Sharing my data - Adding value to workouts

I answered a few questions and had discussions with a few of you this week that I'd like to share with everyone. Although the questions were not identical, they followed a similar theme. Is there something more I should or could be doing during my workouts and/or intervals?

The workouts and intervals I prescribe are intended to provide a stimulus for improvement. There is a progression or pattern to how they are organized for you. Early in the training calendar or plan, we set the foundation and prepare for longer and more intense efforts to come later. With a sound foundation, the workouts contain intervals that are increasingly specific to your weaknesses and goals. With your goal events on the horizon, training intervals become very similar to what you should expect to encounter in competition. 

As cyclist, we are all looking to improve similar things; pedaling technique and efficiency, endurance, strength, climbing, sprinting, etc. We are similar but very different. In order to accommodate everyone, the workouts are sometimes intentionally vague. I do this to enable various athletes to complete them in their own unique circumstances.

Some of us are using heart rate monitors, others use power meters. Some work 9-5 weekdays, some are students, while others have a unique schedule or weekly pattern of available time. For some, training time is plentiful while others scramble for each opportunity.

Our geographic location is often a huge limiter. Congested areas limit our available roads and traffic signals and intersections segment our efforts. Flat topology limits our resistance or hill-climbing while hilly areas make it difficult to maintain a steady effort. Some of us are forced to use the dreaded indoor trainer.

When creating workouts, I try to accommodate as many people as possible. I make the workouts "doable" for the masses. Unfortunately, they end up being vague or seem generic. After doing them for a few weeks or repeating them in a new season, they may even seem boring. That is a big fear for any coach. I can't have you getting bored or uninspired to complete your workouts.

Here are a few ideas to consider adding to your rides. Some may be obvious but easily overlooked. Some may seem silly although they are actually very important. I hope to avoid getting too "wordy" but please stay with me.

Endurance workouts are often the most vague. The primary purpose is to Endure the time on the bike. In coaching circles, we call this "soft-tissue development". The most obvious soft tissue is your bottom or your butt. Other areas that begin to ache are shoulders, neck, back, hands, and feet. "How am I supposed to entertain myself for four hours at Zone 2?"

There are many things we do just to maintain comfort; change hand positions, shift position in saddle, vary cadence or coast, occasional stretch, etc. Consider some new or unusual options.

Riding with only one hand or no hands is a learned skill. We need to be able to drink from a bottle while riding. Other racers will not stop to wait for us. Ride for a period of time with just one hand. Extend the period of time as you gain confidence. Be sure to do this with each hand to develop a balanced or symmetrical skill. Secret tip: before letting go, move other hand towards the stem. It is noticeably more stable when the remaining hand is closer to the stem.

When safe to do so, try riding with no hands. Use your knees and pelvis to steer the bike while pedaling. This will be especially helpful when you need to open a food wrapper or remove your eyeglasses. PLEASE don't do this on windy days or when road conditions are not favorable. Secret tip: Continue pedaling. The rotating wheels keep the bike pointed straight. The faster they spin the more stable you are. The pedals act the same way. A fast but comfortable cadence will increase the bike's tendency to steer straight.

Ride with a buddy or training partner. A companion can provide plenty of entertainment. Spend periods of time with a hand on the shoulder of your companion. Also consider holding onto their jersey pocket or simply touching them. I do these "Proximity Skills" with many of you. Do this exercise on both sides so you don't develop an imbalance or favored side.

If you've done road races or a spirited group ride, you've likely heard, "Hold your Line!" The phrase drives me insane as it is usually said by a over-reacting clown that can't handle their own bike. If you ever hear this while going around a turn...please shoot that person. Anyway, riding in a straight line is important. While riding with two of you this weekend, I rode the white line for an extended period of time. Yes, I came off occasionally but I generally stayed straight and it provided some entertainment. Our pedaling technique will often steer the bike unintentionally. It is often the result of an excessively low cadence that causes us to steer side to side a few inches or more. So find a comfortable but fast cadence and attempt to stay on the white line. Don't look down at the front wheel. Look well up the road to where you want to go. Rock your hips or pelvis to make small adjustments without steering the handlebars.

