strongislandtricoach

Incompetence

2010-03-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been crazy in terms of weather. The winds overnight on Saturday destroyed dozens of trees in Sayville and countless dollars in property. I had a tree limb come down and smash into to my fence.

Get this...I paid an arborist to come look at this tree a few months back to assess what condition it was in and whether action should be taken to avoid risk of such a thing happening.

The dude told me that he should prune certain branches or I'd run the risk of major destruction should a strong storm come. He also outlined several other steps I should take with it and the neighboring trees with respect to pesticides and other "treatments".

Granted, I didn't actually DO what he said, but that's not the point. He should have been clearer in explaining just how at risk I was for this sort of damage and been much more convincing.

Let's face it, If I had known THIS would happen if I didn't take his advice to the letter, I'd have done things very differently!

Racing Has Begun

2010-03-08T08:44:00.000-08:00

Fortunately, the weekend's weather was uncharacteristically magnificent, even as "mild" winters go.
I raced both days. Saturday was my first CRCA club race. The Lion and I headed into Manhattan for the 6:30 AM race.
Not knowing what to expect, we planned our departure to leave ourselves about 45 minutes after we were to arrive at 79th St. and 5th Ave. where we usually park.

The strange thing was there were no parking spaces left within sight on 5th. Hmpf... we parked on 77th, which was empty... hmpf, again... as we rolled towards 5th, we noticed a business-card-sized sign that read something to the effect 'no parking here today, repaving road, all cars will be towed & demolished... your day will be ruined if you dare park here'. Just then, a spot opened on 5th and I told the Lion to gimme his bike & to go move the car. He moved it as I positioned myself and our two bikes in the open spot.

Day-ender averted, we noodled into the park to see a line that rivaled one you might find at a middle school if the Jonas brothers showed up. While I do not know the exact number of racers in all three A, B & C races, there were between 150 and 500 A riders in my field. The Lion and I stuck near the front, but this had the making of a field sprint from the gun... no prize today.

On Sunday, I drove in with Matt, as the Lion was looking for a bit more mileage after the first Spring series race with his Axis teammates. Axis is the strongest masters team in New York. I've struck up a nice relationship between the shop and this first rate group of gentlemen.

As I joked with the Lion all Winter, I'd be marking Axis/Global (their team won the SS outright last season)/Deno's all Spring.
I stuck near or off the front in the early laps, covering and trying to drive any separation that included these teams. Roughly 2/3 through the penultimate lap, the Lion rolled off with another rider. As I sat glued to last years' winners' ass, Tim Spence from Axis went across solo...brilliantly, by the way. As I rolled up next to Jon from Axis I remarked that I would not drive the chase...that that was the job of the two other powerhouse teams. So, every single time the Global and/or Denos guys attacked, I was there.

The rate at which Tim, the Lion and their temporary teammate gained ground was crushing to them... game over. With 1/3 of a lap to go, the Axis guys worked their guest over... Tim took a well-deserved win and the Lion was 3rd. I contested the field sprint, but the Major Taylor boys (also a huge team, but full of sprinters) were sketchy and the most dangerous dude pulled out of his pedal 100 meters from the line, right in front of me...over-geared after slowing, I limped in 8th or 9th in the field sprint for 11th or 12th...

I feel I have really good fitness right now and am biting my lip to not go out and add junk miles to my carefully orchestrated plan because it's beautiful out. A few more races and I should be rocking..

To add insult to injury, I mistakenly put my SRM in my vest pocket to collect race data, ass u ming it would pick up the signal there as a power tap CPU does... new note to self: That ain't the case.

Well, I've wasted enough time... there's no time to get on my bike before going into the shop...

Falling Like A Stone

2010-02-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

My CTL that is. Planning or seeding my PMC as I do with myself and the athletes that I look after, I see that by March 14th, I will have "given back" in terms of CTL roughly 1.5 TSS/day over the last 6 weeks corresponding to my VO2max focus. This will have it settle in right around 80 for the Spring Series, the first CRCA club races and I plan to keep it right there through Battenkill.

I've always thought that the quote by wattage group frequent poster Tom Annalt, "FTP is how hard you can go...CTL is how long you can go hard" is pretty true. This is about the lowest CTL I've carried since the introduction of the PMC back in '05... 100 TSS/day has always been my number.

Why the difference this year? Well, simply put, I want to be able to go harder! So far, so good...FTP is staying put, as is evident by my threshold maintenance workouts every 6 days. As I'd hoped, I've picked up ~5% in terms of power at VO2max in the last 3 weeks. I'm looking for another 5%. Doing this type of intense training requires a great deal more recovery time than threshold training. As a matter of fact, I listened to a webinar by Andy Coggan last night and he said training at VO2max releases more catecholemines than getting into a car accident wherein you break several bones! It is the inclusion of more recovery time that has brought my overall volume down.

Out of curiosity, I rode the Lion's Flanders loop with him Saturday. Very hard, hilly 44 mile loop in <2 hrs. on open roads in 30F temperatures... just to see 'how long I could go hard'. I found holding .9 IF almost easy. I floated up hills over VO2max power beside the Lion wondering if this power meter was broken or he was tired. I've certainly re-zeroed it before when I was sure it was reading low, but I found myself wondering if it was too high. Nope. Spot on.

Butterflies today... it must be Monday.

2010-02-08T06:28:00.000-08:00

Well, not exactly 'butterflies' , but a very distinct nervous feeling upon waking this morning.
Today, Monday, is scheduled to be VO2 max intervals day #2 for the 2010 racing campaign... hence, the weight of the impending suffering sits atop my shoulders.

As I mentioned in my last post, I dedicated a very focused 12 week period to FTP development and am at the point where I am bumping up against genetic limits imposed by my VO2 max. As we age, past about 30 yrs., and I am a ways past this age, we lose a small amount in the O2 consumption department each year and if left unaddressed, our FTP gets closer and closer to this ceiling. In short, it's time to raise the roof.

Session #1 went well last Thursday, with the average of my 6 x 5' @ L5 coming in just a few watts below my previous high last season. My hope is that I can pick up ~20 watts before this 6 week period is complete... this is about a 6% increase for the set. Six week's is about the maximum time I've found practically that VO2 max can be lifted. After that, it's about staying fresh, sharpening and racing.

The truth is that I haven't done a really structured program of L5 stuff for many years.
The problem with it is that I find it very painful (in a 'this is really uncomfortable, how can five minutes take so long?' kinda way).
Clearly, anyone that has raced a bike knows, it isn't about the average power or the maximum 5 sec effort that hurts the most... it's a period of about 10 minutes when the 'shit goes down' and the race separates the break from the peloton.
The break is determined by who has the fatigue resistance (FTP), engine capacity (VO2 max), craftiness & tenacity to grovel in the gutter until the break is clear. As my old Cat 1 friend once said, "If you aren't very close to getting dropped for the first 10', then the group isn't going fast enough to stay away".

I will complete 12 total VO2 max workouts in a variety of forms, banging one out every 3-4 days. I haven't the luxury of a high enough VO2 max simply from riding my bike to neglect power at VO2 max, so it's time to 'publish post' and to head down to the pain cave. Later.

90 CTL on 9.5 hrs.

2010-02-02T15:38:00.000-08:00

Recently, I told one of my buddies that I was carrying a CTL of 90, with most of my riding done indoors over the last 3 months and was greeted with a " No way! How can that be?" Well, I went back to look & I wasn't completely honest (actually, I didn't realize what I'd actually done)... but I wasn't far off.

The gory details from 10/25/09 to 1/24/2010.
Note: All data collected using power tap SL+ (two different units, one wired & one wireless)
Starting CTL:79.3
Ending CTL: 93
Hours Trained: 133
Indoor Rides: 52
Outdoor rides: 25 (I thought it was far less actually)
Average Hours per week: 9.5
Average IF: .84 (therein lies the rub, eh?)
Workouts with 40-60' @ >94% FTP: 28
Rides whose duration was greater than 90': (Not a coincidence) 25
FTP at start (as determined by 60' actual TT): 280W (outdoors on 'the test track')
FTP current: 305W (indoors on the 'hamster wheel')
Weight start: 75 Kg
Weight current: 73 Kg (thank you horrific stomach virus that robbed me only of weight, but shockingly, not a watt!)

There it is. I haven't had the chance to compare this to last year, but I was doing far less structured, longer training sessions outdoors in what is frequently referred to as the Sweet Spot. I have done no structured work above L4 and have gotten the very small dose by 'accident' outdoors and by slightly overshooting the top of L4 during L4 workouts.

Now for the bad news (for me, not them)... at least three of the young guns I'm working with have got me by half a watt per kilo!
Ahhh... to have known then what I know now.

Weather.com

2009-12-31T07:15:00.000-08:00

I set the alarm to meet the Lion and T-Fed for a pre-snow ride this morning out of Holtsville.
The forecast on weather.com was for a small probability of light snow flurries up until 9:00 am and then an increasing chance as the morning progressed. I figured that once we got going, by the time the flurries started, we'd be already on our way south, having ridden through the nut-punch hills of the Lion's Flanders route, making for an epic ride back home.

Shortly after rolling out of the driveway the first flurries began... no problem... the weatherman promised it would be okay.
Warmth wasn't really a problem as the pace picks up after the requisite 30 second warm-up the ride leader graciously bestows.
Almost immediately, the snow picked up in intensity and our exposed faces became very cold. I know I was not alone, as I could tell from the ventriloquist sounding gibberish T-Fed was mumbling "What do you guys think?". What we 'thinking' (if you can call it that) was this is really stupid, but if they aren't turning around, neither am I... I am no wuss. What we said was something to the effect of the weatherman said it won't amount to anything and let's just keep riding... not a great idea.

Fortunately, heaven intervened and I smashed into a snow-filled pothole and the bottle of water I was taking for a ride flew out of its perch and caromed down the asphalt. Coming to a complete stop some thousand yards down the road, I gingerly made a "u-ey" and went back to retrieve it. By the time I made it back to my mates, they were still hunched over their bars... a clear sign they'd started to come to their senses. As anyone that has ever dropped a bottle knows, people slow down (sorta) while you go back to get it, or if you're lucky, opt to take a nature break, but they are always riding when you get back to your turnaround spot. These dudes were just standing there... a very good sign.

"What's up you punks, calling it quits you poofs?", I say. "What, you still wanna ride?" one of 'em says.
Perfectly executed turntable... ball back in my court... time to hitch up my skirt... I cave "We should go back or one of us is going to get killed". The six miles we'd ridden were terrible, far worse than 23c tires were using were designed to ride upon.
It took nearly twice as long riding home.

The ride home from Holtsville in the car was equally terrifying, as 4WD vehicle after 4WD vehicle raced on icy roads all the six miles back to Sayville. By the time I reached the intersection of 97 & 27A, I had seen 3 accidents (all including SUV's... stupid user vehicles?) Even though the ride was 45', it counts as my 4th outdoor ride since Thanksgiving... I am a trainer rat... and from weather.com's 10-day forecast, it will be another 10 days before I get another. Happy New Year.

Bread, Butter and Horseshit

2009-11-17T14:08:00.000-08:00

The beauty of training triathletes is that, for the most part, they are open to new ideas. Because of triathlon's relatively short life (~25 yrs.), there does not exist nearly as much history with regard to 'what they did for training back in the day'. Triathletes also expect, and rightly so, that their coaches be 'up' on the knowledge science has to contribute to expediting improvement in fitness in general, as well as, race performance specifically.

