Energy Systems & Target Workouts

This is one of those crucially important concepts which borders on being overly obsessive. It's an interesting aspect, the one of energy systems. On one hand, in order to train thoroughly and efficiently, you need to identify and address these energy systems. On the other hand, you can go way overboard, and feel overwhelmed by all of this information. So what to do?

To start, you need to simplify. There's always room to expand and learn more later. But to start you need to quantify the energy systems at a very basic level. So let's break down the energy systems:

1. Your body
   

That's it. When you get on the bike, all you have to rely on is your body. No matter how convoluted these discussions get, remember that it's all about you getting on the bike and riding. The rest? Details. Ok, so let's take it one step further. Give me 3 energy systems:

1. ATP - extremely short duration, in the order of 10 seconds
   
2. Aerobic - the long stuff, where your body learns to burn fat as an energy source
   
3. Anaerobic - the shorter stuff, primarily carbs used as fuel. Hill climbs.
   

This combination gets you a start, but this is really the beginner view of things. Ignoring ATP, you'll never be completely aerobic or completely anaerobic. There's always a mix of the 2 systems. But this still isn't really enough. You need to break it down a little bit more.

At this point, every expert has their own system they use. There are the 5 HR zones. Friel uses something like 7 HR and power zones. Coggan uses 7 power zones. Carmichael doesn't break down his work by zone, per se. He sort of lives outside the box with his recommendations. For my purposes I have started using the Coggan zones. Yes, they are based on power. And no, I do not own a power meter. His array is complete enough that I think you can get by using these 7 levels.

For a thorough explanation, you can look at Coggan's intro to power PDF here.

The part we're interested in is Table 1, page 17. This breaks down the training levels from 1-7, which is what I use. I'll leave the details of that table to the PDF linked above, but will briefly summarize them here, with rate of perceived exertion (RPE) listed on a scale of 1-10.

1. L1/Active Recovery. RPE 2. Easy spinning.
2. L2/Endurance. RPE 2-3. All day pace, regular breathing.
3. L3/Tempo. RPE 3-4. Spirited group ride, halting conversation.
4. L4/LT. RPE 4-5. 10-30 minute blocks, conversation difficult.
5. L5/VO2max. RPE 6-7. 3-8 minute blocks, conversation not possible.
6. L6/Anaerobic Capacity. RPE 7+. 30 sec-3 min intervals.
7. L7/Neuromuscular Power. RPE max. Super intense.
   

If you're not familiar with this stuff (and training in general) you're probably going to be surprised to realize most of your rides are in the L2-L3 area, with the occasional foray into L5 and L6. L4 is usually too hard to maintain for the prescribed times unless you push yourself, and L7 is usually avoided in order to not blow up. One of the things breaking it all down does is show how much room there is for improvement.

So these levels are all based on some scale, where Coggan uses power. The reality is that the top of one level will always meet the bottom of another level. So L3max and L4min is essentially the same thing. This is the same with any system, and gets at the heart of the fact that these are all approximations in order to help you train better. To that end, the aims of each system is described by its name. Here are more comments as I perceive them:

• L1 is all about recovery. If you choose to take the day off instead of riding, then you will never be in L1.
• L2 is for everyone. Everyone spends time in L2 since this is where most people naturally default to. It is important to realize that this level does not stress the body enough to cause significant aerobic gains. It helps you in other ways such as saddle readiness and energy expenditure (fat versus glycogen).
  
• L3 is tempo, which is probably as accurate as you'll get in terms of a name. These are where your real aerobic gains are made. Your body learns to store more muscle glycogen when you do big tempo blocks. This is a key area for the endurance athlete.
• L4 is where you get into your LT training, where you increase the level you can ride at before lactic acid builds up and stops you. LT Training is one of the most important areas for training gains. The standby here is 2x20:5.
  
• L5 is where you increase your VO2max, which gets you over your LT. This is in the realm of anaerobic training and gets you into the painful category of training. This introduces you to the ability to clear lactic acid. 6x5:5.
  
• L6 is also anaerobic, pushing your limits there. This is generally combined with L5 when you get into block training. 10x1:1.
  
• L7 is sprinting. This is a very specific area that most people (who train) train all year round. 10x10:60.
  

In terms of block training, it will be most common to block L4 and then L5/L6. L7 is done year round. L3 and L2 are done on weekend during the season. And L1 is a recovery ride. Anything more than that is overkill, IMO. Or maybe you just have that much time on your hands. I personally subscribe to block training, and if you were to block L3, L4, L5, L6, and L7, you would lose your L3 gains by the time you got done with L7. So by boiling it down to L4 and L5/6, you can block train and keep all energy systems sharp as the season wears on.

By combining L5 and L6, we're essentially doing blocks that decrease in length by day. So if you do 5min Monday, you can shoot for 4min Tuesday, and 3min Wednesday. Or you can do 5-4-1, or 5-3-1.

Friel

For those of you who favor Friel, I have attempted to break down his areas and match them to Coggan's levels. But first it's worth looking at Friel's areas of concentration. Friel uses 3 basic abilities and 3 higher abilities. Endurance, force, and speed are basic. Muscular endurance, anaerobic endurance, and force are higher. You start the season with the basics:

• Endurance. The ability to delay/reduce the onset of fatigue. The basis of everything. This teaches you to conserve glycogen and burn fat.
• Force. The ability to overcome resistance, or the amount of pressure you can apply to the pedals. This is an extension of resistance training for Friel.
• Speed. The ability to move quickly/efficiently/smoothly at high cadence, and to negotiate terrain quickly without wasted motion.
  

After this, he advocates adding some muscular endurance, then the other 2 higher abilities:

• Muscular Endurance. The ability to maintain a high load for a long time. This is a combination of endurance and force. Friel contends that this is the critical ability for mountain bikers.
  
• Anaerobic Endurance. This is the ability to resist fatigue when effort and cadence are high. This improves your ability to clear lactic acid. This is a combination of endurance and speed.
• Power. The ability to apply maximum strength. This is force plus speed.
  

Friel contends that the longer races favor the basic abilities. He also contends that Anaerobic Endurance and Power are not terribly important for endurance racers. I highly disagree. If you cannot efficiently navigate the tough climbs and technical spots, you'll be burning matches when the aim is to save as many as you can.

Here is how I perceive the Friel areas correspond to the Coggan levels:

• Active Recovery = L1
• Endurance = L2/L3
  
• Force = L6 (lower cadence)
  
• Speed = L6/L7 (higher cadence)
  
• Muscular Endurance = L4
  
• Aerobic Endurance = L5/L6
• Power = L7

This isn't a perfect match, especially since Speed and Power are both in the L7 range. But it works well enough. I think Friel gets into areas geared for the weight lifter. Force, for instance, is a direct offspring of the resistance training he advocates in the offseason. Force workouts are dropped after the base periods in the Friel plan.