Joe Friel

That Which Is Measured Improves

“Training is principally an act of faith.” –Franz Stampfl

For serious athletes, the purpose of training is to improve performance relative to a specific event – an A-priority race. Throughout the Base and Build periods you should be looking for indicators of improving readiness for this event. The closer you get to race day, the more important it is to have some idea of how well you may do. Not only does this build confidence, it also allows you to plan alternative strategies and consider your tactical responses given certain race situations.

Not all workouts throughout your preparation for the race are of equal value when it comes to predicting race readiness. The Base period merely prepares you for the challenging workouts of the Build period, which typically starts 10 to 12 weeks prior to race day. The workouts in Base are seldom good predictors. The Build weeks leading up to the start of the Peak period, or “taper,” is the most critical time in the season. How your training goes during the 8 or 9 weeks of Build largely determines how well you will race. Many of these Build sessions will tell you if progress is being made.

During Build you should be getting frequent feedback from training sessions that serve as indicators –  predictors – of how you will do on race day. If all is going well these predictors should steadily improve so that by the time you start to taper, 2 or 3 weeks prior to the race, there is little doubt that you will be race-ready. The most important question is: What are good predictors?

Below I’ve listed several commonly used metrics – things that are measurable in training sessions – which are often used to get this “how am I progressing” feedback. Some metrics are better predictors than others. I’ve categorized them here as Weak, Moderate, and Strong Performance Predictors. I primarily rely on Strong predictors whenever possible. These are the most likely to give you reliable clues as to how race day will go. But occasionally I’ll check a Moderate predictor just because there hasn’t been a recent Strong indicator. Also, several Moderate indicators all indicating the same trend may well be a strong predictor.

We may disagree on whether or not a predictor is Weak, Moderate, or Strong. And, in fact, for some athletes who are training for unique events, what is usually a Moderate predictor may be Strong. Weak predictors are unlikely to make the leap all the way up to Strong.

The metrics I’ve listed below are not all-inclusive. They are the ones I commonly get from analysis software such as TrainingPeaks or WKO+.  

There are other personal metrics I haven’t listed that for some may prove to be Strong performance predictors. For example, depending on the athlete and the event terrain, watts per kilogram (“w/kg”) or pounds per inch of height could be a Strong predictor.  An athlete who is carrying excess weight potentially will race better simply by dropping a few pounds/kilograms even if all other metrics change.  But for other athletes weight may not be limiting performance at all. All that’s included below are session-related data.

I frequently refer below to “key workouts.”  I define these as the most important sessions in a Build period training week. They are usually either high intensity, long duration, or both.  They generally fall into the category of “advanced abilities” as described in my Training Bible books: muscular endurance, anaerobic endurance, and sprint power. Race simulation sessions are always key workouts. Other key sessions may be intervals, repeats, hill training, or group workouts – whatever is critical to your preparation.

Weak Performance Predictors

● Max or lactate threshold heart rate

● Average cadence for a workout or week

● Weekly miles/kilometers/hours/TSS

● Calories/kilojoules expended/produced per week

● Feet or meters of vertical ascent in a week (“VAM”)

● Time in heart rate/power/pace/speed zones per week

Moderate Performance Predictors

● Minimal heart rate increase or power fade at aerobic event intensity – “Decoupling” (P:HR)

● Improving power/pace relative to aerobic heart rate over time – “Efficiency Factor” (EF)

● “Performance Management Chart” (PMC) data – “CTL,” “ATL,” and “TSB.”

