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Web Training Utility "Intelligent Dream Chasing" It's all about what happens off the bike; RECOVERY! When you are riding and racing you are tearing down, getting weaker. It is only through rest and recovery that you actually adapt to the work load and get STRONGER. Again, you are only getting stronger when you are resting, so it deserves equal or greater discipline than your actual workouts. Without proper rest and recovery everything can suffer, including your immune system. Also, many overuse injuries can be prevented with proper rest. A day off is often your most productive day of the week in terms of creating the adaptation to complete an intense effort required for your goals. So ignoring your rest is in effect, ignoring your goals. If you find yourself not feeling productive during your rest days you can always fill the void by washing your bike, spending quality time with the family or filling out that insurance paperwork you've been neglecting, or working on mapping out your goals or working on visualization....the list goes on and on. So please keep in mind that your rest days are the most important days within a training block, and all your intense workouts within the training block are based on full recovery during your off days, or else these workouts are not effective. H20 Remember, the body is over 70% water and with the combination of summer heat, and altitude with its low humidity, water loss is rapid. The advice of 8-8 oz. glasses of water for a "normal" adult should be increased significantly when you are training in the present conditions. Signs of dehydration can be: sore throat, headache, lethargy, fatigue, impaired lung function and even sore back and muscles. These environmental conditions call for atleast 1 24oz. bottle to be consumed per 1 hr. of training on the bike. Another way to calculate water needs is to weigh yourself before and after workout and drink 16 oz. after your workout for every 1 pound of body weight lost. Calculating your water needs is even more important when embarking on a long mtn. bike ride. NO quick marts in the forest. Having enough water on your ride can change a survival fest into a great ride. You should always check for full bottles on the bike just like you check for helmet and air in the tires. Ride inspired! Doug Signs of Overreaching Here is some interesting info on signs of overreaching from a recent review I did on the following article: Halson, S.L., Bridge, M.W., Meeusen, R., Busschaert, B., Gleeson, M., Jones, D.A., Jeukendrup, A.E. Time course of performance changes and fatigue markers during intensified training in trained cyclists. J. Appl. Physiol. 93:947-956. 2002. To clarify, overreaching is like overtraining but recovery and return to prior performance levels takes days vs. weeks/months. So actually, blocks of training are designed to induce overreaching that can be recovered from within a few days. Anyway.........here are some of the results from this study on overreaching: Although this study was able to elicit symptoms of overreaching for its subjects, no clear chemical markers were found. On the other hand, a correlation with global mood disturbance and overreaching was identified. Psychological questionnaires were used to determine Daily Analysis of Life Demands of Athletes (DALDA) and Profile of Mood States (POMS). The best indicators of overreaching appeared to be the psychological values for: confusion, vigor, tension and fatigue from the POMS questionnaire and between session recovery, general weakness, need for rest, recovery, irritability and training effort for the DALDA questionnaire. The message from this study was that there is a correlation between psychological markers and overreaching which occurs after a period of 7 days in the ITP (intensity training phase), and are best indicators after a minimum of 4 consecutive days of above baseline ( Normal training phase) values. This may be the key to spotting overreaching. So, in reviewing your training diary and when listing your workout feedback, it is important to give the "mood" respect in ascertaining one's physical state. Ultimately it is all part of tuning in to your body.....which is the definition of an athlete. Hope this helps and thanks for reading, Doug Cornering/Descending For descending and cornering, remember that the bike doesn't want to lean over if U have the brakes on. It is important to do all the braking before the point in the turn that U will need to lean the bike. U can feather the brakes in the turn while U R leaning the bike, but only feather, hitting the brakes hard at this point will pull the bike upright and change the steering. Cornering on the flats is different in that U usually don't have to control your speed very much before the turn. The speed thru a turn depends on the tightness of the turn. Most turns for the Pro 1-2's descending are taken at 30mph+ but there are switchbacks in the Tour de Gila for example where the speed decreases to probably 10-15mph. You have to go by feel, not by looking at your cycle computer......keep your eyes on the exit of the turn as you enter it. Don't stare at where you are at, but at where you will be. This is key. This method will help you develope a feel for the "good line" thru the turn. The good line increases the turn radius, using the most road possible during the turn by approaching the turn from the outside, following the inside line during the apex of the turn, and exiting again wide to the outside. This increases the distance used to make the turn while maximizing the speed at which the turn can be negotiated. Also, for most turns it is best