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by Joao Correia

I am happy to report that the Cervelo TestTeam has its first men’s team win of the season.

For the past ten days I have been in Majorca with Theo Bos our Dutch Sprinter training and testing some cycleops products. We were fortunate to have David Catchart from Cycleops there with us and put in a very solid ten days of training. Theo and I both use the Joule and the PowerTap for racing and training, and not being a very fast rider, it’s always humbling to compare his numbers to mine. That is nowhere more evident than on the days that we are doing sprints. You know when you are sprinting against somebody and your both neck to neck and you think, I may just have this turkey. Well with Theo and I that never really happens. He peak power is about 50% more than mine. Yeah it’s pretty humbling. But here is the good news: the guy just won Classica de Almeria beating Mark Cavendish who is the reference sprinter of the moment as many of you know.

Classica de Almeria is one of the early season races in Spain and a rarity for Spain since a) it’s a one day race and b) it’s a fairly flat race. The race had two Cat 3 and one Cat 2 climb. My job yesterday was to cover the early moves with Stefan Denifl and see if we could get into the break of the day. I was happy to do that since it would probably mean passing the Cat 2 climb in the break. Unfortunately although it seemed that we had covered plenty of moves, neither Stefan nor I made it into the four-man break. Once the break got away, the race slowed down and Columbia controlled the front with Rabobank. I was happy to ride along at a comfortable pace but have to say was a little nervous about the climbs.

The sign for “start of climb” for the first third category climb was actually on a downhill. Reminded me of the KOM in Besseges that after climbing for 10Km, it was at the bottom of a 3Km downhill. Milram had attacked a few K’s from the climb on another accent, and once we hit the Cat 2, it was strung out with Alejandro Valverde doing what seemed like was an all-out interval at the front. By the top the peloton was in pieces, and I was in the last group. We had some riders in the front, but the important guy who was Theo was in the second group trying to chase back onto the front. At one time the gap was 1:35, but somehow with the help of Inigo Cuesta, Philip Deignan and Marcel Wyss, they were able to get back on and set Theo up for the win.

I was in a group of 10 riders about 20 seconds behind Theo’s group trying desperately to come back so that I could help them chase. I think we did about 30 Km at that distance, and it’s days like that where you wish the caravan was longer. Unfortunately with a race of only a little over 100 riders, that’s not possible, so we never made contact and finished 8 minutes down on the winner, which surprises me since we were out there for about 60Km.

But Theo won so that doesn’t really matter, and when I crossed the line, I did my usual kissing of my wedding ring, and I saw Theo riding the other way. I held up a hand as if to say “So?” and he simply help up one finger. I know this will sound strange, but I was so happy that you would have thought that I had won the race. We both gave each other high fives in what was indeed a great day. On top of Theo’s win, his lead-out man Davide Appolonio was fifth on the day. Keep an eye on those two names. You’re going to hear a lot about them, and in my humble opinion Theo is on his way to becoming one of the great sprinters of his generation.

Now we are off to the Vuelta a Murcia, and I am a little anxious about the climbing. My weight is OK but not great; the real problem is that I just can’t hit the 6 Watts/Kg yet for the time period that I need to be competitive on the climbs. But I’m seeing improvements every week, so hopefully with persistency and guts, I’ll make it through this. Until the next entry thank you for following.

Keep up with Joao Correia on his blog (www.joaoisme.com), Twitter (@joaoisme), and YouTube (www.youtube.com/joaoisme).

by Abby Ruby Ph.D., Carmichael Training Systems™ Senior Coach

Some of you may have already done your goal setting for 2010, but I know many of you haven’t. This is like the prep work that you have to do before painting your kitchen. It seems tedious, especially when you’re excited to just get going, but it’s essential for achieving the results you want. And effective goal setting is more of a process than simply saying, “I want to win the Poedunk Grand Prix.” or “I want to get faster.” And filtering your list of goals can be crucial, especially for all you over-achievers out there (you know who you are). Regardless of how 2009 went, it’s time to look ahead to 2010 and it’s time to do better. Here’s how: Take out a piece of paper and start writing. 

Step 1: Take stock in what went well and what didn’t go well in 2009.

What successes did you have in 2009? – List all of them, don’t be shy.

Why do you think you succeeded? – There are no wrong answers here, from the dog- your new training partner, to the pretty pink shorts you will always race in… whatever you attribute your successes to, jot them down. This should be a running list that you can come back to and add to.

What did you not achieve in 2009 that you had hoped to accomplish? Honesty will get your closer to putting these goals back on the list for 2010. Don’t give up, re-commit.

Why do you think you fell short? Again, no wrong answers. If you believe that it’s because your wife/husband switched coffee brands, it’s true for you, so write it down.

What did you learn from the 2009 and how can you do better in 2010? Here is where you can edit and analyze all of what you have written above and integrate those answers together into this answer. Above you were listing, here you are processing.

Step 2: Establish your current baseline

Do a field test and figure out where you are TODAY- this is a very important piece of the puzzle, it is the first piece of data you will need to work towards your 2010 goals. The CTS Cycling Field Test is two 8-minute all-out efforts separated by 10 minutes of easy recovery. The important data points to collect from each all-out effort are: average heart rate, max heart rate, average power (if available), cadence, and distance traveled. The CTS Running Field Test is one 8-minute all-out effort, and you should record average and max heart rates, and distance traveled. 

Step 3: Find a calendar and create a time line

Pick a goal race(s) and mark it on the calendar. Now work backwards and add some secondary races that will help prepare you for your ultimate objective. If your goal race is two weeks away, pick a few more goals throughout the year. Your ultimate goal race doesn’t have to be Dec 23, 2010, but nor should it be March 1 - there’s a lot of 2010 left after March. Secondary races should be spread out by 3-6 weeks to allow for ample recovery and a full build between events. Stacking too many races together can compromise the quality of your training sessions as you will have to focus on recovery between races instead of building fitness between events.

Step 4: Create short term goals that will help your forward progress towards your ultimate goal.

This may be increasing your power at lactate threshold by 5 watts every 3 weeks or shedding .5 of body fat per week. Incremental goals help keep you on track as you move towards your larger objectives.

- Now’s the time to commit them to paper, just as you have a training calendar that helps you stay focused, write out your short-term goals next to each week/month in order to stay committed to the forward progress toward your larger goal.
- Make sure those goals are measurable: watts, pace, weight, etc.
- While some goals are intangible, and those are fine to have, these short-term goals should build incrementally to your long term goal, and they should be quantifiable.

Step 5: Evaluate your goals

Ask yourself whether you are you committed to your goal. And don’t answer “Yes” just because you think you should. Take a hard look at your stated goal and evaluate it.  If your answer is no: figure out what is standing in your way of fully committing. If your answer is yes: Write out a few reasons why you are committed to your goal- these will help remind you about your present state of mind when weeks and months from now you are perhaps losing focus. You can use the questions below to help.

Is your goal Specific?
If it isn’t, can you make it more specific? Can you quantify it or measure it in some way?

Is your goal challenging but realistic?
If you can hit your goal tomorrow, it isn’t challenging. If your goal is to ride in the Tour de France this year and you started racing Cat 5 last year, it isn’t very realistic. Push yourself here, but be grounded in both your experience level AND, perhaps most important, the amount of time you have to allot to your goal. Goals take work and work takes time- your goals need to be reasonable given your current amount of “free” time, of which many of us have precious little. If you were struggling to get 5 hours of training in last year and your goals are going to require 20 hours of training, you need to scale back your goal or commit to some major lifestyle/career changes.

Is your goal measurable?
If it isn’t in the way it is currently written, is there a way to reframe it so that it can become measureable?