● Distance/duration of key workouts

● Event-specific pacing of key workouts (“Variability Index”)

● Power Profile comparisons

● Event-specific calories/kilojoules expended/produced in key workouts

● Event-specific “Training Stress Score” (TSS) for key workouts

● Previous performance in the same event

● Time in power/pace zones in key workouts

● “Rating of Perceived Exertion” (RPE) relative to power/pace in key workouts

Strong Performance Predictors

● Functional Threshold Power/Pace (“FTP”)

● Peak power/pace for event-critical durations (6 sec, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 3 hours, or etc)

● The accumulation of seasonal-best peak power/pace in the last few weeks of Build

● Event-specific power/pace for an event-specific duration in key workouts

● Recent tune-up race performance

How to Have a Personal Best Ironman

Last night I spoke to the Landis Triathlon Club in Tempe, Arizona. Given that Ironman Arizona is this weekend, the topic was Ironman preparation. With only four days remaining until the race I’m sure no one is going to adopt all that I had to say. There isn’t time to make significant changes. “The hay is in the barn,” as my high school coach used to say. My purpose was to give them a starting place for future Ironman race preparation.

I also explained to them that what follows isn't the only or even necessarily the best way to prepare. There are many, many ways to train for an Ironman. That should be obvious. If afterwards you were to talk to 10 athletes who had their personal best Ironman races, you’d find they trained in 10 different ways. There would be some similarities, but there are likely to be great differences. If you were interview 10 who had very poor races you may find that some did what the successful 10 did and it didn’t work.

Successful endurance training is unique to the individual. We’re humans, not machines. So we’re affected by many individual variables such as genetics, unique diets, lifestyles, self-imposed beliefs, and much more. What works well for one doesn’t necessarily work for all.

What I outline below is the result of nearly 30 years of coaching Ironman athletes, reading the scientific literature, and talking with other coaches and athletes. It’s evolved—and will continue to evolve. I’m always testing different ways of training. Sometimes it works and I keep it; other times it doesn’t and so ends up in the trash. So the following is what 30 years has produced.

There are lots of details below which are not explained. Before posting a question you might first try doing a SEARCH on the topic (see menu above).  If that doesn’t answer your question then ask in the COMMENT section below. Given my work schedule (it pays the bills!) I can’t devote a great deal of time to answering questions here. So you’re better off searching first.

How to Have a Personal Best Ironman

I.  Hire a smart coach, or if self-coached follow these guidelines…

II. Select a race that matches your strengths

            A.  Hilly = strong cyclist course; flat = strong runner course

            B.  Wetsuit = swim is weak; no wetsuit = good swimmer

            C.  Consider conditions: typical temperature, humidity, wind

            D.  Avoid higher altitude (~1% loss of VO₂max for every 1000’ gain)

III. Training overview

             A.  Philosophy: Ironman is a bike race with a swim warm-up and a jog to the finish (wrapped around an eating contest)

            B.  Training stabilizes at ~15+ hpw by 15 weeks prior

            C.  Plan weekly training time by sport starting from base of: S-20%, B-50%, R-30% (adjust for limiter)

            D.  From 15-3 weeks prior, long weekly workouts are key sessions

            E.  Do 2 “Big Days” ~11 and ~5 weeks prior to race day

            F.  Recover for 3-5 days when the body says it’s time

IV.  Swim training (last 15 weeks)

            A.  Swim 2-4 times per week depending on if swim is a limiter

            B.  If not a limiter…

                    1.  2-3 swims per week

                    2. One long (~1 hour)

                    3.  1-2 short & fast preparing for start

            C.  If a limiter…

                    1.  Focus only on speed skill limiters: PDLC (posture, direction, length, catch)

                    2.  3-4 swims per week

                    3.  One long (~1.25 hours)

                    4.  2-3 x 30 min workouts doing only “speed skill 25s” (focus on P, D, L, or C)

V.   Bike training (last 15 weeks)

            A.  Determines outcome of race

            B.  Get a professional bike fitting prior to 15 weeks

            C.  Get as fit as possible—then hold back in race (must rehearse)

            D.  Ride 4-6 times per week

            E.  Use a power meter

                        1.  Determine appropriate race intensity factor (IF 65-75%)

                        2.  Do weekly long ride (5-6 hrs + 15min run) focused on race IF

                        3.  Other rides are race conditions & terrain focused

            F.  Steady pacing—NO SURGING (the most common cause of poor run)

VI.  Run training (last 15 weeks)

            A.  Run 2-3 times per week depending on strength vs. limiter

            B.  Weekly long, easy run of 2-2.5 hours

            C.  Other runs are short: speed skills, conditions & terrain focused

            D.  No intervals, no “speedwork” – always comfortable (lots of z2)

VII. Eat the least amount necessary

            A.  Too much leads to bloating, nausea, DNF

            B.  All you need is water and sugar—everything else is optional and likely to cause bloating

            C.  The slower you go, the more you can take in

            D.  Rehearse & refine eating on ALL long rides

VIII. For more details search my blog

 

Seriously?

