RIDING THE TRAINER

Everybody loves riding the trainer, right? Ya, right. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a necessary evil for some of us. Winter time in Montana isn't the best for a cyclist. The weather and road conditions usually cooperate at least a couple times each month, but for the most part riding outside is limited. If and when you can't ride outside, there are tons of other activities that you can do to get in a good aerobic workout. Things like skiing, hiking, snowshoeing, ice climbing (for you brave souls), and running are just a few ways to get outside, embrace winter, and get a good workout in. The GAS Team puts on a great Tuesday Night Headlamp Crosstraining Series where people meet up and do many of the above mentioned things as a group. Good fun, and good training to boot. However, for some of us, it's hard to fit things like that into the schedule, so that leaves the option of no workout, or the trainer.

We've all heard the great advice out there on how to make the trainer rides more exciting, or at least bearable. Things like having a fan, drinking plenty of fluids, watching television (I prefer hockey, go Avs!)or cycling videos, listening to good music, doing specific workouts, and keeping the ride short are all great ideas. For me, the hardest part of any trainer ride is just getting on the bike. It's way to easy keep putting the ride off until it's to late to do it. Or to tell yourself you feel a little tired, skipping today is probably best. Some days, if you really are to tired, taking a rest day IS best, but using it for an EXCUSE to avoid the trainer just leads to decreased fitness, and increased chances of getting dropped when the racing starts. Remember, every day counts, even the days that you don't feel like riding the trainer. The thing that best helps me avoid those missed rides is focusing on how good I feel after a ride, rather than on how bad it sucks to have to ride the trainer. I always feel great after a good ride, whether it is on the trainer or outside. I know if I skip the ride, I'll feel like crap for cheating myself, and if I do the ride I'll feel great afterwards. It may seem cheesy, but it works for me. There are not a lot of positives about riding the trainer, but try to find one that works for you and use it to your advantage, so you can get the most out of your training in these cold, dark winter months.

Keep it PURE,
Brad

THRESHOLD TEST-OUCH!

With the new racing season looming on the horizon, I decided it's time to get a little more serious about my training. I've been doing some riding for the last few weeks, but nothing really serious or structured, just putting in some easy miles. I think it's only 13 weeks until the Montana Roubaix in Missoula, and I want to do what I can to be ready to race by then. The Roubaix is always a tough race. Everyone has been training hard(unless you ask, then no one has been on their bike for weeks, maybe months) and they're itchin to test their fitness. The course is challenging, and the weather is always a question at that time of the spring. GAS was a dominate force in the race last year, taking 1st and 2nd overall, and we will definitely do what we can to repeat that this year. The Freight Train is already rolling. Flurry Curry is coming off a crazy good 'cross season and will be flying. Hardman Lussier is keeping fit climbing ice and skiing, and will probably not even look at his bike (other than his commuter, of course) between know and April, yet he'll still be killing it. New dad Sebastion is probably chasing little Willie around non-stop, but I'm guessing he'll find time to squeeze in some quality training, so he can be ready to ride away with the race if the opportunity presents itself. Tomas also has kids to chase around to keep him in shape, that is when he's not chasing or leading Alex up some crazy ice climb. He, as well as Jason D. and the rest of the GAS crew, will be ready to race for the win, or support the team goals. We may even have a surprise or two up our sleeves this year, time will tell. 13 weeks seems so far away at times, like when I'm riding the trainer and wondering why, but it'll be race day before we know it. I, for one, am excited. I heard from a reliable source that Sam Krieg was planning on racing the Roubaix this year. When I heard that I told my wife I wasn't worried about it and my new moto is " I'm not afraid of Sam Krieg." Then, I ran downstairs and put in an extra two hours on the trainer! (OK, I'm a little afraid)