Vary your cadence. This is actually extremely important. We all need to develop the ability to pedal at excessively low and high cadence. The explanation is lengthy but trust me. If you prefer a certain cadence and stay there all the time, you are doing yourself a disservice. When doing longer or flat intervals, break it up by shifting gears to decrease or increase cadence.

One more and I'll stop for the night. Spend time riding in the drops. We often get lazy and just ride around on our brake hoods. I know, it's comfortable while allowing you to reach the shifters and brakes. The upright body position catches more air and increases resistance. It is also not a confident position when going fast or descending. When in the drops, you have to "Crane" your neck more to see up the road. This can quickly cause soreness in the neck and shoulders. There are times when it is critical to be in the drops. Get used to it in training and break up the ride.

I can provide endless examples. Some of them are silly or laughable. They all have a certain benefit and will make you a better rider. They will also pass the time on those long rides that may get boring. Boredom is caused by a lack of creativity. Let your ideas entertain you. The ride time will go by much faster. Feel free to ask me for additional ideas when we see one another.

  

Thanks for reading.

Sharing my data - Cross-Training, Active Recovery, & Frustration

It's been a couple weeks since I shared some data. I have things to share but haven't had the time to explain. I'll try to do some catching up here.

Some may have gotten the impression that I have begun focused training exclusively for April/May and Battenkill. While I have that in mind, it is too soon to have such a narrow focus. For now, I'm simply getting myself back on the bandwagon. Slowly building the engine with moderate intensity endurance.

Historically, I found my greatest success in Cross-Country MTB events. My body and especially my back have forced me to move away from that. I often forget how much it hurts me and decide to do an off-road race. Cathedral Pines is a 6-hour MTB event coming up in a couple weeks. I've never been to this venue. I've heard great things about the event (from some of you) and am genuinely intrigued. So I'll be racing but primarily just looking to enjoy myself.

This event is an example of including some healthy distraction or cross-training into a training plan. While we may have long-term plans, incorporate some complimentary events to mix things up. This helps to avoid burn-out or overtraining. Since I have this event coming up, I've been doing more MTB riding than usual. I had a friend provide a tour of some trails I was only mildly familiar with. This was some really rugged terrain with trails leading into big boulder fields or over huge rock outcroppings. Lots of fun but requiring solid bike-handling skills and patience. I was also borrowing a buddy's bike. It is always more fun to ride someone else's $7,000 bike. ;-)

Another ride I want to highlight was less than you might expect. You all have Active Recovery rides on your schedule form time to time. These are intended to promote recovery. Get the legs moving and blood flowing to flush out all the bi-products of hard training. I often recommend using these rides for running errands around town or making a coffee run. On this day, I rode my bike to pick up my car that was being serviced. Just 25 minutes of riding. Really slow and relaxed. Some may call it boring. I did it after dark, while it was raining. That keeps in interesting.

This past weekend, I did two days of CX race support. These are very rewarding days. You are all putting on a show and I have an all-access pass. I get to ride with you, get excited about a course as I help you to choose your lines and plan strategy. Just one problem? I'm not racing!!! I'm choosing not to race to avoid messing up my back. That doesn't keep me from wanting to race. All the tips and recommendations I provide are things that I would be doing myself. Pre-ride, strategize, warm-up, practice starts, put on a number, toe the line, etc. When I hear a whistle signal the start of a race, my muscles twitch with anticipation.

After a lack-luster solo ride on Friday, I watched races at Fair Hill, MD all day on Saturday. I briefly considered riding later that day. Instead, I felt the need to go home. You know, family stuff. I returned to find an empty house. "Crap, I could have gone for that ride". I decided to head back out and do a race-like effort of my own. Fueled by the efforts I witnessed earlier in the day and a little frustration. It was a great workout and I was refreshed and ready to repeat the race-support the next day. My legs were sore on Sunday so I was happy not to be racing on such a demanding course. I enjoyed helping all of you to have the best race possible. You did not disappoint.

Thanks for reading.

Sharing my data - Make your training mimic your events.

It is never to early to begin practicing for a big event. As I mentioned previously, I'm starting early. Adding miles, increasing endurance, and riding with more purpose. Although I'm not doing many structured intervals, I'm not just riding around.