Is your goal within your control?
Examples of goals that are in your control are running a 3:30 marathon. Winning is a great goal to have, but in competition there are almost always factors that are outside your control. Winning is the preferred result, but optimal preparation and a personal best performance are the goals you can control. When you optimize everything you can control, you’re more able to rise to the challenges of competition, and you increase the probability that you’ll have a winning performance.
 
Do you have an appropriate timeline to reach your goal?
If you want to take 2 hours off of your Ironman time, or 45 minutes off your century time, that may be very appropriate for you. It may also take more than 4-6 months of training. The body grows stronger and faster through systematic applications overload and recovery. It takes time and controlled stress to overload the body, and it takes ample recovery for the body to come back stronger. None of us can rush this process – and attempting to do so often results in injury. So allow ample time for the body to grow stronger - and here’s the best news of all - it will!

Do you have intermediary goals along the way to measure your progress?
Write out what it will take to reach your ultimate goal. Can you break it down into measurable chunks of work? After each build cycle and recovery period, you should be able to see measurable progress. Intermediate goals are different than the short-term goals that provide motivation for incremental improvement. These are your secondary events, the performances that provide real-world tests to see if you’re progressing toward your ultimate goal. They could be local 10k races as you prepare for a marathon, or some Tuesday-night training criteriums as you get ready for your region’s summer criterium series.

Maintain Perspective
Remember though, goals are more than outcomes. Goals require action and integration. Who do you need to be in order to achieve your goals? What traits do you want to display as an athlete? What characteristics do you need to succeed? Break down each goal into manageable bites so that each and every day you feel as though you are taking steps to reaching your goals.
 
As Anthony Robbins says: “Goals are a means to an end, not the ultimate purpose of our lives. They are simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a direction. The only reason we pursue goals is to cause ourselves to expand and grow. Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the long term, it’s who you become, as you overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve your goals, that can give you the deepest and most long-lasting sense of fulfillment.”

Abby Ruby, Ph.D. is Senior Coach at Carmichael Training Systems and earned her doctorate by studying exercise addiction in Ironman triathletes. For the past 10 years, CTS has been the trusted coaching, camps, and performance testing source for thousands of everyday endurance athletes. Their special 10th Anniversary promotion is available here: http://www.trainright.com/info.asp?uid=4728.

by Joao Correia

I am happy to report that I recently completed my first stage race of the season. Although it is still mid-February the cycling season in Europe is in full swing. The Cervélo Test Team did a dual schedule of the Etoile de Besseges the race that I was part of, and we also had a men’s and women’s squad at the Tour of Qatar. The women’s team opened the team’s account by winning the Tour of Qatar with Kristen Wilde. Now the men need to catch up.

Traditionally the French races in February such as the Etoille de Besseges and the Tour of the Mediterranean were training races. Today they are full-fledged races that are hard in their own merit. For the French teams they are important races and we raced against small French pro teams that I had never heard of but who were as competitive as the Pro-Tour teams at the race.

For Cervélo, Besseges was a good race to get the legs going, and we were originally going to go with Thor Hushovd, last year’s green jersey winner and my training partner, as our leader. Unfortunately for Thor and for us, he got sick a week before the race, and we went into the race without a clear leader. This is both positive and negative in that you tend to lose a little bit of your focus, but it also offers other members of the team a little more freedom in the race. In the early season when everybody’s form is different, this can be a blessing since, if you’re not going into the race with great form, it is an opportunity to work yourself into race shape without having to slog at the front for a good part of the day.

One of the features that I am really liking on my PowerTap is the ability to customize the Joule dashboard. I really don’t want to know how many watts and at what heart rate I am in a race but do want the data to see afterwards, so during races I change the dashboard so that I don’t see that.

Although I was nervous immediately before the start of the race, that quickly went away once the gun went off. The first ten kilometers of the race were very fast and had what seemed to be a million roundabouts that needed to be negotiated. Once the break went away with two French riders, the race settled down into a very manageable pace. I remember thinking that I’ve had Gimbles (my home group ride) rides that were harder but knew that any moment the pace could go from easy to super hard. Because I was going into the unknown, the team told me to just sit in and conserve energy. I finished the stage in good shape and never really had any difficulty.

After stage one my main concern was recovery. We have a great support staff on the team and immediately after the stage every rider gets his/her recovery drink of choice prepared by one of the soigneurs as soon as they are back on the bus. After, we shower in the bus and head to the hotel where we have a massage, rest and dinner. I was making sure I was drinking a lot of water and would usually drink between 1.5 and 3.0 liters of water after the stage and another 1.5-3.0 liters of water before the start the next day. Now you know why you are always seeing riders pull over to pee during races.

Stage two was a little bit harder but still good. The stages are between 140-150 Km with the last 30Km or so in a circuit for all but 2 stages. Once we hit the circuits the pace was pretty intense, but I managed to stay in the group over the climb and finish in the main group. Generally the first hour or so of racing is extremely fast until the break gets settled, and then the pace is controlled by the yellow jersey team until the sprinters’ teams go to the front to bring the break back and set up the sprint for their man. The timing is generally pretty impeccable.

Stage three and four were the hardest stages of the race with a little bit more climbing. At this point I am pretty comfortable on the climbs unless the pace gets really high, usually because of the attacks, or I don’t pay attention to my position in the group. On stage three for example, I passed one of the KOM’s in the front group only to lose it on a right hand turn on the descent. I touched my brakes slightly and all of a sudden, I am four bike lengths behind Brett Lancaster, one of my teammates, and it takes 20Km to get back to the front group. Luckily for me there were about 30 guys behind me, and I was able to make it back safely. Positioning is important because if you come out of a turn in the top twenty, the ramping up of the speed is very manageable, but if you’re sitting in 120th position, you really need to do an all out sprint to stay in contact. After a few of those you start paying as I did with 50Km to go on stage three. That day I finished 15 minutes down on the winner, but I finished in a small group and didn’t waste too much energy for the next day.

Stage four had two category one climbs and a few other climbs without categories that I swear were harder than anything categorized we had done all week. I finished the day in a group of about 40 riders about 20 minutes down on the winner. It was essentially the second main group on the road that split in the first category climb of the day.

The last stage didn’t start out too well for us. We had two riders sick and one of them was Ted King my old Bissell teammate and now a teammate on Cervélo. Teddy is not only a teammate but a good friend as well, and doing my first race with him was a nice added bonus. My legs have been recovering better than I expected, and I survived the day fairly well and even probably had the best legs of any of my days here on the circuits in the race. It was the first time in the week that coming out of the turns I was comfortable regardless of where I was in the group. Good signs for races ahead I hope.

Now I am back home and getting ready to leave again for Majorca for a 10 day training camp before my next race Classica de Almeria and the Vuelt a Murcia in Spain. I am looking forward to going to Majorca since the weather is suppose to be perfect for riding, and it’s an island with a lot of cyclists. It will be my first time there. In Majorca I will also be able to do some motor pacing, which is something that will help with my speed. Until the next entry in two weeks, thanks for reading.

Keep up with Joao Correia on his blog (www.joaoisme.com), Twitter (@joaoisme), and YouTube (www.youtube.com/joaoisme).

by Nikki Butterfield

This series of articles is aimed at the ‘lifetime athlete’ which is basically someone who has trained 15 hours + a week, for at least 5 years who is coming off a long break or relatively inactive winter, looking to do an Ironman in 12 weeks. I am doing Ironman Utah on the 1st of May and started training 2 weeks ago (see the end of this article for a summary of my training over this last two weeks).

If this is the first time you have read one of my articles for a while it is probably worth skimming over ‘A Long Time Overdue’ and ‘Decision Made’ to make sense of some of the changes.