to have the hands on the drops and lower the chest to lower your center of gravity.....and this is a big one-if the turn is tight DO NOT PEDAL through it, put all your weight on your outside pedal that should be at 5-6 O'Clock. Practice descending your local climb or cornering in a vacant parking lot behind a more experienced and trustworthy rider while excecuting turns at a speed just slightly outside your "comfort zone". By the end of the day, you will be a different rider! Riding your OWN race or workout. Often times I see riders who get distracted with what their fellow competitors are doing or saying. One of the first lessons in racing bicycles I learned (but not necessarily mastered) was to be in control of your own emotions. If you can do this….you can do your own ride. In training we can easily stray from our workout because “so and so attacked” or “so and so always rides tempo” etc…..I like to think that in training, every potential training partner has something to offer. Every training partner is a potential tool (I know this may sound selfish…but it can be a mutually beneficial relationship) in reaching your goals. If your Tri-athlete friend always rides at 80% of max, schedule your rides with him/her on your tempo days. If “Bob” is 25 yrs. older, schedule your rides with him on your active recovery days. If the group ride always goes ballistic on the hills, only do the group ride on days that you want to work on hill power. You get the idea. In racing, as in life (not to sound too preachy), we can only control our own actions. We have limited, or often no, control over others’ action. As a competitor trying to put a performance together you must ascertain what tactics or strategies provide the highest percentage possible to get your desired result. You may only enter the race to finish, to chase down all attacks in the first 20 miles, or to win. As your goals change, so does your approach to the race. So, once your role in the race is identified, formulate your strategy given all your strengths and weaknesses….and now the hardest part: Stick to it! Your race plan can change on the road, but make sure all changes during the race are rationally based, not emotionally. Before the race you are more clear headed than when the hammer goes down on the climb. If you have instilled and even visualized your plan prior to the race, it will be easier to execute it during the race when it is more difficult to think things through. Many times in races, the riders who “react” instead of “contemplate” end up in the winning move. If you have to take the time to think of what to do in the heat of the battle, it is often too late by the time you realize the race just went up the road. All this can sound simple, but it takes training and practice to get it down pat. In races, there will likely be someone there to push your buttons and get you off your game plan. The goal is to eliminate these buttons and be able to execute your race plan, knowing that the racing environment will likely be difficult. Give some of these techniques a try at your next training race, group ride or race and let your legs do the talking that other people’s mouths are burning energy to do! Here is what Tom Boonen had to say after winning the 2005 World Championship Road Race: "I never rode my race with other competitors in mind. I didn't even know that Bettini attacked," he said. "And I never focused on Petacchi in this race. The past has thought me that most of the time you end up being the loser when you ride your race with an eye on another rider. Definitely so in the sprint. I rode my own race, my own sprint. Keep cool, believe in yourself and the team, that's my race-attitude. "I didn't get distracted by the bickering beforehand. I always said it was a great team. And as far as my form was concerned: I felt what I had to feel. And besides, I don't care what other people say. It is sometimes hard not to let things like that get to you, but I was able to fend it off. I didn't have to win anything in the Vuelta. I was there to work on my form, just like I did during the Tour of Switzerland to be ready for the Tour de France. I knew what was important to reach my goal and I had no problem ignoring what discussion the fans and press got involved in. The Importance of Base In an attempt to convey the importance of base training please consider the following: 1. Your ability to gain strength is proportional to the degree to which you can train. 2. You can only train to the degree at which you can recover. 3. Your ability to recover is proportional to your Base. Like building a strong house, you want to take extra care to begin with a strong foundation. And you can equate bicycle racing with building a house where you know there will be self inflicted hurricanes. Nutrition This link came by way of Rick Cimaglia....good resource: http://www.usantidoping.org/files/active/athletes/Optimal%20Dietary%20Intake%20For%20Sport,%20For%20Life....The%20Basics_lowres[1].pdf Commitment "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." Calvin Coolidge Discovered clipping of the late/great Dick Tomlin Obtained from his wife Bonnie Every cyclist who’s made it to the sport’s upper rungs has stories. Stories of set backs. Sometimes you can see evidence of these stories in the tell tale signs of road rash, or torn clothing. Often the stories run deeper. As geologist study rock to understand the history of earth, cyclist, the one’s of granite, also have deep histories. This history, like earth’s, is not only of sunny skies, mountains without volcanoes, plains without tornados or seas without heavy waves. So what keeps a cyclist dedicated? What