Hi all, I’ve been using Xert for a month now and do like it although I am sometimes confused about what it makes me do.
Anyway, I’m 58 years old, 1.83 m tall and weight 81kg. Realistically, I might be able to get that down to 78kg, but not much lower. Here’s my fitness ranking (BTW I’d prefer a 55-59 bracket as the difference between 50 and 59 is huge).
I don’t ride any competitions except for the 4 day ‘mountain trip’ in August with my cycling club. On that trip we ride roughly 100k per day with more then 2000m of climbing or more. We only race on 1 mountain a day and the climbs are usually around 10k. We’re classified on our total time for those 4 climbs. My only ambition is to do as well as possible in that ranking. So I should be able to handle 4 consecutive days with 100k rides with a lot of climbing without tiring too much and still be able to go all out on 1 climb per day. I can go quite deep for a decent amount of time but I do not have the build to be a really strong climber.
Any suggestions on how to use Xert for the best results? I have till August, so plenty of time for a good plan.
Unfortunately you can’t change your genes!
But I don’t think 81kg is too bad for your height, if you could get into the mid 70s that would make a big difference.
But ultimately you need to produce a bit more power, I’m sure between now and August you can push the 3.1 w/kg up.
I’m assuming you use an indoor trainer with Zwift or similar platform, If not I would highly recommend them. I live in Suffolk, the only way I can go up big long hills without driving along way is in my garage on Zwift! Although you may live in a nice hilly area.
I think the way you go about it depends on how many hours a week you can put in.
If you only have a couple of hours in the week and maybe a longer outside ride at the weekend, I would focus on higher intensity trainer workouts in the week then just ride for fun at the weekends.
If you have more hours availably, follow Xert’s recommended workouts and substitute occasionally with a long hill climb on Zwift or outside.
I find Alpe d’Huez on Zwift is around about an hours effort
As the great Eddy Merckx said- Don’t buy upgrades, Ride up grades
Pete
I do have the time for an Xert training schedule (and unfortunately no local hills as I live in Flanders), but should I pick Continuous, a target event (target is still 7.5 months away) or Challenge? And should I really pick ‘Climber’ or might another athlete type be a better choice?
Also, at the moment I am using Improvement Rate Moderate-2, but I am a little doubtful that that is tenable for 7 months.
That is one of the distinct benefits of Xert. The ability to manipulate ramp rate as you progress.
It is discussed in Academy episode I2.
If you haven’t watched all the lessons yet I suggest watching them in order then repeat selected parts to refresh your learning.
I am working through the list again myself, setting up solo session endurance rides, and watching them in full screen mode without any overlays. Parts end up repeating but that’s a good thing.
I am looking forward to the next Series.
Thank you. Yes, I have watched the videos last week and am aware that ramp rate can and should be changed. Stil wondering if I should go for Continuous/Target/Challenge and if ‘Climber’ is the best profile to achieve my objective: performing well on 1 longish +10k climb a day during 4 consecutive days.
Yes, I also wonder if Climber - 10 min w/kg is best for the type of ride your targeting.
I think focusing on Hour power (TP) may be more suitable, pushing the TP up will bring everything up.
Hi again Peter,
nothing to do with training plans, but having done a bit of Strava stalking…
I’m not a bike fitter, but in your Strava Profile picture your saddle looks a bit low.
I found when my saddle was too low I really struggled to put out power.
If you haven’t already it might be worth getting a fit check by a pro fitter.
Climber will also build threshold power, it’s just a different mix of low and high intensity. Think the best way to think about it is whether (and when in your season) you may want the higher intensity intervals that come when you are in build or peak phase of those athlete types. Most systems and coaches now recommend some high intensity at various times, which you won’t get with the longer / endurance athlete types.
To the OP, I’d leave it on continuous and start with base building by choosing an endurance athlete type, but a couple of blocks of intensity (eg climber or GC specialist) at various times… some also add intensity in base, but depends what you like and how well you recover…
In general you’ll want a high training load at the time of your event given they are long back to back days, but you also don’t necessarily want to peak too early (hours are limited at which time ramp rate approaches zero) and lose motivation… so maybe no need to hammer a high ramp rate from now unless you have unlimited hours…
Hi Pete, I see why you might think that, but my toes could only just touch the ground when in the saddle. I’m always telling people their saddle is too low too. Anyway, this was a rental on Mallorca on our last club trip. I was climbing Coll de Soller there.
Thanks for that. As it still is a long time to go before the actual event I’ve switched to Time Trialist and I have dialed the ramp rate down to Moderate-1. That still seems ambitious enough. I’m sticking with Challenge rather than Continuous as I prefer a fixed target on a fixed date. I’ll re-evaluate when the challenge ends.