Part of being more serious with the training is testing. I did a threshold test last Sunday, and boy did it hurt. I train with power, so the purpose of the test is to determine my functional threshold power (FTP). I then use the FTP to determine different training zones. The different training zones are used to set the intensity level of each and every ride I do. The intensity at which you train helps determine the adaptions that take place in the body as a result of the training. The adaptions that take place in the body are what leads to you being fit, or not. Once you know more about what happens within the body as a result of the training you do, you can train smarter, and get where your going (achieve your goals) faster. More on this later. So, back to the test. The test I choose to do is hard. But, I like it for several reasons. It is repeatable, it can be done alone, (although having a coach or another rider there to offer advice and motivation can be helpful), and the numbers don't lie. There is no human judgement involved. Some tests may be physically easier, but they rely on a coach or the test administrator to determine threshold based on watching breathing patterns or by having the tester to give out perceived exertion numbers. These tests can be good if both the coach and rider are experienced enough to give accurate responses, but sometimes this is not the case. My test simply relys on your legs to push the pedals, and a power meter to record the data. There is a specific test protocol that I go through, but the FTP is based on a twenty minute time trial. You go as hard as you can for twenty minutes, and if you do it right, it hurts. Well, I must have done it right, because it hurt. I felt like quitting after about 5 minutes, but stuck it out and found my rythme. I felt better in the second half, but it still hurt. I actually threw up when the twenty minutes ended and I started to soft pedal. Wow, I haven't done that for a long time. That sets the bar kinda high, now whenever I do a test, if I don't throw up I won't think I went hard enough. Oh well, I'm just glad it's over and I don't have to do it again for a while.

Throwing up was the bad news. The good news is that the FTP number is higher now then it was mid February last season. So, If I can continue to neglect my job (which I plan to do) and get some good, solid training in over the next couple months, I should be ready to go wheel to wheel with Sam Krieg in April, at least for the first lap or so!

PROOF THAT MONTANA CYCLING IS TOUGH

TJ Van Garderen is living the dream. Many of you who have raced in Montana for a few years will remember TJ. He spent some time living and racing both in Bozeman and Missoula when he was a young up and coming racer. He put the hurt on us old guys many a time while he was here. Just for the record, I did beat him once at a road race in Helena. He was maybe 15 years old, and I had a teammate to help me, but regardless, I still crossed the line ahead of a future pro! Pretty sad that barely beating some young kid in a bike race is my claim to fame, but you take what you can get! I believe he is America's next hope for a future Tour win. Here's a link to a recent interview he had with cyclingnews.com as he prepares for his first season as a protour rider for Columbia-HTC. Go get 'em, TJ!

THE "OFF" SEASON

I was down in the PURE Cycling Studio (cold, dark, unfinished basement) the other night riding the trainer when a good friend of mine called. He asked what I was doing. I told him I was riding my bike. He kinda giggled and said "Why are you doing that. It's only January. Isn't this the off season?" My friend is new to cycling, having just bought a mountain bike last summer. He still thinks cycling is JUST about having fun. Maybe he's one of the lucky ones, and it will always just be about having fun. For some of us, it turns into something a little more than just fun. Sure, it starts out innocently enough. You go for a ride, get some exercise, have a little fun. Then, you realize, the more you ride, the faster you can ride, and the MORE fun you can have. Pretty soon, your riding more, just so you can ride more, makes sense to me. Then, somehow, some way you decide to do a race. Game over. Now your a competitive cyclist, you'll never be the same. Now, it's more than just fun. Your going to go through a slight metamorphosis. Subtle changes, like watching what you eat, trying to get more sleep, drinking more water and less beer. Ya, crazy, I know. Other changes are not so subtle, and you may receive a little bit of disapproval from people close to you. Things like shaving the legs, spending large chunks of cash, and usually credit on cycling stuff, wearing lycra and neglecting work, family, etc to get in a long ride or race. You're no longer only riding, you're training. Before you know it, you find yourself down in your basement, riding a bike on a trainer, pedaling fast, but going nowhere, in January. Believe it or not, to me, at least, that can still be fun. I've gone through that metamorphosis, so for me, there is no off season. There are breaks, and time away from the bike, but to get faster, you gotta ride. Here's a short list, in no particular order, of some of the many reasons you'll find me on my bike in January- Josh Tack, Scott Herzig, Clint Muelfeld, Frank G, Matt Butterfield, Ben Parsons,and Matt Seely to name a few. And there are more. Montana may not be a "hotbed" in the cycling world, but we have some strong riders, and most of our races are pretty intense. All those guys are beasts, and if I'm not training, I don't have a chance of competing with them. Not to mention some of the strong men on the GAS team-John Curry, Alex Lussier, Seb White, and Brian Frykman. If I don't ride my trainer in January, I won't even be able to hang on their wheels on a group ride later on, let alone try and help them win some races. So, ya, for me, there is no off season. Enough blabber, I gotta go ride.

LOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARD

Welcome to the start of another year. This is the time of year when many people look back on the past year, reflect upon how things have gone, and make resolutions to try and improve different aspects of their lives. I've never been much of a resolution person. It seems most people tend to make resolutions that are a bit unrealistic, and pretty tough to stick to. I am, however, a goal oriented person. I think everybody should have goals in their life. Whether it's for cycling, work, or just life in general, having something to strive for is important. Setting goals is one of the first steps in designing a season training plan. Goals should be specific, challenging, realistic, and something you REALLY want to achieve. Winning the Tour de France, at least for anyone who might be reading this, is probably not a realistic goal. Now, that said, it's great to have dream goals, as well. Something that is borderline crazy, but if everything fell into place and you worked your hardest, it just might someday, somehow be possible. In that case, winning the Tour might be a dream goal for some of you out there. My son is five years old and plays termite hockey. He has already said that one day his name WILL be on the Stanley Cup. Hey, I'm not gonna squish that goal. In fact, I'll do whatever it takes to help him get there. The odds are obviously against him, but it's great to dream. Your season goals, the things you base your training on, should be much closer to the realm of possibility. They have to be important to YOU, not to anyone else. Having the support of other people in reaching your goals is great, but you gotta wanna do it, otherwise it's just to darn hard. So, set some goals. Decide what you want to accomplish with all this training you plan on doing, otherwise, you might just wake up one day and decide it's a lot easier to not train. Set some goals, and don't give up on them.

Here's where the looking back comes into play. You've set some goals, you're excited to train and have a successful racing year, now what? You need a plan. One of the first things you should do while planning for the upcoming season is look back at last few seasons and ask yourself a few simple questions. Did you meet your goals? Did you have a plan? Did you follow through with your plan? What went well with your training? What went wrong with your training? Did you give it your all? Can you, or are you willing to, give more to meet your goals? How can you use these experiences to improve your training and racing this year? So, crack, or click, open your training journal/log and start checking things out. Did you spend adequate time building your base? Was your training load unrealistic, and you missed/skipped many sessions? Did you allow for adequate recovery? Did you feel consistently tired, or perhaps never tired? These questions and many, many more can be answered by going through previous years training journals. You did keep a training journal, right? If you didn't, you're missing out on one of the most valuable training tools you have at your disposal. With no training journal to look at, you will have a hard time answering some of those questions. If you don't know when you were doing what, for how long, and if it worked, your basically starting from scratch. Even if you've been doing this a few years, and think you have a good idea of what you did, you don't really now what to change to get the improvement your hoping for. Keeping a journal can seem like a chore, but it doesn't have to be. Make it part of your routine. Once it becomes a habit, it's not that big of a deal, and later on when you need some info, it'll be there.

Those are the first basic steps to getting your season started. Set some goals, come up with a training plan that will get you there, and use your past seasons training journals to help you decide which route to take to get there. Of course, there will be many obstacles and decision to make along the way. Hopefully, I'll be around to update the blog more than once a year, and I will post a little more advice on many things related to training. If you've got specific questions, or anything you would like me to write about, leave a comment or send an e-mail. Otherwise, I'll see you on the roads. I am really looking forward to this season, and have already started my little training journey. I've picked up a couple new clients for coaching this season, and I'm stoked to help them achieve there goals and rip some legs off of the rest of you Montana racers as well. I only have room for one or two more full time clients, depending on the level of coaching involvement desired. Contact me if you're interested. Here's to a great 2010, for me, at least, it's gotta be better than my injury and illness filled '09.