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Only got an hour?

Here is a quick workout that is good to do if time is an issue. It focuses on being able to repeat hard efforts over and over again. It also builds leg power and anaerobic capacity.

Warm up: 15-20mins

Alternate 10 time (30mins)

1min Hard @ 120-135% max threshold power, begin effort by pushing over a big gear

2mins easy at 60% threshold power.

Cool down as needed

Just another interesting article:

For all those cyclist out there, remember Bio-pace or the odd chain rings that some of the pro’s use? I know I personally have been curious about the elliptical chain ring idea. Here is an interesting article about them.

elliptical chainring article

Ride hard,

Coach Jordan

Some thoughts on the tour…

The 2011 Tour De France is now in the books and what a spectacle it was. It has been a long time since there was a tour as exciting and enthralling as the 2011 edition. Evans wore yellow on the last day, but there is not better day to wear yellow than the last day. I watched to the tour daily and was on the edge of my seat for most of the 3403.5K. 

Evans finally showed what persistence and hard-work finally does. I have been following Evans ever since he was a mountain biker many may years ago. I recently saw an old picture of him that even when I got in to the sport, my bike was more advanced then his. It was an apollo aluminum hard tail frame with a Judy TT fork. Evans in both man and machine are vastly different from this image captured years ago. 

I learned 3 things that I hope to point out:

1) Don’t classify your self as a certain type of rider. Evans was a great all rounder in this years Tour. He was able to climb, time trial, and plan his way to victory. While most of us will hardly ever do a 21 day stage race, there is some merit to doing everything well. Even in a one day race, the terrain, conditions, other riders may make you have to address your weakness. For instance, if  you “aren’t a time trialist” what will you do when you have to bridge a gap in a road race or criterium? This same logic could also be played out during a road race with one big climb in it. Address your weakness, after all if Andy Schleck had won the tour, this would be a very different article. 

2) Be Courageous. Cyclist, runners, everyone could take a lesson as how Evans grabbed the race by its horn and did what he had to do to win the race. For two days in a row, he sat on the front of the race and did the work. He pulled and said to himself, I have to get this done. Evans never quit and had the courage to keep riding hard to the last pedal stroke of the time trial. 

3) While we all focus on this seasons, or maybe next weeks races; sometimes you need to plan for the future. No one ever suspected that a kid named Cadel Evans would possibly win the Tour De France. He went around the mountain bike circuit riding his bike. It was only in the past few years his name was ever talked with being one of the greats. Year over Year, mile after mile built up in Cadel’s legs to bring him the yellow jersey. 

While you can hash out the tactics from the day to day flow of the tour, these three things really stood above for me. 

Vive Le Tour!!!

Ride hard

Coach Jordan

That hard ride….

Last sunday I went for a longer ride than I normally have been doing lately. I set out to get about 3-4 hours on the bike. I had a plan for a ride to work on some threshold paced stuff during the later parts of the ride. I was shooting for some 5-10 min intervals at least 2-3 hours in to the ride. The short story was I completed the workout, the long story is below.

First there is a time and a place for when doing intervals in a more fatigued state. Just look at the tour de france right now. How many times do the riders save almost all of there effort for later into the ride? By my counter it is nearly every day. The training benefit is to teach your body to cope with large efforts in a fatigued state. This may help you run the last mile hard in a half marathon, conquer the hill in the century ride, or be able to blast past your friends or rivals in the local race or group ride.  This type of work out not only teaches the body, but also the mind.

It has been a while since I have done some quality hard miles  after 2+ hours. This past sunday was the first time back at it. I almost had forgotten how much of a mental game a workout like this can be. My legs were protesting and my body was telling me it was time to relax. The trick is to know that you can push past this point. Jens voigt has been quoted talking to his legs: “Shut legs and do what I tell you to do.” You more or less need to take the same approach during your training. This past sunday I told my legs to shut up, and I finished the ride by taking a long hard pull.

The mental aspect to meeting a goal is huge! Not only does saving the hard stuff for later in the ride help your body adapt. This type of training also helps you to realize that when the pace is high or challenging you to can push past it.

I know this seams to be a bit of “well no kidding” But to know that you can do it during your goal event or race, you need to do it in training first. Remember how it feels, remember the pain, remember how you can cope with it. This element is critical to pre-race or event visualization. Recall these feelings as you are getting ready for a race. I have seen several athletes, just say I know this is going to hurt. You need to push past it, you need to push yourself into the deep pain.

Just remember what Jens voigt said “Shut up legs and do what I tell you”

Ride Hard

Coach Jordan.

for more information go to www.achievecoaching.net to see how Achieve Coaching can help you!

My favorite cycling workout at the moment…

Here is a good workout to go to try!!  This works on the ability to repeatedly make hard efforts. this application if or crit racers, road racers, mtb bikers.

**I use zones 1-7**

Warm up 10-20 mins

2mins at zone 4

15 sec, Full gas zone 6/7

15sec rest

30 sec full gas again zone 6/7

20 sec rest

45 sec full gas at zone 7.

