during your rest week. These changes occur in similar fashion for all your different energy systems.
Location 3999