The primary reasons to reconsider the effectiveness of LSD training are:
1. Fails to recognize that athletes are generally active throughout the year and prepossess a stable muscle structure and base level of conditioning
2. Exaggerates the period of time necessary to build base before moving on to more focused and productive training intensities
3. Fails to consider that there may be other more effective methods for building base
....When training is reduced, such as during off-season, speed and strength are the first things that one loses, and endurance the last. Why then does one do exhaustive training for a system that is the last to go, quickest to build, and prepares you for little else other than riding slowly? During the cold and dark winter months, how practical is it to build base with the traditional just keep adding hours method, particularly for multi-sport athletes who train other sports as well? What will yet another year of LSD prep do to improve previous seasons’ results? My experience is that the same process has an uncanny knack for producing the same old results. In both my own training, and that of coaching hundreds of athletes over the years, I have found that a steady diet of strength work and threshold training is a far more effective way to build base than the traditional LSD for several months approach.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI think this comment requires a bit of clarification. For someone who has been training for many years of their life, you might be able to get away with working on intensity. But for many of the novice athletes, those who haven't cycled for years and years like you (or other advanced athletes), they are probably best off staying well below the point at which lactate accumulates, to ensure that they are enhancing the production of ATP from oxygen dependent sources and to enhance the process of capilarization...
There's been a new wave of coaches who believe in intensity throughout the winter, and I would agree with this for the advanced athlete who has done many years of training, as their engine is bigger. But for those who are starting out the training (like me), or those who have been triathletes/cyclists/runners for 2-3 years, I find that the best way to minimize injury and to enhance general endurance abilities is to go slow. Similar to what Gordo Byrn preaches.
Good blog though, I enjoy reading it.
Take care,
Art
Thanks, Art. Your key point, in my opinion is caution with intensity in relation to injury. High intensity training should only be undertaken once an athlete has slowly built a sufficiently strong muscular and bio-mechanical base. In my opinion, this is the only thing to stop someone from higher intensity training. Regardless of experience, once an athlete has that prep done they are ready to slowly introduce higher intensity work which, brings on the biochemical and physiological changes more rapidly.
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