I spoke at a cycling camp offered by Aspen Sports Performance this past weekend in Moab, Utah. The riding was spectacular and the athletes were all quite impressive, especially given that it was the “off season” (whatever that means) for most of them.

On Saturday during a break in the ride at Arches National Park  (what a beautiful place to ride!) I talked briefly about the purposes and methodologies of training. This prompted one of the riders to ask if he should be “serious” about training year round. I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that exact question before, but a lot of athletes have implied it. Here’s what I told him.

How serious you are, which I take to mean how focused you are on training to improve race performance, depends on a couple of things. The first is how challenging your race goal is. It’s okay to take a long break and have a low-key season occasionally in which you do races—if any—just to have fun. If they’re only social outings and you don’t care about the outcomes then there is no reason to be serious with training. In fact, it may not be “training” at all as that implies having a focus on outcome. Instead, all you need is an exercise program. Do what you want, when you want. Totally non-serious.

For seasons in which you are focused on achieving high goals, your level of seriousness can depend on periodization. This following table provides a rough guide as to how serious you might be during each period (see my Training Bible books or search this blog for more details on periodization). In this table, “serious” means, to me, doing workouts that are laser-focused on performance. Not every workout in each period needs to be that way. In any given period some may be 100% focused and others not focused at all. So if half of them are focused the serious-non-serious balance may be 50-50. The non-serious workouts are, essentially, “play.” You’re simply having fun by exercising with friends, exploring new territory while riding or running, exercising in ways that are very much unlike your sport (for example, a cyclist who runs or a triathlete who XC skis), or even taking a day off just because you feel like it.

Period	Typical Length (in weeks)	Purpose (in common order of importance)	% Serious	% Non-serious
Transition	2-6	Rejuvenate	0	100
Preparation	2-6	Prepare to train	60	40
Base 1	3-4	Skills, force, aerobic endurance	80	20
Base 2	3-4	Aerobic endurance, skills, force, muscular endurance	90	10
Base 3	3-4	Muscular endurance, aerobic endurance, skills, force	100	0
Build 1	3-4	Race-specificity	100	0
Build 2	3-4	Race-specificity	100	0
Peak	1-2	Maintain fitness, shed fatigue, race specificity	100	0
Race	1	Shed fatigue, maintain fitness	100	0

Now you can be serious all the time, if you want. I know many athletes who do that. I tend to be that way myself once I get into the base period, so I understand. But if you are this type you need to closely monitor your psychological status. Burnout is common with such athletes. For whatever reason, I’ve met a lot of Ironman athletes who are this way. These few triathletes don’t merely train seriously, they are serious all the time. They wake up thinking about training. They eat thinking about training. They think about training at work. They go to bed thinking about training. And I’m not just picking on Ironman triathletes as I’ve known a couple of other athletes who are this way who aren’t triathletes. Ironman seems to attract highly focused people. And, again, that's okay. Just be sure to monitor yourself. It's easy to dig a deep trench if overly serious.

So, does having this table mean you have to follow it? No, not at all. It’s just my thoughts on how to train if you have set high performance goals for yourself. The key idea here is that the higher your goal, the more serious you must be in regards to the training purpose column above. This becomes critical in the last 12 weeks before the race. During this time you must be serious if you have a high-performance goal. But if you feel the need to take a break from serious training, even though it may be Build 2 and you’ve set very high goals, then by all means just “play” for a while. You’ll race much better if you are enthusiastic and highly motivated but not quite race fit than if you are the other way around.

