To improve, you need to train hard and recover hard. This is not new yet few follow this principle, they train hard all the time, under-recover and under-perform.
If your objectives are to match the race demands then you need to train for these demands. This means you need to be fresh to train for these demands by leaving adequate recovery of at least 48 hours between 2 high intensity sessions.
Your body will only adapt to the stresses you place on it. If you are not fresh and you train at 180Watts instead of 220Watts then you will adapt for180Watts. 220Watt form is not going to suddenly appear on race day when you have been training below this level.
Next, balance your high intensity rides with endurance rides. This means keeping your intensity between 75% and 85% of your threshold power. This is quite tricky to get right and you generally see one of 2 things happening here: The first is too low an intensity on the pretext of doing LSD. The result is wasted hours, low productivity. The second are the riders that head off on a 4 hour ride with eyeballs out efforts on every hill - THIS IS NOT AN ENDURANCE RIDE. The rider goes at over 100% of threshold on the hills and then well below 75% of threshold everywhere else.
More to follow...
