how to really train

wow nice pic!

ok, did intervals at the track last night, which featured the exciting promise of 10min/20min/10min efforts at 170bpm (which is right at/below lactate threshold 4 me), with some near-recovery (145bpm) rest periods of 5mins inbetween.

with some evening wind:
10min (25.2mph/312W)
20min (24.2mph/282W)
10min (24.6mph/294W)

really wanted a negative split on that last 10 min effort but alas, my legs were screaming and i knew that pushing it any harder would send me over the lactic edge.

very green to this style of training, but i can feel it in my quads today.

OH! also yesterday's training food log (for cutty, inspired by Hunt3r upthread):

breakfast: leftover beef chili
lunch: all you can eat gourmet pizza ($8.50): 6 slices!!!
intervals: gatorade/recovery shake
dinner: hamburger/fries/beer and 2.5 ice cream sandwiches

this is called "letting one's self go" imo.

Hunt3er, do u live in CO or are you on vacation? Just curious cuz I once spent a year in Dillon as a snowboard/mtn. bike bum & A Basin was basically my back yard. O how I long for those carefree days of yore.. That place rules! Also: "ridin' the pass, brah."

eat food, not too much, mostly grease, steve. :)

pillbox i live in littleton. really like a-basin, its close, cheap, compact and has some good shit. in the old days riding the palli lift or doing east wall or hiking out was not uncommon. that was on alpine gear mostly- ive been on tele gear for about 12 years now, and now i dont go too steep unless theres straight hero snow. and with kids, its groomers.

i havent skied the pass in... a long time.

10in at baker this morning btw

;_; I want to be there, no skiing these past two winters

how many days of skiing are you gonna get in gbx?

we got m,t,w,f---took thursday off cause it was rainy and my body was ready to stage a revolt

good article to put things in perspective:
http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/03/news/what-it-takes-to-ride-with-the-pros-wattage-numbers-from-redlands_109894

truly ridiculous guns what a waste of mass

Prologue TT, 3.1 miles: Marcotte powered over the course in 10:59.8 with an average power of 389 watts (w) to place 137th.

that's not very fast (what, like 17mph?) for those kinda watts.

was this TT just a hill climb/mountain pass in sheep's clothing?

He was probably just riding a really heavy bike

What’s more impressive is that he did dozens of 5-second-plus efforts at 600w or greater, and topped 1,000w more than 10 times.

that's what impresses me

my female friend who rides for columbia-htc won the final stage of redlands, ina teutenberg won the overall for columbia

tri-based article but was interested in your thoughts?

Athletes and the power of the present moment
By Grant Giles
4/2/2010


After 13 years of coaching and interacting with athletes I find that the biggest single hurdle for athletes is their mental approach to racing and training and, indeed more importantly, their attitude to life in general.

I find that athletes are type A personalities, very driven, very goal orientated and, for the most part, very anxious as well. There are exceptions to the rule but the mirror image to high performance is always some form of anxiety. It’s almost a necessity to want to succeed in difficult goals (i.e. in order to do this sport you need to be driven) and I think this applies from age group athletes right through to elite professional athletes.

It is always difficult to broach the subject of psychology with athletes. There still seems to be some stigma attached to the words “mental health” and I think that’s a shame. Personally, I feel that psychology in sport and in the general population still has a long way to go and for athletes we have only just scratched the surface of what is possible with a good mental prep and psychological maintenance program.

Some of the biggest difficulties I see with athletes relate to their inability to exist for the present moment. I’ve seen so much angst by athletes who are mentally exhausted and don’t realise it. Mental exhaustion causes all sorts of problems from anxiety issues to clinical depression and immune dysfunction. I also believe that I have seen athletes and their supporters label depression as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome because, again the stigma that revolves around mental health always makes it a hard subject to broach with athletes.

One of the causes of mental exhaustion is that athletes have a preoccupation or habit of mentally labelling everything. How does that feel? How was that performance? Why didn’t I feel as good as last week? Oh this prep isn’t going the same way as the last one I did. The prep I did when I won was different and so on. There is a constant noise and there is a constant comparison of now against the past. Also, with athletes there is always a projection into the future. The cost of the above is always the loss of the present moment and the present is the only moment which is critical to performance and general well-being.