My Clinics, Camps, and Talks

I’m often asked where I’ll be doing clinics and camps. Here’s my current schedule for the next few months. Some are subject to change. Click on the event link to find more details.

Moab, Utah - Nov 1-4, 2012 - Cycling Camp            

Boulder, Colorado - Nov 10, 2012 - Coaches Power Workshop      

Tempe, Arizona - Nov 14, 2012 -  Landis Triathlon Club      

St. Pete Beach, Florida - Dec 1, 2012 - Coaches Power Workshop            

Foothill Ranch, Cali (Oakley) (TBA) - Jan 9, 2013 - Cycling & Triathlon Clinic

Scottsdale, Arizona (TBA) - Jan 26, 2012 - Athlete Power Clinic   

Johannesburg, S Africa - Feb 2, 2013 -  Cycling & Triathlon Clinic       

Port Elizabeth, S Africa - Feb 3, 2013 -  Cycling & Triathlon Clinic       

Cape Town, S Africa -  Feb 6, 2013 -  Dinner & Talk  

Western Province, S Africa - Feb 7-10, 2013 -  Triathlon Camp           

New Jersey (TBA) -  Feb 23, 2013 - Triathlon Clinic

Lanzarote, Spain - Mar 2-9, 2013 - Triathlon Camp            

Mallorca, Spain - Mar 16-23, 2013 - Triathlon Camp           

Toronto, Canada (TBA) - May 3-4, 2013 - Triathlon Clinic

Riccione, Italy - May 11-18, 2013 - Triathlon Camp           

How Can I Do a Faster Ironman?

Question

Hi,

I thought I would contact you via email since you are unable to answer on your blog page. I have a couple questions and am hoping you can help me with your expertise. I have to share I use to live in Tempe and Scottlsdale a few years ago! I miss the mountains, it's a beautiful place to live! I'm presently in Florida. Very flat!

I just finished my first Ironman, Oct 20th, I'm 57 years old, Personal Trainer. My goal that race was to just finish, which is what I did. Not a great time, but happy to finish and feel good and no injuries. I have another one coming up on Jan 12,2013. This one I would like to train more for speed than just finishing. It is a flat course unlike the last IM, which should be to my advantage physically since I trained for hills on the last one.

My question:

What is the best way to train for events that are so close together? I'm not a fast runner, should I concentrate on speed and shorter distance during the week and up my long runs to 3 times per month? I would appreciate any help you might give me.

Thank you, I have used so many of your training plans in the past and they rock!

Regards,

KM

 

Answer

Hi KM,

First of all, you did the right thing to set your goal on just finishing your first Ironman. That’s an awesome accomplishment. You should certainly be able to go faster on your next. My only concern is if you have enough time to fully recover before doing another. But, fortunately, my suggestion on how to go faster will also reduce the burden of training for the next one. If you do what I suggest here I can almost guarantee that your next will be a faster one.

Let’s start with an overview, one that Ironman athletes don’t usually like to hear: An Ironman is a bike race with a swim warm-up and a jog to the finish line. Most don’t like to hear that because it downplays the value of swimming and, especially, of running. But it’s true. Let me explain.

It’s a bike race: About half of the race is spent on the bike. So it has the greatest impact on the overall time. Get really fit on the bike and you’ll have a good finishing time—if you hold back. This last part is critical. If you go all out on the bike—your fastest possible split—you’ll walk the marathon. But if you hold back 5% on the bike you’ll come off and be ready to run, albeit, slowly. More on that in a bit. The best way to prepare for the bike is to use a power meter. It’s almost like cheating. Once you know what your power should be for the race, you just ride to that power and you produce your best time. Again, this is not a maximal (minimal?) time, but rather optimal—it leaves you with enough legs to run, not walk.

With a swim warm-up: The swim makes up only about 10% of the race. You don’t need to swim a whole lot to get ready for it. Three swims a week will do it. And the focus _must_ be on form—not fitness. You’ll get a lot faster just by refining your technique. Let fitness takes care of itself. On race day then, what you must do is pace yourself in the swim. Get on somebody’s feet who seems to have a good pace and relax. Just keep checking to make sure the other swimmer is staying on course.

