Originally Posted by
downtube42
Very interested article; certainly it tells a story that I'd like to believe applies to me.
The traditional HIIT and periodization from yore wasn't working for me....too sore, lousy sleep, and making more grumpy than usual.
I switch to more volume and not so frequent intervals over the past 6-8 years and my FTP has increased pretty significantly (say 15%) and I attribute much of it to lots of so-called junk miles (zone 2) and the supine position on the recumbent (I'd have to find the study to support that). Most of the HIIT studies are just 6 weeks in length. (I had a short 18 month massive decline before getting my bent legs). I know I got 6 years older but my heart rate at threshold is so much lower now even on an upright but at more power. Go figure, right? If you look up Dr. Phil Maffetone, he sort of explains it all. His formula is 180-age as the maximum exercise HR, but with a couple factors added in. So, I almost never ride over 117 BPM and usually around 100 BPM on brevets. Maffetone's approach was used by Mark Allen to win like every Ironman for many years. In jest I was saying junk miles, but at 117 BPM I am making something like 230-250 watts, which way too much power on a brevet. It is is like the heart gets super efficient with each beat. Maffetone's theory or ideas is very counter to the HIIT and time crunched training programs and might be considered crazy by some but one benefit is not having too much stress on your body, it just takes longer to get even more fit for me. If one looks at Seiler's data, it shows similar improvement for athletes over a year or two timeline (not published, powerpoints from conferences).. I know that Friel advocates a lot of intensity for us older riders but if you are riding a lot, you already collect up close to that hour or so that Haldeman recommended and then adding just one miserable interval session per week seems plenty. Structured training is a PITA. I have to admit that I started to plateau on the bent and decided to try something different 2-3 years ago. I read Coggan's favorite workout for TT fitness and tried it (2 x 20 at 90-95% FTP IIRC) except I did more reps. I abandoned any anaerobic work for a few months and I got stronger. I don't get it but I suspect it helped the shuttling and utilization of lactate from fast twitch muscles to the slowtwitch muscles because my FTP was nearly 90% of my VO2 max at the end of that experiment and that is my only explanation. So.....GL with just riding without numbers.
https://philmaffetone.com/method/