Riding with purpose can have many forms. Long steady-state intervals, varying cadence, varying terrain, varying road surface as I plan to do some dirt road races. How about simply riding more in the drops to get my back and neck to acclimate to the lower position? Always look for something you can add to your workouts in order to increase the benefit.

I had this in mind during recent workouts. I did about a dozen road races in the Spring of 2013. I analyze races to find trends. Then apply training strategies to prepare for common race scenarios. Let me share two race files with wildly different circumstances but a common pattern. 

In the Tour of the Battenkill, nearly all race categories explode on difficult climbs towards the end of the race. Only the leaders of each race ride together to the end. Everyone else is left behind and fights to minimize their loses.

During my 2013 Tour of the Battenkill, I was fighting to minimize loses much earlier than I anticipated. You can see exactly where that happened in the graph. Lot of haphazard efforts for an hour or more while sitting within the group. After being left behind, the effort became much more consistent.

The next weekend at the 2013 Farmerstown Road Race, I went out to crush people. Halfway through the race, I broke away to catch another rider while leaving everyone else behind. Notice a similarity in the graph? The second half is significantly more difficult with very few opportunities for rest.

These two events were among my hardest of the year. Although every race plays out differently, this is the type of scenario I need to prepare for. I recently did a couple Endurance-building workouts. My current priority is extending my endurance. Additionally, I'm trying to build resistance to discomfort and fatigue. Resistance to fatigue and endurance are very similar. I want to do more than endure. I want to overcome. Train through discomfort. Ignore the burn. Ignore all the signals asking you to slow down. Focus on the task and put everything else aside. I am making mental preparations for those max efforts I will do in future training. 

During this 10/16/13 Tewksbury Loop, I started at just a moderate intensity. I mixed in some hills and rode them briskly but well below a max effort. I wanted to generate fatigue. During the second half, I hit my lap button and punched it all the way back. I rode at Zone 3-Tempo for the remainder of the ride. It started relatively moderate but becomes a race-like effort towards the end. 50 minutes at Tempo at the end of a three hour ride is not easy.

This past Thursday, I did this 10/24/13 Princeton Loop. Very similar. This time is was 57 minutes of Tempo. This was a killer on a windy day. At this point, I am not ready for short and very intense intervals. If you visualize a pyramid of fitness, I'm building the foundation. The wider the base, the higher and more stable my fitness will be. I will top off this Pyramid in March and April. We don't know what it will look like but construction has begun.

This is why I nag you about your goal events. I need to know well in advance. I will dissect previous versions. Look at course maps and profiles. Consider your strengths and weaknesses and figure out what you need to do in training to prepare. Vague goals leads to vague training. You end up with vague results. We can do better than that.  

Don't just go out and ride. Ride with purpose. 

Thanks for reading.

Sharing my data - I have a sweet tooth.

Those of you who have gotten to know me have learned that I have a sweet tooth. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. This email isn't intended to talk about my eating habits though. I'm going to highlight Sweet Spot Training (SST).

Sweet Spot Training is a phrase created in 2005 by a panel of cycling coaches and exercise physiologists experimenting with power meter data. One goal of their study was to figure out what level of exertion produced the greatest overall fitness benefit or "Bang for the Buck". The test subjects trained exclusively at a specific exertion or Training Zone. Throughout the study, the rate of physical adaptation was recorded. The results indicated which level of exertion produced the greatest overall fitness gain. Sweet Spot is used to describe an intensity that is manageable for the athlete to do regularly while being hard enough to stimulate a significant adaptation.

The table below shows how SST fits in among the other common training zones. The harder we can train, the greater the benefit. SST produces greater results than training in Zone 3-Tempo. Although Training at Zone 4-Threshold is even better, it is too difficult to repeat often. SST provides balance between Zone 3 and 4.

SST is often incorporated on the calendar between the Base and Build training phases. The long endurance rides have been done. Fundamentals have been established. SST is done before the more intense event-specific training. SST is often described as the training that increases the size of your engine. Car enthusiasts say, "There is no replacement for displacement." The bigger the engine, the greater the capacity to perform.  We will do some tuning later as we approach goals. Ahead of that, SST will provide the best bang for our training buck.

