Training

Red or Blue?

There are always decisions in life.  Each decision sets a direction and determines what you focus your time and attention towards.  There is a scene from “The Matrix” where Morpheus shows Neo two pills. “This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill–the story ends, you wake [...]

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How do you know if your base training is working?

Base training is a funny thing.  You want to go hard but you know that you should go long and easy to build your base aerobic fitness.  But how do you know if are going hard enough to make a difference on your base or if you are going too easy and just wasting your time with junk miles?  Or [...]

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VO2 Test #2

On Feb 4, I completed my second Metabolic and VO2 max test with Angie Sturtevant from Specialists in Sports Performance in Madison WI (www.VO2test.com).   Click here for more on the testing by Angie. I would highly recommend Angie if you are interested in this type of performance testing. My first test by itself was interesting but not helpful.  [...]

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My workout for the next few months

Right now, I am experimenting with stallouts after my 2×30 min LT efforts.  I recently read about these in the book by Bill Edwards, Progressive Power Training.  I am doing two variations of the stallouts based upon my modification of his idea.  The first stallout is aimed at the anaerobic energy system.   I set a computrainer [...]

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This Is Your Pain!

Watch this clip and think about how approach your interval training, are you attempting to escape from the pain or are you fully aware of how your body is reacting to the intervals?   This is one of my favorite clips of all time. Sometimes, I start to feel like the lactic acid hurts too much….This is [...]

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My 2011 Training and Racing Schedule

As an example of how to plan, I thought I would post my planning sheet for my 2011 season.  I started with my racing and training goals for 2011, then added my known obligations for work and vacations.  I have a relatively challenging travel schedule which includes 10-12 international trips per year, so it is [...]

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Have you planned for 2011?

Now is a great time to set your training and racing plan for the 2011!  When I am setting a training and racing plan, I always first consider the following key aspects: What are your major “A” races, i.e.  What are the races that you want to try to win?  What are the races that you will do [...]

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20 min plus FTP Intervals

I wanted to share some thoughts I have had while working on raising my FTP.  I have been doing a lot of longer intervals (20-30 min) which has been mentally interesting for me.  I started my effort to raise my FTP after masters nationals in beginning of August because I have been struggling at the [...]

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7 Habits of Highly Effective Criterium Racers

Here are what I call the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Criterium Racers (thanks Steven Covey): 1. Detailed Goals You should have 3 Racing goals and 3 training goals, and no more than 3.  Your goals need to be SMART Specific Measurable Attainable, Realistic, Time bound Your coach can help you set SMART goals. 2. [...]

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FTP Improvement around the web

I thought I would take a look around the web to see what people say about their Functional Threshold Improvements.  Here is a sampling of  what I found. http://www.computrainer.com/rm_inc/Stories/williammangar.htm http://theroadtocat2.com/2010/05/13/threshold-power-estimation-test/ http://www.findingfreestyle.com/passive-technique-blog/breakingthroughhowanathletetookhis40kttfrom5531to5139in1-year http://www.bikesandbeansnb.com/?q=node/19 http://lowcadence.com/tag/functional-threshold-power/ http://www.bikebeerbbq.com/my-latest-ftp-test-results/ If you know of any others  that are interesting please let me know. Ride Hard, Steve

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Metabolic and VO2Max Testing

On July 7, I had a Metabolic and a VO2 max test.  I worked with Angie Sturtevant from SSP Specialists in Sports Performance in Madison WI (www.VO2test.com).   Check out the link to see more from Angie about the testing:  http://www.cycleops.com/expert-articles.html?view=entry&category=training&id=205:metabolic-efficiency-testing.  I decided to have the metabolic testing done after reading a book by Bob Seebohar, [...]

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The Sufferfest!

The weather in Wisconsin is turning cold and the hours of daylight are shrinking…now the trainer rides are starting.  I am always looking for cool videos to help enhance my basement suffering.  I recently came across some reasonably priced and very well done training videos from http://www.thesufferfest.com.  I recently downloaded Fight Club and Angels.  Fight [...]

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4 Brick Walls of Cycling

There are basically four brick walls in cycling (or any other sport for that matter).  These walls are hit when you go all out.  You hit the first wall during the first 10 seconds of an all out sprint.  Your legs just won’t go faster and the your power drops off quickly.  Your body is using an [...]

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What happens to my body when I increase my LT/FTP?

Now is the time that I start to adjust training plans to build my athletes’ FTP/LT.  My athletes have spent a lot of time focused on their top end speed and power, but now is the time to build the base for next season.  Besides, “why do I have to do these long intervals?”, One of the [...]

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What type of Fitness is Necessary to Finish a Criterium Race?

Criteriums are different from road racing in that they require high amount of repeated power output lap after lap.  Some course might have peak power outputs at multiple corners per lap because of the accordion effect.  The graph below is a 5 min slice from a 60 min P12 criterium.  In the yellow power line, [...]

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Training Blocks – the key for you to get better!

I am a big believe of training blocks for criterium training because these better match how your body reacts to training.  If you try to follow the old training block based upon the 7 day week, you are not going to achieve your optimum performance because you will either go too hard without getting the [...]

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First Crit of the Year

Last weekend I did my first two races of the year at the Great Dane Velo Club (http://www.gdvc.net/) Criterium #1 on April 11.  Next Sunday is another crit on the same course, but I am stuck in Europe because of the volcanic ash!  It was nice to get the legs moving fast.  First, I raced [...]

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WKO+ Performance Management Charts

As a continuation from my post about my training, I though I should also share how my 3on/2off looks on my WKO+ Performance Management Chart.  I think it can useful understand how to use this chart and what it can tell you.  I have included in this post my PMC and my 3day graph over the same time period [...]

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Hard Intervals Work!

I have always been in favor of hard intervals because they work.  Here is a great article about the benefits of hard intervals:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100311123639.htm and http://jp.physoc.org/content/588/6/1011 Ride Hard Steve

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Criterium Training Workouts

Training and fitness are only part of being able to race criteriums, but without the right types of fitness you will not do well in criteriums.  Criteriums also require tactics, skills, luck, and aggressiveness. In order to improve the physical systems involved with Criterium racing, you will have to suffer and suffer a lot.  Growing [...]

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Criterium Training

Criterium racing requires skills, tactics, strategy, luck and fitness. Today, I want to focus on the fitness aspect of criterium racing. In Tour de France racing, the races are long and day after day. To train for the Tour de France you need to ride 5-7 hours a day for years to build a huge [...]

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