Here is a quick overview of what this series of articles is meant to cover. ‘When you made the decision to do Utah, and you hadn’t been seriously training for 6 months, and you hadn’t been focusing on triathlon for many years, how did you decide what you needed to do to prepare? How do you arrange your training? How does the everyday athlete who doesn’t have a coach know what to do, how much of it to do, how often to do it?

Hopefully over the next 12 weeks I will give you some insight on what to do and what not to do in an Ironman preparation, of course the jury will be out on whether my advice is good or not depending on my performance in Utah. The year before I switched from triathlon to cycling (2005) I did two Ironman races (9.40 in Forster and 10.30 in Japan), a few Half Ironman’s and the World Long Course Championships where I was 5th. I also won the Australian Long Course Championships in that same year. Before that I was an Olympic distance triathlete, my best result was winning the Under-23 World Title in 2003.

A few things I can tell you straight away (a lot of you will already know all of this but sometimes it is good to have a little reminder):

- 7 weeks is too close for two Ironman’s (for me anyway);
- Don’t bother starting if you are injured- get it sorted and choose another race you are ready for;
- Use the same nutritional products for at least the last 6-8 weeks leading in as you plan to use in the race. Check out what the race will provide in case on race day you have to look beyond your own supplies to save you from that dreaded hunger flat;
- Start thinking now (10-12 weeks out) about all of your equipment: What is the course like? TT or road bike? Wheel choice? How many bidons are you going to carry? Where will they be mounted on your bike? Spares? Nutrition schedule?

The first 2 weeks in an Ironman preparation is simply about getting the miles in and getting back into the routine of training 2-3 times a day. Any training is good training, don’t be ‘set in your ways’ and just get in what you can when you can. If you had planned a long ride but only have time for a run, don’t stress. Just get your body back into the rhythm of consistent training. The other big one is if you are tired and finding it super hard to get out the door, cut the session, now is not the time to force anything.

The coming two weeks need to be a little more disciplined. Write out a schedule for yourself of ‘key sessions’, ones you don’t compromise on. Ideally work in 3 swims, 2-3 bikes (you need at least 8 hours for the week) and at least 4 runs (40-90 minutes each) for the week. If you have the time and energy to do more, great, but make sure you make this ‘minimum standard’, the only way to train for an Ironman is through consistency. The next 10 weeks need to get progressively harder and longer and the introductory training you are doing now is getting you ready for the harder stuff to come in March (or from 4-8 weeks out if you are applying this to another Ironman).

In the next two weeks find a day (preferably after a rest day so you are relatively fresh) and do this test. It will give you base level to refer to so next month you can measure objectively your improvement.

Set yourself up on the windtrainer, rollers, whatever you have got at home with your Powertap wheel on.

For Women- do a 10 minute easy spin to get warmed up. Start at 100 watts, every 3 minutes go up 25 watts until you get uncomfortable, for me this ranges between 160 and 170 heart rate.

For Men- do a 10 minute easy spin to get warmed up. Start at 150 watts, every 5 minutes go up 50 watts until you get uncomfortable, for me this ranges between 160 and 170 heart rate.

This is a VO2 max protocol; however, to get the information you want from it it is not necessary to go until you are totally maxed out. Of course you can if you want to, but don’t feel guilty if you cut the set once you get to 150-160 heart rate. You are probably starting to accumulate some fatigue now after two weeks of training, so there is no shame in simply going to threshold.

Make sure you download your file and label it appropriately so you can easily refer back to it later. Do this in another months time (6 weeks into your preparation) and again another month later (10 weeks into your preparation which is 2 weeks before the race). Over the series of tests each month you want to see a lower heart rate for each power level and the ability to get further through the test.

I will do my test next week and publish it in my next article.

If you have any suggestions on article topics or questions please don’t hesitate to comment below.

If you would like more regular updates on how my training etc you can follow me on Twitter @NikButterfield

Training Program

A quick summary, to understand where I am starting from. Since I decided not to sign any contracts for 2010 (with cycling teams) in August last year I have ridden my bike 5-10 times, I was running five days a week leading into Christmas (the last week of 2009 I ran 75km for the week), and then I had most of January off. You should be able to have a good guess at where your fitness starting point lies relative to mine.

January

Thursday 28th- 50 minute run on the treadmill.
Friday 29th- 2 hour easy bike.
Saturday 30th- 4 hour bike in a group of four. Fifteen minute solid turns on the front.
Sunday 31st- 1 hour in the gym + 1 hour 20 min easy run.

February

Monday 1st- 2 hour easy bike.
Tuesday 2nd- 45 minute easy run.
Wednesday 3rd- 4 hours 45 minute bike with climbing.
Thursday 4th- 1 hour easy run.
Friday 5th- 50 minute easy run.
Saturday 6th- 3 hours 15 minute bike in a group of six riders. Fifteen minute solid pulls on the front in time trial position.
Sunday 7th- 30 min easy treadmill run + 1 km easy swim.

Monday 8th- Day off.
Tuesday 9th- 1 hour easy run (morning) + 40 minute gym and 1.5km swim (midday) + 40 minute easy run on the treadmill (evening).
Wednesday 10th- 4km solid swim with squad + 2 hour easy bike.
Thursday 11th- 5km easy run + 2km easy swim.
**Have reached my ‘very tired’ point and am taking two days easy.

by Nikki Butterfield, written on February 11, 2010

Three months after writing my previous article ‘A Long Time Overdue’ I have finally made a decision. I am going to do Ironman Utah on the 1st of May, four years after my last triathlon.

I made the decision to switch from triathlon to cycling at the end of 2005 for a combination of reasons: injury, staleness, the fact the bike was my strongest, I could sprint, the desire to be a part of a more dynamic sport, the desire to be a part of a team sport, and more than anything, to be part of an Olympic sport.

I had my successes and other than the last little bit, I enjoyed almost every moment of it. I will certainly miss feeling super powerful, attacking, the strategy, the classics, or any big race for that matter. These parts I still have a hard time giving up.

What I won’t miss is the politics that often determine your fate, the small, unimportant races that take me away from home, having very little money, and effectively being ‘owned’ by my professional team and controlled by my countries federation.

I always say I only have two regrets from my athletic career so far. The first was not taking my Hawaii spot (the Ironman World Championships) back in 2005 when I qualified in Forster, and second was at the Montreal World Cup (the last selection race for the Olympics) where I came in as the only Australian to have finished front group in all the Olympics selection races previous to that, and was told I needed to show I was a team player. I worked for the team, the girl who got the result on paper from my work got the Olympic spot, and I was reserve. I should have worked for myself and then I would have been the first Australian in 4 of the 5 selection races instead of 3 of the 5. Much harder to leave me out.

I can ask for a re-do of my first regret, but that Olympic spot will never come back to me. No sense in wallowing in my own self-pity. It is time to get on with it.

So, Ironman it is. A few of my old friends have asked me why I have jumped straight into a 9 hour 30 race (at best!) rather than easing into some shorter races first. The thought is to get one done early in the year because if on the slight chance I qualify for Hawaii (the World Championships in October) I have more time to recover and rebuild for the big one. Of course if I am not fast enough in Utah and I am up for another one, it also gives me time to try to qualify a second time too.

Common sense would suggest I have very little chance of putting down a World Championship performance in my first Ironman back after 4 years out of the sport, but I wanted to choose one early enough that would allow me to take the spot if on the off chance I have a blinder.

I have been training for two weeks now. Check out ‘Starting From Scratch’ for my first article on my preparation.

by Nikki Butterfield, written on November 30, 2009

Firstly, thank you to CycleOops for being so patient with me. They asked me to write this article in August, and here I am in November finally doing it.

