Tailwind Coaching Blog

Home/Tailwind Coaching Blog/

Put Massive Power and Staggering Snap in your Sprint

In cycling, sprinting is more than just “pedal really hard a bunch of times.”  If you've ever watched a professional sprint, you may realize that there's a certain absolute beauty in the type of activity they excel at.  While they may be boring on TV, field sprints are perhaps the hardest parts of any race.   Yes, a mountaintop finish requires power to weight ratio, the ability to suffer and some amount of tactical prowess, but sprinting well is a combination of massive tactical brainpower as well as leg power.  Cycling sprint training is the bridge between getting strong and actually knowing how to execute a proper sprint out on the road.

Today, we'll talk about building leg power, neuromuscular fitness and technique and finesse that you'll need to succeed.  You'll learn that a sprinter needs more than the ability to go fast.  I'll explain how cycling sprint training should be broken down into the composite parts so that you can effectively train all parts of the system together.  If you ignore one part of the equation, you may wonder why you're not getting faster, you may wonder why others are beating you, and you might even end up with an injury.

Click through to the show notes and make your cycling sprint training more effective.  Don't forget to check out our podcast show sponsor Stages Cycling: any purchases through this link will contribute a few dollars to supporting the show.  You can also rate the podcast on iTunes, share this post and download my free Sprint Training Tune Up plan!

(more…)

Tags: , , |

Diagnose Your Climbing Weakness

I can't tell you how many times cyclists contact me and ask me to help them improve their climbing weakness, but they don't even know what climbing weakness is holding them back!  Do you climb better in the saddle or out?  Are you more efficient at a lower cadence or higher?  Do you tend to go out too hard and burn out too quickly?  Are you leaving speed on the table by being TOO conservative?  These are all questions you can answer if you're willing and able to head out, do a couple of laps of your favorite climb and sit down to take a look at your data.

Let's figure out how to find your climbing weakness and correct it!  Click through for my best tips on determining what's limiting your climbing capacity and a couple ways to correct it?

(more…)

Tags: , , |

Dura Ace Track Stages Power Meter Install

Power meter options for track bikes are very limited, and the Dura Ace Stages power meter is one of the most reasonably priced and simple to use on the market.  Based on the Dura Ace 7710 Octalink platform, the Stages power meter offers a simple, elegant power measuring solution for fixed gear bikes.  Painstaking refinement has gone into the algorithm used to calculate power to meet the unique demands of a fixed gear bike, improving performance and reliability in data recording.

Check out the video of the installation, re-posted from Periscope.  Throughout the installation, there's a little bit of Q&A about power meters based on questions from live viewers.  Click through the jump to watch the video and check out the video show notes:

(more…)

Tags: , , , |

Boost Cycling Fitness and Shred Fat with Fasted Training

One of the most efficient ways of kick starting your fat burning metabolism and boosting your cycling fitness is to partake in fasted training. As I've talked about before, your body is designed to utilize the energy substrates that are available to it to meet energy demands.  During fasted exercise, there’s a stark limit on the amount of sugar available. There is, however, a huge amount of energy available from fat stores, and you need to train your body to use it effectively.

Similar to how your body will adapt to exercise by getting fitter, your body will adapt to fasted training by increasing the amount of fat it can burn.  Fasted training helps to adapt your body to the stresses of hard training and primes you for a “train low, compete high” scenario where you’ll teach your body to be stingy in burning carbs in your typical training but supply it more on race day to ensure it's properly fueled.  This will not happen overnight, though. It will take months of work to increase the efficiency of your body’s fat burning machinery, and these fasted training tips will give you a significant edge in that quest.

As you start your fasted training protocols, keep in mind a couple of simple things:

  • Always carry some food with you to prevent bonking (and be prepared to eat after an hour of hard riding)
  • If you’re not feeling well or having an off day, skip the fasted training and eat something.  You can always go back to it later in the week.
  • Pay careful attention to your body: if you start to bonk badly or repeatedly, back down and rest a bit, and be sure to eat.

Bearing those “safety” concepts in mind, click through the jump to learn how to add fasted training to your cycling program.

(more…)

Tags: , , , |

Effective Peaking and Tapering for Cycling Performance

Peaking and tapering are essential to a high quality performance in a race or event.   They are often overlooked by your average cyclist and may be the missing piece in your successful training program.  Without a well thought out, well executed peak, your body may be too tired to perform or too flat (from lack of stimulus) to successfully execute the necessary work to succeed in your race or event.  If you ignore the importance of a proper taper, you'll find yourself struggling to build further fitness or worse, dip a toe into the frigid waters of overtraining.  In either case, you'll find yourself disappointed and struggling to piece together what went wrong.

In this episode of the Tailwind Coaching Podcast, you'll learn what peaking and tapering are, why they are an integral part of any training program and how to apply the concepts of successful peaking and tapering to your own training program.

Click through for the show notes and remember that the sponsor for this episode of the Tailwind Coaching Podcast is Stages Cycling.  Check out their power meters and help support the show, and don't forget to rate the podcast on iTunes!  You can also check out my new resources page and get a head start on reading some of my most popular articles!

(more…)

Tags: , , , |
Copyright Tailwind Coaching 2012-2017 | All Rights Reserved | Tailwind Coaching is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.