Cycling Junkie

 

If you want to be a better cycling or triathlete, you need to love the bike. I remember when I began training for triathlons, I read Scott Molina saying to be good in triathlon you had to be a cycling junkie. I began putting in lots of bike miles. I still believe it.

In general,50% of your weekly training time should be spent cycling. If you are indoors during the winter, that may decrease since the quality is higher. I relearn this every summer when my cycling frequency and volume bumps up for 10 weeks. I have found it also helps improve running.

As we get older, and run volume decreases to keep from getting injured, we can get on the bike more to maintain fitness. The other benefit is that as we age, we do not tend to see a decrease in cycling performance as long as we continue to include some quality each week. 

Here are some tips to keep your bike miles fresh and interesting.

- Explore new roads and routes on a regular basis. Exploring can be fun.

- get on the trails or dirt roads to boost power and handling skills

_ use the bike trainer once a week for hard / controlled intervals

- don't ride the same routs more than once a week

Although I no longer have the time for 250+ mile weeks in the saddle, The more miles I ride, the better I feel. The hardest part is getting out the door.

 

3 Ways to Keep Sweat Off the Headset

 There is nothing worse than a corroded headset. Sweat is very destructive and the heat and humidity we face for 7 months of the year in Florida can destroy the bike's front end. The headset, and bolts for the handlebars and aero bars are especially at risk. 

As a heavy sweater, I've come up with 3 simple ways to attempt to control the damage. 

1. Headband- using a headband under your helmet will help keep sweat off the bike and your sunglasses. I find it takes about 45-60 min for it to get saturated. A quick stop to wring it out and off you.

2. Facecloth- Place a face cloth in your back pocket to wipe off your face and under your glasses. They are small and very absorbent. 

3. The sweat shield- As a coach, I solve problems. The constant drop of sweat on the headset was a yearly problem. I tried all kinds of solutions. A plastic sheet with channels made with a heat gun keeps the sweat off everything and allows me a clear view of the computer. It is helped with Velcro so can easily be removed and cleaned.

So now you have 3 easy solutions to preserve your bike and control sweat on the road or on the trainer.

Happy Training!

Coach Tim

Running Through Injury- The run Load Continuum

 Typically when a runner suffers an injury, they back off their running volume and intensity until the injury subsides, or worse, they stop altogether, and when the injury heals jump back in risking further injury. Both methods don't lend themselves to consistency and long-term development.  Then they begin to add in more miles gradually until they reach the previous levels before introducing intensity. This could take several weeks to months to bring you back to pre-injured levels.

The idea behind the run load continuum is that during an injury, you maintain the same running volume in minutes but decreased the amount of stress being placed on the body by manipulating the amount of load/stress that are occurring during the run. This will allow you to maintain fitness as you gradually increase stress to rebuild the affected area. 

There are several ways we can manipulate the loading, and these can be used in combination to manage the mechanical stress placed on the body. This can also be used to bump up the volume in preparing for longer races. One way I used to do this in preparing athletes for marathons, was to do a long run and then get in the water right after and do 20 to 30 minutes of a deep water running. This would allow for a bit more volume in active recovery. I'll outline this process and then give me some examples of how you can use it.

Guidelines

1. Keep running volume ( minutes) the same as you had for the past 4 weeks.

2. Don't run back-to-back days to allow your body to recover from the stress of the workout.

3. Gradually increase the load by adjusting the type of activity in the amount of minutes you are doing.

Run load continuum (from least stressful to more stressful)

A. Deep water running

B. Walking 

C. Waist-deep water running

D. Incline walking on a treadmill

E. Treadmill running (cushioned deck)

D. Outside running

Here is an example of how you can use this format. 

You're coming off of an injury and your run is usually 45 minutes. Run for 20 minutes before the pain starts, stop at 20 minutes, and do the remaining 25 minutes in waist-deep water. Gradually shift the minutes on the road and lessen the waist-deep running provided you are progressing and adapting properly.

Run training does not need to be all or nothing, by having a pool and treadmill access you can keep a running volume the same interest and manipulate the stress to help you recover quicker while maintaining run fitness. A water running belt is always good to have in your tool box.

Training Metrics- What you view during workouts matter

 The data you view during a workout has an impact on how you execute, adjust, and mentally interpret the training session. Not all data is the same. Some are very useful and others can be distracting and do not give an accurate picture of the effort or work being done. Here are my recommendations on what data you should be viewing during training sessions.

Bike- for indoor rides on a trainer key metrics should be:

power

cadence

heart rate

If you are using a platform such as Trainer Road or Zwift, you will have plenty of data to view.

For outdoor rides 

time

heart rate

cadence

power or core temperature

Average speed is not a good indicator of training effort, since wind humidity, and terrain can all have a big impact. Cadence may be more important than power since how the power is generated is important.

In the absence of power, core temperature is a good metric since overheating will drop your FTP (functional threshold power) leaving all of your current power zones suspect.

Run

I find viewing 3 data fields to be optimal. Four fields make the numbers a little bit small and can be distracting by having too much information. Here are my suggested data fields:

time

heart rate

cadence

core temperature (if available)

If run power is available, viewing that in real time is unnecessary as it will fluctuate rather quickly. The only exception may be if you're doing a tempo run in order to learn pacing based upon cadence heart rate and power.

Running pace is not a great metric to use as it may entice you to race to work out. Running pace will be affected greatly by temperature humidity as well as rising core temperature and elevation. 

These are my recommendations. Additional data and information will be downloaded after the workout but these are the ones I suggest you have in view while you're doing your workout. As always these are subject to debate and fine-tuning based on the individual. 

Happy training!