Just wanted to drop a quick post leading into this 4th of July weekend. I remember last year at this time I was trying to juggle traveling, family obligations, training for the Musselman 70.3 race and basically burning the candle at both ends. Sometimes you don't realize how far you are pushing yourself until you finally take a step back. That is what I decided to do almost exactly one year to this date.
After having a decent performance at 2009 Musselman 70.3 and then running the Presque Isle Duathlon one week later I realized I needed a break. Actually, I realized I needed to drop down in the distances I was competing at for several reasons. I think most come to realizations on their own. People close to me were telling me I was pushing myself too hard but I didn't want to hear it or admit it. Finally, I realized I needed to listen. Since last year I have cut back on my training and focused on being HEALTHY. There is a big difference between being the most fit or the best in your age group and being healthy. I realized that after pushing myself to the extreme and being extremely fit that I was not actually very healthy. Something had to change.
Since last year I returned to the weight room on a consistent basis, only trained on the bike 2-3 times per week, and ran 1-2 times per week and many times didn't run at all. To my surprise my performance on the bike didn't suffer much and I was a much healthier happier individual. My future goals include competing at shorter triathlon and cycling distances and focusing on fun and health rather than winning.
I feel that many out there want to win their age group and that is okay. I also feel that you can be very healthy/happy and still win your age group. However, for me, I needed to sacrifice a great deal to be competitive and after performing to what I thought was my limit I decided to change gears.
As a coach, father and husband I have found my performance in these other areas of my life has substantially improved. I am sure I will return to the sprint and Olympic distances soon but hope to approach these events with a different perspective. I have learned a great deal on how to do this from the athletes I coach. I am greatly impressed by their discipline as well as their consistent ability to surprise not only me but themselves as well.
Friday
Wednesday
PMC and Planning
Above you will find what I commonly do as a coach with ALL my athletes that desire to get this type of detail and thought put into their training plans. This particular athlete raced an 8 day stage race in Europe last year around the end of May. He is scheduled to do a similar race in Europe but this time on August 30th. So we still have time to build his chronic training load (CTL) at a safe and manageable pace.
Last year his power to weight ratio on the bike was just outstanding. He road beyond his dreams during that stage race and was a top performer in not only his age group but overall. We collaborated quite a lot based on how he was feeling and how his training stress balance (TSB) was responding to this training stress.
The real value of a power meter used in coordination with a program like WKO+ is that we are able to look back at last year and determine what kind of training stress and CTL are required to get a desired result. This athlete does not want to invest the amount of time he did into his training as last year so we were able to come to a compromise on his CTL goal prior to his race. We came up with 63 tss/day for his goal CTL prior to his peak period. We may come in slightly above this or slightly below. However, we feel that we will approach his performances of last year with a CTL approaching 70 tss/day.
Now the hard part...I as a coach will be developing and continuously tweaking his schedule to get him there. As we roll into June and July I hope to partially re-create the type of stress you find in a 5 day stage race that includes over 30,000 feet elevation gain. See profile below:
Hopefully this year he will be able to bring his Power Tap along for a few days of this event. Last year we were concerned about the weight of the wheel and the hassle of brining it. So he decided not to bring it. If your Power Tap is not built into a high end wheel then you will usually find yourself weighing the pros and cons of bringing your Power Tap along or not. In last year's case we decided to go without. Probably a good decision since he is not riding the same course this year. However, if you are going to be riding a similar course year after year and you don't have your Power Tap built into a Zipp 404 or other high end wheel then it is a good idea to make the sacrifice and use the Power Tap wheel. The data gained during these events is invaluable as you prepare for the following years race in terms of identifying and improving your limiters and also realizing the kind of kilojoules needed to complete the event.
PMC and Planning
Above you will find what I commonly do as a coach with ALL my athletes that desire to get this type of detail and thought put into their training plans. This particular athlete raced an 8 day stage race in Europe last year around the end of May. He is scheduled to do a similar race in Europe but this time on August 30th. So we still have time to build his chronic training load (CTL) at a safe and manageable pace.
Last year his power to weight ratio on the bike was just outstanding. He road beyond his dreams during that stage race and was a top performer in not only his age group but overall. We collaborated quite a lot based on how he was feeling and how his training stress balance (TSB) was responding to this training stress.
The real value of a power meter used in coordination with a program like WKO+ is that we are able to look back at last year and determine what kind of training stress and CTL are required to get a desired result. This athlete does not want to invest the amount of time he did into his training as last year so we were able to come to a compromise on his CTL goal prior to his race. We came up with 63 tss/day for his goal CTL prior to his peak period. We may come in slightly above this or slightly below. However, we feel that we will approach his performances of last year with a CTL approaching 70 tss/day.
Now the hard part...I as a coach will be developing and continuously tweaking his schedule to get him there. As we roll into June and July I hope to partially re-create the type of stress you find in a 5 day stage race that includes over 30,000 feet elevation gain. See profile below:
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