V-CLUB TRAINING CORNER
We’ve teamed up with Marilyn Trout, certified USA Cycling Elite Coach to answer V-Club members’ training questions. You can view her coach profile at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mountainpedalscoaching80903
Send your cycling inquiries to Marilyn, and for a limited time, if yours is selected to be answered in our V-Club column, VeloWear will send you a $20 gift certificate that can be used towards any purchase on VeloWear.com. To submit your inquiry, e-mail her at trout_mic@msn.com, and type “V-Club Training Question” in the subject line of the e-mail.
The article below is a reprint of our 10th question submitted by V-Club member Kyle Nylander. His training question that follows was answered by Peg Labiuk (nee Peggy Maass), a collegue of Marilyn Trout, and a certified NCCP level 3 coach with a career in international road and track racing. She is a World Championship medalist, World Record holder, U.S. Olympic Team member, former British national team coach and Kreb's Cycle co-founder (British Columbia, Canada).
The article below is a reprint of our 4th question submitted by V-Club member Dave Will.
Time Trialing 101
Marilyn,
I have been road riding for about 4 years now and am wanting to start doing time trials. I am 41 yrs old and what is considered a Clydesdale 250# (down from 305). I currently get about 30 to 50 miles in on the weekends and ride my trainer during the week. The trainer sessions are usually a high speed (23mph+) for 15 to 20 miles 2 days a week. What type of training recommendations or changes to my current training would you recommend? And do you recommend the user of training aids like DVD's or music?
Thank you
Dave,
There are no two ways about it…time trialing is tough! It is referred to as “The Race of Truth.” For sure a sound training schedule can improve time trial fitness, but to pump out a consistently good time trial, a rider has to develop some basics:
- Mentally - a mental toughness to push to the limit.
- Physically - the ability to sustain a maximal effort to the finish without “blowing up” (ability to pace).
- Technically - the ability to pedal efficiently (minimize energy loss).
For now, I’ll refer you to a previous article, Digging Deeper, for some thoughts about dealing with pain and will focus in on practical training advice for your time trialing for next season in this correspondence.
First off, I’d like to congratulate you for taking up the bike. I’ve been riding/racing/coaching for 30 years and enjoy it every bit now as I ever did. I’d also like to commend you on your weight loss. I’m sure you feel healthier and have more energy. Getting three training sessions each week is good. It is the minimal amount of frequency needed for a training adaptation to be realized. It looks to me like you spend roughly an hour each workout doing some hard work, however, cycling at a “high speed”, although good for burning calories, won’t necessarily make you faster. What is needed is specificity.
Physically
In simple terms, the word “intervals” refers to intermittent periods of work and rest. Which type of interval training? The list of interval types can make your head spin but the key to this training lies within its specificity. This is based upon your fitness level, goals, kind of event and its terrain. Here’s an interval workout, based on an hour of trainer time with warm-up and cool down, that you can substitute to develop your time trialing fitness.
i.e.) 2 x 10’ at tempo (sub-lactate/aerobic) with 10’ recovery between efforts – the primary object is to have even pacing from beginning to end of the interval without going over lactate threshold (anaerobic) throughout the effort. (You can also add some variety by doing 1 x10’, 10’ recovery, followed by 2x5’ with 5’ between efforts.)
The next step in the fitness build would be to increase the intensity of the interval to a threshold zone.
i.e.) 3-5x 5' at threshold with 5' recovery between efforts –steady effort/ pacing just under threshold.
Interval Advice:
- Training Zones (heart rate and/or power) – Until these are established, it is impossible for training intensity to be determined. A simple 30’ time trial with a heart rate monitor will provide all the information you need to get the job done. Take a look at “Digging Deeper” for further testing details.
- With tempo intervals, the effort needs to be ramped up to the specific zone. Concentrate on getting the appropriate gear going round at 90-100 rpm rather than trying to get into the target heart rate zone as quickly as you can. It’ll help you to avoid working too hard, going anaerobic, to accommodate the phenomenon of heart rate lag. You can see this with the pacing of a pursuiter having a more relaxed start with the goal of getting the gear rolling to the optimal cadence, (not interested in acceleration) as opposed to the kilo rider who wants to get the gear going as fast as possible.
- If one week you do 6 interval repetitions and the next week you are able to do 4, that’s fine. Doing less with specificity and purpose is far superior to slugging through 10 half-baked "zoneless" intervals that do basically nothing but expend calories and compromise the next training session. Make sure the fatigue is from specific work that reaps dividends in fitness rather than just being a hard worker.
- Adding another day with an easy 30-minute recovery spin would be a real plus to your program.
The green line shows the ultimate TT goal, pacing. Get to the edge and hold steady within the zone rather than going out too hard and dying. (Dying is bad whether it’s slow or fast!)
Time trialing is somewhat of an art form. It is so much more than just “putting your head down” and hammering. Yes, there is the physical aspect of pacing but developing your mind to discern your level of intensity, rate of perceived exertion (RPE), takes time…a lot of time. Be patient.
Technically
There is one other area that you can add to your training schedule which will help you become a more efficient cyclist – energy applied to your pedals transfers into as much forward motion as possible. Typically there are a couple of inefficiencies with a cyclist – one leg is favored over another and the pressure applied throughout the pedal stroke is imbalanced. Both of these issues can be addressed with the addition of Isolated Leg Training (Single Leg Training) and a set or 2 can be added to any workout to check for imbalances. Note: When pedaling with a single leg, having the visual of walking with flippers on, lifting the toe up with the heel, helps “see” the correct pedal action.
i.e.) 3 sets of 10-15 x 20-30" with 1 leg at 80-90 rpm - other leg on a chair or unclipped, alternate legs with 5 minutes recovery between each set.
Optimal cadence, knowing how to take the turn-around at speed, gear selection, proper bike fit to ensure good aerodynamics, sufficient and optimal warm-up…these are all technical aspects that you can refine now leading up to your first time trial. No need to wait until race day.
All the best,
Marilyn
Additional information:
Training Aid: By now you have realized that motivation wanes at times throughout the week, throughout the year. Most certainly make use of any means, music/movies/race DVDs, to will help you train optimally to reach your goals. Stage races, like the Tour de France have some great footage of time trials done by the best.
Weight: Since you mentioned your weight, I’d like to show you a few scenarios of how your weight and level of fitness (power at lactate threshold) relate to each other. Just another way of seeing how you can increase your time trialing, and certainly climbing, speed.
Example: 250w power threshold at 250lbs or 113kg your power output is 2.21w/kg
Scenario #1: Keeping the same weight 113kg and increasing your PT to 260w: your power output would be 2.30w/kg
Scenario #2: With keeping the same PT at 250w and decreasing weight to 235lbs ~107kg: your power output would be 2.34w/kg
Scenario #3: Decreasing weight to 107kg with an increase in PT to 260w your power output would be 2.43w/kg
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