I mention this because there exists within cycling a preponderance of 'old school' coaches and athletes that listen to these coaches that still believe that 'the old ways are the best ways'. They and their athletes lift lots of legs weight, ride restricted gears at an arbitrarily low effort, or even on a fixed gears in the winter, do isolated leg exercises, cadence drills, and generally lose cycling fitness. Not only do they believe these methods make them faster come Summer, but they think they help avoid 'burnout'.

These athletes (you see them as 90% of the people on local World Championship group rides)are the ones who are kinda fast, but never get any faster year over year and almost never get any race results. THEY are the ones that burn out mid-Summer from starting to race in the early Spring without ample aerobic fitness to support the demands of racing. These folks usually are quite vocal towards the 10% of the people using training methods which science has given birth to and the best cyclists in the world are using about how they've got it all wrong. These folks need only look at ANY cycling publication which depicts these athletes training and in many, many cases racing with portable power measuring devices on their bikes.
These dinosaurs should realize that they are the ones that need a 'paradigm shift'.

Like dinosaurs, nature, through the 'crucible of competition' will select them out over time as they get injured doing heavy squats, powercranking and other horseshit, as well as burn out mentally due to a discouraging lack of fitness relative to those doing the 'bread & butter' endurance training necessary to see continual gains season over season.

Top 10 Things I Will Be Prescribing To Cyclists This Winter

2009-10-17T04:43:00.000-07:00

The Careful attention to diet to maintain/decrease non-lean body mass
The determination of FTP
The determination power at VO2max
The determination of AWC
The determination of neuromuscular power
The establishment of a power 'profile'
Skill work in the form of riding pacelines, cornering, echelon, sprinting, touching wheels, bumping
Small doses of structured volume at VO2max every 7-10 days, to maintain VO2max
Sprints each week from a slow roll 'all out' to maintain neuromuscular power
A large volume of training L3/low L4 (SST) to create our desired "Base" (as opposed to LSD)
A large volume of L4/Threshold training during 'base' to increase threshold power

I didn't number them because there are several different orders in which we could arrange them in sequence of importance.

Top 10 Things I Won't Be Prescribing To Cyclists This Winter

2009-10-06T17:05:00.000-07:00

In reverse order, of course...

10. More than 10 days completely OFF the bike in a row
9. Spin Classes
8. LSD miles
7. High Cadence Drills
6. Low Cadence Drills
5. One legged drills
4. "Muscular Endurance" Intervals (what the hell does this even mean?)
3. Power Cranking
2. Rotor Cranking
1. Weight training for their legs

next... the things I will be prescribing.

The Lion of Holtsville

2009-05-20T04:29:00.000-07:00

I've been putting in a considerable amount of time riding several new routes with a friend that lives surprisingly close to be showing me some new roads. The loops all have names like Flandria, Amstel and Flanders and have slight variations depending on what the day's training calls for. We'll talk about our goals for the week each of us has and then construct the week's schedule accordingly.

This arrangement has been mutually beneficial. When the weather was abysmal this Spring, knowing the other was meeting us ensured we'd get out... this is really more of a benefit for me because he will ride in any weather and never complain... a real Flahute. Essentially, we agree on training philosophy. Cycling is an aerobic sport and most time should be spent focused on improving threshold and VO2 max. We differ ever so slightly on the best ways to do this, but it is more a matter of tomato vs. tomAto. We also differ with regard to the amount of recovery needed for our rides. He's about 15% stronger than me and despite doing the lion's share on most rides, he often finds my solid L3/borderline L4 ride barely scratches the top of L2 for him.

For guys like him, having another rider that's capable of training with is encouraging. The fact that he enjoys talking about the nuts and bolts of training is also a plus I bring to the table. For me, the quality and volume of training I get is something I simply cannot accomplish solo.

For example, last Sunday we did the Flandria loop with a small group, in a steady rain. The 54 mile route starts into the wind for about an hour where we all trade hard pulls, before heading into a sequence of successive hills on the north shore that range from steep little power climbs to grinders. The idea is to keep it together for the most part, but there are 'green light' sections where riders can ride as hard as they can/want with the knowledge that we'll regroup at a designated spot afterwards.

For those versed in training with power, we finished this loop in 2:44 and I had held an average power of 236W with a norm power of 274W. Yesterday, we rode the Flanders loop... a 43 mile journey north through punchy hills that took a mere 1:58.
The numbers, 222W with norm 256W don't really tell the whole story for me. I drafted 100% of the ride... didn't pull a single second... felt great, power was coming easily, but on his wheel, I was forced to hold a normallized power equivalent to my functional threshold for 40' continuously smack in the center of the ride.

As important as the hard days I train with him are the days I ride without him. As I stated above, while he's riding L1, I am solid L2... not the best scenario for recovery for me. Perhaps, this is why we differ on recovery philosophy. I am a fan of active recovery at times, but also of passive recovery as well... he rarely takes a day off... I take 1-3 per week. On my days without him, I get to go longer and easier, or just sit behind my computer, recovering.

The Hated One

2009-04-08T06:06:00.000-07:00

Recently, while accompanying a rather talented athlete during yet another difficult training session I'd prescribed for her, I was informed that she 'hated me'. Now, after having finished the difficult session and having come to her senses, she did 'take it back'. Actually, I believe she appreciates the rather huge increase in fitness she's witnessed recently.

After almost 8 years I've been coaching endurance athletes, I still favor the approach of 'raising the left to drag the right' up with it. Granted, training over on the left is less comfortable, and it requires a great deal of attention to stress and recovery, but it provides with it a constant reference as to fitness and adaptation. It's pretty easy to heap tons of 'crap miles' onto an athlete. Athletes can swim, bike and run "L2" for months straight every day... toss in some high L3 through L5 and you immediately know A) how fit they are and B) how tired they are. I also find it so much easier to plan peaks for important races for the very same reasons. If all you ever do is train long and slow you get good at going long and slow.

So, to those that call me 'coach'... hate away.

Is Your Addiction Slowing You Down?

2009-02-18T14:38:00.000-08:00

I know mine does at times. I am completely addicted to the sensations I still feel when I'm riding my bike...even when I am not getting the best output from my body.If it were only a matter of whether I wanted to ride because I love the feeling of speed and of being connected to this machine, flying across the ground propelled only by my legs, I would ride every day.

Forget the physical...while riding, even with others. the entire world is polarized into how hard I am going and the 50 yards hurdling toward me...I forget everything I have to do for my business, for my athletes and even my family...this is the only time that is truly mine. Some may say, 'what about when you sleep'? Even then, when considering a big decision at work or for an athlete's program, I wake up thinking about what was on my mind when I fell asleep. My therapist's couch is a Fi'zi:k Arione saddle.

From the post title, it's clear that this isn't always a good thing. Forget about needing to escape reality and bury my head in the sand instead of facing my responsibilities for those additional couple hours a day...I'm talking about the fact that much of the mileage I and other addicts pile on isn't really adding to our fitness and in many cases (depending on if you look at the definition of fitness as I do) is detrimental to it.

With the addition of a power meter to my cycling training many years ago now, I introduced a tool that would allow me to calibrate what my body was feeling and a little watch dog that would allow me to know how much and how hard for how long I needed to get the best legs on race day and keep me from doing more. I have employed the same strategy for the athletes that I look after, whether it be cyclists, runners or triathletes. There's an expression tossed around the endurance word 'more is more...until it isn't'.

So much of my time as a coach (especially lately with the addition of some of the fastest, some would say most 'successful' athletes I have ever coached) is spent convincing athletes to NOT train! What I try to impart to them and to keep in mind for myself is that an athlete that is under-rested can see fitness go only two ways...they can get a handle on it by recovering, by resisting the addiction to do more, and to grow fitter and faster OR wait too long to accept the signs of long term residual fatigue, of legs that lack any 'snap', and spiral into a state of exhaustion that can only be reversed by an extended period of time off.

In short, if you're training 'a lot' and you feel like you're training 'hard' and you aren't getting faster...or worse, then maybe you need to admit you have a problem. That is, after all, step one.

1000 Miles

2009-02-03T04:08:00.000-08:00

We just arrived from our research trip in Tucson, Arizona on the red eye Sunday morning. I seem to remember being able to bounce back from such things better a few (like 15) years ago. As exhausting as the trip was, this two and a half day recon mission was a critical piece of making the March training camp there absolutely perfect for all involved.

Having been introduced by Jimbo to former resident, Virgin Blue Pro Cyclist Phil Zajicek, we had the very best resource possible for everything in Tucson, from the best rides to the best restaurants and even the best bike shop to ship our bikes to to be assembled before our arrival. Armed with our itinerary and 50 hours, T and I stood in Phoenix airport as we set the Garmin for the monster house we would be staying in for the week.

One of the best parts of our camps is the 'big MTV-style' house we stay in. Athletes stay in palatial accomodations with a huge common area and/or media room in which they can chill and pass the non-training time bonding with each other, sharing their own experiences. The whole vibe is pretty amazing, really. Which brings me back to our first stop. When we threw down the dough for our Tucson chateau, we did so based on the realtors website showing stunning views and 7500 sq. ft. of exceedingly opulent living.

The Garmin indicated we we arriving at 5241 yata yata street in 400 ft....200 ft....and 'you have arrived!'. Silence engulfed the SUV as T and I sat adjacent to the driveway of clearly the nicest house on the block. As a matter of fact, it was the only place that didn't have a pile of shit like screen doors, disabled cars or couches on the lawn...this was SO bad. "Ummmm, I had better call the realtor" was how T chose to break the silence. No answer when he called to politely say "we are sitting outside the house and it looks different than the one we saw on the web"...massive understatement. It seemed to me that we could have purchsed the house we sat before for what we paid to rent it. Checking the contact again, we realized that we'd not entered the correct address...we'd input the realtors home address. Of course, T would replay his message in his head to see if he'd been too derogatory regarding her home...I assured him we were cool on the way over to the palace in the hills that truly delivered as promised.

Among the the goals for the trip was to interview pro soigneur and wife of uber rider/retired pro Gord, Caryn Fraser. We set up our bike delivery and assembly/disassembly with Ralph at Fair View Cyclces, home of 'The Shootout' ride...one of the fastest, most famous group rides anywhere. We met with Phil's dad for some additional perspective on making the most of our camp there.

We were able to arrange for private swim coaching at an outdoor pool high in the foothills of the Catalina Mtns.. We went to the run loops we'd be using for the camp and either drove or ran them. As T out it after running through one canyon, it was the most beautiful place he had ever run in his life. We checked off the box next to fantastic run destinations. The rides were clearly the most challenging logistically, not only in terms of planning for the trip, but for the recon as well. When we returned the car to Avis, we had driven 1000+ miles seeking out all the fantastic rides in and around Tucson...Saguaro National Monument, Colossal Cave, A mountain, Madera Canyon, Gates Pass and of course, Mt. Lemmon...plus one other little surprise 'show-stopper' that Phil suggested...let's just say that this 13+ mile climb at 8% is the most unbelievable climb T or I have ever seen...bar none.