Rest 1 min then repeat. Repeat 2-4 times as you feel you can. The last 45 sec effort should be between 80-100% of your full 12 sec power

The combination of short rest periods and hard efforts combine to teach your body to deal with lactic acid. This workout should burn!!

The Balancing act of Triathlon

I am now about a month into my training for a triathlon. While training, I am trying extensively to apply my knowledge of coaching and training to how I train.

First I would like to say is wow!! It is way different from bike racing. Involving three sports really starts to play havoc on recovery and workout progression. The balance of training around how the previous days workout becomes much more difficult. One of the hardest difficulties for me has been the running. I have do some research around and looked at how to better balance all three sports.

Running does really seam to be the limiting factor. The reason I say this is because even if you are coming from a running background, injury prevention in running is the biggest challenge. It is crucial you let your body recover from the run before attempting another run workout. Cycling is also part of this balance. I am finding it easier to place an easy bike day after a run day to help with some active recovery. For me, Not being able to go out and do a hard bike day after a seemingly easy run day can be frustrating.

From my experience and some of the research I have done here are some tips for a bringing balance into a triathlon training program.

1)  Invest in a good running shop! Become their friends and take lots of time to find the right  shoe and insole for you. Also take time to read about good running habits.

2) I recommend using a easy bike / swim / or stretch day after a run workout. For the novice to even intermediate triathlete I would caution against back to back run days.

3) Use running intensity sparingly. This does not mean completely ignore it however. I would recommend that more often than not high intensity workouts be on bike. For a novice triathlete and runner, use intensity maybe every other week, and a bit more during a taper period. For more intermediate you could introduce a brief (20-30) of hard running per week. Speed work is very helpful to runners, it can be for triathletes as well. Again use with caution.

4) Run mileage and volume should only be bumped up 3-6% every week. Unlike cycling which is far easier to recover from, only small bumps should be used.

But what about swimming? Luckily it is the only sport of the three that does not involve the lower body. I use these workouts almost independently from cycling and running as far as muscle and joint recovery go. When planning swimming, plan it more as the overall volume in terms of how taxing on the aerobic system it can be.

Ride Hard

Coach Jordan

Supplementation

Wow it really has been a while since a new post was written here, time to get back on track.

I would like to discuss what I recommend for supplementation. Very very few people I know really have a perfect diet. When you consider the human body does not perfectly absorb everything put into it; there can be huge deficiencies in nutrients by the time it has reached every part of your body. This is why I feel it is so important to supplement your diet.

Just like training volume, type and all the other variables. Supplementation is something that is specific to each athlete. Here is a general recommendation I have found works for a wide variety of endurance athletes.

General Multi-vitamin – One of my favorites is centrum performance. It has many of the basics that an athlete or harder working person may need. Try to pick a multi-vitamin that is also very high in all the B-vitamins. B-vitamins are very important for energy metabolism and production. A multi-vitamin is always a good insurance policy for most any athlete.

Amino-acids – By definition a workout in any form is going to break down muscle to varying amounts. The harder the workout, the more the break down. I have found 2 products by hammer nutrition to be very good. These are endurance amino and mito caps. By having specific amino acids introduced to the body, you greater the chance for a more complete recovery between hard workouts.

Iron – This is a very tricky one. I know I my self always do better under higher training loads with a minor amount for iron being supplemented. I would encourage lots of discretion if choosing to supplement with iron. Iron can help your cells from being anemic and encouraging red blood cell health. Again, use this with discretion.

Electrolytes – I include electrolytes as supplementation because you need electrolyte stores to even start physical activity. I know lots of people who take salt during a ride, but there are other elements that contribute and can be supplemented during your daily diet. In particular, calcium and potassium are needed for muscle and nerve function. These can sometimes to be included in a daily multi-vitamin. If possible try to find one that does. I break up some calcium in my gatorade mix to take with me on the bike when I am going for longer and harder rides.

Race day specific – on race day I use some special supplements, here is a brief list:

Caffeine – multiple studies have found many different advantages for caffeine in athletic performance, don’t go crazy though!

Phosphates – Most popular sodium phosphate to help with electrolytes and phosphates for creatine phosphate production. This is found in Hammer nutrition’s Race day boost.

Lactate pills – these help to flood the system with lactate that helps with lactic acid buffering. Lactate is the compound to absorb hydrogen ions that produce the burning sensation. By flooding the system with lactate, you can delay and reduce the amount of burning under heavy load.

A special shout out – I also highly endorse the use of Optygen. the effects have been debated, but I believe in it. It uses a herb extract that helps to bind oxygen to heme in the red blood cell.

In review, here is what I take:

 

Ride Hard,

Coach Jordan.

Bike Racing Key Attributes

Here is an awesome article about bike racing. Read it and check it out!

 

5 Key Attributes about bike racing

Ride Hard

Coach Jordan

 

 

 

 

 

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