After a month of training with increased purpose, it was time for me to incorporate some SST intervals. I headed to a flat canal towpath. SST is a very small window of exertion. Too intense and you'll pop. Too easy and you will see less benefit. These intervals are a test of our ability to pace ourselves. This flat terrain allowed better control over my exertion. I also chose this location because I would be riding after dark. Riding in the dark has inherent dangers. I wanted to focus on my intensity without concern for hazards in the road, traffic, etc.

As you look at the workout graph, you can easily recognize the intervals. I did a long warm-up including two Spin-Up intervals. Then I went on and did four SST intervals. Each one progressively harder. Have you ever done a race that got easier as you got closer to the finish? No likely. Our training should often imitate that trend. Hold back slightly early to ensure that you can complete the entire workout. As you get closer to the end, you can risk a little more and go harder.

Sweet Spot is 88-93% of FTP. For me, that means 220-233 Watts. The average of the first three intervals was 223, 229, 242 Watts. During the third, I increased the training benefit by lowering my cadence about 10rpm. I was grinding in order to build strength in the glutes, quads, and lower back. I was pretty cooked at the end of the third interval. Also recognize that my rest intervals were really slow and easy. For five minutes, I rolled at a walking speed just moving my legs. Maybe unclipping to stretch. Allowing myself to relax as much as possible before beginning the next interval. Work hard, rest easy.

For the fourth interval, I returned to my preferred cadence and lowered my average target. It ended up being 232 Watts. Still at the upper end of my SST range but I could no longer continue to go higher. I also ended this interval at 16 minutes as I arrived in Lambertville. Even at night, there are people using the path to get around town.

With Lambertville behind me, I still had a long ride back to the start point. I decided to add in more training efforts. No "junk Miles" on this ride. I did ten minutes within Zone 3-Tempo plus a Form Sprint every minute. Remember, a Form Sprint is a short out-of-the-saddle sprint of 8-12 seconds. Focusing on form rather than power. That is good because by this point, I was running out of power. Although I was tired, this last intervals provided interest and entertainment as I finished the ride. Instead of feeling exhausted, I felt invigorated and determined to finish strong until I was ready to start my cool-down.

It was a great workout. Many other small things were going on that are simply too detailed to explain via email. Give me a call the next time one of these SST workouts are on your calendar. I'll show up and help you to get it right.

Thanks for reading.

Sharing my data - A New Beginning

During my build towards the 2013 Tour of the Battenkill, I shared my thoughts and personal training data to provide some insight that may help you in your own training. I received great feedback from many of you. Believe it or not, the time has come for me to begin again. One of you asked recently when I was going to begin training for Battenkill again. My response was, "About a month ago."

What have I been doing? I enjoyed my off-season. Yes, Summer is my off-season. It is when I focus my attention on all of you. I do your workouts with you, instructional skills sessions, and provide support at events. I made an effort to improve my poor spine and back condition which continues to be a problem for me. That is why you are not seeing me racing my CX bike this year or last.

Additionally, I was enjoying my kids as one was leaving for prep-school. Helping my friends at Halter's Cycles during their busy season. I attended coaching seminars. I was on my bike but not really training. After decades of riding, I can ride all day at any point. I do lose the sharpness, race-preparedness, or my "top end speed".

I did an FTP test with clients at the end of July. It resulted in a concerning 9% drop in Functional Threshold Power (FTP) power since April. I spent the next six weeks hosting Cyclocross skills clinics with most of you. One huge clinic for the public. I also spent two long weekends at clinics hosted by other coaches. Some additional family time didn't allow much opportunity to train. I did another FTP test a month ago. Another 2% drop in FTP power. "Okay, that is enough! Time to get back on the horse!"

I have spent the time since increasing the duration and intensity on the bike. Simply riding with more purpose. When legs feel good, do something with them. Not much structure required. I simply followed the old Eddy Merckx recommendation, "Ride Lots!"

Feel free to take a look at my test data. You may notice that I do not put out impressive numbers. You won't hear me bragging about my huge engine. I picked the wrong parents. I like to think I extract every bit of power from myself with excellent coordination and efficiency. Coupled knowledge and experience, I can still surprise a few people.

In the future, I hope to share my thoughts and data from key workouts. I began introducing some structured intervals last week and will share one of those workouts in the coming days. In the future, I hope to share about one workout per week. We'll see how things go.

