Training discussion Archives - Page 21 of 26

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|

Being Honest With Yourself

Here in the northeast, we've been blessed with about 10 days of "good" weather; "good" being in quotes because good winter weather is essentially anything that isn't snow, ice or hail and temperatures above 38 degrees (the point at which I prefer to sit on the trainer in front of the TV.) While the sun hasn't shone often and the roads aren't often dry, warmer temperatures create the itch to imbibe fresh air and feel the road slip by under 23mm tires.

Since motivation is high on these rare gems of days, it's only right that we get out, rain or shine. And let's be honest, when it's 45 degrees and you've HTFUed (Hardened The F*** Up, for the uninitiated, or see rule 5) you're not going to do a 10 mile round trip to the coffee shop and then call it a day. No, you'll seek out climbs, descents and (if you're anything like the classics lover that I am) dirt and gravel roads. Basically, the gnarlier and more "Belgian" the route (and the weather) the harder you'll push yourself.

There's only one problem with that line of thinking….

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Tags: Coaching, group riding, Motivation, training|

New Year, BETTER You (Podcast #6)

Perhaps you've seen the oft-repeated “New Year, New You” headline on the cover of Bicycling Magazine. It's so predictable that even Peloton Magazine said “you'll never see this on our cover.”

While you may not be able to completely transform yourself into a new person, you can always improve on what you've got, and that's what today's podcast focuses on; taking your successes from last year and building on them. What do you want to be? Stronger? Faster? Leaner? A better hill climber? All of the above?

While nobody is going to become a “new you” unless you're suddenly reincarnated as a ProTour rider, we can certainly make you a “better you.” Learn which facets of your body and fitness are trainable, which you're just going to have to live with, how to turn your weaknesses into strengths and how to maximize your strengths.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (21.4MB)

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Tags: Coaching, physiology, podcast, training|

My Christmas Gift to My Readers

<align=”right”>Updated 12/23/2014:

I just wanted to take a moment to say Merry Christmas to all of my readers and customers. May your holidays be filled with the joys of family and the gifts of friendship, happiness and cycling (of course.) Since 2015 is fast approaching, and since I've been hard at work releasing new training plans and HIT workouts to help you build your fitness and make you leaner and stronger here's my gift to you: use the code “3togo”, and you'll get 20% off all my training plans, HIT workouts and HIT Skill Packs. Let me help you make 2015 your strongest year yet and one to remember. Valid through the end of 2015!

See you in 2015!

Tags: Coaching, planning, training|

Coaching: Singlespeed Workout

Learning to control and range your cadence outside your “comfort zone” of your sweet spot is a critical skill for all cyclists. It's the basic skill that allows you to succeed in group rides, modulate energy systems (switch from aerobic to anaerobic and visa versa) and make you a stable rider that others can draft. But many cyclists find it difficult to learn how to control their cadence, until now. The singlespeed workout is an excellent way to build confidence in your cadence control and it doesn't even require you to buy a new bike (although any excuse to buy another bike is a good one.)

In order to perform this workout, you'll need to find a segment of road that has some varying terrain: avoid steep climbs or sharp descents. Rolling terrain works best for this kind of workout. Shift into a gear that allows you to spin at your sweet spot cadence (the average cadence you pedal at for a LTHR/FTP test) and DON'T SHIFT OUT OF IT FOR THE ENTIRE WORKOUT. You'll pedal through the designated stretch of road (I like to run this workout on a 2ish mile long, gradual climb that includes some up and down rollers) using only your cadence to control your speed.

If the road climbs, your cadence will drop and you'll have to add tension to the pedals in order to get up the roller. As the road declines, you'll need to speed up your cadence to keep tension on the pedals. Don't coast unless you spin out completely (your spinning becomes choppy and poorly controlled.)

Adding this short workout to your rides will have you confidently controlling your cadence in a wide range of leg speeds. You'll thank me next time you're able to accelerate on a group ride by just spinning up 10 RPM more and hanging with the wheel in front of you.

Tags: Coaching, training|