And a jog to the finish: Ok, finally, the run which you expressed concern about. There is absolutely no need to do “speed” work, as in fast intervals. It will just be a waste of your time, leave you tired most of the time, and increase your chances of injury. You’re never going to run “fast” in an Ironman. Even the pros don’t run fast. A pro man who runs a 2:50 after the bike could probably run 2:25 to 2:30 in a stand alone marathon. That’s roughly 15% slower after 112 miles on the bike. His Saturday morning run with his buddies is usually faster than that! It’s the same for you only the percentage is probably more like 20% because you will have spent more time on the bike with less training and therefore be relatively more tired. You could go out right now, with no additional training, and run the same time or even faster for 26.2 miles than you’re going to run in the Ironman. That would feel easy. It’s a jog.

A good example of all of this is Pete Jacobs who won Ironman Hawaii a couple of weeks ago. He said he only ran about three times a week in the build up and swam typically twice a week. But he put in about 18 hours a week on the bike.

So, like I said earlier, it’s a bike race with a swim warm-up and a jog to the finish. Prepare for it that way and you’ll greatly increase your chances of having a faster race. The only remaining issues then are pacing the bike optimally and getting race day fueling right. Those are also both as critical to your success and must be taken very seriously.

Let me know if there are any follow up questions. Good luck and please let me know how you did!

Joe

Comments Problem

I'm having a strange problem with my blog account and have reported it to tech support with the company that hosts it. Unfortunately they don't seem to believe me. The bottom line is that I can't reply to your questions posted under comments. Readers can post comments but I can't. Weird. So please don't give up on me. I'm not ignoring you. I just can't do anything about it until support fixes the problem. If they don't then I'll move my blog some place else. Thanks for hanging in there with me in the mean time.

Question: Is Testing Reliable?

Question

Hello Joe,

I am a 58 year old male cyclist and recently took part in a Vo2 max testing, my question is how reliable are these test?

My question to you is, does the test differ from type of software they use and how they administer the test ?

It was administered by a very reliable fitness tester, in this most recent test my Vo2 max came out to 68.6 with a peak hr of 162.

I have been higher than that on some indoor interval work, peaking at 167 bpm. 18 months ago tested with the same tester and showed a Vo2 max of 156.6 peak hr of 154.

These last results showed a gain of 30 watts from the last test.

Do these numbers seem achievable to you and do you think they are credible ?

Thank you.

JP

Answer

JP,

Thanks for your note. VO2max test results vary as much as race results do. Regarding reliability, there are many “it depends” including how well rested you were, how high your fitness was at the time of the test, warm-up, equipment calibration, protocol, etc. It’s just a number, and not critical to your training at all. The metabolic info that may have been collected is much more valuable, especially if you do long races. Good luck!

Joe

A Sample from My Newest Book

I've got a new book out – The Power Meter Handbook. I wrote it this past spring and it just hit the shelves. Here is a sample from it. This is Chapter 3 along with the Table of Contents and the Index. It's a small book. In all there are 10 chapters and 224 pages.

It's intended to be a simple introduction to using a power meter – enough to get you started and down the road the first year. It will help you use the data you collect to improve your riding and performance immediately. It focuses on road cyclists, triathletes, and century riders, but anyone with a power meter will benefit. After reading it and applying the training ideas from it you'll be ready to move on Allen and Coggan's Training and Racing with a Power Meter, which takes a broader view and is more comprehensive.

I'm quite excited to have this book finally come to market and look forward to hearing your comments here.

The Power Meter Handbook is now available for $16.95 at bookstores now.

The Aging Athlete – The Key Question

The readers of this blog always manage to get to the heart of the issue. I received this question by email a few days ago. It’s a good one which many aging athletes ponder, I'm sure.

The question:

Not a question that would affect training, and obviously the answer would vary by individual -- but, how much does one begin to lose after 30?