The last few months can surely be described as ‘tumultuous’. As I started to ramp up my training back in July for the World Championships I had a mountain biking accident that put me in hospital for a week (I had a major concussion), got back into training 100% within two weeks of the accident, started my specific race preparation phase (lots of motor pacing, power hills and a ‘Worlds’ diet), started to look and feel the part, then found out I was on the wrong side of the political fence, again. Not fun.

When I say this, I hope not to come across as the typical ‘bitter’ athlete that was not given the opportunities they feel they deserved, but as someone who is pragmatic about their ‘failures’, or rather the unfulfilling of potential.

My first few years cycling leading into the Beijing Olympics I was the ‘new girl’, during a time that there was a National Coach (who I got liked and got along with) who believed in the ‘tried and true’ stalwarts of the sport. I was the first Australian in almost all the selection races for the Olympics, but Cycling Australia chose to take a ‘more experienced’ team to the Games. I was devastated to say the least but I picked myself up, got on with the job at hand, had a great ride at the World Championships (see ‘Nikki Egyed's World Championship Road Race), and was looking forward to the next few years where I was now on the other side of the fence- I was going to be one of the ‘older more experienced’ girls (Sara Carrigan and Oenone Wood retired after the Games), that was given opportunities in the major events.

Unfortunately this didn’t play out as I expected, the national coach I have been speaking of moved on, and the new national coach is the complete opposite of the first. He wants to show ‘black and white’ selection processes (he comes from the track) and so if you haven’t fulfilled the criteria in the given year, you don’t go to the major event. I was tired- physically and mentally, for a good part of 2009, and it wasn’t until we started to get into the ‘critical’ part of the season that I was interested in committing 100% to the task at hand.

My strategy for 2009 was to intentionally have a slow start to the year, ‘put all my eggs in one basket’ so to speak, and rely on selection performance at the Plouay World Cup (France) in August. Every time I have ridden there I have done well, the course suits me. So I was confident I would make the Worlds Team, and if I didn’t ride well enough in Plouay for a Worlds spot, then I didn’t deserve it anyway.

One problem, I needed a start with the National Team in Plouay to be able to show I was ready to go. Nope. The new National coach said I didn’t have a ‘World Championship attitude’. I tried to negotiate my own program in the lead up to the Worlds where I prepared in Girona in Spain where I have lived the last few years and trained with the Garmin boys, not to mention so I wasn’t away from my husband for the 6 weeks leading in to the Worlds.

It is up to the national coach who gets starts with the national team for World Cups, and despite me being one of the top 3 Australians currently riding, and having being the first Australian by minutes in the World Championships last year, he had (and still has) the power to decide who he wants on the team on that day. I rubbed him the wrong way. It is his way or no way.

The irony is that I probably would have made the Olympic team if he had of been the national coach leading into the Games (he favors ‘current performers’) and I would have been on the start line at the Plouay World Cup this year (and then most likely Worlds too) if the previous national coach had of been in term this year.

But that is sport, and I didn’t mange my ‘political position’ as well as I could have. I didn’t play the game.

The difference between Men’s cycling and Women’s is that Men are paid enough for it to be their jobs. If they don’t make it on teams for major events, it is still just as disappointing, but there is reason enough to continue- there are many other prestigious races to focus on, and they are making good money. In Women’s you make enough money to scrape by, and you do it for the love of the sport, and the ambition to represent your country at the Olympics Games (or I did anyway).

The quandary for me is/was is to work so hard for another 3 years for something, that whether I am successful or not is dependent on another person’s decision, seems too risky. I am not prepared to give up everything (and that really is what it takes to be really good) for those odds.

I am one year off being finished my MBA, I don’t like being away from my husband too often, and I love having the time to do other things in my life properly (our taxes are up to date for the first time ever!). The ‘opportunity cost’ is just too great for that level of risk (for me).

The flip side, or confusing side whichever way you look at it, is I am only twenty-seven years old and when you consider endurance athletes usually hit their prime between twenty-eight and thirty-two, I am just getting to the age when I should see my best performances. I have trained twenty to thirty hours a week for twelve years (eight years in triathlon and four in cycling) and I am still motivated to train hard. I have one World Championship title to my name (albeit an under-23 title), I love being really fit, I am physically talented (I have tested as high as 71ml/min for my Vo2) and my husband is still a professional athlete. Why not keep going with sport in some capacity at least?

Anyone who knows me well knows starting a family is high on my ‘agenda’ and if I could convince my husband that now’s the time, I probably wouldn’t even think about doing any sport aside from jut trying to keep fit. The thing is for now he is not quite onboard so what to do with the time in front of me?

Tyler is trying to convince me I should do another Ironman. I have always said I want to do another one (I did two 7 weeks apart in 2005: Foster in 9 hours 42 and Japan in 10 hours 30), so I guess it makes sense to do it before we have a little one wanting my 24/7 attention. We will see, I am not sure I am up for that type of commitment yet, after all, Ironman is an all-consuming ‘project’, and I am pretty out of shape after 3 months off.

I am writing this from Cozumel in Mexico, the day after Tyler’s 2nd Ironman. He did really well and I really enjoyed supporting him. I am not sure I want to be competing as well, how will I get to enjoy seeing him compete in the future if I am too busy doing it myself? Time will tell which path I chose.

Thank you for all of your support over the years, Nikki.

by Helen Wyman, 2010 UK Cyclocross National Champion

I’ve been a full-time cyclist now for 5 years, and when the opportunity came up to work with PowerTap, I jumped at the chance. In riding at a high level, I would look for fractions of percents in terms of improvements in my training and preparation for events. Now, the PowerTap however has offered me the potential to unlock whole percents…..many of them.

Equipment plays such a key role for me, but I’m lucky that I have a crew of support staff at each race to keep things working, clean and ready for action. The guys that help me are just as excited about the new gismo as I am. But it’s after the race that I get the biggest benefits when I get to analyze my performance with science fact.

Last weekend was a major weekend for me. I had 2 races planned, one in Belgium on Saturday, followed by the UK National Championships on Sunday. Both held great importance to me, for totally different reasons. For those interested, with fine weather, I was able to equip my FFWD PowerTap wheels with Challenge Grifo treads. These are intermediate treads, giving me low rolling resistance, but all the grip I need in the corners. They really are the perfect combination for speed and control.

Most major European cyclo-cross races start with a road section. It’s not normally longer than 300 meters, but it allows you get your position before the first corner without the need for panic or elbows! In Saturday’s race, the start was one to forget. I hadn’t done too many practice laps as I was trying to ride as little as possible with a view to keeping fresh for Sunday. I’d also planned to keep an eye on both my heart rate and power to make sure I didn’t max out anywhere during the race, as I needed fresh legs. I had 8 hours in the car after the race and knew that would hurt as much as the race itself.

Having recovered from a dreadful start (Check out the low section on my power file after the start…..I was forced to run for ages), in which I forgot about a 180 degree turn in the sand, meaning I ate some sand, and a bit of course marking tape, I settled into a rhythm and started the task of keeping ahead of my nearest challenger for overall honours in the GVA Trophy. The race went to plan after that. I dealt with the technical challenges of the sand well, and managed to reduce the deficit on the overall lead to just 2 points, equivalent of just 2 places in the final round at the end of the month.

The weekend was rounded off with a 5th consecutive win in the UK National Champs at Sutton Park Birmingham. It was also the 3rd time I’d won in Sutton Park, making it a pretty special place for me. The crowds were somewhat different back in the UK, as it didn’t quite have the 10,000 cheering fanatics, leaning over the barriers offering encouragement. Still, I’m really happy with the weekend, and now I’m looking forward to getting more work done with my PowerTap in training before the final race of the cross season.