We poured our exhausted carcasses into the red eye back to NY with a sense of having finalized every detail necessary to make our first camp in Tucson as memorably perfect as our Colorado camps. As an aside, we've got Jeff working on the website after having our graphic designer come up with logos and 'treatments' for the content. Game On.

Pushing and Pulling

2009-01-16T15:42:00.000-08:00

I have had most success in approaching endurance training by pushing fitness up from below until I can no longer push it up anymore, before pulling it up the last bit from there. There are far more pronouns than my English teacher Mrs. Gerek would ever permit, so I'll be more clear.

I believe in first pushing threshold power and pace to higher levels by first beginning below threshold until gains at threshold cease. I have found that as an athlete approaches about 90% of VO2 max, threshold ceases to rise. I then raise the ceiling, or VO2 max in the given sport by pushing output at VO2 max up from just below VO2 max. It's what I typically witness while raising the ceiling that has convinced me to push whenever possible and only pull as the races close in. As VO2 max power or pace rises during a VO2 focused push, threshold ether stays put or, goes up slightly. If I start to pull up on VO2 by either focusing on AWC or simply by racing a lot & continuing to train hard mid-week, fitness soars after 4-6 weeks, reaches a crescendo, and if I then switch to a schedule in which the athlete essentially races, rests and opens before the next race, this can go on for a few to several weeks (3-6...depending primarily on 'base' fitness and years training, yata, yata), but then threshold drops and then so does VO2 max. Only by pulling too long or hard on an individual in an attempt to tweak 'em that last 1% have I realized the signs of pulling too hard.

Those familiar with endurance training will recognize the former situation as peaking. Those who have left their best legs out on the track or on the road training will recognize the latter.

Addition by Subtraction

2009-01-07T05:24:00.000-08:00

There's an expression that goes 'you never know what you've got 'til it's gone'. The understanding being that you don't appreciate how good a situation is until it isn't 'is' anymore, but 'was'. Sometimes the opposite is true, though. A related corollary should read 'you never know how bad what you have is until you don't have it anymore'.

We've all had a friend in bad situation that continued to make bad decision after bad decision in hopes of correcting for a prior bad decision, instead of going back to square one and changing the original mistake. Usually, the friend is in a bad relationship and cannot bring himself to sever ties or perhaps, is in a bad work situation and lacks the self confidence to 'make a move'.

Often, the unsuspecting friend does not realize their situation exists and if they do, are paralyzed when faced with the thought of changing it.

On a lesser level, I see it in athletes' training programs and/or race execution. One such example is when I hear a cyclist talking about why he missed the race winning break after attacking futilely for the first three quarters of the race. For triathletes, the most common error when looking back at a poor race performance, where their run was far below the level of their current run ability, is to redouble their efforts in run training...more 'speedwork', more miles.

The cyclist above changes his training thinking that he's missing the late move because he just can't go hard enough for 10' that it takes to establish the break, so trains far above threshold intensity too long and too often, leading to stagnation and fatigue and even more poor race performances. The triathlete ignores the importance of her swim and/or bike training to focus on the run which let her down and then expects to swim X minutes and bike at Y watts, so is ready to quit the sport when she still can't run well after thrashing herself trying to do the unrealistic during the time before T2.

The cyclist needs to subtract time spent launching ill fated solo attacks early in the race when everyone feels good and ready to chase...as an old teacher told me 'you can only truly attack twice in a race...and when you do, you must create 30 seconds separation almost immediately'.

For the triathlete, she needs to eliminate the idea that her run is the problem. She needs to assess where her fitness lies in all three sports and then consider what she is expecting to do in the race in each as it relates to that fitness. Certainly, she cannot expect to hold 80% of threshold for 112 miles and stand any chance of running a marathon within 20' of her stand alone time.

In an effort to practice what I preach, I've done a personal inventory, considering work situations that needed to be eliminated and training and racing mistakes that when subtracted will lead to an addition in the quality of my time.

On Rainbows and Group Rides

2008-12-27T10:06:00.000-08:00

Cartman: Eh. I hate those things.
Kyle: Nobody hates rainbows.
Stan: Yeah. What's there to hate about rainbows?
Cartman: Well, you know. You'll just be sitting there, minding your own business, and they'll come marching in, and crawl up your leg, and start biting the inside of your ass, and you'll be all like, "Hey! Get out of my ass you stupid rainbows!"
Stan: Cartman, what the hell are you talking about?
Cartman: I'm talking about rainbows. I hate those friggin' things!
Kyle: Rainbows are those little arches of color that show up after a rainstorm.
Cartman: Oh. RainBOWS. Yeah, I like those. Those are cool.
Stan: What were you talking about?
Cartman: Huh? Oh nothing. Forget it.
Kyle: No. What marches in, crawls up your leg---
Cartman: Nothing.
Kyle: ---and starts biting the inside of your ass?
Cartman: Nothing!

I had to share this...it makes me laugh every time. I remembered it earlier today when at a light with a group of friends going out for a group ride. I pointed to the patch of rainbow covered pavement to illustrate the dangerous phenomena that occurs when the perfect storm of a pool of motor oil which has leaked out of a car onto the road combines with rain...the oil comes to the surface and acts as a frictionless launchpad for the unsuspecting. Been doing 25 mph into a 90 degree left turn, seen the rainbow of death and had the bike disappear out from beneath me and then felt the all too familiar warmth of friction as my ass acts as a brake on asphalt...thank God for second skin. Hmmm...I managed to work rainbows and my ass into the same paragraph...

I've really been enjoying the group training I've been doing lately. It has been so diverse and truly beneficial to everyone involved. This Wednesday I made up for the 'Threshold Thursday' ride I knew I wouldn't get in due to the Christmas day...I did 40' at threshold in the basement before heading to the store. It's amazing how much more difficult this is to do solo...not to mention indoors. I have certainly benefited as much from doing my threshold workout in a group as anyone else. For me, I simply cannot pussie out, as there are 5-8 others looking for me to lead the ride..the coach can't bail. We all settle into our places quickly after the first 5'. Some ride beside me for a while, pulling ahead at times, while others draft for the workout's entirety...a third group drops off and continues to push themselves in pursuit of our faster group...everyone gets what they need out of the ride...fantastic.

Christmas day was another group ride for me...Don, George, Dee and Donna headed out with me for 2.5 hrs. easily before family time...again, a great ride for all. George and I discussed our strategy for 2009 races...it looks like I'll ride with George in the Pro-123 field in the Spring series, as doing the 3-4 race after dominating it wholly last year offers little challenge for him...this isn't to say I won't be racing for myself as well, just that I will do so in the interest of helping George acquire wins. We encouraged Don to get his upgrade to Cat 3 to join us as his considerable strength will be a huge asset in our races. So, we'll have a squad fighting out for upgrade points in the 3-4 race so that they can join George and me. For Dee and Donna, it was solid base miles for these two super strong women on the comeback trail.

The day after Christmas was a 56 mile steady ride with bro Matt & the Kreb boys from Bellport. Chris J. and I caught up on the bike biz (even though Chris crashed on black ice!) while we noodled around the middle of the island. Almost 3 hrs. at 240W NP was perfect...got to chat with Jeff C. about his training a bit and how to structure his tapering and peaking a bit better with use of his PMC in Cyclingpeaks. He is a smart dude, having figured so much out on his own...I shudder to think how strong he will be once he starts finding his best legs on race day instead of 4 days after his goal race!

Today was the aforementioned group ride from Sayville. A cool 2 hrs. up the Head of the Harbor and back home...again 240W NP and perfect prior to my Trevor Ride tomorrow. Funny that...the best thing about these group rides is what we discuss post ride over a drink. Today's topic was how, while we always must enjoy what we are doing first, we also shouldn't waste a moment of our training time, as we have chosen to dedicate a portion of our finite time on this Earth to sport, so we may as well go as fast as possible!

Well, that's enough babble for this day...as Cartman might say 'I'm going home'.

The Walk

2008-12-11T05:21:00.000-08:00

I get up every morning between 6:00 and 6:20, head to the can, weigh my sorry ass (my weight never fluctuates more than 3 lbs., despite my unhealthy obsession with it), hobble awkwardly with tin-man limberness down to the kitchen where my lovely wife, who has already heard the toilet flush, has poured my first cup of dark brown life blood. I take my first two or three gulps and slowly regain the ability to speak, not only in English, but with other human beings (one of which, unfortunately for her and for her family, possesses her father's AM disposition yet, has not become acquainted with my Columbian elixir) with genuine concern and curiosity regarding how they are handling life's/middle school's challenges. Their moods and body language are 'tells', as poker players would say...I know whether it's a quiz day, as opposed to a test day, whether things are going well with their friends, and if I really pay attention to the small details, if there is expected to be an opportunity to be seen by someone in particular...though, I would never dare mention it! I use these signs to gauge whether it's time do some character building or time to just hug 'em.

At some point, I head back up the stairs for one of about two different reasons and it is then that I know, with near certainty, whether my legs are 'ready' for the planned workout for the day. There are 'the days of grace' where I bound up them, knowing that there will be 'no chain' today. There are the days where I know that necessary will be a longer warm up, but that the legs will 'be good'...and I know the days that I'm glad it's a rest day or when an unscheduled one is necessary. I have often wished that I could literally walk up those stairs every day for every one of the athletes that I look after, so that I could make the very best decision for that individual each and every day. With most though, through listening to their voices, through reading their words very carefully, and ideally seeing their body language, I find that I do get to do the next best thing to taking 'the walk' with them.

There is a 'night and day' difference between an athlete burying himself to get through a session that he dragged himself out the door to do and one in which he was eager and he had to hold himself back from going too hard during. Templates don't take this into account...they cannot. It's funny to me that other 'coaches' take shots at my anal collecting of data, but then when we're alone, ask me questions about how I'm helping so-and-so get so much faster. I do try to explain, as I feel for them and their athletes and genuinely believe that the way coaches are perceived, as a whole, affects me too. What they fail to realize though, or refuse to commit themselves to, is that the numbers provide the 'GPS' of where we've been and that together with the record of how the body felt at different points along the way, during the daily 'walk' if you will, is the very blueprint of how to get an athlete to 'perform' at their very best when you want them to...when they want to.

Altered States

2008-10-10T06:12:00.000-07:00

Coaching endurance athletes is a never-ending education. The past nine months has been the most profound in terms of what I've learned regarding athletic performance, specifically in terms of how race day results can be above or below expectation simply as a result of the mental outlook of the athlete...and how as a coach I can help encourage the correct mental approach to help bring out the best performances on race day.

Before the reader is filled with fear that I'll be overly 'touchy-feel-ly', let me elaborate. The beginning of my nine month crash course began as I've detailed ad-nauseum, with a crash...with my being bashed up by a hit and run driver. So much of my training and racing over the last few seasons has become rather 'paint by numbers' and simply going through the motions. Sure, I was in great shape for me, but the real enthusiasm for competition, for getting up well before the crack of dawn to shit in the woods in the rain had gone. More importantly, the races had become barometers, tests if you will as to how I was doing...whether I was 'succeeding'... The interesting idea to note was that I realized that not only had racing taken upon a 'work-like' status, but that riding the bike had, too. As cliche' as it may sound, you don't know what you've got until it's gone. As I sat in the basement with one arm in a sling, I longed to ride outdoors once again. I found the joy I'd lost.

