Cat 4 Cycling Questions!
We’ve all asked them, but let’s start answering some of them. Usually the blog has all the info but for this series, you need to watch the youtube videos for the full story. I will paste some parts of the questions and answers below!
The Mega Playlist of all episodes of Cat 4 Questions can be found here.
Episode One: Tapering For Race, Caffeine Gels, 5am Cycling Workout Fueling Suggestions, Tapering For A Big Gran Fondo Event
Episode Two: 4w/kg?, Indoor Vs Outdoor FTP, Fasting & High Intensity, Cyclocross Training
Episode Three: Race Tactics. Period. That’s it! This could be 20 episodes.
Episode Four: First we discuss some general cat 4/5 race scenarios.
1. Do I let anyone get up the road?
2. Do I make a break for the finish line at the peak?
3. Should I sit in, work occasionally, and stay with the front?
4. Do I bring a TT bike for a 3 mile Time Trial?
Bonus 1: Race Day Breakfast
Bonus 2: Race Day Warm Up Protocol
Bonus 3: A TT is not always an average watts target; THINK SPEED especially when the course has hills or 180 degree turns, or anything that will slow you down.
Episode 5: Maintaining A Cycling Peak, Mid-Race Metrics, Pre-Race Dinner, Training WITHOUT Races
This video is jam packed! Email questions to Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE or contact us online to learn more!
How does this guy know he's peaking?
Are you peaking or just feeling the effects of consistent training? (Is your ATL consistently above CTL?) Planning for an unplanned "A Race"
Resting too frequently won't let you drive you fitness as high as it possibly can go for A Race performance. Openers for a Bike Race: Do them or skip them when traveling?
Pre-Race Training Week
What metrics to pay attention to mid-race?
STOP paying attention to Heart Rate all the time!
Pulling out of the break or racing til you explode.
Pre-Race Dinner: Vegetables and clean carbs (rice, bread, pasta is as processed as you want to get.)
What to train now as most racing is canceled?
Gravel Worlds Virtual in August!
Continue Lifting Weights for Cycling Performance
Figure out what works and what doesn't.
When do you start to plateau?
What stimulus is getting you good results?
What makes you feel good and ride well?
Episode 6: Struggling With VO2Max Cycling Intervals? Failing In The Third Week?
I've added this section to the bottom of a VO2Max Interval Post.
Struggling With VO2Max? Let's ask some questions and look at an athlete that had a similar problem.
Why can’t you go hard? Are you actually failing?
Do you periodize the intensity within a VO2max block? Aka progression with this block?
There are a variety of Vo2max workouts in this athlete's calendar; Why not do a FULL block of the same workout ?
Is it easier to see improvement that way?
Would you ever select the power off a dip or bump in the PD Curve?
How much of a VO2Max effort is Anaerobic?
Interval selection: micro VO2Max vs extended duration; MAP matters!
Episode 7: Planning Your Cycling Season, 2021 Starts Soon! Lifting for Cycling, VO2Max, Aerobic Build, & More!
Full post here.
Episode 8: Peaking for an "A Race" Vs. Training For An Entire Race Series or Upgrade Points, Cat 4 Questions E8
What's the difference between training for an A race or trying to train for an entire series?
There's a big difference when you're going for one or two really big peaks, as opposed to pretty good results over a longer period of time.
The concept of overloading and tapering are a big factor that create the differences in these two way to approach the races.
This is what can happen when you try and simply do too much without a solid plan in place: "@EVOQ. BIKE thanks for the detailed response and excellent tips... i asked because this balance is often a struggle, taking part in a season-long series, so rather focusing on specific events its about maintaining a decent level without compromising either fitness or fatigue in either extremes to be ready almost every weekend April-September. I totally fail at that.. 95% and racing tired pretty much always. Maybe i need to reassess and work out what is really 95%... probably overdoing it and its really 99%. Training blocks often ends up being a mixture of the routes.. some weeks backing off to mini taper and some weeks training through it... but that creates very inconsistent blocks. Please keep up the great content! I really get a lot from the "Cat 4 questions" series."
In the second question, we look at Zwift racing versus VO2Max intervals; yes, you can do, and should do, both! Just make sure they're in your training plan at the right time.
