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.
[dc]Y[dc]ou've all heard about anaerobic threshold, lactate threshold, threshold, red line, Zone 4, “the burn” and plenty of other terms that relate to the upper limits of your aerobic engine. But what a lot of people don't seem to understand is how to find that magical number, and what to do with it.
In this article, we'll examine the physiology behind anaerobic threshold and then you'll learn how to figure out what it is. I'll also discuss (very briefly) how you can use it to train towards becoming a stronger cyclist.
So without further ado….
If you missed the first part of the Beginner's Guide to Training With Power series of articles, it would be a good idea to go back and read it. Go ahead, I'll wait…
Done reading? Good. You should have a good idea about FTP, W/Kg, Training Levels/zones and more. Now, let's take a look at some more power-based metrics, specifically power training zones. You may recall the definition from my last article:
Power Training Levels/Zones: Along with FTP, these dictate (roughly) the energy systems used at certain power levels and allow a rider to train specific systems to get specific gains. These may be described as “zones” or “levels” interchangeably.
We'll discuss what each zone is, what energy systems it uses and how long it is sustainable below:
Training with power is consistently hailed as the next step for any cyclist who is looking to improve their fitness. While that's true, most cyclists who are in the market for a power meter are hesitant to purchase one. The biggest reason I've run into is hesitation on how to actually utilize such an instrument.
But why?
A power meter is wonderful and spits out bucket loads of data, but the one thing that it won't do is make you faster. It will, with some practice and some simple analysis allow you to train to become faster. In this series of articles, we'll look at a few of the basics that beginning power meter users need in order to train smarter.
Click through for some definitions you'll need to know when you start training with power:
With spring here in full force and summer right around the corner, most cyclists are switching gears from cold weather preparation to warm weather preparation. While warm weather certainly has its own challenges, one of the biggest (aside from remaining well hydrated) is keeping cool to prevent heat-related illness. Keeping cool can often mean the difference between ground breaking success and crushing failure on rides, races and gran fondos.
If you're finding yourself wilting in the sun, check out my top tips for keeping cool in the heat after the break:
Since most of us are in the build phases of our training plans, anticipating early season racing and getting psyched up for our early season goals, you may be wanting to boost your fitness a little more. If you're finding that you're just a little behind the curve, it may be time to consider adding a little “Sweet Spot Training (SST)” in your routine to prod your body up to the next level. But what is SST? How do you do it? How much is too much? How does it actually make you stronger and faster? I'll explain what it is and how you do it after the jump.