For instance when things go wrong with fluid intake or nutrition or pace – most of the time it’s not because there wasn’t a plan. It’s more often than not, the athlete just starts obsessing over things that cannot be controlled – past / future / other competitors etc etc – It is a constant mental labelling of everything that can get very exhausting during a race and detracts from focus because, simply put, focus is the present moment. The interesting thing about the present is that it is a far more intelligent state for an athlete to use because with the present moment comes awareness, a far more powerful state, that in its purest form will not only bring you some calm headspace, but will bring you a better standard of performance because you will actually be present to make changes that actually effect your performance.

It’s a good little test to run on yourself – just check how much energy you use thinking about what has happened in the past or check to see how much time you spend thinking about the future. The big problem with the past and the future is that you are not actually in a state that exists at all. So think about that for second – how much focus, consciousness and presence can you bring to a thought pattern like that? How much closer will those thought patterns bring you to a great performance or a better training situation?

I once read a quote that I thought was brilliant and it read (“nothing ever happened in the past – It happened in the now” – Echart Tolle) How perfectly true and how much we fight this one simple truth by living in some altered state. I can’t tell you how many times as a coach I have watched a talented athlete dwell on one bad result. I have seen athletes have great seasons and then have a bad result and turn a great season into something less in their minds by dwelling on one negative in a sea of positive. I call it the spiral. The place where an athlete will spiral downwards into a suffering hell of negatives that are based on nothing, and again, a non reality that has no basis of truth. In this state there is no connection to the present moment, there is no sense of real consciousness or focus. I sometimes marvel at a good athlete’s ability to see the negative side of their talent. A drive for better is great, but a thought of weakness or dwelling on certain aspects in a great athlete is very destructive. Again, once a negative spiral gets into place, it’s a hard nut to crack.

I always find it interesting that when people talk about focus they seem to think it’s some kind of mystic place that you go on a plane above mortal consciousness. To me this just creates confusion for athletes. Even Buddhists will tell you that meditation doesn’t take them away –it actually brings them into the present moment in a state of awareness and peace. A very aware, intelligent space it is for one simple reason – it is free of the mental chatter and negative self talk that we constantly feed ourselves. The constant labelling good and bad, right and wrong goes into the background and a clear focus comes into view.

So If I needed to summarise this for athletes where would I begin?

“Where ever you are before a race, be there totally.” What does that mean? It means that whatever you do in the lead-up and during a race you must be in the present. Too many people live in the future or the past – even during a race (i.e.) They worry about things that have happened to them in the past or they worry about whether they might cramp later or blow-up or dehydrate and so on. Nothing that you think about in the future or the past can help you Now and the only real tangible thing that you actually have at all times is the present – presence is powerful, presence is real - You either choose to be present and in the now, or you choose to be lost in your thoughts and the “what ifs”. “The only road to a good performance is - presence that takes place now” your ability to stay with the moment at all times and not let your mind take control. If you can stay present and just live for the moment during a Race then anything is possible.

Stay Calm:
Absolutely critical in triathlon. Keep your mind calm and quiet. Practise this. Everybody talks about positive thoughts but an even better option is to have no thoughts at all. It takes energy to have thoughts positive or negative. You need to set up a state of awareness – in this state you are aware of everything that is happening around you but you are not analysing whether it’s good or bad, you are just responding to events as they unfold, and that takes very little energy. It’s a state that some people call self confidence.

Don’t judge every moment:
Most of the mental chatter in your head during a race comes from judging and assessing how the race is going and whether it’s unfolding as you planned it. Again this is valuable energy that you can use to drive you forward. We can turn around even the worst of days out there, but this can only happen from a mind that is calm, quiet, and free from the tendency to continually judge and analyse what's going on.

Don’t hold back:
If you hold back because you have fear of falling short of your goals then you are always going to be sorely disappointed. This is a massive problem even for world level pros. There are no guarantees in this life so don’t squander opportunities by holding back and not being present. There is a quote from sports psychology that I really like it and it reads – “people are scared of winning” I really think this is true. If you hold back that 10%, then you will never achieve your goals but if you throw out your mental blocks then anything can happen and there’s a lot more satisfaction in knowing you gave it everything and fell short rather then fall short by holding back.

There was also an interesting quote from a big wave surfer called Laird Hamilton, when asked why he risks his life in the pursuit of massive waves he replied – “I don’t want to not live by worrying about what might or could happen.” What’s the punch line? – live in the now, and don’t obsess or waste energy over things you can’t control and above all don’t think about outcomes.