"Hi Brendan , I'm Zwift racing once a week on Saturday for 75 mins and then on Tuesday doing a 7 x 3 @ 120% , now on the Zwift race as you're more than aware your HR goes through the roof and stays there for virtually the entire race 95%+ if you don't you'll get dropped , the thing is even though you my HR is sky rocketing in the Zwift race there isn't that much power in the Vo2 max region compared to 7x3 @120% , alternatively during the 7x3 the accumulated time the HR is above 90%+ is way lower compared to the Zwift, which is best ? should i do both ?"
Email me your questions to Brendan@EVOQ.BIKE and please help us out by:
Liking the Video
Subscribing to the Channel
Commenting on the video And sharing it!
Episode 9: Should I Have a W/KG Goals? What's My Potential Ceiling? Is Domestic Pro Even Worth It? Bike Origin?
I like this episode of Cat 4 Questions Episode 9, as it's not just power and watts and speed related.
This guy asked about what his potential ceiling is and where should his cycling career go as a 29 year old that rapidly went from Cat 5 to Cat 2.
The cycling landscape is changing rapidly, and with road cycling shifting around (not dying) and gravel exploding along with gran fondo's, I think it's a fair question to ask: is being domestic pro even worth it anymore?
The short answer is yes. The experience that you'd gain and the ability to see the US and possibly Europe and Asia sounds ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.
But, at 29, is it worth throwing eggs in this basket? We discuss.
Watts per kg...I wouldn't shoot for one number; 5 w/kg has been a gold standard but seems outdated to me. You're a great cyclist at 5, but by no means phenomenal.
Check out this video, and let me know if you want to hear more of my origin story in cycling. I'm happy to share it all with you, but I'm not sure if that offers a ton of value for your time. Thanks for watching and please share this with a friend!
Fartlek Intervals, Max Watts vs Capacity, Group Ride Tactics, Interval Intensity, Cat 4 Q's Ep 10!!
What are fartlek intervals? How do you ride where the road dictates the effort?
Two questions: Can you provide more context around letting the road dictate your effort? You said something like that in a video when talking about doing fartleks I think. In these kinds of group rides, how can I learn how aggressive to be? I feel like I want to push things early but then it wipes me out to be strong at the end. But I feel like I should just sit in and wait for the end if I'm going to get faster. Thanks again.
hey Zachary! SO Q1: when the road tilts up, use that to go hard until you crest over the top, then recover until that happens again. Even in a flat area like Florida, there are slight inclines that you can use as markers so that you go HARD for different durations and at different times. For the group, it depends on what your goals are. treat it like a race: "i want to push things early"...what does that mean? If you're just on the front making it fast, that's somewhat pointless, as people will counterattack you. Instead, use the group ride to try and start a break, try riding off the front solo, something that helps you get a small group to the finish before everyone else. sitting in and waiting until the end is a waste of time to gain fitness unless the ride is hard to sit in on for you; doesn't sound that way. sitting in only let's you practice your finishing sprint. group rides only offer so much value from a training perspective; sounds like you might be better off doing intervals more often and using the group ride to be social and change it up once in a while, but not all the time.
When are we training one max watt effort versus repeatable efforts at let's say, 95% of your one max effort?
A: for the most part, hard but consistent repeats. This works on repeatability, which allows you to have more matches as the event or race plays on.
The ALL OUT MAX is useful for power dip test when we're seeing if there's any new max power, only so then we reset what the repeatable efforts are.
funny you ask this....as i've been testing lactigo for them, it was cool to PR, but I'm so gassed after the 1st effort (which was neat to hit a PR), but it's not much of a workout for race application. I much rather do 500 4 times, than say 530 watts once, only to be at 450 each other one.
let me know if i missed anything or if unclear from my POV.
good rule of thumb....take your max wattage for a duration, say 3m, and try to repeat 95% of it over and over again.
How aggressive should I be in the group ride? Sometimes I feel like it's just coasting and then one big sprint. What should I do?
Interval intensity related to Q2: should I go full send on the first one?
I'm doing a time trial and an old coach told me only to look at normalized power. Is this right? Cliff notes: I disagree with this; it's all about top average speed; check out the video for more details on that!
A: i would definitely disagree with this strategy. A TT is all speed; use watts to help guide you so that you don’t blow up in a TT, but speed is most important.