keeps a cyclist persistent despite setbacks? I believe the answer lies in an enjoyment of the process. As cyclists we all have goals. These goals require months, if not years, of training and evolution of our bodies, racing skill and tactics. The goal may involve an event that encompasses only one day. Only one day of someone’s life. What keeps that athlete on track during the possibly thousands of days that transpired during the journey towards this one day? Commitment to the process. If you are gonna chase a dream, a big dream, it’s gonna take time and if you don’t enjoy the process, it will be a short journey. Commitment to the process comes from within. It is the intangible force that makes riding alone for 5-6+ hrs. in the cold, wind and rain doable, even pleasant, even craved for. Its like the difference between someone studying hard for a test because they want to get an “A” and the person who studies because they want to know the information, obtain the knowledge, with or without an actual grade. Which approach do you think will get you down the road farther? The person who seeks knowledge is the one who is on a life long quest. The person who seeks the “A” is on a semester only quest. Cycling is no different. The process: it is your training and every other life adjustment to accommodate this training along with the promotion of recovery. It is a lifestyle. If it is to have longevity, this lifestyle must have balance. All too often riders with big ambitions hit it hard in December and January only to fade by July or earlier. This balance must have room for family and career as well. The process can not be maintained with an upset family and an empty bank account. Not an easy balancing act, but a rewarding one. If this stuff was easy, everyone would be riding sub 52 min. 40K’s and big ringing Elden. “Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." Omnipotent; all powerful, with persistence and determination being the keys. No one can give you persistence or determination, Shimano doesn’t make it and they don’t sell it at the local shop. But you already have it. If passion brings it to the surface that means it was already there. So find your passion, your flame, to fuel your persistence and determination through setbacks and onward towards your goals. It’s not about the destination, but the journey. Visualization This is a intro from a pezcyclingnews article on mind work: Using mental imagery to enhance physical performance is nothing new, and a study done in 1932 by Edmund Jacobson showed that visualizing an activity produced small but measurable reactions in the muscles involved in the imagined activity. When you go through a guided mediation or hypnosis session, you are implanting learned memory of a successful action. The amount of nerve activity is so slight you might not be aware of it, but sensitive electronic equipment can pick it up. Thinking is real practice! more at: http://pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=4147 Under the Banner of Doping....One Guy's View Our church, the church of cycling is obviously flawed as are many churches of religion which have concealed, promoted and perpetrated far more grotesque and obscene activities compared to doping. Just like the loyal patrons of these religions marred by transgressions still find connection to their god, we must keep our connection to the sport of cycling through what we know in its beauty and fundamental glory found with each and every stroke of the pedals. The architects of a cycling fan’s heart: Fausto Coppi (who freely admitted to using drugs), Jacques Anquetil (who also never hid the fact that he took drugs), and Eddy Merckx (who tested positive more than once in his career) et. al. were dopers......it has always been crazy that way. So, if these are the founders of modern cycling, what do you expect? Look at the roots of sport and its gladiators. Paul Kimmage wrote about the culture of doping in cycling with true grit in his book: “A Rough Ride” and then Willy Voet in: “Breaking the Chain”. But the fact is the public has always wanted to see people lay it on the line and make the ultimate sacrifice. We all know cycling is dangerous, just ask Joseba Beloki, but evidently that’s not enough. Not even Paris Roubaix will satiate our appetites. After you make the typical sacrifices: time, career, sometimes family, what's left to give; a piece of your soul (and maybe your life as with Tommy Simpson), and that's doping. Billy Corgan's line from the Smashing Pumpkins sums it up well: "with every chemical you trade a piece of your soul". We all have the choice to make that trade at some point in our lives........it is inevitable. It may be plagiarizing a term paper or putting a little too much octane in your tank at the lawn mower derby. It is all on different levels and different playing fields, but it is the same moral issue. To knowingly cheat........and then to file that information away in the recesses of your brain like a piece of lead shrapnel that slowly contaminates your blood, and ironically, if the toxicity is sufficient, effects your conscious memory with maladies such as Alzheimer’s. We poison ourselves to the point of forgetting the black market trades we've made. How much we poison ourselves is up to us. Ultimately I believe we poison ourselves to feed the ego. So do all clean riders have control of their ego? No, but hopefully they can avoid Alzheimer’s. If my theory is true Barry Bonds won’t be able to remember his home run record. Cycling is not immune to this dilemma nor is the stock market. From Marco Pantanni to Martha Stewart we all have to make THE DECISION. Do we knowingly cheat? Being