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Posted Feb 15, 2005
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Time For Another Hundred Mile Day, Eh?
Hot Damn ~ Racer-dudes
are getting pumped for the season and ready to break legs. I've read a bunch of blogs talking up mega-hours and miles and gotten e-mails about individuals putting in over seven hours last weekend alone!
The secret miles are building up and the racers are going to be flying in the next few weeks! Only SIX weeks to Kent Park and there are over thirty signed up to the 100 maximum so far!
POLAR POWER UPDATE: I'm four weeks into it and still haven't taken the time to hook up the power on the Lemon(d). I'm seriously digging the hrm and the polar software, though. In the basic mode only, it provides a ton of great information and is easily usable with the software to see how hard you're working.
I've done a few sets of sprint/leadout intervals from the Morris school of training and the data reads very well. Maybe I'll take the time to hook up next weekend. Frey assures me it only takes a brainiac 90 minutes.
COACHING WARS: The lycra-backed glove has been thrown down by the new Iowa Cycling Academy. The USAC-licensed coaches have joined forces to help spread the good word of solid training. If you want a real workout, try Coach Randy's Torture Test. See where you stand and learn more about how to improve.
On the other hand, screw the attached/unattached debacle... I want to see the coaches duke it out in '05! Match Sprints. TTs. Enduro. Road Rages!!!!
DQ 4-U: Word on the blogs has it that Quixote Cycling had thirty participants and about twenty non-clients at his day-long seminar at Rassmussen's Bikes in West Des Moines last weekend. Good to see.
When I was a junior (couldn't afford racing because of stupid USAC restrictions), I was drooling over the opportunity to go to a USCF clinic behind Bike World with my buddies. A great experience and kept me motivated for riding for sure! Bruce Pesch used to have a two-day clinic in western Iowa, too, that was pretty popular and informative.
No word on the success of Kim West's clinic.
LAZY NEO-PRO: I don't know if anyone else saw the humor in Wes Hartman's post for his old Trek yesterday, but I giggled at the fact he didn't really refer to the parts, sizes or anything. Homeboy just gets on what has two wheels and wins. I like that in a person.
PRO: The Movie: Thanks for attending last weekend. We had a packed house, a lot of fun, raised some brews and cash for the LAF. I lost a friend and my father-in-law to Glioblastoma Multiformae tumors last year, so this occasion will mean a lot to many more than I. Thanks again for attending!
LAZY NEO-PRO DIARIES:
The Wes Hartman Chronicles
hey all,
hope alls well out in the midwest, i heard the weathers has been quite
mild this winter. that's always nice, hope your enjoying it. down
here the weather has been on the cold side. i guess i really cant say
cold, but coldER for the area at least.
still havin a blast down here, same old i guess. not that its not
exciting and interesting, because everyday is interesting when you
wake up to a house where 8 or more guys share one kitchen, 2 bathrooms
and ride bikes for a living.
i've been a little sick lately, so i just took it easy for a week or
so to recover fully before the fun really starts.
just two more days…two days till it starts… and i can't wait!
the team is headed up to phoenix for our first race together, valley
of the sun. valley is a 3-day stage race composed of a 20k ITT,
90-mile RR, and a 70 min crit. we're all fired up and are anxious to
get out of tucson and start racing.
check it out at http://wmrc.org/vos05/
valley is just a warm up for our first big race though… the vuelta
sonora arizona, just under a 1000 kilometer 6 day stage race from
phoenix straight south everyday ending eventually deep into mexico.
if you can read espanol, check the website out at
www.vueltasonoraarizona.com
tons of money, over a half a million
…
..
.
pesos
okay, still that's over 43 grand… 9 of which go to the winner. just
a week ago, i would have never imagined, now we'll be racing tour
style. okay, okay it might not be as hyped as the "tour", but still.
as soon as i start racing, i'm sure i will have more interesting
stories to share.
