Peaking during crit season with Matt Bosman

There’s a few different ways to build your periodization around crit or general road season. Periodization is key in cycling and coaching. Even if you don’t have power, even if you have major A races scattered through the season, periodization of your training and timing where you will peak is a necessity. In Matt Bosman’s case we knew that there were some bigger more taxing events in spring in the Midwestern-North but we knew for sure that Intelligentsia Cup is a major targeted race mid-season where we wanted to be on top form specific to the event. We built him up quickly into spring with FTP workouts that start to show up as FTP gains with long spring efforts and racing. All in a detailed plan to drive the intensity and taper into July’s Intelligentsia Cup racing week.
Matt Bosman has shown steady growth for two full seasons now. Looking at his FTP review chart from 2017 where we had a similar game plan we can see growth at peak FTP just before the peak race in late July/early August. Also looking at his fitness overview we can see that his peak FTPs in general correlate to his highest CTL of the year which is fitness. We did something right with the FTP so we can look at FTP vs FRC and see if we had a high FRC during that time in 2017 and compare it to his peak in 2017 for this race.

Here’s Matt’s FRC and Pmax curves where you can distinctly see that his highest FRC’s are where we wanted him to peak for this race series. It’s a little self serving. He could have these peak FRC’s FROM racing too but we can see that his FRC was on the rise well before the event in his taper for the event.
Below are the 2018 stats in the same format as above but this year’s graphs.
2018 FTP review chart. 2018 isn’t done yet, but we can see here that we have progression in aerobic, functional threshold powers which is what we want but also really hard to do, especially in masters athletes. We have a solid 20 watts of modeled FTP in WKO’s algorithms which is an impressive gain in one year.   

Here in 2018 we see his FTP peaking again in late August pre-event. It’s possible and common for there to be a drop in FTP as you see a rise in FRC and anaerobic powers. That’s just part of tapering. You’re also working less FTP as you taper with more rest and polarized training with intensity. So in WKO4 terms you have a higher FRC and a lower FTP and/or Time to Exhaustion.  
Here’s Matt’s PD curve metrics chart just like 2017 but higher. And then the performance manager chart that brings it all together on how to control TSS per day with the right workouts to make it all happen.


Now how do we insure that he is peaked for this specific race without burnout?  We post specific workouts to the riders weakness, specific workouts to the riders goal event, we have accurate numbers in WKO, and we communicate weekly. These are all important points to prevent burnout and feel out when the rider is truly peaking. At the end of the day, the actual rider’s skill and fitness allow them to meet their goal result but with proper coaching we can ensure that the rider is on peak form.
In Matt’s case he also collects video for us to go through and see what mistakes he makes tactically. Matt has big power, you can see this all over these numbers. Big power despite a relatively normal CTL as he has a family and a full time job. The power needs to translate to results and it doesn’t always. These videos are super helpful in regards to bridging the gap of knowing if the rider is fast but not knowing where or why the results aren’t coming in. In Matt’s case he had a great Intelligentsia Cup with many top 10’s and upgrade points towards his Cat 1. Here’s some crit videos for your viewing pleasure. The analysis of these videos is another article entirely.

Zack Allison earned his bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science at Colorado State University. As part of his education, he participated in many hands on exercise science practicum and internships, coaching many types of athletes, specifically cyclists.
Zack’s affinity for cycling started at the early age of 14 racing on the east coast. He quickly moved up the amateur ranks to race on the elite national circuit. This level of competition sparked his interest in exercise science, taking him to Colorado State University. While racing for his alma-mater and on various amateur teams he saw many podiums at the Collegiate Championships and Pro/Am events. Zack is currently living in Fort Collins, Colorado and has raced for Elevate Pro Cycling and currently races for Clif Bar.
Growing up with great mentors and coaches, Zack has a goal of paying it forward. He hopes to use his education and racing experience to bring success to Source Endurance and his clients. Zack also owns and operated the Source Endurance Training Center of the Rockies, a training and bike fit studio in Fort Collins, CO.