Stay Hydrated

You have all heard me rant about the importance of proper hydration, well some times while in a race you have to go to extremes to stay topped off with fluids.

Last weekend at the Out Like a Lion RR in Albemarle, NC, one of my teammates wife snapped this picture in the feed zone. It was a particularly hot day for March, around 85 and very sunny, so obviously I was drinking allot.

Training With Saul

Recently, PCC Athlete Adam Schildge had the opportunity to get in some trainer time with Saul Raisin from the CA team. Here is a picture.

The Guinea Pig/Coach

I thought it would be a good idea to start posting occasional power files from myself throughout the year so that everyone can start to get an idea of how a power meter is so helpful and how it can help you progress.

Here is the power file from a Threshold Test I did yesterday. Power and HR are shown. Highlighted are two intervals a 5 minute effort and the 20 minute TT test effort. What this shows is that as of now my functional threshold power, or the amount of power I can generate for 60 minutes is around 325 watts. We take a 20 minute TT and subtract a few percent to estimate a 60 minute TT since an hour TT is really not much fun. So I took the 335 and deducted 3%, normally I would deduct 5% but the rolling course I used and the wind made for a small amount off "less than TT wattage". I can adjust this number later through data collected as the year progresses along with more testing, but its a good starting point.

What does all this mean? Well, speed on a bike is very plainly a result of your power to weight ratio, the higher the power in wattage versus the lower the weight in kilograms the faster I can pedal my bike. I weigh around 80 kilograms, so my power to weight ratio at threshold (or 60 minutes TT) is 4.06, or we will call it 4. To put this into perspective guys like Ivan Basso and Alexander Vinokourov are at around 6 to 6.5, a decent domestic pro is usually around 5.7.

So does this mean that since I have to race frequently with domestic pros that I should downgrade to a Cat 4 (a Cat 4 with a 4 or greater power to weight ratio would be extremely competitive and win often)? Well you have to take a look at the year-long schedule of the athlete (this is where a coach is helpful) and take the test results into context.

If you were to look at my year-long training plan, you would see that I am just entering the first build period and have yet to do any real training that would increase my power at threshold. In the coming months I will start to train at threshold and race more. By July, for masters nationals, I should be able to bring that number up to around 5-5.2 (hopefully).

Subscribe to the blog to see how I progress as the year rolls on. Healthy Day!

Ergogenic

Ergogenic is a term used by exercise physiologist to describe nutritional supplements that can enhance athletic performance. Generally, athletes, coaches and governing bodies think of "ergogenic" as illegal or some sort of banned substance. However there is more to enhancing performance than one may think.

From the Greek words ergon ("work") and gennan ("to produce") ergogenic is actually anything that enhances performance or recovery so that you may exercise again sooner. The most effective (legal) ergogenic aids are also the most common and most over looked. The ones we accept as so basic to the sport that we seldom think of them as supplements at all.

These most basic and most neglected ergogenic aids are found in your own home and in your local grocery store. They are rest and diet. These play such an important role in your performance, however they are often not taken seriously enough by endurance athletes.

It is a common misconception that exercise in and of itself is what increases fitness. While the workouts are a very important part advancing fitness, its only the start. The way you gain fitness is through your body's responses and over-compensation after a hard workout.

So, if your diet and recovery are lacking you will not fully absorb your workouts. You will not only short yourself of performance gains, but you will not be fully rested to enter your next workout and therefore will get even less out of that and subsequent workouts.

Most of us know we need to rest well. However, in my experience with cyclist, diet is often very lacking. American diets are awful, they are highly processed and refined. Not only does the standard American diet lack important nutrients, it is full of harmful ingredients. What is more, the government recommended diet (the Food Pyramid) is dead wrong and is the exact opposite of the way endurance athletes should eat.

Do yourself a favor, examine your recovery and diet techniques. They are the 2 best ergogenic aids available to you. I recommend The Paleo Diet for Athletes by Cordain and Friel available online. It is perhaps the best thing you will do for your training all year.

For more info, or if you need help with your training and racing feel free to contact me.

First Race of the Year!

I have always had a love/hate relationship with the first race of the year. On the one hand, you are anxious and excited to race again. On the other, your are nervous and scared because your not sure what your fitness is like, and you are afraid of a poor performance.

Last Saturday was the first race of the year, the Greenville Spring Training Series (AKA the February World Championships) kicked of with the classic Donaldson Center road race. A nice 7 mile loop in an industrial park with only one railroad crossing per lap! The weather was great, 60 degrees and sunny with a brisk wind.

I don't know what it is but these spring races get bigger every year. Over 90 guys started the Pro 1/2 race. Looking around at the start i knew it was going to be a hard and fast race. Tim Henrey, Thad Dulin and Cesar Grajales of Jittery Joe's along with John Murphy of Health Net and Scottie Weiss of AEG were all ready to throw down at the first race of the year.

The race was fast and fun and surprisingly enough, felt pretty easy, I guess i did my homework during the winter because I was able to move around in the pack with ease and take plenty of long pulls. I went into a chase group with a rider from CSH for about 6k but we could not catch the horsepower that was off the front and eventually we were swept up by the field. It was fun while it lasted and gave me a chance to really test my legs.

A break of 4 or 5 guys went away early. We should have easily caught them and were on schedule to do so when the chase unexpectedly died off momentarily with about 5k to go. I ended up 29th overall, and about 20th in the field sprint, (a few more guys snuck away with about 2k to go).

Tonya rode very well in her race, chasing down several breaks and staying consistently up front. She ended up 12th out of the large women's field of 53. Thats her alongside one of her teammates in the picture.

Next week we head back to Greenville for round 2!

New Bike!

Its always a good week when you get a new bike! I picked up my new team Orbea Orca Saturday and promptly built it up and started riding. I have about 150 miles on it so far and I have to say its pretty sweet. I am looking forward to racing it in Grennville SC this weekend.

The ride is really tight, for lack of a better word. Kind of reminds me of the new Audi A3 i test drove a few weeks ago. Comfortable, with a sports car type feel. It is noticeably stiffer in the bottom bracket area than many of the bikes I have ridden, but is not lacking on comfort. It has nice steering and handles like its on rails. It is very quick and responsive without being nervous. I would say its a great all around bike if you are going to have just one arrow in your quiver. Well suited for both stage racing and criteriums alike.

My only complaints are that the head tube is enormous at 21cm, it reminds me of one of those $10,000 custom titanium bikes, what are those called again. The TT is also a little on the short side for an aggressive race position. Both of these issues will be easily fixed when the new 140mm x 10degree stem arrives for it latter this week. If you like a less aggressive position, the Orca geometry is a good choice with its sensible geometry.

Ill post a report this weekend to let you all know how it (and me) performs in the race this weekend.

7 Days

Well we are back from Expedition Disney, we rolled in Saturday night. I got my first ride in yesterday after 7 days off of the bike. My workouts last week were walking 6-8 miles a day, riding rides, swimming with Alex and 2 mornings in the lame resort gym.

I felt well rested and strong, although a bit awkward and rusty, we will see what the next few weeks will bring. Its less than 3 weeks until the first races and I still haven't done any real intensity work. Oh well i guess that's why we call them "training" races.

Disney was a blast, here are a few pictures.