What I hadn't realized until some time later was that I was being primed for a lesson of such profound importance that it would reshape my understanding of human performance forever.
It wasn't until I was 'given' a few more clues that it really began to 'sink in' though. At this time, a gifted athlete with whom I'd worked for several years was going through a rough patch, in which we were faced with a fitness plateau and actually seemed to be taking a step backward in terms of race performance. After our athlete/coach relationship was terminated, I realized that I'd missed the signs of an overemphasis on the results instead of the joy we'd felt daily in our 'process'. The thrill of toeing the line, 'throwing down' and seeing how many top pros we could beat had been replaced with pressure that could only lead to fear, which always leads to disappointment. The workouts and the races had become the measuring stick instead of the pleasure they had been for so long. I realize now that you will never beat the opponent who has exactly the same genetic gifts as you, but is thoroughly enjoying what they're doing every day, whether the session goes well or not, whether they 'PR' a race or whether they improve a few places over last year. So, the question still remained, how to avoid this condition in which an athlete is trying to compete with their old self that was clearly enjoying the racing and hence, flourishing when they've now put so much pressure on themselves.

Fast forward to Lake Placid. A number of athletes were emailing back and forth via a yahoo group and were listing key words or phrases to express their hopes for the day. When I forwarded a few to one athlete, to the list of words like 'cool, overcast, calm, dry, perfect' this athlete added his own wishes for the day..."rain, misery, a Sunday in Hell...and simply, 'Game on'". When pressed for his reasons for such counter intuitive wishes he explained how despite being exhausted at times and even dreading certain training sessions that the 'journey' had been so much fun that the race was almost anticlimactic...only in 'the black hole' of misery and pain could he push himself enough to enjoy the experience. He got his wish and he exceeded our greatest expectations...and despite the misery, he smiled for the entire race.

This got me thinking more about athletes that perform below and more importantly, above expectation. Clearly, the ones who welcome the black hole, the opportunity to really feel something, who look to the pain as a peek into the abyss, a sense of really being alive, to face the possibility to fail, are ones that perform best...they are the ones that win. As I type this, I am thinking back to a story about Michael Jordan from his NC days. As an 18 year old freshman in college, with the national championship in the balance and only time for one last shot, his coach and his team passed him the ball...with all the weight of a nation looking down on him, he made the game winning shot. But as he later said, "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." The rest in history as they say.

I have tried to take these lessons in mind more and more recently, emphasizing to athletes that the result really is meaningless...that the experience is what matters...period. Of course, as we work together, the velocity and therefore race times get faster, but the fun must always stay as it was in the beginning.

I was faced with an opportunity to 'put up or shut up' last Sunday while driving to the Pete Senia memorial race in 50F temperatures and pouring rain. I thought of 'a Sunday in Hell' and of my ever-smiling triathlete in Placid and decided that today would be an epic, miserable struggle and totally a blast! Well, it was and the result was good...though completely irrelevant.

Harvey, Sam, Joe & Chrissy

2008-08-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

As I drove home this morning from the 'Early Birds Ride', I found my exhausted self trying to put the pieces of what I have been reflecting on this past week in the form of a lesson I can add to my experiences as an athlete an a coach.

I was exhausted thanks to Joe Zaverdas. I showed up at this long-time staple of Long Island summer cycling not knowing what to expect. I knew the ride was attended by the likes of Joe Z, Brian Wolf, in addition to the Charlie Rey's, and the Jeff Cline's (read: hammers) of local cycling. What I didn't expect was 50+ riders intent on drilling the ride right out of the parking lot on this 53 mile loop around the beautiful Hamptons, down Dune Rd. and back through surprisingly rolling terrain of the east end. Oh, and the other thing I didn't expect was the flat exactly 2 minutes from the start of the ride.

As the fast moving group flew by, a few guys asked if I wanted them to stop, but I said 'no, thanks', not wanting to be 'that guy'. I was riding in a rather inconspicuous kit, yet a few dudes recognized me as a rider who could help keep the pace high and politely offered to wait. No one really wants to stop and help and then have to chase a group of 50+ for an acquaintance, so I told them all to go on...then I saw the always intimidating form of Joe coming back to get me. I thought, 'this is going to be so bad'. After we fumbled with the flat that required a boot to make the sliced tired hold, 5 minutes has elapsed. As I tucked the bad tube and the expelled CO2 into my jersey, Joe said 'we'll catch 'em'.

The hollow in the pit of my stomach was cavernous...I was now obliged to stay with him until we caught back on to the group. You see, first, I had no spare at this point and was completely lost...more importantly, the dude had stopped and waited for me...to beg for him to slow or to tell him to go on would mean I was a douche bag...I settled in for what was an act of sheer ferocity and a show of incredible strength on his part and for me, was an act of sheer unadulterated misery. 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 mph with zero let up for 30'...I did what I could...I had to offer to pull from time to time and would do my best, pulling for 45 seconds literally in the 'black hole' over 400W+ simply trying to match his pace and then suffering unspeakable agony trying not to get dropped off his wheel after he miraculously would seem to up the pace, refreshed from his minuscule respite.

In short, we caught the group that was scattering to the 4 winds on Dune Rd. as Joe made the final push over 30 mph into the stiff breeze...as we made contact, I looked for a larger draft to compose myself in and marveled as he went right to the front of the group to treat the rest to a taste of the agony they had forced upon us...as we crested the climb over the bridge off Dune Rd., he stood up, accelerated, sat back down and simply rode the last 7 of us off his wheel...every single one of us. When we met him at the designated regrouping spot, he quipped to us 'when you guys can stay on my wheel when I surge that that, you can win any race around here' (by the way, the average speed, on roads with stiff crosswinds, turns and a few stop signs requiring significant loss of momentum, the average speed after the 37' chase and 10' ride with the group was 24.8 mph) What Joe seems to have a difficult time understanding is that getting dropped by him isn't a choice any of us made...we simply could do no more.

When I sat down to type this, someone had sent me a link to a story about WC Chrissy Wellington winning the recent L'Alpe Duez triathlon...a 2.2K swim, a 115K bike and a 22K run...she had beaten the second place pro woman by nearly half an hour and beat all the male pros except one....she had come in second overall by a single minute. Interesting to add is that the same link contained an interview with her coach who swears she hasn't really pushed herself in a race yet...In other words, he claims she's cruising...he says her 2:59 marathon is nowhere near what she's capable of...holy shit, I said out loud. On a much grander scale, she is to triathlon what Joe Z is to the rest of us around here...simply in a different category.

Both these events made me think about simple individual physiology that Coach Sam Mussabini (from Chariots of Fire fame) was referring to when he said 'I cannot put in what God left out'.

Similarly, I remembered reading a quote by the great golf instructor Harvey Penick in answer to why he chose a career in teaching instead of tournament play. He said a single event destroyed any thought he had of ever playing the tour...he said "I heard the sound of Sam Snead striking a golf ball"...he adds "I knew at that moment, that the game was about to go to a level upon which I could never play".

I think the lessons of today have reminded me that most of us are simply playing at sport for our own personal competition with ourselves and that we need to understand what our limits are and to be pleased what we've accomplished in that context.

A Lesson Learned From A Sunday In Hell

2008-07-24T08:51:00.001-07:00

Ironman Lake Placid 2008 has come and gone and with a single exception, each athlete I was looking after either met or exceeded our expectations. As they say, we learn more from our failures than from our successes. The single exception was the result of torrential downpours throughout the day, an extremely lean and fit athlete, and the lack of a rain jacket that I overlooked instructing the athlete to wear.

In my wildest imagination, I never considered that it would rain all day and night from the middle of the swim until 10:00 PM. What I opened the athletes up for was a case of hypothermia...the opposite of what I feared throughout the preparatory phase for this mid-Summer Epic. This low single-digit body fat possessing athlete was forced to stop as a result of his core temperature dropping much too low. The human body (as Dr. Bob Otto would emphasize while discussing this incident) is better prepared to deal with excessive heat than cold. A simple rain jacket (or even a garbage bag) would likely have provided enough insulation to have allowed this athlete to have his breakthrough performance all of his fitness markers indicated he would have. From now on, even in the middle of Summer, every athlete will have a light waterproof jacket handy.

On the brighter side, the other seven athletes had great experiences. For the three first timers, smiles were the order of this "Biblically shitty weather" day. Excellent fitness and the proper amount of fear was the perfect recipe for an experience that each later described to me as phenomenal and nearly unbelievably rewarding. Of the other four, despite the horrific conditions, PR setting or equalling performances were the order of the day. The fastest finisher I looked after ran the 7th fastest marathon split of the day for females including the pro field, had a huge bike PR, and would have, no doubt, gone 20 minutes faster on the bike had the rain not scared her to death on the descents to Keene.

As a sidenote, the first training camp of what I believe will be many has been decided upon. I can think of no better location than my adopted second home of Boulder, Colorado. For the invited athletes, this will be the perfect boost to fitness for their fall Ironman race. With IM Kona, Florida and Arizona coming up, there is a great deal to be gained from this camp at this time of year. We are determined to make this first foray into Ironman training camps unparalleled. From the accommodations, to the support, to the guest coaches & speakers, to the dining, this camp will be second to none. This Rocky mountain altitude trip will include both American and Canadian athletes capable of staying with a fast moving group of cyclists. In the Winter camp, likely next February, there will two groups, be a second, slightly slower group on rides.

A Quick Update

2008-06-25T06:16:00.000-07:00

In my effort to keep my promise to myself regarding posting every two weeks (or so), I'll give a quick report on the goings on in my little universe.

Personally, the body is continuing to heal well and I am playing a fair amount of golf with my kids, in addition to riding regularly with a number of athletes I am looking after (I loved it when Des Dickey said this...it's so much better in my mind than "MY ATHLETES") and both the bike shop and the coaching businesses are doing quite well.

Golf was my first addiction and as such, seems to be something I can pick up at almost any time and resume a respectable level of competance after only a few trips around the course. My rounds have been limited to mostly a time-efficient 9 holes, but over the last several weeks, I've quickly seen these rounds drop from the low 40's into the high 30's. I am getting indescribable pleasure though, from playing with Becca and Sarah. They are improving at such a quick rate and the time spent with them on the course is the most special of any I have ever spent. We talk about everything...even things I would rather not and every round is an opportunity for a gut-busting comment from one of them. The other day on the practice green Sarah asked "how long will it be before I beat you?" I replied, "you may never beat me" (hoping to appeal to her competitive nature). She quickly responeded "yes, I will...you will get old!".

The riding has been quite pleasurable, as well. It has been mostly limited to relatively easy, longer rides with athletes preparing for Lake Placid, but I am managing to stay resonably thin.
I am currently still 'looking after' 8 of these warriors. This is one more than in '07, as I've picked up a late comer in need of harnessing his talents for the long stuff just as I was relieved of my duties by another athlete.

I feel that all of them are on or ahead of schedule regarding their preparation and have realistic, yet challenging goals. I believe that this is a critical role for the coach to play...the assistance in establishing realistic short and long term goals. As for their training, each program is quite unique, but there are obviously some strong similarities at this point. They will all be getting in their more specific long IM race intensity efforts after having "raised the left" in the months previous, and will be recovering a bit more than most other athletes coached by others (from what I've heard) this week. I've found that we avoid 'digging too deep a hole" at this time and that we can avoid injury/over-training, while maintaining a great deal of quality simultaneously. This also allows a proper taper going forward, without the need for a total shut down that can be quite risky.

The business side of things is also quite good. With the races of Summer approaching, the dissolution of two bike shop competitors nearby and the soaring gas prices, as well as the continued support of our own Team Runners Edge and Team in Training athletes, we are keeping very busy at the shop. The coaching business is going very well, too. I have a business plan that was about to launch with a couple associates in which we could accommodate additional athletes looking for a program like that which I've outlined in previous posts, as well as, put together some training camps throughout the year, but this has been temporarily placed on "the back burner" while additional personnel is recruited. I will implement this plan, but only when I am confident it will be done with the same level of personal attention I try to give to every athlete.

Well, that's about it...be back in a couple weeks with tales of the taper!

Simple Tenets

2008-06-05T18:26:00.000-07:00

When I first started coaching about 7 years ago, a close friend advised me, before I began, to read everything I could find regarding the great coaches and their methods, about exercise physiology and exactly why these particular coaches had been successful. He told me plain and simple "Write down your philosophy and always stay true to it". Of course, he didn't mean to ignore what others advised nor did he mean that I shouldn't stay up to date with the latest research in the field...only that I should think long and think hard should I consider breaking one of my tenets. While the original wording has changed over time, the list remains almost exactly the same as I wrote it in my first of many marble notebooks. They are:

-An athlete that is 10% under-trained can have a great day, but one that is 1% over-trained never will.

-The principle of specificity must be honored as often as possible

-Training must be individual

-Training must be progressive...it takes about six weeks to adapt to a particular level of stress

-Every workout has a purpose

-An athlete is either capable of higher output from their body over a given time or (equivalently) they must be able to hold previous levels of output longer...otherwise, they are not training.

-The primary predictor of success in endurance sports is maximum sustainable (or Functional Threshold) pace/power

-Sessions at/near maximum sustainable effort are the backbone of endurance training.

-The adaptations from L2-L5 (Endurance through VO2) are identical...we merely trade volume for intensity.

-The shorter, hard(er) session(s) precede the longer, easier sessions after recovery

I'll try to keep on top of the blog and go through each in a bit of detail in coming entries.
Cheers.

What's Old is What's New

2008-05-02T04:40:00.000-07:00

As Eddy Merckx said when asked how to get better, 'ride lots'...

It's been a while since I've posted because life has been very busy. The doctor says ride as long as you don't fall off or get smashed by a car again...great advice. My body seems to be healing, although it's frustrating at times when I remember what sleeping a whole night without waking up in the middle because some movement caused pain. I am, however, very hopeful that I'll get back to 100%...as much mentally as physically. Recently, I have been training quite a bit in an effort to resume the seemingly massive amount of fitness lost since the accident while avoiding falling off. I have also been training a bit with several athletes that I am coaching and in particular, a number of them that are training for Ironman Lake Placid.

Training with these athletes has afforded me some new(perhaps, old) knowledge. It has allowed me to recognize that a slightly different approach to my own personal training was necessary. I needed this in as much an effort to 'spice things up' as to prepare for racing without the intensity that actual racing provides. I have experienced, as well as witnessed countless times, the benefits of focusing on plenty of riding in 'The Sweet Spot", at Functional threshold, VO2 max and tossing in the odd Anaerobic capacity session to 'hit' every race system (I know... Neuromuscular power omitted) but, I needed a 'new outlook'.

Part of the beauty of getting older is having been around long enough to see certain ideas come full circle...like hairstyles. The 'real' beauty is in being able to mold new ideas into old ones to make something better.

What I am currently doing is completing 2-3 multiple-systems interval training sessions per week and riding 'easy' to 'steady' in L2 the remainder of the time. What seems to be happening is that I am getting stronger as a result of being able to keep my chronic training load high with plenty of TSS points/miles/hours AND I am increasing my power at VO2, threshold, anaerobic work capacity and even my endurance. Clearly, not everyone is capable of putting in the 4+ hour rides as often as I have time for, but for those who do, the benefits are very interesting.

Surprised at how quickly the power output over these intervals has risen for myself, I have been incorporating them into athletes' training schedules at appropriate times in addition to 'the bread & butter' endurance sessions that have been successful for so many and have been receiving some frankly, fantastic results. With the addition of these intervals, I've witnessed a new cyclist's MAP rise about 3W per high intensity, multisystem interval session over the last 6 weeks. What is even more impressive is that I am seeing in myself, as well as others that have long histories of endurance training, and for whom the struggle seems to be trying to get back to where we were when younger, tangible improvements...this isn't to say that an athlete who was otherwise unable to climb Tiorati in the front group will now win Bear Mountain, but I am seeing power numbers that are better than ever before.

Oh..I almost forgot...for those that haven't been around cycling for long...Eddy Merckx is the greatest cyclist that ever lived...he won 5 Tours De France in route to amassing over 500 career wins...think Tiger Woods on a bicycle.

Cranky Time

2008-04-08T17:29:00.001-07:00

While riding today with a couple friends, it dawned on me that there is a time, usually late in a ride, but almost always late in a ride that occurs late in a training block that tempers get a little, uhhh, short. Hence, the title...cranky time.

There are numerous ingredients that go into the mix to create this situation. Take a group of two or more, introduce a challenging ride and include plenty of fatigue, either acute or chronic, plus a slightly fresher/stronger rider and you have the perfect storm. The rider that is feeling better than his/her counterparts has only to ride "a half wheel" ahead for a few miles or push an extra 10W up a roller and the tempers flare!

Without going into who was to blame today for making me think about cranky time, I thought I'd share a couple of my favorite episodes. Not oddly, as I have trained more often with her than any other person, Danielle was present (and "the cranky one" on one occasion) for both stories.

The first time was during a very hot and long training ride one Summer day very late in a training block for her and I made the mistake of suggesting that perhaps she should drink a bit more...bad idea. She explained in a tone most never hear from her that I was the last person that should EVER tell someone to drink...she muttered something about me being the worst in terms of hydration she'd ever encountered. To this day, I get crap from her for it.

The other time was while we were riding back with Jimbo from the Carter Lake Loop in Colorado. On this day, I was feeling particularly good and Jimbo was starting to feel the effects of several days riding as we headed South back towards Boulder. To be honest, I was feeling better than good...4 hrs into the day, on 'sticky roads' with a slight cross-wind, I was drilling it.

When we finally made it back to the light on Broadway, as we stopped, Jimbo exclaimed "Are we done with the f-ing team time trial?" The full magnitude of his crankiness was apparent when he added, "5 miles ago, I was going to put your luggage at the curb!"

Needless to say, after having been off the bike for far too long and having not ridden hard enough or long enough in 2 months, I am acutely aware of the animosity that can surface and am being especially careful not to yell at a good friend, "Dude, slow the F**K down!"

The Sweet Spot-What is it and how do I get there?

2008-03-26T05:53:00.000-07:00

Quite simply, the Sweet Spot (or to abbreviate for Sweet Spot Training, SST) is that rather large span of power output from upper L2 through to roughly, Functional Threshold power. This term was coined by Frank Overton, a man I've never met, but from his website http://www.fascatcoaching.com/, I would bet we'd see eye to eye on most discussions relating to endurance training. The graph above, which I lifted from Frank's site, was actually created by Andrew Coggan.

There is nothing revolutionary here. Good coaches like run guru Arthur Lydiard recognized many years ago (simmer down, I know that recognition of this phenomena likely predated him by 1000 years) there is a range of effort when training for endurance sports which maximizes 'bang for the buck' because it is hard enough to cause the most desireable adaptations but, not so hard that it causes excess fatigue, requiring extended recovery. This is THE key concept. You can train more at this level, which makes you better, without having to train 20-30 hrs/week. I think this was depicted beautifully in the graph by Dr. Coggan.

The reason it is SO sweet is because by increasing intensity from say 60-65% of functional threshold (typically where athletes self select for their endurance rides) to an effort most would describe as 'steady' to 'comfortably' hard, roughly 75-85% of FTP and doing so for up to about 3 hrs. instead of 5 or 6, an athlete can elicit greater gains in the key components which lead to greater endurance performance, namely increased mitochondrial enzymes, increased lactate threshold and increased glycogen storage and do so in less time. In other words, concentrate a little harder, but not too hard and get a lot better...good deal.

So why not just go as hard as you can then, say L5 or higher as much as possible and then just take a few days off or easy? Well, while this certainly works to improve the aforementioned components of fitness, but it doesn't do as effective a job of increasing the body's ability to store muscle glycogen or to convert type IIB to type IIA as SST does, which for a relatively new athlete is a key determinant of getting better 'endurance'. Plus, training in L5 and higher is really mentally tough!

SST works for all endurance sports and specifically, for all endurance cyclists...that's from 4km pursuitists to Ironman athletes. For the former, as much as 60% of energy produced during this short race is aerobic. For the latter, not only is it aerobic, but lower SST IS Ironman effort, or slightly harder for some. What could be more specific than that?

Rehabilitation

2008-03-06T05:11:00.000-08:00

It will be 4 weeks since I was struck by a hit & run driver and it is starting to sink in that my body will need a bit more time to heal. On the up-side, the greater tuberosity has remained stationary and therefore, it seems that I will not need surgery. This was not the doctor's first thought because it had been displaced by twice the '"limit in the literature" over which surgery was typically necessary. His reluctance to operate was the result of the second fracture in the upper humorous that would have possibly shattered as a result of screwing the tuberosity back into its rightful place. The down-side is that the shoulder is quite painful, especially in the evening when I am trying to sleep. Coupled with a back that "twinges" and goes occasionally into "spasm", I feel pretty tired most of the time. The doctor feels that the back issues should subside eventually...I hope so...I used to 'knock wood' that I've never had any problem with my back.
The other injuries, namely the deep cuts around my left eye that resulted when my Oakleys shattered upon impact with the ground (anyone else think that glasses marketed for sport should be safer?), are healing as best as possible. I have to apply a scar guard for the next few months and will always have to wear SPF 30+ sun block or stronger. The scar above the eye is partially hidden by the brow and not nearly as gruesome as the one below.
While Dina claims she likes me anyway, I do notice people looking at it when I'm at the shop. A funny aside regarding the eye happened with the plastic surgeon in the ER. Before he operated I asked Dina if she wanted him to do a little 'Brad Pitt thing' and he interrupted with 'hey, I'm good, but not THAT good'...nice.
I've been trying to spend some time on the indoor trainer just to feel like I'm doing 'something', but these sessions are short and somewhat uncomfortable, being that I really cannot stabilize myself to pedal, having only one arm. In addition to this, I perform a brief 'PT' session three times daily which serves to remind me just how banged up I really am.
I am in good hands, though. Dina has gone above and beyond what even a loving spouse can be expected to do and I have complete confidence in my doctor Steven Rokito and my PT and close friend, Don Rourke. The support from so many friends has been the 'silver lining' in all of this. I've reconnected with old friends that fell out of touch and come to appreciate the new ones.
That's about it for now...train hard, rest harder.

The Hit and Run Loop

2008-02-20T05:46:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been almost a month since my last update. If you are reading this, it is likely because I coerced you into it by having attached the web address to my email signature. They say that most blogs have a readership of one. If that is the case, then thanks, dad. Seriously, if half of the people that have either called or written wishing me well since my accident read, my blog's readership rivals that of Newsday. (But, hopefully is written on a slightly higher grade level)

To summarize, for anyone that does not already know the story, I was struck while riding my bike by a hit-and-run driver. I was riding with Luis, Skip, and Don and had just made the right hand turn onto Vets Highway, ironically in the bike lane, when a red compact car (Honda, Toyota) moving at what a witness claimed looked like 50 mph, crossed into the bike lane and slammed into my left side. Fortunately, the front fender and the passenger side door made contact instead of the front bumper. As a result of the impact, and the subsequent bouncing down the asphalt I sustained numerous bodily injuries. Most notably among them are: a broken left arm (2 places), 30 stiches to my my face, and extremely annoying back, neck and rib cage, as well as, numerous aches and pains seemingly around my entire body... not to mention, road-rash over a large part of my body. I know the accident just happened and I am hopeful that most of my injuries will heal. There, that is the down-side.

Now for the upside. As mentioned above, our group had just turned and as a result, was spread out far enough that none of my friends were hit. The tremendous outpouring of concern from so many people has been truly moving. From simple get-well emails and phone calls, to visits to my home, to offers to help run the bike shop while I am recovering, the generosity of others has been non-stop. My brush with fate and this reminder of the importance of friends and family will serve as a "reset", helping me better prioritize my remaining time.

Only time will tell if lessons learned will "stick", or how much of my old self I will get back but, one thing is certain, my first ride will be on the hit-and-run loop.

That's enough for now. Sarah is getting tired of typing and we have other, more important stuff to do.

The Indoor Trainer...

2008-01-21T08:21:00.000-08:00

Having just checked the temperature on weather dot com and found out that it's 15 degress outside (no, I couldn't just go outside...I have to check the internet) I have decided to "ride" indoors today. I really do love my indoor trainer. It's a 10 year old, noisy wind trainer. I don't like the quite liquid kind...too much harder than riding the road...not enough inertia either, for my taste.

Typically, I've been writing about cycling training with a power meter, but the indoor trainer allows those without one to have an objective measure of fitness that isn't possible outdoors with a mere cycling computer. This isn’t such a crazy notion if you hear me out. When paired with a rear wheel mounted cycling computer, your indoor trainer can becomes a home based “lab” where you can assess your fitness gains periodically by testing yourself in controlled conditions.

With swimming and running, athletes can rather easily check fitness gains by completing a standard set in the pool or on the track, or running a flatter race. By doing timed distances in these disciplines, athletes can compare with confidence, current fitness levels with those in the past. But, what about on the bike?

Unfortunately, there are many more variables that can affect your bike TT when performed outdoors than with the other events. Wind speed and direction are the two most obvious variables that can confuse outdoor fitness evaluation results. Air density is significant also. This also assumes that you complete the test on the same course, let alone using different courses with different road surfaces and gradients. For those of you that have ridden around Hecksher from one day to the next, you know that one day you can ride 2 minutes faster per loop than the next.

So, this is where the old trainer becomes useful in assessing fitness. While temperature and humidity will affect your strain (heartrate may be higher) in the basement differently, these factors will not affect how the bike is rolling through the air. So, go into the basement or garage, put your fan as close to you as you can, put it on high and go, go, go.

What to do. First, try to keep conditions between tests as consistent as possible. Time of day, state of restedness, pre-test meals, and even music being blasted should be the same from test to test. Warm up thoroughly, then either ride a set duration, looking for an increase in distance “covered” or ride a set distance and compare times. Since the most informative fitness marker for the triathlete, actually, every endurance athlete, is maximum sustainable power on the bike or pace running or in the water, you want the test to reflect what you are interested in measuring. For this reason, the test should be sufficiently long. Either 8-10 miles or 20-30 minutes, depending on your preference. Most coaches test once every 4-8 weeks, typically at the end of a recovery week. I prefer a little “opener ride” the day before, otherwise, I feel a bit “blocked” during the test. Keep the opener ride as close to identical as possible by doing this on the trainer the day before, as well.

What to look for. Well, faster times for a given distance or more distance over a set time. If you are not improving, you have to re-evaluate your training. Unless you are increasing your maximum sustainable power on your bike, you aren’t training...you’re maintaining, or worse! As an aside (as if I could avoid slipping this in), those of you with portable power measuring devices, like a Power Tap, can forego the indoor test and do it outside, wherever you choose. A watt is a watt and you can compare average watts for a given duration anywhere for a quick comparison, anytime you would like. Personally though, since using a power meter I rarely formally test, as every training day becomes testing as I compare my body’s sensations to recent history. But, that is for another entry.

Ten (More) Years on the Bike...Just the Numbers

2008-01-02T16:49:00.000-08:00

I read a comment about a week ago by Dr. Andy Coggan in which he stated that in the last 10 years (in his case, from ages 38 to 48) he hasn't lost a single watt at his VO2 max or at his functional threshold.
Having hit "the big four-oh" on New Year's eve, I began to ponder where my fitness is and, for comparison, from where it had come from in the last 10 years.
While knowing where it was 10 years ago isn't quantifiable for me because unlike Andy, I "only" began training and racing with a power meter after the 2001 racing season. I do, however, know exactly where my fitness was in the winter of 2001 coming into the 2002 spring race series.
It was at this time I purchased a power meter and tested my fitness with some field tests designed to indicate the status of certain key elements of my fitness and began to correlate them to each other. I chose this time because I had just finished the 2001 season and had experienced the best race results of my racing "career" and was feeling even better as the new season approached.

I mention the state of my fitness at this time because I believe that at this time it was better than it had ever been. I had been (finally) training with a plan in 2001 and was able to stay healthier throughout the season and place consistently higher in races than ever before. I had been performing certain training sessions that I'd use as marker sets and was doing so better than any point in the past year. So, roughly six years ago, I began to keep a record of my fitness that I am still keeping to this day.

In the last six years I have increased my power at VO2 max by 10%, my functional threshold by 12% and my 5-second power by 20%. Better still, I have managed to increase theses power outputs while decreasing body mass by 2 kg. By understanding the actual intensity of my bouts of cycling training via a portable power meter, and through correlating intensity with perceived exertion, I was able to find and push through the old "ceiling". I know not only how long and how it "felt", I know at what intensity I elicited these results. The single biggest advantage for me to this has been knowing when I need rest. By knowing when to rest, I have actually managed to get better as time has passed.
I'll keep on keeping on and see if I can manage to hold this for the next 8 years or so.

A "36" Ride

2007-12-26T19:08:00.000-08:00

Well, decided to give myself a little Christmas gift a day late.
I waited until late morning to ride and unfortunately, missed an opportunity to hook up with anyone else for my epic ride...then again, doing a solo "36" ride in the cold, grey wind makes it that much more special...

A ride like today's comes in the wake of either a very hard ride/race the day before or at the end of a tough block of training...IOW, I start the ride tired. Yesterday's ride with George and Danielle was the perfect set-up for a 36 ride today. I felt particularly good yesterday and always enjoy riding with them both, and it being Christmas day, not to mention Tuesday (the day I've been collecting lots of L4) I rode plenty of L4...and a little L5...in short, my legs were toasted this morning.

Granted, a real 36 ride is quite a bit more pleasant in that the actual route 36 butts against the foothills of the Rockies in Boulder, Colorado and typically occurs in late Spring or early Autumn.
The road itself is probably the least beautiful I've ridden in Colorado (with the exception of 70...but, I was an idiot for riding it) despite the fact that I've encountered enough famous pro cyclists and triathletes on this route to "name drop" for a dozen blog entries...if you've any doubt as to whether Boulder is endurance athlete heaven, look closer at the participants page of any major race...go to your favorite athletes' website and you'll see that almost all will mention spending some, if not all their time training there.

36 is the gateway to almost every great ride starting or ending in Boulder. It's innocuous rollers meander North on the way out of town and pass by canyons that lead four to five thousand feet up to the Peak to Peak highway...these same rollers aren't nearly as friendly on the way home after having climbed 15,000+ feet vertically for 4-5 hrs. at altitude ranging from 5,300-10,000 ft. above sea level (read: especially difficult for people from Long Island)...the way home, the last 10 miles of the day, is when 36 becomes a monster...

Anyone that has ridden this unforgiving ribbon of asphalt from Lyons (where Tim DeBoom lives..I know...name dropped) back to Boulder with me knows what I mean by writing I went out for a 36 ride today...for upon turning South and back towards "home" with legs tired from this and often many other day's epic rides that preceded it that I put the screws to my legs and anyone else's that happens to be with me at the time...it is with searing pain in my legs, I drill it all the way back to the right hand turn on Broadway....my goal being to leave every last bit of my energy out on the road...quite simple, really.

This brings me back (circuitously, I'll admit) to my ride today. Without the luxury and simplicity of a "Big Thompson Ride" to set me up for self destruction on the inward 10 miles, I set out west from my house hard...I rode past the bike shop and headed up on "the Bike Shop Loop"...hard...an hour in, the legs were already starting to scream. Now, usually, in Boulder I'll gradually build up to the hard part after hours, but today, there was no time...I had to get up north, shatter my legs pretty soundly, then really start the pain east along 25A back towards Head of the Harbor, and eventually, once I headed south towards home, scatter my own entrails along the road until my legs were a two quivering cold branches.

When I reached the all too familiar intersection of Lakeland and Sunrise, I was so baked that I wasn't sure that the last 2.5 miles was even do-able. As if life could get any better, Dina suggested I shower and grab a nap before going out with her and the kids for the remainder of the day...life is so very good.

Out, Damned Spot

2007-12-17T18:44:00.000-08:00

"I dare do all that may become a man; who dares do more is none."
So, how the hell does MacBeth relate to the sports of cycling and triathlon?
Well, as far as I'm concerned, this applies to the modern day athlete, as well as to every human being in every aspect of life as much as it did this would-be king.

While it was penned more than four hundred years before "the clear", before Floyd Landis, Nina Kraft, and Tyler Hamilton all tested positive for doping, let alone before all the baseball players that were named in the Mitchell report were outed, it reminds us that ethics must remain the cornerstone of our ambitions.

I take this quote from MacBeth to mean that in life, it's a matter of an individual daring to do all that they can do in the most honorable and admirable way, to achieve their goals. And so, if a man "dares" to do something excessive and outside the bounds of what is admired and/or what he does is "unbecoming" , for example, cheats, he will be diminished and comes to grief.

Somewhere along the way, some of us get so wrapped up in "the ends" that we begin to justify "the means". I cannot imagine the torment an athlete like Marion Jones or Floyd Landis feels knowing that history will not only remember them as cheaters, but that they will personify all that is wrong in their respective sports in this day and age. These fallen icons spent the better part of their lives training, sacrificing and dreaming of sporting greatness only to have "gone too far" because they ultimately went outside the boundaries of fairness and what was becoming a champion.

It's my hope that athletes take the route of a David Millar, the former World Time Trial Champion who was stripped of that title during the Cofidis affair. When drug enforcement officials entered Miller's home they found empty vials of EPO on his trophy case beside the medal and the rainbow jersey of the world championship. David said they were reminders of his disappointment in himself and of how far he'd fallen to achieve his goals...and how hollow these achievements had become because they were achieved through cheating. Fortunately, for David the "blood" he had on his hands was easier to wash away than Duncan's and he is now one of the strongest proponents of cleaning up cycling and sports, in general.

My faith in human nature and plain old hope lead me to believe that there are more Millars out there and that soon we'll see reformation in the sporting world. It really does only take one to start a revolution.

My Take on Strength Training and Cycling

2007-12-09T08:08:00.000-08:00

The accepted scientific definition of strength is "the maximum force or tension generated by a muscle (or muscle groups)". While I agree wholeheartedly that weight training will increase strength, strength itself is not a determinant of endurance cycling performance. For events lasting as little as four minutes, almost 70% of the work done is via aerobic pathways. The determinants of success in endurance cycling are VO2 max, cycling economy, functional threshold and oxygen uptake characteristics....not strength.

It isn't particularly difficult to understand why the idea of weight lifting seems to make sense. When you are riding for a given duration for the critical power for that duration, it feels like your legs aren't strong enough to keep going. The reality is that the by-products of non-aerobic metabolism bring about the fatigue and require you to stop. IOW, as a result of not being able to generate more power aerobically (as limited by the four elements mentioned above) the rider must stop...not because the athlete was unable to maintain the force on the pedals. In fact, the triathlete at the back of the pack will have no trouble producing the force Norman Stadler does while holding 300W+ or even that which Lance Armstrong produces while climbing Alpe D'Huez at 420w+. They are unable to do so as rapidly, and for as long a period of time as these super-human aerobic specimens.

I find myself (slightly) more successful explaining the concept to athletes with a practical example as opposed to scientific mumbo jumbo. If strength (as defined above) were important for events lasting four minutes or more, then why can tiny Natasha Badmann ride at 200W for hour after hour while many AG'ers 50 lbs. heavier and capable of squatting 100's of pounds more than her, struggle to maintain this power output for even half the time? Or, try this: Why are the "sprinters" capable of peak power outputs in excess of 2000W (more than twice that of "climbers") who are also capable of squatting twice that of their climber counterparts, dropped like stones when the climbs come? You would think "certainly, being able to squat 150-200 lbs more (typically) than a smaller rider who only weighs 25 lbs less should allow them to climb better"...right? Uh-uh.

So what do we make of all of these terms some coaches use like muscular endurance, on-bike strength training, or anything else that confuses strength as being a determinant of endurance cycling success? Answer: Nothing...forget these terms, they are without use. If an athlete wishes to generate more power for climbing or riding faster on the flats, he must improve the big-four referred to above. So, how do you do this? Simple...ride your bike more often, for longer periods of time and do so at increasingly higher power outputs. How these are to be blended optimally, is for another discussion. The most important concept is that all four of these determinants of aerobic energy production are improved by riding your bike. In other words, if you want to ride a bike better, you do so by riding a bike...this is probaly why so many coaches recommend the "on-bike" strength training...if done at a high enough power output, or for long enough, or frequently enough it helps you ride a bike faster because you're improving aerobic pathways.

That's enough for now...I am going to ride my bike.
Cheers.

The Off Season and My Favorite President

2007-12-07T06:35:00.000-08:00

There's a law on the books in Washington state that requires a driver of a motor car follow behind an individual on horseback holding a lantern. (seriously) Nowadays, this is nearly as preposterous as the concept of an "off season" in endurance sports. The "off season", like motor cars following lanterns, is fast approaching the status of LSD (long slow distance...not to be mistaken for long steady distance). I believe these ideas are all representative of another time period and are no longer relevant in modern times.

Apparently, the Washington law predates the advent of headlights and for it's time was a very important law. Obviously, with the introduction of streetlights, as well as headlights, enforcing this code became unnecessary, if not silly. Likewise, the idea of an "off season" predates the accurate tracking of elements of training and racing stress such as volume and intensity. Just as there was a need for a lantern when there were no other sources of light, there was a need for a period of down-time when athletes trained with little understanding of just where their fitness and their freshness were in relation to each other during a season. And similar to the negative impact we'd see today if there were thousands of lantern carrying horseback riders riding in front of automobiles in downtown Seattle during winter rush hour, the "off season" can wreak almost as much havoc on year over year improvement in endurance sports.

With the availability of training tools like cyclingpeakssoftware's performance management charts, athletes and their coaches can get a better understanding of where their current fitness is relative to any point during the season and in relation to recent training load. Along with being able to track cycling training stress, it allows a method for the team to build training load at a rate the individual can handle and to be able to pinpoint those scenarios where good/great performances are likely.

By looking at simple charts like these the team can understand where the athlete is not only in terms of fitness, but also in terms of freshness. With athletes I coach, after the last race of the season, we do allow for a reduction of chronic (think 6 week) training load to a level at which the individual can get a little breather and not lose too much after their last race. This is typically, under ideal circumstances, a Chronic Training Load from which we'll be able to build up to their race "fitness" in roughly 8-12 weeks, depending on race length. Training composition varies quite a bit from week to week until that time out from which we're 8-12 weeks away from racing. Once we've rebuilt CTL (or base, if you will) it remains fairly constant for that athlete. The old way of not touching your bike and/or swimming and running are gone like the sight of lanterns on main street.

Instead of refighting the battles of last season by taking a couple months off, the athlete's I coach maintain thresholds to within 90% of the previous years' peaks and keep a relatively high training load. These athletes don't get "burned out" because they are never in a position where they are rushed to get fit from a detrained state. They emerge from what other's call an "off season" fitter and are far less fatigued when riding with their "rested" counterparts. We have a firm grip on where the athlete's thresholds and fitness are relative to their history and to where they are compared to where we expect them to go in the upcoming season. There are no accidental peaks...they come when we plan them to come.

I remember a quote from Lance Armstrong when asked what he does after the season ends. To paraphrase, he said "I ride my bike every day, but start to train when threshold drops 50W"...that's about 10% of his peak power at VO2 max. Perhaps my favorite quote regarding preparation for the upcoming season was by Abraham Lincoln (apparently speaking about something other than triathlon) "if I had 6 hours to cut down a tree, I would spend 4 hours sharpening the axe". Note that he didn't say he'd spend 2 hours making the axe dull, then rush to hopefully sharpen it back up in time to cut the tree down.

Don't give back too much if you want to see gains next season...

Technology (The Monkey and the Football)

2007-12-05T05:02:00.000-08:00

Clearly, when it comes to using gizmos and gadgets like power meters, GPS systems and software designed to track training stress, I am as excited as anyone you will find. I do not, however, believe that any tool or program is a substitute for speaking with an athlete directly.
Whether it be on the phone or preferably, in person, there is an "art" to really listening to what the athlete is saying regarding their physical and mental well-being. The tools are simply a measure of training imposed stress. They cannot track how a virus affected an athlete's performance or how a failing relationship diminishes another athlete's desire to train at all.
In fact, given the choice of either all the tools and never speaking with an athlete or no tools and seeing the athlete daily, I would choose the latter.

I bring this seemingly counterintuitive notion up to make a point regarding a tendency I see emerging lately in the multi-sport world. It seems all anyone must do to become a coach or a bike fitter is to take a two day seminar, receive a piece of paper and hang a shingle. It reminds me of the film Field of Dreams..."if you build it, they will come." These newbie coaches and fitters purchase some software and buy into "the system" and receive instant credibility. In my estimation, the problem arises because too often the newly certified have zero practical experience and prey on unknowing athletes that are desperate for help.

Let me make my point like this: If I had a choice to have Andy Pruitt fit me using only his eyes and a few simple tools or someone that had fit maybe a dozen people using software he just took a seminar to use, I'll take Andy...hands down. Andy has fit many of the fastest (and orthopedically healthiest) triathletes and almost all of the best cyclists living in the USA.
Andy does have the bells and whistles, too. In his hands they are additional tools that for him save time...they aren't a substitute.

To use a coaching example, early in my coaching career I asked Allen Lim (think guy that wrote doctoral thesis using Power Tap, coach to Floyd Landis, Christian VandeVelde, Scott Moninger)
if he'd coach an athlete without a portable power meter. You see, I had been coaching a number of cyclists and a few triathletes and had begun embracing the added understanding the tool gave me as to what was going on with the athletes. I was a convert...how could I ever go back to the dark ages? I thought I understood his answer then, but realize only now that I've come to feel the same way, just how profound what he said was. He said that "sure" he would, that a good coach is like a chef. A good coach can create a great meal without knowing exactly how much of each ingredient he put in and even without knowing the temperature of the oven...but added that he can make it a little better next time or reproduce the recipe again and again through knowing these details.

I'll leave it to the reader to connect the dots regarding the monkey and the football reference in the title. I've got to run...I'm bidding on a MRI machine on Ebay and need to read up on meniscal tears.

Could vs. Should

2007-12-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

Warning: Geekspeak to follow.

A 75 Kg. triathlete with a threshold (think maximum sustainable power for an "all-out" hour TT) power of 300W could ride the bike segment of Ironman Lake Placid at a normalized power (think weighted average power) of 240W. At this effort, "staying legal" and possessing average aerodynamics (whatever that means), he'll likely ride about 5:30. What he should hold is much closer to 220W, though. This will add about 5 minutes to his bike time...and likely save him 25-30' on the run. The reality is that even if he were to drop down to 210W, he'd still go 5:40...and possibly save even more for the run.

It never ceases to amaze me just how huge an impact riding even a little bit too hard on the bike has on an athlete's run. The longer the race the worse the damage. An athlete capable of a 3;30 stand alone marathon, if properly trained and on a reasonable day weather-wise, that has a sound nutrition plan, shouldn't run slower than 4:00 hrs...and in reality, on a flat course (unlike Placid), closer to 3:50. So, why do so many pros, and especially age groupers run so far off their marathon PR? Answer: They ride too hard. You may say, "how hard should I ride then smartass?" Don't worry, I am going to tell you.

If you're a male pro, you should be holding somewhere up to-78% of threshold power , for a female pro, 75% and for an competitive age grouper, between 68-73% of threshold. The variation occurs for many, many reasons, but in simplest terms, if you ride for 4:40 instead of 6:00 hrs. you can hold a higher percentage and still run well. Athletes with a proper understanding of how to use a power meter use their power meters as a governor to ensure they don't ride too hard. It's so common for an athlete to tell me they felt they were going way too easily early on and just how tempted they were to go harder, but how grateful they were later that they didn't.

It's so easy early on when at your fittest and having tapered effectively to feel awesome and be tempted to push too hard, but the power meter is there to tell you "whoa now, you will pay for this later". Remember: "All you can do, is all you can do". (Coggan) There are great days, and they can be planned relatively easily, but there are no miracles. In other words, the above athlete will never (yeah, I'm sayin' never) ride 80% of threshold in Placid without imploding on the run...never. Next time you watch an IM think about all those long runs, threshold runs, all that track work that each and everyone that pinned on a number has done, and then take note of how many are walking. Most simply rode too hard...it kills me to see the disappointment.

Now, for those that don't have power meters yet, think about training and racing with one. As Danielle Sullivan says, "having one is like cheating". If getting one isn't in the cards, then perhaps I can offer this advice: Ride easily for the first 80 miles (at Placid until the second time past Upper Jay) and then ride no harder than steady. Then get off your bike a run a marathon.
Enjoy!

Eight Minutes

2007-12-01T07:01:00.000-08:00

Whew...as I sit here in the shop on this windy, cold first day of December, it dawns on me that forever gone are the last eight minutes I just spent with a young woman that just left.

First a disclaimer...I am here on a Saturday, my typical day off, against my will, as my partner Doug (business, not life) has accompanied his son to a swim meet that will encompass the entire weekend. Also working against my happiness and her chances of encountering a cheerful Mike was the fact that she'd interrupted my breakfast. 'Nough said.

Back to the point...this woman entered the shop requesting "a road- bike-like-bike, but not with the bendover handlebars...I like the old fashioned 3 speed looking ones". Right then and there, I began the all too familiar race to see how quickly I could get rid of her and get back to my eggs.

Now, fellow retailers will know what I mean when I say that comments like hers categorize her as a "stroker". For those lucky enough not to know what a stroker is, let me explain. A stroker is a person that enters a retail establishment with no intention of (ever) buying anything there.
To be completely honest, I haven't a clue as to their motivation.

I welcome any and all questions about my passions, family, friends, coaching and bicycles. Anyone that knows me will attest to the fact that I often don't know when to shut up about these topics. A stroker, however, asks a question that she never even begins to listen for the answer to. For example, a piece of the eight minutes of my life I'll never recapture that the stroker stole through a useless dialogue this morning:

Stroker: What bike should I use to commute to work 3 miles each way?

Me: (Realizing the stroker is already thinking of the next thing she'll say, while she stares off in the distance...yet I begin...) Well, many of our customers that commute find (interrupted by stroker, never to finish this thought...)

Stroker: I work at such and such and my friend does too. We are both thinking about getting new bikes to commute together on. We have a bet about who can lose the most weight.

Me: (Smelling the sausage from 20 feet away, I try once again...) A bicycle such as this one (pointing to a random selection) can be outfitted...(not quite finished with the sentence, I am once again interrupted)

Stroker: Do you sell locks? I live in an upstairs apartment (alone I think to myself...or, did I say it out loud?) and I have to lock it in the storage facility downstairs.

Me: We do. Why don't we find you a bike and then we can look at locks.

Stroker: Well, I'm just starting to look. (It's 32F and wind chill is 20F...she hasn't exercised since the Reagan administration and my eggs are getting cold...a sale is not looking probable)

Me: Take all the time you need, and just holler if you have any questions.

Already leaning towards the uneaten breakfast, it takes but three giant steps and I'm taking a bite...better eat fast...I've got to make up that eight minutes somewhere.

A Second Chance

2007-11-27T15:10:00.000-08:00

As an endurance coach I typically give an athlete a particular training objective for a given day with expectations of a range of output from their body in relation to the desired PE (perceived exertion) for that session, for that athlete. Included with the workout prescription is a range of expected output for which the goal for a given session will be met and for which it is therefore, prudent to proceed with the session. If the athlete is unable to reach the predetermined "lower limit" for the workout session, then they are given an alternate goal for the day...namely, recovery. The focus becomes recovery because if they are unable to "reach" this lower limit, something is wrong.

That thing that is wrong is typically that the athlete is under-rested, either due to my miscalculation of residual fatigue from prior training stimulus, or from an outside influence, such as, lack of sleep, illness or some other stressor. I've always favored this default shut-down for when an athlete has "bad legs" and it has always worked pretty well. Sometimes, we pass on a session, but we occassionally need to, as I am sure athletes I coach are tired of hearing "stand still when on a slippery slope to avoid sliding backwards". I am, however, going to be trying something a little different with some of these athletes the next time they have difficulty with a tough workout.

I've come to believe that what might be wrong is that the athlete was "blocked", or in need of an "opener" workout. This came to me because I've noticed a rather interesting phenomena recently while doing a bit of training myself. Twice in the last 6 weeks I have scheduled a training session that I was unable to reach the lower acceptable limit for my goal output for the desired PE. On both occassions, I cooled down, climbed off, went about my business, had something to eat and later gave myself a second chance. On both occassions, I returned to my bike and generated power at the upper end of the range I'd have hoped for upon originally scheduling that session. In other words, I believe that the earlier session had served to "open" my legs up for a break-through workout a short time later the same day.

As with any training protocol, I imagine that this will work for some athletes and not for others, but look forward to seeing how many of those sessions that typical leave me rescheduling the next day and possibly longer can be completed if given this second chance. Coaching is the artful application of science and each athlete is a unique experiment.

Cheers.

Sunday+November=Trevor Ride

2007-11-25T13:43:00.000-08:00

Some of the new guys call it the bagel ride, but to me it will always be the Trevor Ride. As I chatted post-ride with Trevor today it dawned on the two of us that we've been doing this in the Winter since he was about my current age...soon to be 40. He'll turn 54 right around the time I'll reach 40 and I thought who better to talk to about aging than the ageless?

Trevor says that he actually was "in his best cycling fitness of his life" when he was forty. He grew up in England and was a national caliber runner and Jr. TT champion, but took several years away from cycling while raising his family. So, he really didn't restart seriously until his mid-thirties. Five or so years back on the bike and he was just killing it.

I don't mean to take anything away from him now, as he still attacks relentlessly until he gets into the break, but back then you would have to grit your teeth and ride the rivet just to sit on.
His familiar side to side head-bob meant that you'd soon be wishing for a flat or a light.

My own beliefs on aging as relates to cycling were heavily influenced, as are many of my thoughts on coaching, on something I was fortunate enough to talk to Dr. Andy Coggan about while at a coaching seminar at Harvard a few years ago. Andy pointed to the literature than proves that after age thirty, it's the VO2 max in fully developed endurance athletes that declines and that strength actually doesn't appreciably decline until our sixth decade. His suggestion was that attention to maintaining VO2 max was critical in our 30's and beyond.
It is in this vain that I like athletes to do a hard group ride once a week in the winter while otherwise building their base fitness with rides between Coggan levels 2 & 4. These "spirited rides" contain enough of a volume of intensity to do a really good job maintaining this critical component of fitness. And besides, they are great fun...not to mention that for me, they are a tradition.

Cheers.

Disney 70.3...The Raycation is born

2007-11-24T05:27:00.000-08:00

With six of the athletes I coach racing the Florida 70.3 May 20th, and one of them making her professional debut (not to mention that it is held when it is 50F warmer than where I live), I was compelled to make the journey to Orlando.

As the father of two children, I have spent more than my share of time in the land of Mickey Mouse, but this was easily my most memorable trip down. One of the 6 athletes competing was Ray, father of 4 (including triplets), attorney, race director and all-around great guy. Ray has a time share and took it upon himself to do all the "heavy lifting" required to get me down to Florida and housed. It was phenomenal, really. I was picked up at the airport, brought to the finest accommodations and poured back into the airport at journey's end (more on that later).

In addition to Ray and Danielle, I was there in support of Don, Jessie and brothers Geoff and Gerry. The six of us flew into Orlando having prepared for the 90F+ heat and 90%+ humidity as best we could coming from Long Island where it hadn't broken through the 60's.

The race was to be for everyone a positive experience on one level or another...though the positive elements weren't immediately apparent for everyone. For Danielle, who made her pro debut, this race was incredible, finishing 6th, within 2.5 minutes of 3rd and just being passed by rock-star Heather Gollnick in the finishing mile. For Don, who put out the next fastest time, a near PR, delivered a great performance considering his inexperience and the fact he wasn't heat acclimated. This race marked Geoff's reintroduction to the addiction known as triathlon and established him as a staple for all future "Raycations". As Geoff says, "you're not having fun until I say you're having fun". The problem is I passed out before I heard him say it...I'm getting to that. For the three remaining athletes, they would, perhaps, benefit more through adversity. Jessie would have some technical trouble with her bike after finding it laying down in T1 and would, along with Ray, who would find out later was burning with fever, DNF'd. Gerry would struggle with cramping and under perform. Each would show their class soon after, though.

Jessie would redouble her efforts and break 5:00 for the first time just weeks later at Eagleman and then follow this up with late season success in Colorado and Arizona against some strong fields. 2008 will be a break-through year for Jessie. Ray would also receive redemption at Eagleman and PR the NYC marathon by 20 minutes. Gerry would include electrolytes in his race day arsenal and never cramp again. He'd also win almost every AG race he entered after that. He and his wife Laura have not aged in the 20+ years I have known them...seriously spooky.

The aforementioned crew, along with Jessie's Dad Armand and Danielle's parents Dan and Jan all went to Shula's steak house for a victory celebration (sans Ray, the organizer of the whole Raycation, who was curled in the fetal position, burning with fever, sucking his thumb). Geoff and Dan started the flow with a couple Magnums of Banfi and before we knew it, I had to make a withdrawal from the 401K for my part of the dinner bill. As we settled back into our condo, Geoff ordered room service and several more bottles of red. Fortunately, before passing out, I helped a couple of the crew box their bikes after seeing Don and Geoff standing on one of the boxes like the gorilla from the old Samsonite commercials. Fortunately, I had prepared my small napsack and laptop bag and had slept completely dressed with shoes on as a corpse does, in a casket, with hands crossed against my chest...on the floor. Somehow, my internal clock woke be 10 minutes before the shuttle was to pick me up and return me (more like pour me) to Orlando International Airport.

My one recollection from the ride to the airport was listening to a gentleman who had finished the race in a little over 8:00 hrs. It seems he and his coach were confident that you simply had to double the time to complete Disney and add an hour to figure out his projected time in Lake Placid 2 months from then. I wonder how close that estimate was.

Till next time, cheers.

Welcome and Thanks T.

2007-11-24T04:16:00.000-08:00

This being my first entry to the blog, I figure it's a good idea to let people know where and why I'm beginning. First, I have been very fortunate over the years to make connections in the endurance sports world with class people like Bob Cook from the Runner's Edge and Jose' "the commish" Lopez of Long Island Tricoach, as well as, countless others that have come into and recommended others to come into my store, Babylon Bike Shop. It's through my association with these guys and a few others, that I've met and in many cases, become friends with, some of the most important people in my life.

I'm now in my sixth year coaching triathletes and cyclists for events ranging from TNT events to the Ironman World Championship in Kona. I've been fortunate enough to learn from each and every one of them. What I hope to do through this outlet is to share some of what I am learning as I am learning it. I hope also to share some of the (hopefully) interesting stuff that occurs along the way. I'll use this forum to ramble on about pretty much anything. I'll try to keep it entertaining and try not to drone on too much about training with power on the bike, but it is sure to come up from time to time.

Some of the characters I train with on a regular basis like brother Matt, George, Danielle, Luis, Skip, Jimbo in Boulder and Randy will be referred to by their names. People that are not actually innocent, but whose names I haven't asked permission to write about like Dennis from the Kreb Cycle shall be referred to by aliases. Dennis, for example, will be referred to as "Skip's significant other". I'll also include anything that might seem humorous or interesting to me that I encounter while working with many of Long Island's fittest (and funniest) people.

I couldn't write a first entry without thanking T (alias) for this idea and for his continuous stream of thought provoking suggestions. Thanks, buddy. Cheers.