a father I aspire to instill the love and confidence in my boy that will provide the basis for security and stability; the nemesis to the soul trade. If our younger generations can see that it is ok to be who we are, do our best and be happy with ourselves…….wouldn’t that be great? This may run counter to the megaton media blitz our children (and ourselves) are exposed to that conveys the ideal man and woman as people who use the Ab-blaster and Dexitrim like we used the jungle gym and raisins growing up. The pressure in our time is so great. It starts early. From the AYSO soccer father who yells to “suck it up” when his boy has had the wind knocked out of him to the eight year old beauty contestant’s mother who is counting calories and considering the U.S. Pork Farmers sponsored Atkin’s diet for her girl. There is so much pressure in the world beyond our homes. Perhaps our homes can be a sanctuary for decompression? So what does all this have to do with riding a bike? Here is where sport becomes beautiful again because sport is a metaphor for our lives. Through it we feel moved to cheer, cry and change our own lives in ways we never imagined possible. If you are an avid cyclist do you remember doing your first 10 mile ride or 20 or 40? I remember my first 40 mile ride and it seemed like a Louis and Clark expedition in that it was an exploration not of America but of my own boundaries. This journey certainly doesn’t require doping. It is vivid, real and clean. That is the romance of this sport, the essence. This is the unadulterated memory we must hold on to as we progress through our sport or career where soul trading may be prevalent. We must remember what we love about our sport and careers and what they means to us………so we do not let the memory haze over with self induced fog. Great advice from a super racer: Liam Killeen Specifically, Killeen says he's focused more on the quality of his training rather than quantity. "It works well to have a series of small-step specific goals for each ride to break the ride up into blocks of different effort," he said. "I like long rides but effective training demands real attention to what you are asking your body to do on the target race day. You can't cover all the variables, but you can look carefully at the characteristics of the course and try to prepare in a way that will make you as ready as possible to match their demands." Fatigue Here is some interesting info on Fatigue obtained from outdoors.active.com The strategies: Two ways to combat exhaustion Fatigue training. The two most effective methods for recalibrating your brain are to increase the intensity of your workouts and to mentally break down your efforts into smaller parts. For the former: On a day when you are feeling great, warm up thoroughly and then run, cycle or swim as far as you can in six minutes. Determine your average speed during this six-minute effort, and then -- once or twice a week -- hit one-to-three-minute intervals at this velocity, being careful not to exceed 15 total minutes per session. Be sure to retest your average speed every six weeks; as your brain resets your acceptable intensity, you will cover more ground (or water) in six minutes. For the latter: Think about a long race such as a 10K as two 5Ks run back-to-back. Your brain should allow a faster pace in each 5K segment. Fatigue psychology. The fact that fatigue is often only in your mind means that you can choose to ignore it. For example, when you experience a significant bonk during a hike, climb or ride, try to put aside the typical defeatist reaction: My muscles are failing; there's no way I can continue at this pace. Instead, say to yourself, in a crisp, clear voice, “Thanks for the warning, but I'm going to relax and keep on going.” When fatigue is treated as a normal sensation associated with exercise rather than as a performance blockade, the athlete is liberated to push onward. Good advice, break any daunting task into several parts and take these on 1 at a time. Also, I find that instead of presenting the tasks as miles (as with cycling) think of them in terms of time.......and if this still seems daunting, tell yourself this is X___ hrs. of my life, a very small % of my life, that may be somewhat uncomfortable. Test it out on your next century : ) Tips for Excellent Recovery Before and During Exercise -Hydrate well -Use a pre-ride carb drink -Warm up by easing into exercise prior to elevating HR -Cool down at minimum 5 mins by allowing HR to gradually decrease. Within 30 mins post Exercise -Consume fluids with carbs and protein. A 4:1 CHO to PRO ratio is suggested. Some ideas: Clifbar Recovery drink (great flavors and ingredients); Endurox Recovery drink (popular, but upsets my stomach); Gatorade with whey protein added; Horizon Chocolate milk boxes, non-fat or 1% hormone-free milk mixed with chocolate syrup; a large glass of water and toast with peanut butter and honey (try mixing an EmergenC in to your water for extra vitamins); apple with peanut butter or almond butter; fruit smoothie with whey protein added. Some research suggests that L-Glutamine can enhance recovery and muscle synthesis, often included in whey protein mixes. -Stretch, especially hamstrings, glutes, and hip flexors. -Elevate legs for about 10 mins: while lying on back, put feet against a wall at a about a 70 degree angle to the ground. Take your time sitting up, you don’t want to get dizzy and tip over! Other tips -Get plenty of sleep (8 hrs. minimum). To help deepen your sleep, wind down before going to bed by reading, taking a bath, or doing something else relaxing. Practice meditative relaxation techniques. -Whenever possible, take