I had the chance to use an SRM in '97, and saw 350w for an hour, at 73kg.and 30 years old. I was doing 340w at 74kg in 2010, and then 330w this year after an eight-month layoff from a posterior tibial tendon injury in 2011.

I'm certainly training better and more consistently now than I was in the 90s -- I may have been able to get more than that 350 if I'd had more of a focus on intensity then, but that's just speculation, obviously.

My curiosity now is how much does one expect to lose in one's 40s and 50s?

Robert

My answer:

Hi Robert,

Yes, that's the ultimate question for the aging athlete. The research using "normal" subjects (mostly sedentary, mostly overweight, mostly poor nutrition, mostly low motivation) says to expect a 1% decline per year in aerobic capacity (VO2max) after age 35. (Lactate threshold and economy have not been well researched in regards to age so we’re stuck with only one performance measure to consider.) There is very little research on older, athletic, fit, etc subjects. The little that exists suggests the decline for this group is more on the order of 0.5% per year after 35—about half of the “normal” decline. I suspect it's less than that if the athlete has maintained his/her training at a high level, which includes continuing high intensity interval-type workouts. Unfortunately, most don't as they get older and so the research is skewed a bit. As the baby boomers age there will be more research done on truly older populations who are more performance-focused. Then I believe we will find the decline to be considerably less than 0.5%.

Joe

The Aging Athlete - More About Me

For the last 30-some years of the 68 I've been on the planet my training has been pretty consistent. There have been the usual breaks of a week or two due to illness or other normal lifestyle matters. The biggest gap was back in 1995 when I was diagnosed with a virus in my heart and was told to stop exercising until the symptoms went away. That took seven months. Even last year when I fractured my pelvis in a crash I missed 20 days of riding as I rode an indoor trainer for three weeks (with the broken side of the hip hanging over the edge of the saddle). Maybe that means I'm OCD. I suspect most serious athletes are.

My point here is not to try to convince you that I'm some sort of freak of nature, but rather to make a point about my training consistency before I launch into a description of how I, as an old guy, trains. I'm often asked about that by other aging athletes. What I'm about to describe is, to some extent, a result of several decades of regular exercise. It may not apply directly to you.

When it comes to determining how one should train, perhaps the most important elements are how long and how stressful the previous training has been. Consistency (as in weeks, months and years) in both of these areas has more to do with how much and how hard you can exercise with advancing age than any other elements. The commonly accepted theory is that we each have a genetic ceiling for exercise and performance. We typically refer to this as our "potential." The theory says that we can only maintain or slow the rate at which our potential declines over time. The theory also says it won't increase. If you were inactive for many years earlier in life, and especially if you are new to serious training only recently, then you can assume that your capacity to manage a training load has decreased considerably.

Again, I'm only telling you this to set the stage for what follows. This is not intended to be a description of how every 50-, 60,- or 70-something athlete should workout. I know many who do considerably more than I do, and also many who do less. There is no single, right way to train in terms of workout frequency, duration and intensity as we get older; nor is there a formula for determining what one's training regimen should be at any stage of life. There are as many different ways to train as there are athletes who want to train. So if you ask me to tell you how to train given one or two lifestyle variables, previous performances, or goals, please be aware that I'd only be guessing. For that reason I never tell athletes who I know little about exactly what they should do in training. Even when I coach someone and get to know them quite well, there is still a lot of head scratching that goes on when it's time to write a training plan for them. So I really can't tell you, who I don't know, what you should do. It would just be a wild guess on my part.

So, given all of these disclaimers, below is a general outline of how I train based on seasonal periodization. I'm a road cyclist and race only a few times each year with a preference for hill climbs and time trials. As a runner, triathlete, mountain biker, swimmer, or other type of endurance athlete you need to keep this in mind as the sport one participates in has a lot to do with how to train. For example, the anaerobic endurance workouts you'll see listed below are necessary for a sport like road cycling in which two-minute episodes of very intense activity often determine the race outcome. That's seldom the case for the other sports listed above.