I’ll be racing both Road and Mtb this summer, so there are loads of challenges ahead. It’s going to be an interesting 2010 that’s for sure.

by CycleOps Power Master Trainer, Charles "Joey" Adams

It is usually this time of year that I find myself banging my head against the handlebars as I am forced to ride inside more and more. There is only so many 20 below days my toes can take, even on my short commute. I’ve watched all the movies I can stomach on Netflix, and learned more from documentaries than my brain can take…I can now predict Sportscenter…and I’ve even caught up on infomercials and the latest fitness trend. So what is one to do when outdoor play is not an option due to the darkness of winter and the lack of snow due to global warming? Running is always an option, but for many cyclists not a pretty one as we tend to run like Pheobe in Friends (hit it on youtube on your next inside ride).

The other option is the ever expanding land of virtual rides. These virtual rides have come a long way from the camera mounted on the handlebars just a decade ago, or the coach screaming at you to take your heart rate up as high as you can go and the one heart rate for all mentality that went with these rides. Robbie Ventura’s “Race Day” DVD offers a unique feel and commentary of what it is like to ride in the pack and gives you the sensation of being in a race. In addition, Ventura’s Real Ride series includes three additional installments, “Force,” “Power” and “Speed.” As a bonus these rides feature a fitness assessment (ramp test) and offer an eight week training program. It is rides and programs like this that get me jumping out of my seat and attacking instead of counting the minutes left in the movie or interval!

Another option exists with EpicRides. These videos take you to destinations that you might not be able to ride any other way. Best of all they have target zones (for ALL levels), downloadable workouts, and recently they’ve added power profile rides you can download for the soon to be released CycleOps 400 Pro indoor cycle or your CycleOps Power Beam Pro trainer. See the power profiles at www.epicplanet.tv/catalog/powerprofiles. Epic Planet’s easy to follow dashboard lets you focus on discreet intervals, training zones, as well as keep track of the overall terrain and upcoming objectives. Their visual appeal will make the minutes tick by quickly!

Using watts to guide your indoor experience is the essence of indoor rides. This is what will turn your training into progress when your outdoor season ramps up. By using the rides you’ve downloaded from outside this past season you can now replicate these rides indoors by using PowerAgent to build your own virtual rides. Your custom made rides for will help you work on a specific weakness that will allow you to climb those hills stronger, help you achieve personal breakthroughs, and hold longer and higher wattages. Recently, I’ve been riding the CycleOps 400 Pro prototype (soon to be released) and have found the addition of the Joule 3.0 and the freewheeling (just like your road bike) has added another edge to my indoor arsenal. This bike TRULY feels like the outside is in; it is as close as any indoor bike has gotten. Best of all with the Joule 3.0 you can measure many variable simultaneously and what you can measure you can monitor. What you can monitor you can change!

A note of caution about the afore mentioned DVDs for those with motion sickness. Those of you who have home theaters, these videos really capture the feeling of the road. Some segments are so visually powerful they’ve given a few riders motion sickness. One section, when a rider crossed a yellow line for a split second coming down a hill, had me cringing for a moment and I found myself gripping the handlebars. I guess, to a degree that is the beauty of it – all of a sudden I found myself Inside Out! And one stroke closer to riding outside again…

Till then, ride smart, train smart, make your time count,

Joey Adams, M.S.
CycleOps Master Training Specialist
Owner of Intelligent Fitness @ intelligentfitness@comcast.net

Download this new CycleOps Power wallpaper to add a little motivation right to your desktop.

The guy on the horizon isn’t a cyclist. He’s a victim.

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by Joao Correia

There are a lot of professional cyclists out there that nobody has ever heard of and I am no different. But I am probably one of the unlikeliest stories in the European peloton this year. The main reason is that I am just like you. Up until December 1st I manned a desk like most of you and cycling was a passion (more like an obsession) but like most of you it had to be balanced with a career and family including kids. Many nights and especially in the winter I’d get home late at night and hit the trainer. Sound familiar?

Although I had raced when I was younger at the age of 21 in 1996 I decided to stop racing and concentrate instead on my studies. After graduating college I went into the cut-throat world of publishing in New York City and began to work up the corporate ladder. Because I worked in advertising a big part of my job was entertaining clients and there were many, many nights that ended in big dinners with lots and lots of wine (I’m not complaining here). After a few years of this and not doing much exercise I ended up ballooning up to 205 pounds (5’9”). Then one day I took a job at Bicycling Magazine as the Advertising Director and reconnected with the sport. At Bicycling we do a lot of business on the bike so after hearing “You know for a fat guy your not bad” a few too many times I decided to start riding again.

I was doing a Granfondo in Italy in May of 2006 when an important client of mine asked me if I had ever raced. I said yes but that was a long time ago and he suggested that I get back into the sport. You never quite loose it he said. That was the final push that I needed and I made a promise to myself that if I could ride 3-4 times per week for the rest of the year then in 2007 I’d get back into the sport. And so the adventure began.

In October of 2007 I visited Dr. Max Testa at TOSCH in Salt Lake City to do some testing so that I could start training seriously. The goal of the test was to set my baselines and sketch out a training program based on power. In that first test I had a body fat of over 20% and was technically considered obese. Although the Vo2Max wasn’t terrible the fact that I popped at 300 Watts wasn’t that great and I like to joke that I am the first athlete in the history of cycling to have a negative w/kg ratio. Max drew me up a training program designed with my schedule in mind mostly relying on a 1-1:30 hours of trainer time at night and sent me on my way.

Although people have often asked me if it was hard to get back into shape, the answer really is that if you have determination and are good at scheduling a little time to train that you can pretty much get back to at least 80% of your potential within a few months. Because I lived in New York City and the winters are hard I did most of my training on a trainer but what I found out was that with the trainer an hour or an hour and a half of structure can be like two to three on the road.

After about six weeks I went back and re-tested with Max and although I didn’t do a Vo2Max test I did do a lactate test and saw that I had improved about 20%. Most of that was due to the fact that I was training in the right power zones and with the training I was able to increase my ability to handle the power in those zones. By focusing on threshold work I raised my threshold and laid the groundwork for harder training in the Spring.

In my first season (2007)after starting to train I raced as an amateur in the US doing a few of the NRC races. During the 2008 and 2009 season I rode for the Bissell Pro Cycling Team while still working. The biggest difference between 2007 and 2008-2009 was that I was doing bigger and better races. My job didn’t change, in fact as many of you know by your own experiences it only got harder. I still had to balance family and kids so the training was pretty much the same. Mostly trainer at night in the winter and when the days got longer I was able to do longer hours. Some weeks were great and some weeks because of work and family responsibilities were almost nonexistent on the bike. The key is to just pick up from where you left off and keep moving forward and training from where you left off.

Now of course things are a little different. Cycling has become the job so I can train as much as I need to and after training it’s important to rest (that’s new for me) to recover for the next day. The improvements I’ve seen since I’ve starting training full time has been significant but not as significant as the improvement I saw when I first started training in those first six weeks of training with power. Thanks for reading this post and hope you come back to share in this adventure with me. I’ll be sharing some power files from training and racing so that you can compare them to your own training and racing files.

Keep up with Joao Correia on his blog (www.joaoisme.com), Twitter (@joaoisme), and YouTube (www.youtube.com/joaoisme).

Download this new CycleOps Power wallpaper to add a little motivation right to your desktop.

Stop measuring power by the puddle under your trainer.

