podcast Archives - Page 17 of 19

Cycling Efficiency Tips (Podcast #14)

Mainstream advertising has led us to believe that we have to buy things to make us faster: wheels, bike frames, helmets and special clothing are all touted as the quick way to get faster. It's also a quick way to drain your wallet. But if you're looking to invest in some speed, most of you know that you can't go wrong with hiring a coach or following a structured training plan. What you may not know is that you can squeeze even more speed, power and endurance out of the fitness you already have or you can raise the bar on our structured training by increasing your efficiency.

Defined as “accomplishment of or ability to accomplish a job with a minimum expenditure of time and effort”, raising your efficiency will allow you to ride faster, raise your functional threshold power (FTP) and feel fresher at the end of a long ride so you can contest that final sprint. But how do we accomplish this? Today's podcast will discuss how to become more efficient on the bike, including:

Positive vs negative self talk
Learning to relax
Neuromuscular efficiency
How to integrate these concepts into your training

Comments and questions are always welcome.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 41:13 — 18.9MB)

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Tags: Coaching, podcast, training|

Installing the SRAM Yaw Front Derailleur (Podcast #13)

By now the new SRAM Red group has been available for about a year (if you recall it was introduced last year and ridden to great success by Tom Boonen in the spring classics.) I've been using the shifters for a year now, and the front derailleur for only a few months less. However, there is still some confusion about how to install the front derailleur properly.

Installing the Yaw derailleur isn't vastly different than installing your garden variety front derailleur (which is really every other one on the market) but there are some subtle differences that vastly change the unit's function. Without taking these special steps into account, users may be significantly frustrated by the poor shifting performance and constant chain rub.

After the jump, we'll go step by step through the installation process.

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Tags: components, podcast, video, wrenching|

Tour of the Battenkill 2013 Race Report (Podcast #12)

Tour of the Battenkill is one of my favorite races: it has all the hallmarks of the northern European classics: pave, short, steep climbs, big crowds and throngs of exuberant racers.

Having raced Battenkill in 2011 and finished 33rd with massive, horrible muscle cramps, I was determined to head back to Cambridge NY and have another go at the 64 miles of hell and dirt. Saturday was the 9th running of the Tour of the Battenkill, and featured about 3500 racers between the pro/am day and the Gran Fondo.

In today's podcast, I'll detail my Battenkill weekend, from Friday through race day, what went right and what went wrong.

ANNOUNCEMENT: You still have 5 days to download my “Berg Buster” HIT workout for free. Just use the code “classicsgift” and that $10 workout becomes free!

Remember to review the Tailwind Coaching Podcast on iTunes!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:48 — 18.7MB)

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Tags: battenkill, injury, podcast, racing|

Race Day Preparation (Podcast #11)

“Do it right on race day” is a lesson that every racer should live by and one that should be drilled into their head. Race performance begins in the days before when you start to get everything ready to roll. In fact, poor race day prep can actually set you up for a poor performance even before the first pedal is turned in anger.

We'll discuss proper race day preparation as well as preparation in the days prior. Some topics we'll cover include:

Loading your gear and prepping your bike
Eating prior to your race
Arrival time and warmup time
Warming up on the trainer
Proper dress

As always, comments and questions are welcome.

As a reminder, my “Berg Buster” is still available (until April 21st) for FREE with the code “classicsgift”.

For those of you racing Battenkill, I'll see you there. Good luck, stay safe!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:38 — 16.3MB)

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

Peak Performance Concepts (Podcast #10)

With spring racing in full force, many people are hitting the peak phase of their periodized training plans. Periodized training is a method by which an athlete structures their training towards certain goals, and it consists of a long term, full year picture (macrocycle), smaller blocks of training and recovery (mesocycles, typically 4 weeks long) and the single week's worth of training and recovery (microcycle).

Within this concept of periodized training, the ultimate goal of a training block, which I like to refer to as a super-mesocycle (basically a group of 3 or 4 mesocyles bundled together) is a peak performance, usually for an “A” category race. The question most athletes ask is “What exactly is peak performance and how do I get there?” After an event, people often ask me “Why was my performance so poor? Did I not train enough?”

I'd like to suggest that peak performance is not really driven by what happens during the “build phases” of your training plan, and is not really driven by the amount of training you've done (to some extent anyway.) You can be one of the fittest riders in the group, but a poor quality “peak” phase can destroy an otherwise strong and fit athlete.

On today's podcast, we'll learn what the significance of the “peak” phase is and how we transition from the build phase into a peak performance, including:

The peaking model
Building form vs. fitness
Peak week intensity, frequency and duration
The importance of “painkillers” in relation to peak performance
Should you rest the day before an “A” race?

As a reminder, you can get a FREE “Berg Buster” HIT workout by using the code “classicsgift” through April 21st.

Thoughts? Comments? Remember to head over to iTunes and leave a review if you enjoyed the podcast.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 41:28 — 19.0MB)

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