Imagine sitting down with someone and having a coaching discussion at your dining room table. That’s basically what my “coaching discussion” archives are. These archives are a repository for all the coaching discussion I’ve penned in the past few years.
Browse through the archives of my coaching discussion and learn how to be a stronger cyclist. Don’t forget you can contact me with questions or check out the Tailwind Coaching Newsletter for more great coaching discussion.
Peaking and tapering are essential to a high quality performance in a race or event. They are often overlooked by your average cyclist and may be the missing piece in your successful training program. Without a well thought out, well executed peak, your body may be too tired to perform or too flat (from lack of stimulus) to successfully execute the necessary work to succeed in your race or event. If you ignore the importance of a proper taper, you'll find yourself struggling to build further fitness or worse, dip a toe into the frigid waters of overtraining. In either case, you'll find yourself disappointed and struggling to piece together what went wrong.
In this episode of the Tailwind Coaching Podcast, you'll learn what peaking and tapering are, why they are an integral part of any training program and how to apply the concepts of successful peaking and tapering to your own training program.
Click through for the show notes and remember that the sponsor for this episode of the Tailwind Coaching Podcast is Stages Cycling. Check out their power meters and help support the show, and don't forget to rate the podcast on iTunes! You can also check out my new resources page and get a head start on reading some of my most popular articles!
Is it possible to use training stress score and a few other derived metrics to manage your fatigue? Can you simply know how hard to ride by just looking at a number on a computer screen?
I recently answered a question from an athlete that went something like this: Lisinopril otc
“I've been doing riding four days per week (2 trainer days and 2 outdoor days.) I've been following this pattern for about 6 weeks now and I've noticed in the last week that I've been extremely tired and been feeling worn out. Have I been training too hard?”
This question is an excellent illustration of why training with power can be so useful: Training Stress Score (TSS) and Intensity Factor (IF) can be calculated from accumulated power data. These metrics, when combined with a performance management chart will allow athletes to calculate Training Stress Balance and can help determine when overtraining becomes a danger. It can also help you vary the intensity of your workouts and tailor them to your training needs more appropriately.
As a side note, TrainingPeaks online and Strava offer some variety of TSS as well, calculated via heart rate. That's another blog post entirely, so keeping in mind that we'll be discussing power based metrics, let's look at how you evaluate training stress and fatigue after the break: https://nonnieestellamd.com/flagyl-over-the-counter/
So you want to enter a gravel grinder event like Tour of the Battenkill, but you're worried that you don't have the skills necessary to compete? Maybe you want to turn down that dirt road that you've passed a hundred times on your rides but you're nervous about staying upright on the gravel? Or perhaps your goal is to tackle some tough, unpaved backroad climbs like those in the Vermont Green Mountains to prove how tough you are?
You're not alone. Gravel grinder events have witnessed a meteoric rise in popularity in the past few years. They have even spawned a completely distinct line of bikes and equipment. The best equipment in the world won't help you if you don't know how to train for a gravel grinder, though. I'll show you what you need to succeed.
Many people think that success in a gravel grinder race or event like Battenkill comes on race day. In fact, you can lose an event or miss a target goal by not prepping yourself for success along the way. Whether you're nervous about riding on dirt roads or how to handle your nutritional requirements, I've got a few tips to help set your mind at ease and prepare you for the worst dirt roads you can imagine.
Click through the jump and pick up 6 tips to get you gravel grinding with the confidence of an off-road veteran.
Getting dropped is one of the realities faced by each and every cyclist at some point. The feeling of watching the group ride away from you can be demoralizing, but it's also a great learning experience. What caused you to get popped off the back? Did you make a tactical error? Did you crack physiologically and just couldn't stay with the pace? Did you break a chain or cable?
In this short podcast, I'll give you a few tips to help you avoid getting dropped from your next group ride, race or gran fondo group. If you want to learn how to stick with the group, this is the podcast for you!
Click through for the show notes and remember that the sponsor for this episode of the Tailwind Coaching Podcast is Stages Cycling. Check out their power meters and help support the show, and don't forget to rate the podcast on iTunes!
Most training plans put an emphasis on higher intensity training as the season progresses. After building a solid functional base of fitness, you need to challenge your body in different ways to stimulate adaptations. These two VO2 max workouts aim to challenge your body well beyond your comfort zone in less than an hour each, leading to big adaptations and big changes in your fitness and speed on the bike.
As I discussed in podcast 66, raising the ceiling on your fitness is important to ensure continued growth and improvement in your cycling fitness. VO2 max workouts are the perfect way to push your body beyond its comfort zone and force it to adapt and improve. Here's an analogy for you: if you put a plan in a room with a 3-foot ceiling, once it grows into the ceiling it begins to spread out to the sides. It never gets taller. If you raise the ceiling to 10 feet, the plant has a lot more room to grow before it begins to spread out.
Your fitness is like that plant: if you never raise the ceiling, you'll never be able to grow. That's why these VO2 max workouts are so effective at improving your body's ability to perform and raising your fitness level: they force you to train where it hurts and push your limits. Many cyclists don't like to push beyond their limits or train “where it hurts” so they leave those big breakthrough fitness gains out on the road. By using the two VO2 max workouts included at the end of this article, you'll realize bigger fitness gains and more performance in under an hour per workout.
Click through the jump for two free VO2 max workouts, an explanation of why they work so well and a downloadable cheat sheet to follow when you're on the trainer!