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Join us for a Webinar on February 4

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/111573315

This webinar is geared to anyone looking to learn more about using a PowerTap on their bike in order to take their cycling capabilities to the next level! However, there will be a focus on triathletes of all abilities and how this awesome technology could benefit you in 2010.

Coach Angie Sturtevant will guide you through the following topics:
-What Is Power?
-Power to Weight Ratio
-The Kilojoule
-Power vs Heart Rate
-Benefits of Training With Power
-Power Applied to the Principles of Training
--Overload & Recovery
--Progression
--Specificity
--Individuality
-Power Testing
-Power and Racing Triathlon
-Power Based Workouts

In only an hour we'll just be scratching the surface of all that surrounds training with power, but that just means you'll have to join us again in the future! We welcome feedback and questions for this presentation as well as recommendations for future training events and webinars.

Learn more about Coach Angie at http://www.saris.com/t-angieBio.aspx.

Title: Training with Power for Triathletes
Date: Thursday, February 4, 2010
Time: 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM CST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Until now, most indoor cycles have employed a fixed gear drive train that links the crank and pedals directly to the flywheel so when the flywheel is in motion, the pedals are as well. For 2010, the CycleOps Pro Series indoor cycles are changing this by introducing freewheeling technology in the Pro Series indoor cycles.

This is an important benefit for both serious outdoor cyclists and for fitness riders at clubs and at home for several reasons. For one, once the flywheel is rotating on a fized gear indoor cycle, it is actually does much of the work for the rider and promotes an unnaturally high cadence. Because the flywheeling effect causes a rider’s legs to spin much faster than they could otherwise maintain at even low resistance, it stresses the joints and increases the likelihood of injury while providing less aerobic benefit. Additionally, in the event that a rider loses contact with the pedals, he or she runs a high risk of being hit in the leg by the still rotating pedal.

The freewheel drive of the new CycleOps Pro Series Indoor Cycles more closely replicates the feel of an outdoor bike. Because the rider has to supply all of the power (unlike on a fixed gear bike), he or she is more attuned to the relationship between pedaling effort and resistance. By pedaling harder at a more realistic cadence, he keeps his heart rate up and better develops leg strength. With a lower chance of injury and greater aerobic benefit, CycleOps’ new Pro Series Indoor Cycles offer a major advantage to dedicated competitive and fitness cyclists.

Learn more about the CycleOps Pro Series Indoor Cycles in this video featuring Robbie Ventura:

It is that time of year again - time for falling in love all over again with indoor cycling. Living and training in Missoula, Montana, I utilize indoor training year round. During this time of year, I am fortunate enough to be able to train with a Cycleops PowerBeam Pro about 5 days a week.

This time of year I am focusing on building a strong base through strength and conditioning. One of my favorite workouts to build leg strength that I do this time of year is an over-gear seated effort. Riding at lower RPM's (50-70 rpm's) produces a lower heart rate at an aerobic effort. This is the key to efficiency. My coach, Matt Dixon, gave me the following workout on Saturday to help build strength and endurance while using the aerobic energy system.

The following session is 2.5 hours. The goal of the workout is to keep your heart rate in "zone 2" - no more than 75% of your max heart rate.

Workout

Warm up:
40 minutes build by 10 watts every 5 minutes. End the warm-up in "zone 2" heart rate.
5 minutes easy

Main Set #1:
Repeat 4x through
(5 minutes at very high cadence (100+ rpm)
4 minutes at tempo/race pace cadence (90 rpm)
3 minutes at low cadence (60-70 rpm)
2 minutes at really low cadence (50-60 rpm)
1 minute recover at regular cadence)
End with 5 minutes easy

Main Set #2:
30 minutes aerobic TT effort with tempo/race pace cadence (90 rpm)

Cool down
10 minutes and include 5x1 minute single-leg drill

Don't forget to drink lots of water, have some good tunes on hand, and remember that riding indoors in the winter makes for a great Spring/Summer of racing. Best of luck!

Linsey Corbin

The last newsletter provided 8 gut buster Hour of Power workouts that were favorites of my clients. Here are more of their favorites, guaranteed to make your winter carpet criteriums effective and fun.

10 Minute Low Cadence with Squat Holds

Mark is a serious bike racer, spending most weekends during the season hammering criteriums and powering road races, where both repeatable and sustainable power are critical. Due to a time-demanding career, he’ll often use the trainer for his short sessions, to ensure he gets the most quality out of his training time. It’s on the bike, warm up, blam out the workout and cool down, in about an hour. “I like the 10 minute low cadence with squat holds, session. I love this type of work during this time of the year. I consider it the ‘putting more torque under the hood of a diesel’ session, while increasing power at my Zone 2/3 and threshold and more power while cruising”.

For the workout, warm up at least 5min in Zone 1. Then do 10 minutes progressively increasing gears from a cadence of 70 until I reach a 60 rpm cadence. Spin the legs out briefly, then jump off the bike and do a squat hold until failure. Shake out the legs and repeat the squat hold until failure again. Now hop back on the bike and ride 3-5 minutes easy & then repeat 10 minutes low cadence progression and squat holds, for a total of 3 to 4 times. “This type of workout is perfect for building force development and breaking up the basement doldroms. Just when I start to get bored and drift, it is time to hop off the bike do the squat holds and get back on the bike and into the next 10 minutes. Before I know it I have got an hour under my belt”.

Ascending Pyramid

John is a serious triathlete, focusing on his weakness of racing on hilly courses. Here is his favorite indoor strength builder, which is done on the bike and treadmill, done as a brick workout. “I really struggle with this workout, but I am struggling because it is what I need to work on most. But, I’m getting better at it and am even developed the strength to push a bit harder at the end of each interval. Can’t wait for the ice and near zero temps to go away, so I can test my strength on real hills outside.”

Warm up on the bike in Zone 1. Then do an Ascending Pyramid of work for 2:00; 3:00; 4:00 and 5:00, with 2:00 recovery in between each. The work effort is done at the highest load/biggest gear that you can hold at 60 rpm. Noodle the legs in Zone 1 for a few minutes and then hop off the bike, making your way to the treadmill. Repeat the same ascending pyramid focus. The work effort on the treadmill is done at the highest grade you can sustain for the duration. Finish on the bike, repeating the ascending pyramid. You can also repeat the treadmill work if time permits; otherwise cool down.

Criss Cross Threshold

Dan is all about the Criss Cross Threshold workout. “I love this session because time goes by really fast and it boosts my threshold. Plus, I can easily do this session outside on the road too.”

Warm up at least 10 minutes and then ramp yourself up gradually to 75% of your threshold power over the course of 10 minutes. Now do a 7 minute Criss Cross Threshold interval as: 2:00 above threshold; 1:00 at 80-85% threshold; 2:00 above threshold; 1:00 80-85% threshold and 1:00 above threshold. Then ride easy 5min and repeat for a total of 3-5x, based on time available.

30 Second Efforts

Robert is a serious cyclist that wants to build his repeatable raw power. “I do much better doing the 30sec efforts indoors, as I have a controlled environment and I can catch up on my taped TV shows of SouthPark, which Angie got me hooked on. This session is very challenging, but the results of power and speed motivate me to push through the pain. The SouthPark episodes keep me amused through the pain too.”

This session is based on work intervals with only 30 sec of rest in between. You begin by doing 30 sec efforts, but over time (weeks/months) you progress to 45 seconds and then 1:00. Warm up at least 10 minutes.

