Off season training Part 7:MSP

This is part 7 of the off season primer on the Morris Method of training.

After the slog fest in the basement with the shorter 1-4 minute intervals, now we move to what is called MSP: Maximum Sustainable Power. The emphasis is on sustainable.



The power level at which these are done drops dramatically from the power levels pushed in the SMSP phase. But the length of the intervals goes up dramatically as well. I am doing them in the 10-15 minute range.

Another thing is that the amount of rest between reps goes down. In the SMSP it was usually 1:1 work to rest. Here it is 1:1/2 work to rest. Because you just don't need that much time to recover from them.

The intensity seems way to easy when you start. Half way through it feels like when you are riding strong at a good tempo and the last bit hurts so bad it isn't funny.

As before you do these in block fashion with work done on successive days. One tip in the book is to do the last part of the block on a hill climb cause it is easier to motivate and harder to cheat on a hill. This does work let me tell you.

One problem with these intervals is that you get that kind of stale feeling in the legs after a few weeks of doing the same sort of thing. No snap shall we say


But when this is over and you transition into 'in season' work the snap will come back.