Using Joe Friel’s Training Bible to plan your season

As a third-generation subscriber of Lydiard, Joe Friel’s application to most amateurs is definitely not something I subscribe to. However, I know it’s an easy to understand book that has many followers and I’m positive that these two spreadsheets will come in dead handy for those who would have otherwised used a quill. Hidden in the dark depths of Bikeradar, I found that in ’07 a user had created two excel charts to help you use in conjunction with Joe Friel’s book far easier than with a paper and pen. It’s automatic and does it for you based on how many hours, and working back from your prioritised events, just like you would in his book. Given it’s also digital and with the rise in smartphones, tabs, Dropbox etc, it’s much easier to access anywhere, edit, and won’t be lost.

Proficiency profiling 
The first one is the proficiencies profile whereby you are asked numerous questions on your ability, and it’ll provide you with a score on your climbing, TT’ing and sprinting ability. It also covers mental attributes and natural ability, as well as threshold and sprint power. The idea is you can then review and work on what your weaknesses are in the upcoming season.

Planning your season to periodise 
The second and probably more important one is the season planner. He’s created a great chart here. It’s laid out just like the template in the book, and you would use it in conjunction with pages 119-148 to plan your season and to periodise as initially laid out by Dr. Bompa. While Friel’s book pushes for linear periodisation, those who have a wider understanding will still be able to expand upon this and undulate or reverse periodise, dependant on what they’re training for.

Enter your annual training hours into the planner, enter all of your races and then prioritise them and work back as you would in the book and select which mesocycle of training you’ll be in. The chart then automatically crosses the box of which training sessions you should be doing that week. Go to ‘workoutpatterns’ tab and you’ll see what training session is prescribed on that day, and in the ‘workout’ tab a description of that session.

Got power?
I think on this tri website I may found the perfect complimentary spreadsheet to the PMC planning spreadhseet.

The TSS calculating spreadsheet has a lot of potential. Using TSS data already in your Trainingpeaks or from the TSS spreadsheet, if that data could be consolidated into workout codes, and then workout codes entered into the 52 calendar weeks (rather than a daily basis, I think that’s unfeasible for an amateur with a job/social life/kids etc), you could use the spreadsheet above I’ve just found to forecast with tremendous accuracy TSS, and thus the rise of your CTL and peak perfectly for your event(s). I would suggest adding to column H another list of races you have planned. You could also add in holidays, annual leave etc to help you plan from the one sheet.

Quantifying a training programme based on TSS and being able to actively modify it I think would make following a programme easier when you can actively forecast your PMC to periodise for as many peaks per season as you wish.

Fantastic excel charts!

Seale 2/3 – 4th place

Who and where
Rob Sharland, Seamus, Luke, Declan, myself and Nigel entered this race in Seale today, promoted by Wyndymilla. 14 laps of a short punchy circuit.

Pre-race
Sharland was a prick at the HQ, criticising my pre-race music of Santigold. Nigel was hip enough to recognise it (hence why Rob never got the invite to the pub after). We stood road side, cheering Maryka on in the morning womens race before we had to get ready. The womens race had been blown apart. The gaps were massive, with 6-7 in the front bunch, including 2 phoenix riders. Seeing Maryka at the HQ later, she told us she won!  Excellent stuff. I think I heard her say that while she’d won a load of crits, it was her first RR win? She tried downplaying it, but a win is a win! Excellent stuff!

So with the bar set of a KW win, upon a quick recce, the corners were tight, full of drains/potholes, and I didn’t like it one bit. I knew it’d be a ‘stay safe out of others way’ job. That unfortunately meant poor positioning at the back of the field, and not being able to respond to moves. The finish line was 0.16 miles from the final tight corner, and I knew I’d stand no chance in a sprint if I left it down to the bunch, so wanted to get away.

I think David Creeggan of Pedal Heaven was there. An elite rider. With a number on his back. Eavesdropping a convo of someone else, they said they overheard him say something about finding out whether he was an elite or not, but another grassed him up to the commissaire, and he didn’t get a ride. 

