Indoor Training Archives - Page 3 of 4

Getting Back in the Saddle After a Crash
Getting Back in the Saddle After a Crash

Indoor Training, Motivation, Personal narratives

Getting Back in the Saddle After a Crash

About 8 weeks ago I was post surgery for a busted clavicle and in the midst of a five day hospital stay after crashing out of the Cherry Blossom Challenge. About 3 weeks ago I got back on the trainer for the first time since the accident, and since then I've been progressively trying to turn around 5 weeks of absolute inactivity (healing doesn't count for inactivity though…)

It's been an eye-opening experience, to say the least, and it's made me think long and hard about the process I've been going through. Click through to read deeper into it: (more…)

Tags: injury, Motivation, narrative|

Coaching: Rolling A Climb
Gallery
Coaching: Rolling A Climb

Coaching discussion, Indoor Training, Training discussion

Coaching: Rolling A Climb

Most people think a climb is over when you crest the top. That's just not true. In fact, the top of any climb is just the beginning of something else. And that something else can be one of the greatest tricks in your arsenal.

To put in perspective how you can add a powerful weapon to your climbing quiver, let me ask you a question: How many times have you seen someone crest a climb, only to drop their head and soft pedal (or worse, coast) over the crest?

Let me ask you another question: How many times have you seen determined chaser manage to close a big gap by driving through the crest of that climb?

I know I've seen it all the way from the Pro Tour ranks down through the smallest group rides. And I know that the guys riding out the crest of the climb are getting a lot of extra speed that the soft pedalers are missing out on. I'll also tell you something: the physiological cost of that speed is really, REALLY small.

Read more about getting bonus speed in the hills after the break:

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Tags: climbing, Coaching, skills, training|

FREE High Intensity Trainer Workout: The Berg Buster Climbing Workout

[dc]S[/dc]hort, sharp and steep climbs are a tough thing for many people to conquer. I see people have trouble with them all the time. When a group ride or race hits a small “wall” there's always a contingent of riders who get spit out the back, then have to chase back on, which is no fun at all. To help you become a stronger climber, I built a workout based on the small “bergs” featured during the spring classics, which are the most brutal of races. Designed to build power for short climbs, this FREE workout will train the necessary physiology and techniques to go from last to fast on those little kickers!

To get the free “Berg Buster” workout, all I ask is that you like or share this workout with your friends, and challenge them to become a berg buster!

After the jump, you can pick up this free workout:

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Tags: climbing, indoor training, training|

Effective Base Building (Podcast #51)
Effective Base Building (Podcast #51)

Coaching discussion, Cycling Physiology, Indoor Training, Strength training Discussion, Tailwind Coaching Podcast, Training discussion

Effective Base Building (Podcast #51)

When you hear the term “cycling base training” many of you think of cycling base training, involving long slogs through frozen tundra and icy winds. Those of you who are racers or competitive fondo riders may believe that the necessary base miles for competitive cycling are long, boring and low intensity, with little variety. Other, more recreational riders may think about watching the Tour de France while they spin away on the indoor trainer for a couple hours per week, hoping to get a jump on their group riding buddies. I've got a newsflash for you: those impressions are OLD SCHOOL and couldn't be further from the truth.

In reality, base training should be taken to it's most primal definition, one that's hidden within the term itself. “Base training” should be the activity done to build a solid BASE for your future fitness, both on and off the bike.

Just like the base of the human body is the core (everything attaches to it, everything works through it, so it's the true base of the body), the base of your fitness involves the core and everything contained within it, including your heart, lungs, and cardiovascular system. As an extension of your core, your legs have something to do with this too. Since they're the stems that attach your core to your pedals and they are important to build a base of fitness for as well. So it's not just accumulating saddle time that should be your focus (although you really do need saddle time), but what you do WHILE accumulating saddle time.

In this episode of the Tailwind Coaching Podcast, I'll talk about the importance of base training and how you can be more effectively base training than you are now.

Efficient Functional Threshold Power (FTP) – Podcast #47

In this age of power meters and quantified training, athletes spend hours upon hours, days upon days poring over power files and searching for a way to get ahead of the competition. They hope against hope that there's a magic bullet out there that will suddenly catapult them to the front of the pack. And all too often, they believe that magic bullet is raising their functional threshold power (abbreviated as FTP.) But is a simple number the key to destroying your rivals on the Sunday group ride, the Saturday criterium or the Tuesday Night Worlds?

In today's podcast I discuss the concept of efficiency as it relates to FTP or what I refer to as “Efficient Threshold Power”. I'll talk about some of the following concepts:

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Tags: Coaching, physiology, podcast, power, training|