Power training and discussion Archives - Page 6 of 7

Beginner’s Guide to Training With Power (part 3)
Beginner’s Guide to Training With Power (part 3)

Coaching discussion, Power training and discussion, Training discussion

Beginner’s Guide to Training With Power (part 3)

In part 3 of my “Beginners Guide to Training With Power” we'll look at building a few performance profiles. There are two key metrics that will determine where you focus your training time. Before you read on, I suggest you read the previous articles to refresh your memory as to what we're talking about:

Beginner's Guide to Training with Power: Part 1

Beginner's Guide to Training with Power: Part 2

Once you've refreshed your memory, we'll focus on two topics that will heavily govern your training and racing strategy. These are your power and fatigue resistance profiles.

I'll describe each of them after the break and tell you how they can guide your training.

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Tags: Coaching, power, training|

Functional Threshold Power: What Is It and How Do We Train With It?
Functional Threshold Power: What Is It and How Do We Train With It?

Coaching discussion, Power training and discussion, Tailwind Coaching Podcast

Functional Threshold Power: What Is It and How Do We Train With It?

Functional Threshold Power is better known as FTP. What is it? What do we do with it? Why is it so important to my cycling?

Athletes almost always have these questions when they begin training with power. When an athlete begins their training plans to prepare for next season's goal races, gran fondos and centuries, they need to address this metric. They're looking for the best and quickest ways to improve their performances, but many seem to be having trouble with the training concepts behind FTP. Questions have predominated about what it is, why we use it and how we calculate it for a long time.

In this latest edition of the Tailwind Coaching Podcast, I attempt to dispel some of the myths behind FTP: how we test it, why we need to know it and how we use it.

After the jump, look into functional threshold power a little more and learn how you can use it to enhance your training.

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Tags: Coaching, podcast, power|

Coaching Updates: High Intensity Trainer Workouts and Announcements

Start thinking about next season

For those of you who are ending your season soon and haven't thought about the next one, all I can say is:

WHY NOT!?!?!

You should be reviewing the successes and failures of your current season and thinking about your goals and aspirations for next season. If you're contemplating hiring a coach to help you reach those goals, now is the time in the season to start thinking about it. I've been hard at work refining my training plans and building new workouts for my athletes. Of course, one-on-one coaching is extremely focused and for that reason I limit the number of athletes I'm able to coach one-on-one. Check out my coaching services if you're thinking of recruiting a little help to ensure you meet your goals. Hoping to race Battenkill? Want to PR at Gran Fondo NY? Have a crit series on the calendar? I've got the tools to make you leaner, stronger and faster, if you've got the drive and commitment.

HIT Workouts

As some of you may have seen from my Strava uploads, I've been busy testing a number of different High Intensity Trainer (HIT) workouts recently. These workouts are specifically designed for indoor trainer use (and with the shortening days and the holidays not far off, that's where you'll find most of us very soon) and are designed to build fitness and fundamental skills in very short times. I've made the first few of the available on my Training Plans page, and keep your eyes open for more and more of them. As a bonus (or an incentive, depending upon who you are) I'll be including ALL of my HIT workouts in my one-on-one coaching programs at NO extra charge! That means you'll have access to these killer workouts as part of your customized training plans, giving you even MORE improvement in your speed, strength, skill and endurance.

Keep your eyes on this space for future coaching announcements and new workouts.

Tags: Coaching, physiology, planning, power|

Coaching: Finding Your Lactate Threshold

[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….

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Tags: physiology, power, training|

Beginner’s Guide to Training With Power (part 2)
Beginner’s Guide to Training With Power (part 2)

Coaching discussion, Power training and discussion, Training discussion

Beginner’s Guide to Training With Power (part 2)

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:

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Tags: Coaching, power, training|