Do as many repetitions as possible of 30 sec of all out work (not so hard that you can’t finish the 30 sec) and 30 sec rest, without hesitation, shooting for 10 total. No worries if you cannot do 10 in a row at first. This is merely your goal to shoot for. The first few are going to feel much better than the rest, as the fatigue of repetition will set in. Afterwards, ride easy. You can then throw in a few more efforts if you really want, but it’s not necessary. Repeat every 10 days. When you can do 10 in a row, change the timing to 45 seconds. When you can do 10 of those in a row, then change it up to 1:00.

Stomps & WindUps

Mike likes working on building his quick snap with this session of Stomps & WindUps. “I do this session for 90 min to make sure I keep my stamina during the winter months, since I am not riding outside. I also like this session because each effort is more than the previous, so I am developing the ability to work harder after I have worked hard. I ride with a timer, which is set to go off for each wind up.”

Warm Up for 10 minutes and then do 4 x 5 minute efforts as follows: 10 seconds of stomping hard on the pedals and 20 second of easy pedaling, repeating without hesitation for the whole 5 minutes. You’ll need to add active recovery in between each 5minute effort, for 3- 5 minutes. With each set, shoot for a bit higher power output than the previous. Then for the rest of the ride, incorporate 10 wind-ups with at least 5 minutes in between each. To initiate, shift to a bigger gear and unleash an acceleration out of the saddle for 10 seconds. Again, try to shoot for a bit higher power output with each. Be sure to cool down a while before ending your session, as they’ll be a lot of toxins to flush out!

1x5 2x10 Workout

Tom likes doing workouts that don’t require too much watching the clock. “I like longer efforts, as it is easier to time when on a trainer. I don’t want to time out short :30 or 1:00 time periods. Instead I like working with 5:00 and 10:00, as it is always easy to tell where you are, on the clock. Plus, those longer efforts are conditioning my aerobic system, which is the footing to everything I do.” This is his favorite, which I call the 1x5 2x10 WorkOut. After warm up, do 1 x 5:00 effort in Zone 3-4, progressively increasing effort for the duration. Then ride easy at least 5:00 and do 2 x 10:00 in Zone 3, progressively increasing effort for the duration. Take 5-10min easy in between. Use various ways to work the effort. In this case, Jeff focused on keeping his cadence above 85 rpm, as this is his weakness. You can change it up, preferably focusing on your weakness.

Progressive Sweet Spot Challenge

Jen likes to compete with her fatigue levels. She does the Progressive Sweet Spot Challenge for just that reason. The goal is to begin at 101-105% of threshold power and hold as long as possible, dropping back a few watts as fatigue sets in. She continues to hold the efforts as long as possible over the course of 45-60 minutes. At the end of the duration, she finishes with 3 x 4min Zone 1 & 4min Zone 4, then cooling down.

Between the two articles, that gives you 15 indoor cycling workouts, assured to boost your fitness and performance goals, in lieu of just dumping buckets of sweat all over your basement floor. These workouts came from input from some of my clients, as their favorites. Now it’s your turn. In the last Newsletter, I asked for input from you, regarding your favorite music and/or movies to motivate you while on the trainer or indoor cycle. Here are your responses. Thanks for sharing.

• There were a lot of shout outs for riding to Robbie Ventura DVDs, Tour de France, Lance Armstrong , Giro, Hell on Wheels and Ironman videos. Seems the clear winner in motivating the masses is watching the real deal and seeing other’s suffer.
  
  
• Jason Bourne, Indiana Jones and Gladiator were big winners in the motivating movie category. Maybe Harrison Ford, Matt Damon and Russell Crowe could star in Robbie Ventura’s next training DVD’s? Other movie/tv shout outs went to Jurassic Park, The Natural, Air Force One, Star Trek, Lost episodes, Hoosiers, Transformers, Running on the Sun, Pirates of the Caribbean, Glee episodes, Fire Fly, Serenity and football games.
  
  
• The music list is quite long, and surprisingly there were no duplicates. The list includes: Free Bird, The Sound Track to Hell on Wheels, Radar Love, Sweet Emotion, Stronger by Kanye West, Hurt by Nine Inch Nails, Limp Bizkit’s Breaking the Habit and Rollin, Stairway to Heaven, Blind by Korn, Tequila, Get Fly, Jessica by the Allman Brothers, With or Without You & Beautiful Day by U2, Thunderstruck, Lose Yourself by Eminem, Painkiller by Judas Priest, Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath, 16 Tons by Ernie Ford, Clapton’s Cross Roads, Sharp Dressed Man, Take Me Higher, By the Way by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lair, Animals by Nickelback, Take My Picture by Filter, Hey Jude, Get the Party Started and Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood from the Kill Bill Soundtrack.
  
  
• While many thrive on music and movies for motivation, some riders stated they don’t watch movies or listen to music, as it takes the focus away from riding. Others were simply happy using the PowerTap as a training partner and doing tests to keep them motivated.
  
  

Provided by Angie Sturtevant
CycleOps Power Fitness Education Director & Master Training Specialist
Owner of Specialists in Sports Performance

by CycleOps Powered Athlete Jeremiah Bishop

After competing in Costa Rica’s La Ruta de Los Conquistadores—my last major race of the 2009 season—I took a 10-day break from riding. I enjoyed restful time at home, a bit of trail running and a Thanksgiving road trip with my wife, Erin, and our 9-month-old, Conrad, to visit friends and family.

Now, with next season’s racing months away, my training goals are to balance out my fitness and keep my aerobic system up to par. It’s also time to prepare for the demands of the season ahead by boosting my muscular endurance, strength and speed: for this I incorporate weight lifting, core workouts and balancing exercises in the gym. I also accomplish many of these goals while having fun on the local Tuesday Night Fix Gear Ride.

Early winter is also the time to shake things up a bit by doing some cross training. The best part of this training is it’s pretty fun, flexible and not too grueling.

I don’t do a lot of cross-country skiing, so I’m not very graceful. But, tempted by eight inches of fresh snow, one of my training buddies and I made the best of a recent storm and headed to the nearby mountains where even deeper snow and vast trails waited for an adventure.

Cross-country skiing is not what you’d normally do with a PowerTap, but why not? So, when I suit up to hit the snowy trails, I bring my PowerTap CPU along.

Since most of my training is on the mountain bike, I set up my PowerTap head units to record heart rate data. This setup comes in handy when I hit a killer hike-a-bike section on the trails: my PowerTap keeps recording my heart rate data even though I’m off the bike. It’s also great when I want to record heart rate on a trail run, cross-country ski adventure or something intense like holiday shopping. But seriously, I keep my training data current despite a reduced amount of on-the-bike training by using heart rate data to calculate my training stress score (TSS). It’s a pretty simple way to keep tabs on my fitness, but it works very well.

After the holidays, it’s back to the training grind. But for now, my focus and goals are fun and refreshing. My next challenge is to attempt run the mountainous 26-mile Wild Oak Trail by mid January. Wish me luck!

I wish you a healthy and happy holiday season. Enjoy everything in moderation – training included!

- Jeremiah

Download this new CycleOps Power wallpaper to add a little motivation right to your desktop.

This is where you win races that don’t start for six months.

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The Holiday Season is upon us. Although a time of peace and joy, it is also a time of cookies, candies office parties, family travel and inclement weather. All reasons to over eat and having to ditch your riding time resulting in incomplete workouts and extra pounds of non-functional weight. This is a great time to bring out the trainer or indoor cycle and incorporate some gut-buster carpet criteriums, studio stage races, garage grinders, basement bursts….whatever you call them. With limited time and extra calories to burn, you can effectively expend the most amount of energy in an hour or less, while also reaping the benefits of positive physiological adaptations.