The intent is to help you in your own training. I do many of the same workouts you do. I practice what I preach. I always enjoy your feedback and questions and look forward to hearing from you. 

Thanks for reading.

Sharing my data - Using sound strategy...

I've done each of the Lancaster road races this spring. Previously, I did many Cat 1/2/3 races where I could get crushed by much younger and fitter guys. When the big guns showed up, it could be a struggle to outlast their attacks and finish among them at the end. A new category in the Lancaster series, 40+ Cat 3/4 Men, allows me to go in with some new confidence. I'm younger and more experienced than the majority of my competition.

The races have been so-so. Not much team representation. Mostly solo guys racing for themselves. That can make things boring as no one is willing to go too far beyond their comfort zone or take risks. Instead of working together, racers look at each other and say, "Screw you, I'm not going to exert myself in a way that others may benefit from." What often develops is what I refer to as "Negative Racing". Instead of racing aggressive to win, racers are trying to avoid losing.

As I was previously using these for training, I often showed up with tired legs. That caused me to race more conservatively than I would like. I also don't know anyone in the races as these are far from home. In my Salisbury Road Race, a team of two riders successfully dictated the entire race. A solo breakaway with a good blocker among the rest of the field. Basically, one strong guy and one smart guy. While frustrated, I was very impressed. I took note of who they were, the team they were on, and how others responded and behaved.

Last weekend, I showed up at the Farmerstown Road Race. Same series and race category but a course I was not familiar with. We began the 42-mile race in a stiff wind. Enough wind to dampen the enthusiasm of many racers. In the first third of the race, a solo rider attacked and got a gap ahead of the group. It was a rider on the same team that dictated the previous race but I did not recognize the rider. I noticed him earlier in the race and wasn't too impressed. The winner of the previous race was playing the role of "blocker". That got my full attention. I'm not going to get caught sleeping again.

At about the half-way point, the solo rider was hovering with a 30-40 second lead. Impressive but not beyond the reach of others. In this situation, I'm looking to "bridge" up to that leader while leaving everyone else behind. I was anxious to do something before allowing that rider to slowly increase his lead. Still a long way to go to the finish so I had some reservations.

I noticed a farm vehicle on the road ahead of us. There was a right turn ahead and I thought we would hit that turn at the same time as that vehicle. I hit the gas. Getting a small gap on everyone else and passing that vehicle before the turn. Actually, I cut him off as motorists often do to us on our road training rides. I don't know that vehicle impacted everyone else but I got the gap I wanted and my race got much more interesting.

Now, I can share my race data to help you to understand what was going on. I do not look at my data while racing and do not recommend it. It usually tells you you are suffering badly (of course) and becomes a distraction. I do my analysis after races to see how the data compared to what I was "feeling".

After leaving the field behind, it took exactly 8 minutes to catch the leader. A short max sprint and Zone 5-VO2 Max effort. Then I settled into the high end of Zone 4-Threshold and hoped to make progress. It was difficult enough that I didn't know if I'd make it to the leader. I did make it up to him eventually. After the race, I created a lap in the data called "Bridge". You can click on it to highlight that portion of the map and graph.

I pulled up next to him and immediately introduced myself, asked his name, and told him he had an awesome teammate blocking in the field. I showed I was friendly and provided encouragement to keep digging deep. We now needed to work together to remain ahead.

We did that for the next 45 minutes. Exchanging pulls and trying to compliment one another. As one slowed, the other came around to keep the pace high. The wind kicked our butts at times. Bringing us down to jogging speed. I'd look back as we went around turns to gauge where the rest of the racers were. At times, they were out of sight. That was encouraging.

We started the bell lap with about a 20-second advantage. Not very good, as road races tend to get faster towards the end. Others are willing to take greater risks with their energy as they know the end of the race is approaching. If caught, I wouldn't have the legs to contest a field sprint. No choice than to remain committed to what I started.

The gap got slowly smaller. The undulating terrain made it hard to tell but they were slowly getting closer. I was getting fatigued. Confident that I could beat my companion at the end but needed his help to get there ahead of others. We were caught with 3/4 of a mile left in the race. As the field swallowed us, we exchanged a sincere thanks and good luck.

