Training discussion Archives - Page 12 of 26

Ride Stronger: VO2 Max Workouts

Among the many weapons in the armament of the cyclist who wants to ride stronger, one of the least practiced and most important is VO2 max repeatability. The ability to accelerate and push your body to the limits, recover at threshold and repeat that process over and over is one of the most versatile and important skills for a cyclist to possess. It's also the one that's almost always lacking in the cyclists that I consult with or coach, and it's one I drill home in my training plans.

The real question most people follow up with is “why?”

Before I answer, first let's delve into VO2 max a little bit. For our purposes, a VO2 max level effort (or a Zone 5/Z5 effort) is a suprathreshold effort that is sustainable for around 3-8 minutes (depending on the intensity of the effort.) It is a mixture of aerobic and anaerobic energy production and is most often used in pursuits, attacks, bridging small gaps and short climbs. By the numbers, it's an 8 to an 8.5/10 on an RPE scale, 105%-120% of Functional Threshold Power and >105% Lactate Threshold Heart Rate.

After the jump, I'll give you some more detailed information and a couple workouts to help you build your Zone 5 Repeatability (Z5R).

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Tags: climbing, Coaching, physiology, training|

The Pre Race Warmup
The Pre Race Warmup

Coaching discussion, group riding skills and tips, racing, Training discussion

The Pre Race Warmup

Have you ever arrived to a ride a few minutes later than you wanted and just jumped on your bike and rolled off with the group? Do you remember how you felt? I'd wager that you were probably feeling stiff, awkward and it took you a long time to actually warmup to where you were comfortable and powerful on the bike.

Knowing the consequences of “rolling cold” why do coaches and friends alike have to constantly remind each other to warm up before we ride? We all know better, and we shouldn't have to be asked the question “why should we warm up before we race (or even ride).”

It's staggering how often I hear this, and it amazes me that people still haven't accepted that they need to warm up before they hit the road in order to have a good performance. Even more amazing is the number of people who are under warming up, or not warming up to match the effort they are preparing for.

It's time to put a stop to this; we'll explore why we warm up, what it does for our body and then see an example warm up workout.

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Tags: Coaching, racing, training|

The Cost Of Bike Racing? (Podcast #56)
Gallery
The Cost Of Bike Racing? (Podcast #56)

beginner training resources, Coaching discussion, Motivation, racing, Tailwind Coaching Podcast, Training discussion

The Cost Of Bike Racing? (Podcast #56)

So you're thinking about racing a bike, but you're concerned about the cost.

You're not the only one, apparently.

Recently, an article in the UK based Telegraph caused a little bit of a stir in the cycling world, claiming that the cost of racing was approximately £25,000. £25,000!! Adjusted to USD, that's around $39,000! That's a salary for a lot of people!

And that's completely insane.

There's no earthly reason racing a bike needs to cost that much. In fact, if you read other articles by the same author, you get a different impression: the author is racing at an elite level, attempting to recapture a lost opportunity of his youth. He's not starting off racing a Cat 5 criterium, or a weekend stage race where you're competing against other guys who are coming out to have a little fun and maybe sprint for a pair of tires. We're talking two different worlds here.

But the article did get me thinking about what IS the cost of racing a bike? And if you wanted to start racing a bike today, what would you need to lay out in terms of dollars and cents. That's what I'll explore in today's podcast, along with some helpful tips to get you ready to race for the first time.

Click through for a breakdown of what it takes to race on the elite level, and what you need to race on the local level:

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Tags: Coaching, Motivation, podcast, racing, training|

Effective Build Phase Training (Podcast #55)
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Effective Build Phase Training (Podcast #55)

Coaching discussion, Cycling Physiology, Tailwind Coaching Podcast, Training discussion

Effective Build Phase Training (Podcast #55)

Do you wish you could get more cycling prowess out of your build phase training?

So do a lot of riders.

Here's a short backstory: A while back I released a podcast discussing how you can get the most out of your base training by throwing out much of the old school rhetoric and focusing on new school science. That podcast has become one of my most popular podcasts to date, sparking questions about everything from workout frequency to using High Intensity Training to rocket your fitness up during the base phase. It didn't stop with the base phase either: people started asking how to turbocharge their build phase training too.

So by popular demand, this time, I'm going to tackle the build phase of your training plan. Again, the name of the phase sort of gives away the goal behind it: to build fitness in an exponential way. However, fitness is a tricky thing: there's general fitness (for you power meter users, that's the CTL on the performance management chart) and there's situation specific fitness such as climbing ability, sprinting ability, 3 minute power, etc etc (which can all be tracked if you're training with power). Many athletes are happy with going out and doing the same old rides, watching their “fitness” (really, they're seeing an increase in CTL) steadily climb. Then they register for a fondo, race or event and fail to meet their expectations.

Why?

Because they didn't train their weaknesses, nor did they build specific fitness to conquer their goals.

In this episode of the Tailwind Coaching Podcast, we'll cover that and more. Show notes and links are available after the jump:

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Tags: Coaching, physiology, podcast, training|

Staying Safe In A Group

There are times when you'll find yourself in unfamiliar company, either on a group ride, a charity ride, a fondo or a race. You'll be surrounded by people you don't know, you're not familiar with their handling skills and you're not even sure if they are comfortable riding in a group. In situations like these, you'll need to be on high alert and ready to defend your space and yourself. Let's face it: if you're stable, sure afoot (awheel?) and not afraid of contact while you're riding, you're actually pretty hard to knock over and crash out. If you're nervous, twitchy and afraid of contact (I.E. you panic and steer away from the guy bumping you) then you're going down sometime sooner rather than later.

Protect Yourself By Protecting Your Bars
Defending yourself includes the space immediately around you and especially around your handlebars. Your bars are your lifeline to your bike: if someone knocks them or takes them out, you lose complete control of your machine and are significantly more prone to crashing. If you're always defending your handlebars, you'll be a lot safer, you'll be a lot more stable and steady, a lot more confident and you'll be a lot less prone to going down.

In order to defend your space and your handlebars, follow these simple tips (and practice them regularly with your regular group ride buddies and teammates):

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Tags: Coaching, skills, training|