The "X trains harder" excuse doesn't work.
A very big part of training plans is making sure you don't overtrain. If there was no danger of overtraining, there would be no such thing as a training expert or a training plan, it would be whoever trained hardest won.
It doesn't work that way. For example, Brajkovic has been publicly criticized by his coaches for training way too hard and being tired by the time races come around. There's a limit to how much you can train and still be beneficial. Over a certain threshold it's bad for you.
So, "X trains harder than anyone else" is bullshit. If he really did, he'd have zero results.
EDIT: Actually, it would be far more accurate to say that there are those who train harder than anyone else. They're the ones who only show their true level once in a blue moon and in between go on sucking for months or years at a time.
Edited by issoisso on 11-08-2012 16:50
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
To repeat this for the 482nd time, measuring purely on wattage output can get very misleading - I continue to feel too much weight is placed upon it where people relate rider X's output on climb Y to rider Z's output on the same climb. There are lots of factors that play in to the mix. Similarly, to measure by physiological properties (e.g. 'Bob has bigger lung capacity than Jim' is also very narrow.
Now, if you take rider X and compare wattage output over similar events at different times and you find dramatically different results, outside what may be considered progression; that's more reliable in terms of evidence.
Of course, one can never, ever prove someone ISN'T doping. It's simply logically impossible.
It was eleven more than necessary. Jacques Anquetil
issoisso wrote:
The "X trains harder" excuse doesn't work.
A very big part of training plans is making sure you don't overtrain. If there was no danger of overtraining, there would be no such thing as a training expert or a training plan, it would be whoever trained hardest won.
It doesn't work that way. For example, Brajkovic has been publicly criticized by his coaches for training way too hard and being tired by the time races come around. There's a limit to how much you can train and still be beneficial. Over a certain threshold it's bad for you.
So, "X trains harder than anyone else" is bullshit. If he really did, he'd have zero results.
EDIT: Actually, it would be far more accurate to say that there are those who train harder than anyone else. They're the ones who only show their true level once in a blue moon and in between go on sucking for months or years at a time.
When the Men In Black were around in 2007, they trained harder than anyone, but though they were already among the very best riders in the pro peloton, they had no other choices but to dope so that they could cope with their training plans.
There doping was used to not be over trained for a heavy work load, but I'm not sure this is going to help Sky or Armstrong defenders much.
is also very narrow. 