a nap. -Maintain good hydration. -Take ice baths occasionally. -Don’t stand when you can sit; don’t sit when you can lay down/raise legs. -Use foam roller as self-massage on quads, glutes, hamstrings, and IT band. -Get a professional massage whenever possible. -Keep legs covered up with warm clothing to support circulation, the highway of all our nutrients. Dream Season Well it tis that season upon us once again. No, not Thanksgiving or Christmas or New Year’s. Not Superbowl or even ski season. It’s cycling dream season. What’s cycling dream season you ask? It’s that old nostalgic feeling of emotional anticipation swelling up within. It’s that “loneliness of the long distance runner” feeling. It’s the smell of those old winter gloves which have been used in place of Kleenex one too many times. Or that similar smell of the salty skull cap you use to block the chill under your multi-ventilated helmet. It’s the time to bust out the rollers, or mag. trainer. Break out time for the 1987 Tour de France video, or perhaps the 1986 Paris Roubaix. If you are old as me you may have them on homemade VHS, even better. Remember that epic 87 battle between Stephen Roche and Pedro Delgado…..Roche, having to receive supplemental oxygen at the summit finish after his all out effort to minimize his time losses to Delgado? But Roche would eventually win the tour in the final TT? That’s good for a 5 hr. day in the saddle no problem. These are the ingredients of winter base training fuel. 1 part Tour de France drama, 1.5 parts Euro-classics mettle, 2 parts personal racing memories, and 5 parts anticipation of things to come. Yeah, things to come! The new team or teammates, the new kit, the new goals, the next statement, the next chapter of your personal cycling chronicle. One more calendar, complete with training log and race results, is retired to the filing cabinet and the new, fresh, blank calendar hits the table. Laying there looking up at you like a faithful bird dog ready to run when its owner pulls on that camo vest. How will the days of your calendar fill in this coming year? Will La Vuelta de Bisbee grace the last weekend in April? Will Valley of the Sun be highlighted in your mid February? How about March’s Tumacacori, Arizona’s own “berg” riddled classic. Perhaps the 4th weekend in August will have a star which stands for the Arizona State Road Race Championships. Or is the fall your blessing for 2007? Will Mt. Graham and the climbing gods bestow upon you a 1 day miracle of un-paralleled ascent skills? Or are you a Pro World Championships kinda rider shooting to salvage the season in the eleventh hour. Then November is for you with Arizona’s Holy Grail: El Tour de Tucson? Logging in the volume while shrouded in grey skies, grey clouds, grey trees on the grey asphalt, it would seem mono chromatic…….but no! This is the most colorful time of a cyclists’ year. The mind is full of the color of things to come. This is what fends off the cold and the wind, the boredom and the staleness of the long road ahead. Onlookers may not relate. And to them you are a bit touched in the head. And they are correct. You do suffer from the most beautiful infection possible. Your mind is living to its fullest, transforming your body into a vehicle to feed its pallet of endless colors. In every hue of expectation and imagination. You are a rainbow on the road to your dream. You are a cyclist putting in your base miles for next season. Simple and robotic to some, for they know not what dancing spirits dwell within your head. Lessons from a Russian mountaineer In reading the early portion of the late, great mountain climber Anatoli Boukreev's "Above The Clouds", his approach to his sport as a religion illustrates a key point. If we approach our sport only as a venue to feed the ego, we miss the point. We miss its ultimate reward. A little research on Anatoli will reveal that his accomplishments were of a scale and magnitude unlike his peers'. This guy had something going on......something good. Perhaps the sport of cycling can take some lessons from Anatoli. Enough of my interpretation........see what you think of the following excerpt: Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambitions to achieve. They are cathedrals, grand and pure, the houses of my religion. I approach them as any human goes to worship. On their altars I stirve to perfect myself physically and spiritually. In their presence I attempt to understand my life, to exorcise vanity, greed, and fear. From the vantage of their lofty summits, I view my past, dream of the future, and with unusual acuteness I experience the present moment. That stuggle renews my strength and clears my vision. In the mountains I celebrate creation, for on each journey I am reborn. What does it take to win a race In assessing the factors that are needed to pull of a race performance it becomes apparent that it involves the coming together of many factors. Doing well in a race encompasses having: good physical day good bike mechanical day good strategy / tactics good emotional state good fueling and hydrating regimen good support / water bottle hand ups good bike handeling and drafting smoothly and calmly good teamwork It is like fishing for the king marlin....each time you put your line in the water you do so with more and more experience and each progressive time you move the odds slightly more and more in your favor due to this. This may be why cycling ends up being a life pursuit.....a worthy one at that.....the pursuit of excellence. Bike Fit Here is a link to a great article on bike fit by my friend Adam Hodges Myerson: http://www.cycle-smart.com/Articles/find.php?search=2