What is this and why is it important in training ?
FRC is the set amount of energy you have available when riding over your critical power. Think of it as a battery that begins depleting when a certain intensity level is reached and this starting point of depletion occurs when you ride at intensities above your critical power.
When you ride at intensities above your CP, (Critical Power enables you to determine the highest average effort you can maintain for a specific period of time. It empowers you to accurately understand the average wattage you are capable of sustaining, without blowing up and burning out. ) you essentially put yourself on limited time before your battery’s capacity completely drains.
The rate at which your battery drains depends on how far over your CP you’re riding, i.e. how intense your effort. You can ride really hard for a short period of time and deplete the battery quicker, or ride slightly easier and have your battery last longer, but what’s important to understand is that the size of the battery remains the same in all scenarios, i.e. you have the same capacity no matter how hard or easy you ride above your CP.
In really simple terms, i tell all my Athletes that when doing intervals, the temptation is to hit the first one hard, your legs are fresh and you bash the life out of it....Problem is as you go onwards you cant hit the same efforts and you start to fade which can mean that you under perform the schedualed session...So start easier, hit the target and if you want to push on then do so with the last few intervals.
If you want to improve your FRC then look at short, hard efforts in the region of 30-120 seconds in duration, where each repetition will be performed at an intensity that’s close to, but not quite maximal effort.....
Happy interval training !!!