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I've been saving a lot of stuff so this one is a big one. |
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TRAINING WITH VETS
One of the nice things about training around the world getting the chance to meet a range of coaches and athletes. Here in Boulder, I've been able to train a couple of sessions with Dirk Friel and Chuckie V (V-Dawg, as I've named him). It was a big kick for me to 'survive' a ride with a pro roadie (Dirk). Dirk returned the favour in saying that it was fun for him to do his first brick with me. Unfortunately, I didn't supervise the entire Brick session and he smoked his quads on the return leg by hammering the downhills (bet it felt good at the time!). I've found myself learning from simply being able to watch how Dirk and V move, train and handle themselves. In each of our respective training communities, we will have access to athletes that are more knowledgeable then ourselves. I'd encourage everyone to seek out these athletes and find a way to train with them. Not only do you learn a tremendous amount simply by "being there", it's time efficient as you are downloading training advice while workout out.
Those of you who attended the St. George clinic will have heard Rich define swim endurance as "the longest distance that you can maintain your best stroke mechanics". Not a mention of pace in that statement! V learned to swim as an adult -- he wasn't one of those fish that was cranking from 5 yrs old. Chuck's now a 50-min IM swimmer, quite an achievement for an adult swimmer. So, when we talk swimming, I do quite a bit of listening! Here's Chuck's tester workout for an IM athlete...
V's IM Tester Session The dude does it short course! I won't subject you to that -- but Coach V might! Anyhow, Chuck's point is that until you can get through this workout with your best form -- trying to swim fast is a waste of time. Now, many of us won't have a chance of surviving that one. What to do? What I recommend is that you trim the interval distance. So you start with 10x100 and build up by 25 or 50m a session. Pacing -- Chuck's only stipulation on pacing is that you have to hold exactly the same pace -- for most of us, that's going to be easy pace. Once you can get through (at any pace) then you can ease up the pace.
Riding with technically superior cyclists (Dirk and V) has also pointed out some gaps in my bike portfolio. Cadence -- top riders can use a range of cadences -- most triathletes are only comfortable in a narrow band (be it low, high or medium). At high rpms or at low rpms, their power vanishes. You could a spinner that dies when the rpms fall to 55 --- OR --- you could find that regardless of watts, your legs start to burn at any sustained spinning over 100. Both Chuck and Dirk can effortlessly pull away from me on a descent because I cannot turn my legs over (Chuck's even got a gearing disadvantage 12-25 vs. 11-23 for me). Besides the "shame" of being dropped (ha ha) -- it leads me to believe that I am less economical across all cadence ranges. So I've decided to make May and June cadence focus periods. This doesn't mean that I'll be spinning like a banshee on every ride, rather, I will carve out specific times (on endurance and easy rides) where I'll address this limiter. Coach V says that I don't have to change the way I ride, however, I do have to increase the comfortable rpm within which I can ride. That would be my advice to you. A cadence workout that Joe had Chuck do... ride one hour at 120 rpm, HR and pace don't matter -- simply keep the average cadence up the whole way. NOTE -- this puppy will smoke most of us. Choose an appropriate cadence. For me, this is likely to 100rpm. If you TT at 100+ rpm already then this wouldn't be a key session for you. Your issue is likely to lie with low cadence wattage. Descending -- V and Dirk showed me that I've got a limiter here are well. While we can read endless article about bike skills, there's no quicker way to learn correct technique than to observe an expert. Technical proficiency doesn't necessarily imply speed -- you don't need to be training with Cat 1/Pro cyclists to pick up tips. You simply need to ride with experience folks. Best to take them away from a group situation for these types of rides. I've found that my best learning situations (in any sport) are in groups of 2-3 like minded athletes. Even three can be too many at times! We will each have gaps in our skills portfolios, by working with experienced athletes we can "take on the traits" of our training partners. You can tell a lot about my goals by the people that I train with -- I'd encourage you to do the same.
More ideas on bike training here -- www.coachgordo.com/cgi-bin/config.pl?read=31671
Why is bike endurance the dominant aspect of IM success?
Here is a summary of a recent thread on the most common source of Achilles and calf problems for my high volume athletes. I thought that it might interest some of you. It's very important for a high volume cyclist to have a stable pedal platform, any lateral rolling or pronation during the stroke can result in calf strain and Achilles tendonitis -- these may not manifest until you run. If you experience issues with either your calves or Achilles then I would encourage you to ensure that your pedal platform is stable. Old shoes and old pedals are best retired when worn out -- moving them to a "trainer bike" can create problems. |