Thursday, February 4, 2010
Mixing it up
As an athlete and as a coach, being imersed in cycling at all times can get a little stale.
So, I like to mix it up. And, I encourage my athletes to do the same too.
Athlete Mina and I had a great time at Eldora last night racing in the weekly Night Hawks series.
At just 12 years old, she is a true athletic talent.
So, I like to mix it up. And, I encourage my athletes to do the same too.
Athlete Mina and I had a great time at Eldora last night racing in the weekly Night Hawks series.
At just 12 years old, she is a true athletic talent.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Variety-the spice of training
Variety, they say, is the spice of life.
Variety, is also the spice to your winter time training plan. Not only do you vary your workouts and ride efforts, but you should vary your actual modes of exercise.
Cross training (i.e. variety) provides your body and, most importantly, your mind new and challenging ways to get better. Variety creates adversity your body and mind are not used to. Both adapt and get stronger and when it's time to ride your bike, you will be better for it.
Coach Alison's favorite ways to add spice to her winter training plan include, Nordic skiing, dog walks, Pilates and wood splitting, piling and moving. All prepare her with recovery both mentally (most important), and physically and when it's time to ride her bike, she goes at it with 100% inspiration.
What's your favorite winter spice?
Variety, is also the spice to your winter time training plan. Not only do you vary your workouts and ride efforts, but you should vary your actual modes of exercise.
Cross training (i.e. variety) provides your body and, most importantly, your mind new and challenging ways to get better. Variety creates adversity your body and mind are not used to. Both adapt and get stronger and when it's time to ride your bike, you will be better for it.
Coach Alison's favorite ways to add spice to her winter training plan include, Nordic skiing, dog walks, Pilates and wood splitting, piling and moving. All prepare her with recovery both mentally (most important), and physically and when it's time to ride her bike, she goes at it with 100% inspiration.
What's your favorite winter spice?
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Getting the numbers
Coach Alison had a chance to go to Boulder Center for Sports Medicine for some fitness testing.
Being a bit of a workout masochist, Coach Alison kind of likes the testing. It brings out the best in her as she wants to do her personal best to get the best data possible. She gets to learn a lot about her body and how her training is coming along.
The tests included a Lactate Profile, VO2 max, and Windgate to determine peak power for 30 seconds.
The Lactate Profile test gradually ups the watts every 3 minutes until you can no longer pedal anymore. After each three minutes, you have to provide a small blood sample to determine what your blood lactate is (i.e. finger prick).
The VO2 max tests determines how efficient your body is a using oxygen. Again, you pedal as long as possible as the watts are slowly added.
After the testing, Coach Alison learned that though she has a decent base of fitness, she has some work cut out for her (ie training) for next season.
This testing was very motivating and a great workout during a cold, snowy day here in Colorado.
Being a bit of a workout masochist, Coach Alison kind of likes the testing. It brings out the best in her as she wants to do her personal best to get the best data possible. She gets to learn a lot about her body and how her training is coming along.
The tests included a Lactate Profile, VO2 max, and Windgate to determine peak power for 30 seconds.
The Lactate Profile test gradually ups the watts every 3 minutes until you can no longer pedal anymore. After each three minutes, you have to provide a small blood sample to determine what your blood lactate is (i.e. finger prick).
The VO2 max tests determines how efficient your body is a using oxygen. Again, you pedal as long as possible as the watts are slowly added.
After the testing, Coach Alison learned that though she has a decent base of fitness, she has some work cut out for her (ie training) for next season.This testing was very motivating and a great workout during a cold, snowy day here in Colorado.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
National Champion!
Athlete Mina raced at CX Nationals in Bend, Oregon. After the great training she had put in over the past few months, she was confident she could win.
Her hard work paid off. Mina raced a near perfect race and got the "W". Her second National Championship.
Congratulations!
Her hard work paid off. Mina raced a near perfect race and got the "W". Her second National Championship.
Congratulations!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Do you have a plan?
"Fail to plan and you plan to fail". This saying has more importance than you realize.
In order to be successful at anything in life, especially sports, you must plan for it. Amongst other things, you must plan out your race schedule, your training schedule, and your training times. Then you must plan on the best way to make everything happen. "Winging it" only works for so long. The best athletes are the ones who have planned their success.
What's the first step in this planning process? Goal setting. You must set realistic yet challenging goals to keep you motivated and on track.
An example of a goal would be -
Eat healthy
That's a great goal, but how do you eat healthy? What are the steps to eating healthy and how do you know if you are doing it?
You must break your goals down into more goals and tasks. If your goal can be broken down, you are not finished making it.
In order to eat healthy, you must know what eating healthy means. A better goal would be-
I plan on buying more fruits and veggies to have on hand at home for snacking. I will stay away from highly processed (packaged, sugar filled) foods and buy more "natural" foods that have not been as processed. When I will always remember to eat a healthy snack (ie banana and milk) after my ride. Etc, etc.
Goals have to be broken down, and down, until all you have to do is follow the steps.
Plan to succeed.
In order to be successful at anything in life, especially sports, you must plan for it. Amongst other things, you must plan out your race schedule, your training schedule, and your training times. Then you must plan on the best way to make everything happen. "Winging it" only works for so long. The best athletes are the ones who have planned their success.
What's the first step in this planning process? Goal setting. You must set realistic yet challenging goals to keep you motivated and on track.
An example of a goal would be -
Eat healthy
That's a great goal, but how do you eat healthy? What are the steps to eating healthy and how do you know if you are doing it?
You must break your goals down into more goals and tasks. If your goal can be broken down, you are not finished making it.
In order to eat healthy, you must know what eating healthy means. A better goal would be-
I plan on buying more fruits and veggies to have on hand at home for snacking. I will stay away from highly processed (packaged, sugar filled) foods and buy more "natural" foods that have not been as processed. When I will always remember to eat a healthy snack (ie banana and milk) after my ride. Etc, etc.
Goals have to be broken down, and down, until all you have to do is follow the steps.
Plan to succeed.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Fix yourself now, so you can ride strong in 2010!
After a season of riding, racing, traveling in the van, car, and airplane your body is probably a bit out of whack. Sitting on the saddle followed by sitting in the car followed by sitting/laying on the couch can start to create muscle imbalances in your body. Now is the time to "fine tune" your body.
You may have muscle imbalances, flexibility imbalances (or both), pedal stroke imbalances, or mental training imbalances. If you have one imbalance, there is a good chance you have another one too.
Fix those imbalances so you can ride stronger in 2010.
Good "fixing" exercises include-
-Pilates (my favorite!)
-Yoga
-Massage
-Single leg pedaling
-Stretching
-REST
-Walking
You may have muscle imbalances, flexibility imbalances (or both), pedal stroke imbalances, or mental training imbalances. If you have one imbalance, there is a good chance you have another one too.
Fix those imbalances so you can ride stronger in 2010.
Good "fixing" exercises include-
-Pilates (my favorite!)
-Yoga
-Massage
-Single leg pedaling
-Stretching
-REST
-Walking
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