While I prescribe numerous indoor workouts to my clients, I decided to ask them which workout was their favorite to do on their indoor ride. Since there were so many responses, I’ll break this up into two articles. In this first edition, I give 8 responses, along with the workout in detail, so you can reap the benefits of an Hour of Power. In the second edition, I will give the rest of the favorite workouts, plus I will reveal your favorite ways to pass time while riding indoors. Read on to get the workouts and be sure to submit your responses too.

Chad likes the 15-5-15-1 Threshold Booster session. “This workout is really good as the goals for each interval are solid goals based off of a good 10min peak power test. Any workout that has goals that are realistic but tough, are good”

Warm Up in Zone 1 (easy).
Based on a 10 min Power Test or your 10 Peak Power Value, do 4 intervals at a percentage of your test/value results. Take 5min rest in between.
Interval #1: 15:00 @ 80%
Interval #2: 5:00 @ 90%
Interval #3: 15:00 @ 80%
Interval #4: 3-6 x 1:00 @ 101%+ with 1:00 rest in between. Attempt to build each effort, by increasing watts just a tad more than the last.
Cool Down in Zone 1 (easy)

Adam loves to do StepUps, as “it is entertaining (I get bored easily) and it works through my aerobic system from low end to ceiling, liberating my fat cells (many) along the way”. This session can have any starting point, but Adam “likes to start at the low end of Zone 2 and work his way up to threshold power. “I like to use my low end Zone 2 as his recovery intensity, which challenges my aerobic system a bit more than if I ride an easy Zone 1”.

Warm Up Easy Zone 1
3 x 15:00 gradually stepping up from low end Zone 2 to threshold power. Begin at the low effort and every few minutes step up to a higher effort over the duration of 15:00. Be sure to hit threshold by the end of 15:00. You can get there sooner if you prefer, giving you more time to sustain at the end. Immediately afterward, step down to the low end of Zone 2 and begin the step up process again. If you have additional time, add additional step ups, based on the amount of time you have left to spend some energy.

Carmen & Rick spend their hour of power together in the basement, motivating each other as needed. Carmen’s favorite workout so far is the 20/5 threshold session. “I like how time goes by quickly in the last part of the work out and that I can feel an improvement from week to week”. For Rick, “I like the Bike Circuit Workout, which is a combination of low cadence force work on the bike, mixed with off the bike leg work”.

20/5 Threshold Session
This session is based off of Threshold Power.
Warm up Zone 1 Easy.
20:00 @ 80% (as fitness increases, increase to 85%, 90%, 95%)
4 x 5:00 easy and 5:00 @ 85%, repeating without hesitation. (as fitness increases, increase to 90%, 95%, 100%) Ride remaining time easy and cool down.

Bike Specificity Strength Circuit

Warm up on the bike easy Zone 1.
Then do an 8:00 force intervals interval as:

• 2:00 gradually building to highest load you can sustain at 70rpm
• 1:00 standing in that same gear (change cadence as needed)
• 2:00 back to the saddle in biggest load you can sustain 70 rpm
• 1:00 standing in that same gear
• 1:00 back in the saddle in that same gear
• 1:00 spin legs out easy, easy, easy. That is a total of 8:00.

Then, hop off bike & do as many walking lunges as possible for 1:00. If you do not have space to walk the lunge, just do them in place, but make sure you are always switching lead legs. Then hop back on the bike and spin the legs out easy for 3:00. Now REPEAT the 8:00 force interval and lunges for a total of 4-6x, or as time as time allows. Finish with an easy cool down on the bike.

Mike’s favorite session is the 3:00 Repeatable Power Efforts. “I call this my love/hate workout. I love to hate these. They are tough, but I spend a ton of energy and I get the benefit of repeatable power, which will help me in my future criterium races. They do hurt, but they hurt so good. I like it so much that I often throw in a few extra.”

Warm Up Easy Zone 1.
3 x (3x3:00X1:00) efforts with 1 min rest in between, and 2:00 complete rest between each full set.
Ride your first 3x3:00 efforts at a high cadence of 85+ in Zone 3 in a gear that doesn’t cause fatigue. Do not change gears during the effort. Perform your second 3x3:00 efforts in a bigger gear, still trying to work at 85+ rpm. The intensity will feel harder. Do the third 3x3 efforts in a bigger gear yet, still trying to keep cadence at 85+ rpm. This will feel very hard. It is likely that the cadence will drop as you near the end of the 3min, but battle to keep it up. Ride remaining time easy.

Shelly prefers the Descending Pyramid Workout. “I really dig these because the time gets shorter as duration goes on. It is amazing how doing the shorter duration of the same effort can be just as hard as holding for a long time, when you are fatigued. I love to listen to Alice in Chains, Godsmack and as odd as it sounds…Hans Zimmer movie themes when I’m riding, for motivation to kick through these”.

Warm up easy.
Do a descending pyramid of intervals, starting with 20:00 and working your way down, by cutting the time in half. This is 20:00; 10:00, 5:00, 2:30; 1:15; :45 Incorporate 3-5:00 of recovery in between each. Decide the effort you will repeat, having it be as near your 20:00 peak power value as possible, with a goal to bump it up a bit each time. Thereafter, cool down. If you have time constraints, stop after the 5:00 effort.

Bob is a triathlete that totally loves doing bike/treadmill sessions. “This workout is a short brick workout, burns lots of energy and works both my cycling and running muscles. Plus it kicks my butt in a really short session.”

After a good warmup on the bike, build to 50 rpm in a big gear for 1 min. Without changing gears, increase cadence to 60, 70, 80 over the coarse of 1:00; THEN without changing gears, stand and accelerate :15 THEN spin easy 2:00. Next do 3 x :90 fast cadence in big gear with :90 easy spin in between. Spin your legs out easy for 3-5:00 and hop off the bike, quickly changing into your running shoes. On the treadmill, you will basically repeat the same focus. Put grade around 7-10% at slow pace. Increase pace over the course of a minute, adding an additional :15 sprint afterward. Then walk/jog easy 2:00 and do 3x :90 at that fast pace/grade & :90 recovery, 3x. Walk easy 3-5 min and jump back on the bike. Repeat the bike/treadmill as time permits.

Lastly, my personal favortie is the short, sassy intervals. These are guaranteed to take me to the dark side. They are very short and intense efforts of 30s, 20s, 10s and 5s, with at least 5:00 rest in between.

Take a nice long warm up. Then do:
2 x 30s; 2 x 20s; 3 x 10s; 3 x 5s . Your effort is at your hardest effort. You can use your peak power values for the same duration, as your carrot to chase if you want Ride the rest of the workout easy.

That gives you eight gut-buster carpet criterium workouts that you can do in a short amount of time on your trainer or indoor cycle. You’ll burn lots of energy and achieve the benefits of aerobic conditioning and boosting threshold and VO2. If you don’t have motivation from a riding partner, like Carmen & Rick do, all you need is some kick-butt music or a great movie to keep you motivated. I personally need a fast paced movie or one about riding bikes, to keep me entertained. My personal favorites are Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, American Flyer and Breaking Away, The Italian Job, James Bond, Indiana Jones or Gladiator…but that’s just me.

What about you? In a couple of weeks I’ll have part two of this article, providing more studio stage races. Send your responses by January 6th stating the answer to the following questions. I’ll publish the results in the next article.

1. List your top 3 favorite movies to keep you motivated while training on your indoor cycle or trainer?

2. List your top 3 favorite songs to keep you inspired while training on your indoor cycle or trainer?

Follow this link to submit your responses.

Provided by Angie Sturtevant
CycleOps Power Fitness Education Director & Master Training Specialist
Owner of Specialists in Sports Performance

In this video, Robbie Ventura from Vision Quest Coaching talks about functional training for endurance athletes. What is it, and why should you do it?