Technology

I've always been an early adopter when it came to technology on the bike. When Greg LeMond was winning the Tour de France, I had an Avocet cyclometer on my bike. Then when heart rate monitors came out, I was first in line. What a great leap that was, we finally had something concrete to train by other than perceived exertion.

Then came the ultimate cycling tool: the power meter. I can't remember exactly when I bought my first SRM but I think it was 2002 or 2003. I used it for a year and sold it! WTF, you say! Well, honestly, at that time we didn't really know what all those numbers meant. No one had compiled enough data over a large selection of riders to really know what to compare all those neat numbers we were looking at. Thankfully a small group of engineers and bike geeks kept at it and through some other riders, coaches and a newsgroup called Wattage, we did start to figure out what those numbers meant and I was back on the bandwagon again with a new SRM.

Then Hunter Allen and Andy Coggan wrote a great book that put everything together and made the power meter easy to understand and use. Today I have almost four years of pretty decent data on me, and three, yep count 'em, three SRM's. An old amateur version on the Velotron, a Dura Ace Pro version on the race bike and now, for my post racing days, a new wireless Gossamer compact SRM coupled to a Garmin 705 that is mounted to my Ritchey Breakaway.

And boy am I geeked out! This new Garmin 705 is truly too cool to believe. Tracking your training has never been better; power, distance, time, heart rate, altitude, course maps, GPS, the list goes on. And it not only can track your bike workouts, I have now used it back country skiing and walking my dog! Collecting very useful data with every pedal stroke, kick turn and stride. While it is brand new and I am still figuring out what it is capable of, it hit me tonight how truly far we have come since my old Avocet. Thanks Greg.

TMac

Racing?

The first races of the season are upon us, Boulevard RR in San Diego was this past weekend and the opener for many sun-starved Utahns is the Valley of the Sun stage race in Phoenix, kicking off this Friday. As exciting as it is to get the competitive juices flowing, I dread these early events because of unrealistic expectations.

No matter how well the workouts have gone this winter on the trainer, it is very difficult for riders in Northern climes like Utah to be competitive at a race in mid-February. Riders living in Arizona and Southern California have a distinct advantage over us because of their favorable outdoor riding conditions and the fact that they have been racing for several weeks by now.

And the first time we open up the throttle all the way hurts so it is best to make the first race of the season (actually the first few) a TRAINING RACE. And despite all my challenging workouts, the best way to train for racing is simply racing. And as long as you keep things in perspective and have realistic expectations, racing is awesome training.

I'll refer back to Commandment #5: Not every race is the Tour de France. There is nothing wrong with entering every race with a plan to win, but unless your name is Lance or Eddy, you can't expect to win every race. So jump in and enter these early races like VOS and the March RMR's, but do it right; keep things in perspective and your expectations in line. Race hard for the training and use these races to practice for the events that really matter for you during the season: those 2-3 "A" races that we have selected to have you on your best form.

And if you don't, expect disappointment and discouragement. And we don't want that.

TMac

Power Training Zones

Seems everyone has their own definition of proper zones to train in and over the years I have seen or read about dozens of interpretations from as few as three zones to as many as twelve! TMac coaching has found that for riders using power meters, the Coggan power zones based on FTP (functional threshold power) are the most straight forward and easiest to understand zone structure.

Coggan (Dr. Andrew Coggan, a renown exercise physiologist who has published a number of cycling-related scientific articles and is a National-caliber Masters cyclist himself) defines his power training zones into seven unique levels as follows:

Level 1: Active Recovery, less than 55% of FTP
Level 2: Endurance, 56-75% of FTP
Level 3: Tempo, 76-90% of FTP
Level 4: Threshold, 91-105% of FTP
Level 5: VO2 max, 106-120% of FTP
Level 6: Anaerobic Capacity, 121-150% of FTP
Level 7: Neuromuscular Power, more than 150% of FTP

Hunter Allen also slides another very targeted level into Coggans zones in his book, "Training and Racing with a Power Meter" called the Sweet Spot. This sub-threshold level occurs on the cusp of both the Tempo and Threshold levels at 88-94% of FTP. Though not an official level of its own, the Sweet Spot is an excellent place to begin building your FTP.

FTP, as a reminder to all of you, is roughly the average power you can sustain for a one hour time trial effort. Some of you confuse this with your 20 minute average power because I use the 20 minute test as an easier (its all relative, right?) way to determine FTP than a full on, one hour time trial. Keep in mind that your 20 minute best is approximately 103% of FTP. Using this formula combined with an average of your best 60 minute normalized power averages can determine FTP.

TMac

Happy Campers!

The final day of TMac's training camp was the shortest and most intense of all. We rode the Gunlock loop (which is possibly the road course for Tour del Sol) and I had the group do three repeats up Veyo Hill, a nine tenths of a mile, 7% climb that takes roughly five minutes. This length of effort is on the long end of a good VO2 interval and combined with the steep grade made for a solid workout.

Weather was mostly overcast and gray and we got hit with the only real rain of the day during our VO2 intervals. I had pumped the group up about the fantastic assortment of pastries and pies at the Veyo Cafe so they hurriedly made the two mile trek from the top of Veyo Hill after the final interval only to find it has closed! Talk about disappointment. Luckily the gas station across the street was open and everyone was able to take a restroom break and get a cup of warm fluid in them before rolling back to the house.

Overall, the campers were extremely pleased with our four day excursion in Southern Utah. Covering roughly 265 miles in 14 hours, with a great mix of workouts combining threshold, tempo and VO2 efforts with paceline work, climbing, descending and echelon practice made for a solid camp that will pay off in spades about two months from now.

TMac

Day 3: Long & Hard

Rain in St. George prompted our move to the lower and warmer clime of Overton, Nevada. We parked at the off-ramp, broke into two groups of five and immediately began 5 minute pulls at 90% FTP. With dry roads and sunny skys, the campers were throttling it from the get go, flying along the North Lake Mead road until we hit road construction about 20 miles in. We did a U-turn and re-routed our course through the Valley of Fire state park and proceeded to ride up and over through the park and on to I-15 where we stopped of re-fueling.

On the way back the group was feeling frisky and decided to race to the top of a ridge within the park. Wagers were going on in the follow truck with most of the money on Fasse for the win and he didn't let us down. We re-grouped and rolled back to the Overton exit, pressing on at a lively pace. Tough day for some but all in all, a great day!

TMac

Day 2: FTP on Utah Hill

Despite the less than stellar weather conditions (some rain and clouds) we had some incredible performances today from the entire group, including several all time FTP highs! Although it is early in the season, several things contributed to the new PR's: inter-group competition raised everyones performance, lower altitude increases power output and good quality build up and rest prior to camp.

Tomorrow will be much longer, but a whole lot easier. We will ride from the house in Santa Clara across the Dixie rim and through Washington, on to Springdale and Zions Park. It will likely be a six hour ride.

TMac

Team TMac training camp day 1

Yesterday was a welcome respite from the inversion in SLC; 64 degrees and partly cloudy skies. Our group spend a considerable portion of the ride in shorts and short sleeves! As the opening day to a tough four day camp, I kept a lid on their effort, limiting average speed to 18 mph and no hard efforts on the climbs. Everyone seemed very pleased and sated after our 3+ hour jaunt around the old Quail Creek Dam route.

Today: threshold efforts on Utah Hill!

TMac