Immediately, the blocking teammate and another strong rider counter-attacked and they finished ahead of the field. The blocker finished second. A strong showing for a guy who likely put in some big efforts to support his teammate in the breakaway. The winner got the golden opportunity and capitalized.

I reintegrated into the field with tired legs. As they ramped up towards the finish, I could only watch while in their draft. Not enough left in the tank to stand and sprint. 38 riders started. Many were dropped and abandoned due to the wind. I finished 14th of the 21 who finished. The winner put in a two minute effort, at the perfect moment, and won. I put in a 52 minute effort and got zilch.

That is road racing. Chess on wheels with lots of sweat and a little bit of NASCAR. I drove home imagining what I could have done differently to change the result. I also drove home feeling as if I had raced aggressively, dictated the race to others and left it all out on the road. For me, that is a success and keeps me going back for more.

I appreciate your attention. Now go make an impact in your next event or leave it all out there trying.

Sharing my data - "Form = Fitness + Freshness"

Thanks for the well-wishes ahead of Battenkill. Many of you have asked how it went. Some of you were there. Unfortunately, I came away disappointed in my performance. I had numerous distractions in the month ahead of the race. I did my best to stay on target but fell short of my expectations.

The end result reminded me of a common quote, "Form = Fitness + Freshness". Good form is what you want to have when you toe the line of your big event. It is a complex combination of many things. We gain fitness as we pile on the miles, intervals, and sporadic races or big rides. We increase our endurance, our VO2 Max, maybe drop some weight, improve fundamentals and hone our form. Although we gain significant fitness, we can suffer from the accumulation of training demands.

As we approach our big day (or cluster of events), we incorporate additional rest. Workouts are shorter while maintaining the high intensity or our racing edge. We allow for more recovery. We spend the extra time to finalize our equipment choices, tuning bikes, putting on fresh tires, and generally get ready for battle. In general, we are resting, recovering and gaining freshness.

The end result is great form. We have done the work needed to improve fitness. We allowed for recovery and reached a state of confident calm for the big event(s). Our engine is tuned, cleaned, fueled, and waiting for the green light. We are fit and fresh.

In the month prior, I was forced to do some scrambling. The legs were good and fit but I was dodging obstacles. As I need to taper and gain freshness, I was feeling flat. Legs sore on most days. They did not respond to recovery days. Too late to change much. I reduced the volume and did the intervals and races that my legs would allow. The body continued to feel bad.

The Rhonde Van Mullica two weeks ago compounded the issue. It was the first race this year that my mind could not overcome my legs. "Shut up Legs!" was not good enough and I just rolled through that race. The next week didn't include many hard efforts. It was intended to top off my freshness. The flat legs, fatigue, and soreness continued.

I warmed up for Battenkill with a strange numbness. Too excited to feel what my legs were telling me. At the first big climb of the race...it became clear. This was not going to be a good day. It was arguably the first of four decisive points in the race. I made it through with the contenders but it was obvious to me that my time there would be limited.

I didn't back off and continued to race. At the next significant climb, I put myself in a good position at the front. Hoping that I would still be within the group at the top. That didn't happen. I finished the race playing leapfrog with a few people in my race. Even some from earlier races that were less fortunate than myself.

So I'll share my race data. Ignore the early spikes of heart rate. My Garmin sometimes does that in the early portions of workouts. I'm too lazy to edit the raw data this time. You can see the erratic power while I'm riding within the group. Alternating between pedaling and coasting. We hit that climb near the middle and all that changed. The rest was just me telling my legs to shut up.

I had the good fortune of being with friends and clients for the entire weekend. After racing, I was in the feed zones handing out bottles to others. Battenkill provides a very rare celebration of bike racing. I came home with souvenirs and good memories.

I have felt slightly better this week. I had a very good race out in Lancaster, PA today. Just short of a win. I'll have to settle for just a great day of racing instead. That's not bad. I'll share that experience and data in the next couple days.

As the days get longer and warmer, I'm out riding with all of you more often. I put my own race ambitions aside in order to provide a better coaching service to you. I'll continue to race as my schedule allows. I have a habit of pinning a number on while out there providing race support for all of you. (wink)

Thanks for reading.