The race
In the neutralised section, the lead cars were very stop/start, causing the bunch to constantina, and a Meudon guy (Albert Ellison?) managed to touch wheels with the guy in front, and came down hard, with a LOT of language. On the first descent, a Dynamo about 8 wheels ahead of me came down, and I just managed to come by his rear wheel, unscathed. Fucking nuts.

Meudon were riding a lot on the front, chasing down attacks. I assumed that they would be trying to set it up for a sprinter, but they were riding quite hard chasing down attacks in that first hour. 3 of them soon dropped to the back, and were starting to be shelled. This left Norwood to do some of the pacemaking and chasing of attacks. Seamus had punctured unfortunately at this point.

With roughly ~10 minutes per lap, I moved up a little to Rob Sharland, who told me Lawrence Carpenter and a G.S Avanti guy name Jonathan Harris were off the front, and had 1 minute 50 seconds. He said Keith Lea of Addiscombe (who had been trying to get away lots, but Meudon seemed to mark him hard) fancied one more attack. We had 4.5 laps to go. I’ve done so little sustained effort training this year over 20 minutes long, and didn’t fancy 45 minutes off the front. I said to Rob I was going to go, and he could mop up in the sprint. He said he felt good, so I said we should attack after the very fast tailwind section, where the bunch were swallowing most attacks as a hill followed. I told him to get on my wheel, and we moved up…

The all-important moves
With 3.5 laps to go, we moved up alongside a double paceline, with Keith Lea on the inside, and the front 10 in a single paceline. I used the momentum to carry us through and decided to go then and try to isolate Keith from joining us (as he corners like a boss, and would shank me out the back), still on the tailwind section with 400m to go until the corner up a hill. It was an audacious move to suggest Rob and I should go, but I knew we’d work well. We got a gap, and a Charlotteville guy who seems to mark all my moves came with us, as well as a Dynamo. The Dynamo guy seemed to be ~10 yards off the back, and Rob pressured the Charlotteville chap into doing 1 turn, and then we dropped them both after about 5 minutes into our attack.

Rob and I then 2 up’d for the last 30 minutes. I wanted retrospective time checks on the bunch back to us, but we were getting time checks to the group ahead. The gap was coming down, VERY quickly. Rob and I were flying. I was however cornering a lot quicker now than at the back of the bunch, and I overcooked 3 corners, even once going up someones driveway, onto the grass, and back onto the course.  I need to do some more crits.

The gap came down from 2:30 down to 1 minute with 2 to go.  I had cheekily thought about asking Rob to gift me 3rd for the SL points, and him get 4th for 1st cat as a final thanks for the Sussex race, but the gap to the front group came down to 30s on the final lap! 3/4 of a lap to go, and it was down to 20 seconds! That put pay to any plans of gifting! The front 2 must have been getting time checks as Lawrence and the Avanti guy seemed to pick up the pace, while I was hoping for cat and mouse.

By this point, I felt shagged. Rob was doing more of the work from me, and told me to eat/drink. He said to me “if I gap you in the last corner, should I go”. My answer was a definite “yes!”. I said I’d try to do my best to get him across in touch with the front group. I had a quick check to make sure nobody was upon us, and buried myself into the final corner. I waved Rob through and on, shouting encouragement. I think he finished a mere 8 seconds or so down on Jonathan (who took the win) and Lawrence. A tremendous chase. I rolled over in 4th, mostly looking over my shoulder on the final hill, needlessly fearing I would be caught on the line.

I’m not sure I could have gone any earlier. I averaged 198bpm/95% of my max heart rate for that final 35 minute 2 up with Rob at 320w NP, after 1h45m of racing and sprinting out of every corner at 255w NP. It was cheeky enough for us to both attack the bunch, and it would have been absolutely audacious to catch the break with such a massive lead and scalp them, but we almost did it! It’s a lesson in cornering really – had I been confident/competent enough through the slower corners, I’d have been up near the front and likely followed the move with Lawrence in. Shame, as Rob and I clearly had the legs, but a brilliant break, chase, and decent result all the same.