Let's take a worry thought for a moment, “what if I flat” basically you are projecting an imaginary future situation, and that creates fear. If you think about it logically there is no way you can deal with this situation because, in reality, it doesn’t actually exist. It’s a mental phantom that creates fear and fear is certainly not helpful before or during a Race. Instead of going down this road of fear and destructiveness, ask yourself - “what problem do I have right now?” Not next year, not tomorrow, not in 5 minutes time – right Now –you’ll be amazed at what can happen if you can stay in that place.

Cheers and the very best of luck,
Grant Giles

What do you lot eat before and during early morning training rides?

i think the advice about being in the present and about staying calm is key but

There is a quote from sports psychology that I really like it and it reads – “people are scared of winning” I really think this is true. we call these people "losers" and "pack fodder"; their role in the local racing ecosystem is to subsidize the non-losers through the payment of entry fees. also, they sometimes hire me.

the numbers here put a lot in perspective:

http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2009/07/just-how-good-are-these-guys/

Hunt3r,

I am doing my first TT in 2 weeks. Only 6.5 miles but a 1900 foot Hill Climb.

First mile is false flat then pitches up to 6% for the remaining 5.5 miles.

Any tips, advice?

SS

%P

not so much, sorry. i don't think there's one true tt climbing style. (my idiosyncracy is metronomic counting to 4 in my head over and over and over- helps me avoid bogging down).

race sounds hard, you'll do great though. i wouldn't bury yrself that first mile.

whoa counting to 4 is my trick too. but eighth notes.

i'll try doing a 7/4 into 13/8... kind of a Polvo/This Heat/Don Caballero tribute.

you are going to fall over

whoa counting to 4 is my trick too. but eighth notes.

― cutty, Tuesday, May 25, 2010 6:43 PM (3 hours ago)

is this "a one-y and a two-y..."?

those are sixteenth notes dood

one and two and three and four

exhale on the ands

"leg sweats" @ night? like a fever breaking... is this common?

ha no??

just got a new power meter. quarq cinqo on SRAM 975. BLING!!!

protip: if it is humid and yr hands are sweaty and maybe you've had a couple bbeers, slipping off the end of yr ice axes while drytooling a hangboard will produce bloody bloody results

(this is the ice climbing board right?)

Physical advantages

At the top of his career, Miguel Indurain had a physiology that was not only superior when compared to average people, but also when compared to his fellow athletes. His blood circulation had the ability to circulate 7 litres of oxygen around his body per minute,[1] compared to the average amount of 3-4 litres for an ordinary person and the 5-6 litres for his fellow riders. His cardiac output is 50 litres a minute; a fit amateur cyclist's is about 25 litres a minute. Also, Indurain's lung capacity was 8 litres, compared to an average of 6 litres. In addition, Indurain's resting pulse was as low as 29 BPM, compared to an average human's 60-72 bpm, which meant his heart would be less strained in the tough mountain stages.[2] His VO2 max was 88 ml/kg/min; in comparison, Lance Armstrong's was 83.8 ml/kg/min and Greg LeMond's was over 92 ml/kg/min.[3]

29 bpm jesus

still no bjorn heydahl

I MEAN DAEHLIE

slipping off the end of yr ice axes while drytooling a hangboard

I understood the word "the".

imo alone is the only way to "how to really train"
― sir ilx-a-lot (cutty), Monday, February 15, 2010 1:02 PM (5 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

was wondering this myself the other day... :_(

on the plus side now 165lbs - aiming for 155

I am feeling fatigued. post-peak-ed. sluggish. lethargic. I cut my mileage way down, switching to hammer/speed work outs exclusively for which i am now paying the price.

I'm gonna try to keep the watts down this weekend and pull the mileage back up. 5-6 more races to go for the season. I want to stay sharp and keep an ideal balance of endurance, power, and explosiveness through September.

It's a long slog. Much RESPECT to those who keep their calendars filled from March-September.

Last season I raced from late January to early November, but then my mileage is incredibly low by racing standards.

totally mental imo, but good job!

HI HUNT3R

how's this... i have apparently become so accustomed to riding in the drops/being aero that my ass is as sore as it was when i first started riding, due to switching back to riding with my hands positioned on hoods/flats for 155 miles this past weekend. looking into assos cream/dz nuts at the moment tbh.

Assos bum grease is a1 double plus good.

looking into? you should be using that shit all the time

i never need it tbh. but now that i'm back to long, non-race pace rides it's like starting all over from scratch. yowch. use it or lose it imho.

/cycling hardman

do you guys believe in rest weeks? y/n why?

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4025/4660661781_d5ac47c8c0.jpg

nutritional nazis letting themselves go = c/d

lolz

REST WEEKS = y/n WHY WHY NOT?