My workouts are planned based on Training Stress Score (TSS). If you don't use TrainingPeaks or WKO+ software then that probably doesn't mean anything to you. But in a nutshell, it's a method for quantifying the workload of a workout based on its duration and intensity. Duration (time) is easy. Intensity comes from either a power meter (bike), a GPS device (running), or a heart rate monitor (any sport) and is expressed as a percentage of one's Functional Threshold Power/Pace/Pulse (FTP). FTP represents a hard effort and is done right at the start of your "redline." Percentages of FTP, both above and below, are called the Intensity Factor (IF). Although the software doesn't do it this way, one way to use IF is to think of FTP as an IF of 10. That would be a very hard, max effort that you maintain for an hour. Conversely, if you workout at half of that intensity--an IF of 5--it would be a relatively easy session (or portion thereof). You could also do an interval, for example, at an IF above 10 but you certainly couldn't hold it for an hour.

An easy way to determine TSS is to square the IF and multiply by the number of hours. So a 2-hour workout at an IF of 5 would be a TSS of 50 (5 x 5 = 25, 25 x 2 = 50). Again, that's a pretty easy workout. (All of this is explained in much greater detail with many examples in my newest book, The Power Meter Handbook.)

So given an understanding of that, here are the basic workouts I do, regardless of the training period, based on TSS:

TSS 50. This is a 2-hour ride done at IF 5. These are done year round (base and build periods).

TSS 100. For me this is usually a 2-hour workout averaging an IF of around 7 (7 x 7 = 49, 49 x 2 = 98). An average IF of 7 over 2 hours is typically either the result of doing a long zone 2 steady state ride (base period) or intervals at zone 4 or higher ("muscular" or "anaerobic" endurance training) with recoveries in zone 1 plus a long warm-up and cool down (build period). Be sure to note that the build period 7 IF is an average for the entire workout, part of which was very hard and part very easy.

TSS 150. This is much the same as above only it is a 3-hour session. It's more likely to be a hard group ride or a hard effort in the mountains (build period) than intervals. I do one of these every 6 to 8 days. (More on why the frequency varies is explained shortly.)

TSS 200. Again, the same as above only a 4-hour workout in zone 2 (base) or with a fast group or a hard mountain ride or some unique combination of many different portions (build). I do these infrequently, but once a year I'll do a few days of these back to back in a camp environment to boost fitness. In my Training Bible books I call this "crash" training.

Now back to being old. The big issue for the aging athlete is recovery. That's always my major concern. I use something called "recovery on demand." That means when I feel tired I may do two or three TSS 50 workouts back to back or take a day off followed by a TSS 50. This can happen at any time. That's why it's "on demand." I can sometimes predict it a day in advance, but not always. Some days I start my ride and decide after a few minutes that it needs to be a TSS 50. Totally unplanned.

Without considering recovery on demand, my typical TSS schedule is something like this, regardless of base or build period:

TSS 50 - 100 - 50 - 100 - 50 - 150 repeat

This pattern is repeated until I feel the need to recover for more than one day. Then I'll do two TSS 50 sessions back to back, or possibly even three if really wasted. Or a TSS 50 and a day off (TSS 0). This is why I said above that I do a TSS 150 every 6 to 8 days. It just depends on how I am recovering.

I'm sure if I was younger I could do more TSS 100 workouts back to back before a 50. And probably a lot more 150s and 200s. And certainly even much higher TSS workouts. That's all rare except in a crash period which I do very seldom--as in once a year. A crash period is always followed by a lot of recovery, perhaps as much as a week of TSS 50s.

I wish I could tell every aging athlete who reads this how to train, how hard the workouts should be, how long they should be, how often they should recover, what the recovery should be like, and more. But I can't. It's simply not possible. I'd have to coach you for several weeks before I could answer all of those question. So, please realize that if you ask me how you should design your training given a few variables (or even a page full of them) that I really can't do it. The best thing I can do for you is to have you read one of my Training Bible books. They walk the self-coached athlete through all of these many, many details. There is also a section in these books with more details for aging athletes.