The next group rolled in – 5 riders, including the Charlotteville and Dynamo we dropped, about 60-90s back. Then an older Pedal Heaven guy rolled over, solo, followed by the main bunch where Luke and Declan placed high [top 5] in the bunch sprint for some BC and SL points. Nigel rolled in, having cramped. Speaking to some in the bunch after, they said that Luke and Declan were on blocking duties in the peloton, and throughout our break, Seamus was roadside offering bottles and time checks. Fantastic teamwork all round! 

Finally, a MASSIVE congratulation to Rob Sharland – now a 1st cat! I’ve said it elsewhere, but I’m going to miss racing with him as the last 4 races have been great fun collaborating to get results. Gonna have to do the E123’s now I guess!

Newdigate handicap – 1st!

Mark and I cycled down tonight. Turned up at the start to see a field of 50 with Rory Townsend, Connall Yates, a couple of Meudon boys, Jake, Francis, and one mean looking Spanish guy who looked very pro. My heart sank with intimidation.

I set off in the penultimate group, with Connall, Jake and Francis in the scratch. Rory wasn’t doing big pulls, so I figured he was waiting for Francis or Jake. When the scratch group caught us, Francis was sat in, with Jake and Rory trying to work Connall over, and get away to get him working.

Lap by lap, the 5 minute to the front group came down, and on the penultimate lap they were caught, and we were back together. A few attacks went with the big guys, but I was on the front with the Spanish guy and I just peeled off and said “no interest in chasing this one down”. A couple of others tried going, and I got on their wheel and went across with them, but it got nowhere. Unfortunately a tractor on the course held us up for about 1 mile or so, and we crawled behind it at ~8mph for a mile. During this, one of the Crawley guys told me Mark had been caught behind a car before the descent. I don’t think he made it back on, but he’s had 5 weeks off the bike with ligament trouble, so it’s excused and all good training! What had been stretched out was all back together, and I knew the start to the final lap was going to be manic once the tractor pulled in… it was!

As we approached the kick finish onto the bell lap, Connall went. Francis followed. Keith Lea too. A Meudon rider, the Spanish guy, then Stephen Broomfield. Norwood Paragon had 4-5 men working in a chaingang to try and bring it back. Jake was sat in, covering any bridges across. It wasn’t getting anywhere, when one of the Paragon tried going across and got into no mans land. I followed him, then kicked again to the front group, and rode straight to the front, where Connall was upset at others not working. I did a turn, peeled off, but the Norwood chaingang was 5 yards off the back of us, so I sat up.

The jockeying for position was now beginning. Everyone was fighting for Francis’ wheel, as it had been clear throughout the race he was their designated rider. I lost a couple of wheels trying to sit on his, when Connall and a Twickenham guy came by. I sat on their wheel while Rory peeled off after a massive amount of work, and Jake hammered out the final 3 miles on the front, stringing it out.

I began moving up on the outside on Connall’s wheel, and as we got to the final kick, Jake was still on the front, but nobody was twitching to sprint. I think everyone was looking at Francis. I had huge amount of momentum moving up, and was the first to kick just before the hill. Staying close to the white line to ensure my line was straight as possible, and away from those watching Francis. Cue lots of shouts of “up up up!”

I crested the hill and could see the finish line about 150-200m away. I tried getting as low as I could at the front end, my glasses were half way down my nose, and I was thrashing the shit out of the pedals, scared I was going to be pipped to the line… I wasn’t! 

I crossed it in 1st place, had a look behind and won by about 5 metres! I couldn’t actually believe it. By far my best win, considering the field. My 30s sprint tonight was my peak power in March! Francis took joint 3rd with Ryan Visser of Redhill CC.

Very very very happy!

Video of the finish from 2 minutes onwards: