A little while back I mentioned passing along a great article about training and a key component of what could be said to have the greatest value in helping a person get faster. For those who are familiar it's reiteration of what you already know. For those who haven't or have gone through different regimens trying to figure out what works best -- give this article a good reading. I may never hit the absolute top of cycling scene, but the basics behind this have taken me slowly & progressively from a very, very average mediocre cyclist to a mid pack elite racer with a positive outlook of still reaching the upper tier. I hope wherever you are as a cyclist you can find a benefit from reading this.
Power at lactate threshold wins races
By Rick Crawford
Posted Apr. 4, 2008
Competitive cyclists are not patient people. They tend to go directly to the pain, work too hard too early, and mistakenly overlook the real limiter of their performance simply because it doesn’t hurt enough to satisfy their addiction to pain.
Overwhelmingly, the most damaging error committed by developing cyclists, from a methodological point of view, is spending too much time training aspects that do not efficiently contribute to the athlete’s potential. This is a double whammy for the aspiring cyclist, because it takes energy from the systems that contribute the most. The error compounds in that energy is being wasted working systems that aren’t effectively maximizing the rider’s output.
The most common example is cyclists that cripple themselves with an overdose of excessively depleting work (zone 5/ VO2). The systems involved in races of an hour or more are primarily aerobic, and the focus of the training for these events should also be aerobic. If an athlete is forced to go anaerobic in order to make a selection, then the racers in the selection that are able to maintain aerobic status are clearly in an advantageous position. Going to VO2 (lactate accumulation) against riders who are at or below LT, is usually a losing proposition.
Yet, consistently, the misguided athlete will spend a disproportionate amount of time at intensities over LT, thinking that there is gold waiting in the ensuing lactate induced burn. No pain, no gain, right? This is certainly true, but in the endurance game, it is the longer-term pain of patiently planned progressive training strategy — and metered control of the naturally destructive human behavior of type A people — that wins. The anaerobic work certainly needs to be there, but it needs to be metered carefully for best results.
Think of it this way. In an event an hour or more long, how long can an athlete accumulate lactate before he/she blows? In the aerobic state, an athlete can pretty much go until the fuel is gone. Doesn’t it make sense to develop power in the aerobic zone where the majority of the race will be spent? Think of making the opposition go into a state of excruciating lactate induced burn while you cruise along semi-comfortably at threshold. That is the essential element of training the physiology of an endurance athlete.
First a well-built base is critical, which by this time should already be done. Then, establish baseline levels of where your perceived LT is and get a feel for what the critical zones feel like when you’re training. Home in on your present LT output by ramping gently into intensity and taking note of where you noticeably load up. You can tickle VO2 in each of your intensity workouts, but do not hang out there. This is where you get into trouble. For every minute you spend at VO2, you cost yourself exponential amounts of LT training. Tickling VO2 will allow you to note when you have increases in levels, which you should expect if you are training right.
When you tickle VO2 to observe aerobic status, you will simultaneously stimulate and develop anaerobic energy systems, in the proper proportions they deserve in your endurance world. Racing and hard group rides will provide many opportunities to develop lactate tolerance and go anaerobic, so rest easy knowing that you will get your lactate fix. Don’t volunteer your body for more zone 5 punishment when your needs are best served by zone 4 discipline. Don’t avoid zone 5 completely, just don’t kill yourself with it.
It is critical to understand the load that VO2 training creates and the recovery it requires from the body. One of the main detriments of VO2 training is that it burns down the central nervous system (CNS), which can effectively shut down your whole body when it’s depleted. It take a ton of CNS resource to do structured VO2 intervals ... you leave a lot of mojo out on the road on a training day that would best be used in a race ... when the CNS mojo is gone, you will not have the oomph to push your hard-earned fitness. Moreover, it takes time to heal from the chemical wasteland that anaerobia creates at those incendiary levels and that is time you could spend increasing your power at LT which is the gold standard of endurance performance.
If you’re the kind of rider that depends on a good sprint for results, view this progressive strategy as insurance that you will bring that great speed to the line more often, being fresher for having had to deplete less of the precious reserves it requires to make the selection. Sprinters are typically born not formed. Patiently build your program from base to the top. Don’t fail to spend enough time and energy building power at LT. When it’s time to wake up the speed mechanism, it will be there with dividends. Racing, and hard group rides will quickly prod dormant genetics to life. A little patience go along way.
Editor's note: Rick Crawford is Director of Coaching and COO of Colorado Premier Training. He is also the head coach for the Fort Lewis College cycling team in Durango, Colorado.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
The Tale of 4 laps - Duluth Dirt Spanker
Lap 1 - good tires
Lap 2 - bad tires
Lap 3 - good tires
Lap 4 - bad tires
Craziest race conditions on a multi-lap race I've ever come across at this past weekend's Duluth Dirt Spanker. With scattered thundershowers in the forecast but only a 30% chance why bother with mud tires on a hilly course? How can a course go from dry to mud back to dry and finish out muddy? Not sure but it was rather impressive how it happened on Sunday.
Had a fantastic start up the monster hill getting in the top 12-13 with Mike "a single speed never looked so painful" Bushy, Jesrin Gaier and the rest of the speedy guys. Todd McFadden close behind. It was a tough climb but very doable. Was racing well with them, until another guy passed and unfortunately he lost the tail of the train, leaving Todd & myself stranded. Great quote from the seemingly never phased McFadden, "Not too worry, it's a long race, plenty of time to catch Brendan (Moore)". Saying it like he had no care in the world and was out for an easy joy ride. And woudn't you know it when the race was over, Todd, after having given up 2 or 3 minutes when we'd gotten slowed up, had climbed back 9 spots to finish 6th, just one spot behind Brendan. Mighty impressive.
Not for lack of excitment but even getting to the race was an off road adventure. Knowing the WI shortcut to Mont du Lac through South Superior Kate, I & the kids headed for the Oliver bridge only to be stopped short by road closed signs. This wasn't good because if we had to go back around thru Duluth we'd get there with about 5 minutes to start. So Kate stops at this bar in the middle of nowhere next to the road closure and asks this Sunday afternoon bar tender how to get through. Taking her for a pregnant woman out-of-towner -- he maintained the only way to get around was back through Duluth. The ever persistent Kate however insisted we didn't have time and needed to get through. How can we do that. With a chuckle and a roar of laughter from all the patrons in the bar he said -- "You're going to need to take the "goat" path". And sure enough, we off-roaded that Toyota Prius through some crazy over grown abandoned road and through the back yard of someones house and soon we were on the highway to cross the bridge and get to the race with plenty of time to spare. ..... sometimes when you're gonna be late for a race you just gotta be persistent!
I'll try to give a better race recap later but with the on again, off again conditions of each lap -- I skidded in a for an 18th place finish on the day in just over 2:13. Lot's of fun despite the slick as ice mud that would come & go and a nasty wet bridge wipeout. The hill climbing went great and gave it the best I could given the tires (Bontrager Dry X & Revolt) on the single track & downhill sections.
It was great to see everyone again and catch up for a while. Scotty & Sara KJ - as Kate & Sara got to swap pregnancy stories, their due dates are just 4 days different..... and right around the time of the Cheq Fat Tire -- oh, uh!. Also saw Michelle & Mike Flanagan-Hagg, Charlie "even worse tire selection than me" Farrow, Todd McFadden, Mike Bushey, Mike Weispfenning, just to name a few. Lastly, thanks a ton to Mr. all over the place - Tom Gaier, I think he passed out more water bottles yesterday than all the volunteers at the overheated '07 Grandma's marathon. Always cheering and encouraging, absolutely great guy.
Lap 2 - bad tires
Lap 3 - good tires
Lap 4 - bad tires
Craziest race conditions on a multi-lap race I've ever come across at this past weekend's Duluth Dirt Spanker. With scattered thundershowers in the forecast but only a 30% chance why bother with mud tires on a hilly course? How can a course go from dry to mud back to dry and finish out muddy? Not sure but it was rather impressive how it happened on Sunday.
Had a fantastic start up the monster hill getting in the top 12-13 with Mike "a single speed never looked so painful" Bushy, Jesrin Gaier and the rest of the speedy guys. Todd McFadden close behind. It was a tough climb but very doable. Was racing well with them, until another guy passed and unfortunately he lost the tail of the train, leaving Todd & myself stranded. Great quote from the seemingly never phased McFadden, "Not too worry, it's a long race, plenty of time to catch Brendan (Moore)". Saying it like he had no care in the world and was out for an easy joy ride. And woudn't you know it when the race was over, Todd, after having given up 2 or 3 minutes when we'd gotten slowed up, had climbed back 9 spots to finish 6th, just one spot behind Brendan. Mighty impressive.
Not for lack of excitment but even getting to the race was an off road adventure. Knowing the WI shortcut to Mont du Lac through South Superior Kate, I & the kids headed for the Oliver bridge only to be stopped short by road closed signs. This wasn't good because if we had to go back around thru Duluth we'd get there with about 5 minutes to start. So Kate stops at this bar in the middle of nowhere next to the road closure and asks this Sunday afternoon bar tender how to get through. Taking her for a pregnant woman out-of-towner -- he maintained the only way to get around was back through Duluth. The ever persistent Kate however insisted we didn't have time and needed to get through. How can we do that. With a chuckle and a roar of laughter from all the patrons in the bar he said -- "You're going to need to take the "goat" path". And sure enough, we off-roaded that Toyota Prius through some crazy over grown abandoned road and through the back yard of someones house and soon we were on the highway to cross the bridge and get to the race with plenty of time to spare. ..... sometimes when you're gonna be late for a race you just gotta be persistent!
I'll try to give a better race recap later but with the on again, off again conditions of each lap -- I skidded in a for an 18th place finish on the day in just over 2:13. Lot's of fun despite the slick as ice mud that would come & go and a nasty wet bridge wipeout. The hill climbing went great and gave it the best I could given the tires (Bontrager Dry X & Revolt) on the single track & downhill sections.
It was great to see everyone again and catch up for a while. Scotty & Sara KJ - as Kate & Sara got to swap pregnancy stories, their due dates are just 4 days different..... and right around the time of the Cheq Fat Tire -- oh, uh!. Also saw Michelle & Mike Flanagan-Hagg, Charlie "even worse tire selection than me" Farrow, Todd McFadden, Mike Bushey, Mike Weispfenning, just to name a few. Lastly, thanks a ton to Mr. all over the place - Tom Gaier, I think he passed out more water bottles yesterday than all the volunteers at the overheated '07 Grandma's marathon. Always cheering and encouraging, absolutely great guy.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Field Test Day
Field Test Day
--Unfamiliar with the terminology? Just a another way of expressing the boiling of every once of steam out of the engine in a 3 mile ride that is used to best determine what optimal power & heart rate levels one should train at for different speeds. Myself, I get into the techie/physiological side of biking as much as I do for the calming delight biking brings into a day.
So one of the first things I hear from people that see me riding with that funny oversized yellow hub one the rear wheel, “What’s your watts, man?” And henceforth comes the conversation of how watts are objective but also relative to each individual cyclist. Watts as a measure of power are only of any use if they can move the given weight at the satisfactory speed & distance. What I’m trying to say is this – a 200+lb rider who can crank out 400watts might not be able to contend with a 130lb rider who maxes out at 310 watts. I’m not trying to be exact with the math but rather illustrative that it’s the watts/lb that matter more than watts alone or weight alone.
It’s a great geeky thing that works as an awesome training tool. Going back to ’05 a couple of 3mile field test revealed that I could produce on average 302 watts – that’s blowing my brains out, going for broke for approximately 8 minutes leaving nothing behind. Now, that same power serves as the target range of 30 minute Tempo intervals.
Today I cranked out 368 watts on the first interval & 346 on the second interval (a 5-10% reduction is normal) which I’m pretty excited about.
Would I like to see that number higher? Of course, everyone wants higher wattage but there’s another element at work to keep in mind and that’s the duration at which you can keep the power up there. It helps to have big numbers but if you can't hold a high percentage of that for duration of the race, another person who has overall lower numbers but does hold up a higher percentage for the duration has a good chance of beating you. Have great numbers, but be able to do them a long time.
Great example – Tristan Schouten, he’ll be one of the first guys to tell you he can’t produce insanely high wattages, but why does he do so well? As my coach Josh Powers like to say about him, he lives well in the pain cave. Tristan can hold a high percentage of his max output better than a lot of other racers who may have higher top end wattage numbers than him.
So if the opportunity is ever there, make the investment in a PowerTap or other power measuring device. Great feedback and immediately responsive to changes in effort -- unlike heart rate monitoring.
Next up, I’m going to shed some light on the cyclist mentality of training that causes so many people to be missing the boat of how to actually be making themselves faster. Great read you’ll want to check out......
--Unfamiliar with the terminology? Just a another way of expressing the boiling of every once of steam out of the engine in a 3 mile ride that is used to best determine what optimal power & heart rate levels one should train at for different speeds. Myself, I get into the techie/physiological side of biking as much as I do for the calming delight biking brings into a day.
So one of the first things I hear from people that see me riding with that funny oversized yellow hub one the rear wheel, “What’s your watts, man?” And henceforth comes the conversation of how watts are objective but also relative to each individual cyclist. Watts as a measure of power are only of any use if they can move the given weight at the satisfactory speed & distance. What I’m trying to say is this – a 200+lb rider who can crank out 400watts might not be able to contend with a 130lb rider who maxes out at 310 watts. I’m not trying to be exact with the math but rather illustrative that it’s the watts/lb that matter more than watts alone or weight alone.
It’s a great geeky thing that works as an awesome training tool. Going back to ’05 a couple of 3mile field test revealed that I could produce on average 302 watts – that’s blowing my brains out, going for broke for approximately 8 minutes leaving nothing behind. Now, that same power serves as the target range of 30 minute Tempo intervals.
Today I cranked out 368 watts on the first interval & 346 on the second interval (a 5-10% reduction is normal) which I’m pretty excited about.
Would I like to see that number higher? Of course, everyone wants higher wattage but there’s another element at work to keep in mind and that’s the duration at which you can keep the power up there. It helps to have big numbers but if you can't hold a high percentage of that for duration of the race, another person who has overall lower numbers but does hold up a higher percentage for the duration has a good chance of beating you. Have great numbers, but be able to do them a long time.
Great example – Tristan Schouten, he’ll be one of the first guys to tell you he can’t produce insanely high wattages, but why does he do so well? As my coach Josh Powers like to say about him, he lives well in the pain cave. Tristan can hold a high percentage of his max output better than a lot of other racers who may have higher top end wattage numbers than him.
So if the opportunity is ever there, make the investment in a PowerTap or other power measuring device. Great feedback and immediately responsive to changes in effort -- unlike heart rate monitoring.
Next up, I’m going to shed some light on the cyclist mentality of training that causes so many people to be missing the boat of how to actually be making themselves faster. Great read you’ll want to check out......
Monday, June 16, 2008
Big Ringer...
Wausau -- June 1st, 2008
--ROcK FeST!!! Oh yeah!
So what's the sweet sound at this concert? Pssst! Pop! Pop! Pssst! Accompanied by a chorus of expletives from the stricken racers at the WORS Wausau Big Ring Classic. Man, it was a race unlike any other I've seen. Checking out the results page shows the inordinate amount of DNF's but not the number of flats, multiple flats and tire changes that occurred.
Rough course, the Michelin Tire Man wouldn't of lasted 5 minutes. Which was about one minute longer than it took to hit the rock gardens on the first lap.
After missing out on the two earlier WORS events, due to the back injury and the Cable Off Road Classic, it was great to finally, finally get to task of racing the top boys the Midwest MTB field has to offer.
Arrived with Kate & the kids and barely enough time to sign up for the series, get the Expert License upgrade from Mr. WORS, Don Edberg, and spin through for a warm up. (Strange enough on the warmup I run across the Cheq. Bay Area's own Mr. Cycling, Dennis Liphart, doing some easy riding with family & friends at 9 mile.) This late arrival didn't bode well for starting position and as I'd come to find out later, grabbing up positions in the Elite race ain't exactly as easy as the Comp races were.
Nonetheless at the start I was rather calm and confident things would come thru fine. So with less than 10 of the 80 starters behind me the race started. The seemingly long lead out of double track was helpful in making the jump up in positions possible by the time the first single track hit I'd actually moved up alot. Much to my surprise for it being the Elite race I could put in some hard accelerations & others didn't respond so I pick up close to 25 or 30 positions. At this point I can't believe how well this is going, it's hard paced but I'm feeling great, swinging back & forth through the aforementioned "razor" rock garden. Strangely enough I take note of how many racers are already off trail fixing tire or bike problems. Wow, I'm glad I'm not those guys.....
Then shortly before the end of that single track section I hear a psst and then this flexy, jelly like feel to the rear of the bike. First comes, denial, like you know what happened but your mind keeps saying no way, it's just your imagination. Keep going, don't stop, it'll be fine. Well, once reality sits in a quick dismount at the next opening reveals I probably have less than 10lbs of pressure left in the tire. With the quick fill CO2 failing, no pump or spare I got to thinking this 10 minute race debute really leaves something to be desired. Fortunately a short way off course a kind spectator/volunteer had a pump which I thought I could try to help get back to the start line. But when the tire took the air & held I thought I didn't drive 3hrs to not race so I got back on course just as the COMP racers were going through. It made for a great time to race without any pressure to do well and just race for the pure joy of just going all out. The first 2 1/2 laps (of 4) were alot of fun, as I got to encourage alot of the COMP racers and urge them to hang onto my wheel. There's something about pinning on number representative of the Elite race (#'s less than the 1000's) that ensures you work even harder not to fall back to anyone wearing the 1000's #'s (ie COMP racers).
Don't get me wrong there's some really good COMP racers it was just nice to know I'd paid my dues racing there and had moved up a notch.
On this relatively hot day somewhere late on lap 3 despite 6 gels and 3 bottles of water I could feel in disbelief that somehow the tank was getting empty -- with one more lap to go, argh! So I rolled through the start of Lap 4 with another water handoff from Kate with the course pretty vacant as COMP racers had only 3 laps. Myself & only a handful of other flat tire refuges in the Expert race rolling in for the finish. It was a tough lap until the 7 & 8 gel pack kicked in and I manged to finish in 2:38..... still good enough to beat the likes of National MTB contendors and perennial podium finishers, Brian Matter, Mike Phillips, Tristen Schouten and the list goes on. So all in all not a bad time out for the first Elite race :)!!
--ROcK FeST!!! Oh yeah!
So what's the sweet sound at this concert? Pssst! Pop! Pop! Pssst! Accompanied by a chorus of expletives from the stricken racers at the WORS Wausau Big Ring Classic. Man, it was a race unlike any other I've seen. Checking out the results page shows the inordinate amount of DNF's but not the number of flats, multiple flats and tire changes that occurred.
Rough course, the Michelin Tire Man wouldn't of lasted 5 minutes. Which was about one minute longer than it took to hit the rock gardens on the first lap.
After missing out on the two earlier WORS events, due to the back injury and the Cable Off Road Classic, it was great to finally, finally get to task of racing the top boys the Midwest MTB field has to offer.
Arrived with Kate & the kids and barely enough time to sign up for the series, get the Expert License upgrade from Mr. WORS, Don Edberg, and spin through for a warm up. (Strange enough on the warmup I run across the Cheq. Bay Area's own Mr. Cycling, Dennis Liphart, doing some easy riding with family & friends at 9 mile.) This late arrival didn't bode well for starting position and as I'd come to find out later, grabbing up positions in the Elite race ain't exactly as easy as the Comp races were.
Nonetheless at the start I was rather calm and confident things would come thru fine. So with less than 10 of the 80 starters behind me the race started. The seemingly long lead out of double track was helpful in making the jump up in positions possible by the time the first single track hit I'd actually moved up alot. Much to my surprise for it being the Elite race I could put in some hard accelerations & others didn't respond so I pick up close to 25 or 30 positions. At this point I can't believe how well this is going, it's hard paced but I'm feeling great, swinging back & forth through the aforementioned "razor" rock garden. Strangely enough I take note of how many racers are already off trail fixing tire or bike problems. Wow, I'm glad I'm not those guys.....
Then shortly before the end of that single track section I hear a psst and then this flexy, jelly like feel to the rear of the bike. First comes, denial, like you know what happened but your mind keeps saying no way, it's just your imagination. Keep going, don't stop, it'll be fine. Well, once reality sits in a quick dismount at the next opening reveals I probably have less than 10lbs of pressure left in the tire. With the quick fill CO2 failing, no pump or spare I got to thinking this 10 minute race debute really leaves something to be desired. Fortunately a short way off course a kind spectator/volunteer had a pump which I thought I could try to help get back to the start line. But when the tire took the air & held I thought I didn't drive 3hrs to not race so I got back on course just as the COMP racers were going through. It made for a great time to race without any pressure to do well and just race for the pure joy of just going all out. The first 2 1/2 laps (of 4) were alot of fun, as I got to encourage alot of the COMP racers and urge them to hang onto my wheel. There's something about pinning on number representative of the Elite race (#'s less than the 1000's) that ensures you work even harder not to fall back to anyone wearing the 1000's #'s (ie COMP racers).
Don't get me wrong there's some really good COMP racers it was just nice to know I'd paid my dues racing there and had moved up a notch.
On this relatively hot day somewhere late on lap 3 despite 6 gels and 3 bottles of water I could feel in disbelief that somehow the tank was getting empty -- with one more lap to go, argh! So I rolled through the start of Lap 4 with another water handoff from Kate with the course pretty vacant as COMP racers had only 3 laps. Myself & only a handful of other flat tire refuges in the Expert race rolling in for the finish. It was a tough lap until the 7 & 8 gel pack kicked in and I manged to finish in 2:38..... still good enough to beat the likes of National MTB contendors and perennial podium finishers, Brian Matter, Mike Phillips, Tristen Schouten and the list goes on. So all in all not a bad time out for the first Elite race :)!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)