Tour De Garage-Power Endurance

Time to use those trainers for workouts and not just to warm-up for time trials. I have done a couple of workouts this season so far. Usually this time of year I ride indoors before work when it is too dark to get in a good workout. That is what I did yesterday. My workout consisted of very short, full effort burst.

My warm up:
5:00 easy pedaling (small ring)
5:00 alternating seating and standing pedaling every :30 (big ring, top of the cog set)
6:00 one-legged efforts 1:00 at a time (big ring, top of the cog set)

The Workout:
5 x :30 power efforts. Big ring and top of the cog set (like 17). 1:00 RI (rest interval)
5 x :30 power efforts. Big ring and bottom of the cog set (like 12). 1:00 RI
Rest for 2:00 between those two set.

6 x :15 one-legged power efforts. Big ring and middle of cog set (like 15). :45 RI
Complete all 6 sets for one leg, rest for 2:00, then complete all 6 for the other leg.

Warm down:
Spin in an easy gear for at least 5:00
Easy pedaling for as long as required.

Give it a try and post what you think to the comments.

Update to post:

Nick made a very good point in the comments:

hey man just wondering but dont you think its a little bit early to be doing that intense, short work.

id stick with the longer intervals 2x20 or 1x30 depending on how long ur on the trainer.

He's right. This time of year is too early to be doing intense power intervals on the bike. Right now we are doing some load bearing power endurance training off the bike. Our trainer workouts are sub-threshold workouts just like Nick suggested. I was taking some of the information I am learning from my new coach and trying to apply it to some of the in-season workouts we could be doing.

These workouts are much more interesting to post then the sub-threshold long intervals. Although I will be posting some of those.

Thanks for point Nick.

The Answer.

According to our new coaches at Atlantic Performance Training, the five factors of athletic performance, in order, are:

Preparedness
Effort
Attitude
Talent
Skill

As I am not one to just accept information as fact, I researched this on my own. Jim Loehr is a human performance psychologist and probably a leading expert in the field. He expands his knowledge base to help people succeed in business as well. He adds toughness as number 1, but most others don't include it on their list. Self-confidence and a sense of control could be listed, but they could be considered a result of preparedness.

What does this mean?

Natural talent will only get you so far. If someone is preparing properly for competition (training, nutrition, tactics, visualizations, etc...) they will beat the natural athlete who is not properly preparing. This gives me a lot of hope and a lot of motivation.

One aspect of training that is not used as often as it should be is sports psychology training. Has anyone ever done this? Does it work? For people that I have talked to so far, it works. Professional athletes of all sports do it. Cycling is so much a mental sport, you would think it would be beneficial.

There is one coming up at Atlantic Performance Training on November 22nd. They are going to start having them on a regular basis I think.

An Advanced Sports Performance Seminar
Registration

Atlantic Performance Training is proud to present the “Mental Preparation for Competition” seminar on
Saturday, November 22, 2008 from 12pm to 4pm. Topics covered in this seminar
include motivation, recovery, distraction, selective attention, focus, anxiety, imagery, creating success...
and more. Location: Atlantic Performance Training, 2529 Virginia Beach Blvd, VA Beach, VA 23452.
For directions, visit www.atlanticperformancetraining.com. Seminar includes reference materials, water
bottle and tee shirt. SEATS ARE LIMITED. Cost: $199 per participant.
For further information, please contact Nick Luciano at 757.275.7636.

Factors affecting athletic performance.

If I were to list a set of factors that contribute to athletic performance, could you put them in order of importance?

Effort
Talent
Skill
Preparedness
Attitude

Give it a shot. Post them, in order, to the comments. Check back and I will post the answer.

Cure for the exercise excuse.

Bikes for Sale.

I have decided it is time to unload some of my bikes so the kids could have Christmas presents. The above Giant Trance 4 is the first to go. I believe it is a 2006 model. I have had it for two years and it has very few miles on it. Especially after getting my CX bike last year, this bike has just been hanging in the garage. I have not been on it at all this year.

It is pretty much stock with the exception of the Avid disc brakes that I added. Saddle bag, pump and bottle cage included.

I am 6'. The bike I think is a Medium (18") but I can't remember for sure and the sticker is no longer on it (of course). It measures 18" from the center of the bottom bracket to the center of the seat collar. At 6' it fits me perfectly. You can see from the picture how much seat post is showing.

Interested? $700 OBO.

I also might be willing to sell my fixed gear. It is a converted Giant TCR aluminum frame size medium converted to a fixed gear. It is a great winter time beater bike but can not be used for track events. If anyone is interested I might be willing to let that go for $300 OBO.

Email me if interested in any of this stuff. vbwheelmen@cox.net

Change is upon us.

I am going to keep my talk about the election and politics to local races. In Virginia Beach it looks like we are getting a new mayor after two decades. Is that good? Virginia Beach is a City Manager run government and the mayor is simply another vote on council. So a new mayor can only do so much damage or good. I heard a lot of people talk about needing a new mayor and my only response was "why?" Virginia Beach is doing well. We may hate paying personal property taxes on vehicles and our homes, but the money has to come from some where. City services are top notch and based on the continued development of Town Center it looks like we are attracting new businesses as well.


Just a thought. We knew what we had with Oberndorf, now we have to wait to see what we are going to get with Sessoms.

Speaking of change. I made a first step in changing the look of the VCA race calendar for next year. I have found a good course, the town is excited to have us, and it comes with thousands of spectators there for a festival.

Here's the hint:

Excited for another night.

I am looking forward to another night of training at APT. The stuff we are doing is exciting, useful and different. Balance and coordination is our primary goal now. The above picture is of us after a workout.

That Jacob's Ladder is not joke. You should see Tim on that slide board. He looks like a pro.

There is Jon performing one of the many exercises done with a pvc pipe.

All photos taken by staff of Atlantic Performance Training.