-wes
Iowa Cycling Academy:
Lactate Threshold Training
Paul Deninger and Randy Catron, USAC coach
What is lactate threshold? It is a term that gets used a lot these days and if you haven’t latched onto it yet you might consider giving it some attention in your training plan this winter. Many of us were weaned in an era where VO2max was considered the holy grail of cycling performance. More people are becoming aware, however, that lactate threshold (LT) is equally important.
Many riders can’t tell you exactly what lactate threshold is because it seems that even the experts can’t decide on a single definition. Fact is, depending on who you are talking to, the term “LT” can refer to a surprising range which becomes a source of confusion for a lot of riders trying to design a training plan.
In simple terms, lactic acid is a byproduct of a chemical reaction that occurs in your muscles while they work. When more lactic acid accumulates in your blood than what your body can naturally remove, you begin to feel “the burn” in your muscles. The lactate threshold can be thought of as the point at which a rider begins to feel the burn. The burn from lactic acid is something we all have experienced because it is the result of extreme efforts, but ultimately the effect of lactic acid on performance is bad. As lactic acid accumulates, a rider’s muscle cells begin to lose their ability to contract with force and speed, meaning they begin to slow down.
A good time-trialist will train a considerable time at threshold and will describe the feeling as an uncomfortable but steady burning in their legs. Your breathing should remain deep and regular, not ragged. Significant concentration is required to maintain the effort. Using a power measuring device such as PowerTap or SRM to gauge the intensity is the most reliable and repeatable means for figuring your LT in the field.
Using your average power or average heart rate for a one-hour maximal effort is a good place to start in determining your threshold. A shorter duration test may be used, but the results may need to be adjusted. In a 20 minute maximal effort, LT is usually ~5% below average power but average heart rate is roughly the same.
What is the benefit to training your lactate threshold? It is all about efficiency. At any given power output, a rider with a higher LT will be more efficient. Greater efficiency means outlasting your opposition in a road race and having more left “in the tank” at the finish. Many studies have shown that time to fatigue and performance correlate closely to LT. You will consume less muscle glycogen, burn more fat for fuel, and produce less waste (lactate) than your competition. Whether you are a criterium racer, time-trialist, or tourist: greater efficiency will equate to improved performance.
A few practical tips to threshold training:
Use a power meter to determine your threshold. If you’ve never trained by power before, this is enough of a reason to start. Being able to pace an LT interval properly removes all the guesswork from the equation and assures you that your time is being spent productively instead of going too hard or not hard enough.
Heart rate may also be used to guide you in LT training but it will tend to drift significantly during a long interval. If using heart rate, I recommend keeping your HR 10 bpm below your LT heart rate for the first 5 minutes of the interval. Chances are that if the interval feels too “easy” for the first five minutes but you struggle a bit for the last five, you’re probably doing it about right. These intervals are not meant to be an “all-out” effort, but rather they should be slightly below what you determined as your threshold as described above.
If you’re like me, you don’t have a lot of time to train. LT work can be done in small bites. I tend to recommend keeping the interval length no less than ten minutes and no more than thirty. As you improve, you can start stacking intervals (for example 2 X 20:00 intervals) to increase the training load. An interval longer then 30 minutes does not have a significant additional benefit (over a shorter interval) and can be mentally much more taxing than several shorter intervals done in succession.
Harder is not better. Train slightly below your threshold to avoid fatigue. In wattage terms, this is usually 5% below your LT power. Many novice riders make the mistake of doing 20 minute intervals as hard as they can, believing that harder must be better. While this type of training will cause similar adaptations, the main drawback is that fatigue will accumulate much more quickly with successive workouts and you will not be able to spend as much cumulative time at LT in a given week or month. The key to successful threshold training is in the duration of time you spend at the proper intensity. An average category three rider should try to build up to one and a half hours a week at LT. Done correctly, you will see the greatest improvement in your threshold within 4-8 weeks, but some riders may continue to see gains for up to 12 weeks. As your increases you will begin to see a plateau in your fitness indicating that it is time to change stimulus.
A solid core of lactate threshold training should be a main staple in every bike racer’s early season build period. With the gains realized here, your aerobic engine will be more efficient and ready for the intensity that lies ahead as you begin racing and focusing on your racing goals.