 As we reach mid-February, some athletes have been in their non-competitive, non-event, or “shoulder” season for several months. Others who raced a full ‘cross calendar may feel like they have just shut it down. Wherever you fall in the spectrum, hopefully you’ve taken some time to dial it back, get off the bike a bit, enjoy other outdoor activities, and then start getting ready for next season. During this time, many coaches and athletes will include strategically placed higher intensity workouts on the schedule. Strategic and deliberate with purpose. Over the past five or six years, there’s been a new way to include intensity all year round. Like it or not, Virtual Racing, or E-Racing is here, and quite likely here to stay. There’s even National Championships, Professional Zwift Racing Teams, and some real money behind the competitions. Virtual races can really be a lot of fun. I’ve participated in a good handful, and may recommend a race to some of my clients. They’re a great way to really push yourself and mix things up when forced to train indoors. I’ve even had clients use E-Fondos to qualify for the National Fondo Championships. This is great as it makes the event much more attainable for the individual who doesn’t have the luxury of traveling to several far away events a year. But unless you’re sandbagging or e-doping (lying about your weight and/or height), they are usually quite intense. Often too intense. Some group rides wouldfall into this category, too. They can make for a really fun workout or provide that extra motivation during the cold winter months, but we must be careful with their placement on the calendar and how frequently we’re participating.
On the virtual platforms like TrainingPeaks Virtual and Zwift, at some times of the day you can find a race starting nearly every 15 minutes. You can certainly find races every single day. Other platforms might not have the same saturation as these two, but they’re there. Even in the height of “in season”, athletes can easily overdo it with virtual racing and intense group rides. It’s important to respect the intensity of these events and be mindful of where they fall on your calendar. They’re fun and some folks report that they can be addictive. And they’re certainly an easy answer to the question, “what should I do on the trainer today?” Our brain’s pleasure center gets all fired up with the hard efforts and, assuming things don’t go terribly wrong, we can leave the event on a pretty good high. If you’re still three or even four months away from the start of your season, I would suggest no more than 1 or 2 virtual races a month. Oh the blasphemy. One or two per month? For sure. I’m not suggesting zero intensity. Not at all. I’m a proponent of programming “intense” workouts with a specific objective that is targeted to help you reach goal. These workouts will often be progressive in duration of the intervals and/or the intensity of the intervals. Unfortunately e-racing doesn’t always afford this same kind of progression. As mentioned, virtual races are often super intense and take a significant amount of time to properly recover. Additionally, most indoor setups, regardless of the number of fans, create very warm environments especially during the intense sessions like a race. Despite our best attempts, we’ll often end up in a dehydrated state. Along those lines, it’s not uncommon to under fuel for our indoor workouts. They’re indoors. How hard can they be? Very. I came across this quite technical article on the recovery from a Zwift Race: Zwift Recovery https://www.endureiq.com/blog/recovery-from-a-zwift-race The science is cool, and the summary is: “So, next time you are thinking about jumping into a Zwift race, it might be worth first considering the time-course of physiological recovery from a high-intensity effort like this, and what training you had planned in the subsequent 24-48 hours. In the case of the athlete described here, I’d say that refraining from the Friday night racing in an effort to maximize their outputs in their subsequent planned weekend of training might be the best approach. Thursday may have been a better night for racing, such that enough time was allowed for recovery prior to those planned intervals!” With the extended recovery period, our subsequent workouts may be of lower quality. Or worse, we can quickly approach a non-functioning over-reaching state, which can have even longer negative implications. And while true over-training is not actually as common as folks would suggest, it’s definitely possible. All of these things can impact your progress as an athlete, but more importantly, the quality of your life as a healthy human being. If the racing doesn’t put is in a bad place, maybe it’s still not the best course of action. Every choice in life has an opportunity cost, and by choosing a race it is keeping us from a workout that may be more beneficial to reaching our goals. That other workout might be more targeted intervals, a steady Zone 2 ride, strength training, or maybe REST is what would be best. It’s also very easy to remain at a fitness plateau all year long we don’t respect the seasonality of our sport. Virtual platforms and indoor cycling has all but eliminated that seasonality. I remember on one of the FastTalk Podcasts Coach Connor talking about Florida as the “land of the eighty percenters.” He elaborated noting that with weather that allows for outdoor riding, group rides, and races all year long, there’s no “off season.” I’ve adopted the term “non-competitive” (or non-events/group rides) season, since we’re usually not “off” from exercise from long at all. But the idea is that if you’re doing the same thing all year long year after year, you might be at 80% of your potential, but never really rise above that. A final thought on this to think about your season and when you really want to be fit and fast. We used to joke about the “Valentine’s Day Champs” or the “Saint Patrick’s Day Champs” well before Zwift. These were the folks that absolutely killed it during the winter, and maybe hit a warm training camp or two. Then, come mid-February to mid-March, they would be ripping. Sounds cool, right? They downside was, best case scenario was that they hit their peak and then dropped off the scene. Maybe they could get it back together for a second peak, but I rarely saw that. Worse cases were burnout, getting discouraged and disengaged from our awesome sport, or the worst—injury. We’re seeing the same thing with the virtual winter racers now. If you’ve never raced on a virtual platform, check it out when you’re well rested and don’t have an intense or long workout for a couple of days. If you are a virtual racer, take a moment to think about how these fit into the big plan and are they really helping you progress, or are the just fun. Fun is good, but make sure it’s truly the fun you’re looking for. Here’s another article talking about the importance of managing your effort: https://www.stickybottle.com/coaching/zwift-burn-why-workload-balance-is-crucial-with-indoor-trainers/ And if you’re interested in learning more about Virtual racing, check this out: https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/fitness-and-training/zwift-racing/ Or hit me up and we can chat and do a TPV or Zwift ride or race together. Aside from racing, if you're looking to make the most of your indoor riding, check out: https://www.bikereg.com (search for BJL to see the most recent sessions) Keep mixing it up and get outside whenever you can. But when you’re forced to be on your trainer or rollers, plan your rides with purpose. If you are looking for more information about indoor training and meaningful workouts for indoors or out, give me a shout. I create workouts that can be downloaded to all major online platforms and head units and are easily followed on the screen. Thoughts, questions, or comments on virtual racing? I’d love to hear! Post up below. Cheers, Coach Brian
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 "If your arms are cold, cover your legs."
As I rode around on a chilly fall day, I was filled with extra motivation and joy with how many cyclists were out and about. One pattern I began to see, however, was long sleeves on top and bare legs on the bottom for many of the riders. I get it. It feels invigorating, and it looks "pro." And your legs don't "feel" cold. (Check out the article below for the WHY.) However, what I did notice as my ride progressed throughout the morning, was the local top performers, some of which are former pros, all had their legs covered along with their arms. No, they're not "soft", that's for certain. There are many reasons why those incredibly successful and strong women and and men have been doing our wonderful sport for so long, one of which is taking steps to ensure that longevity. One of my goals as a coach and lover of all things bike, is to help make sure people can ride bikes for as long as they live. It's a great sport for LIFE, but there are some precautionary measures that need to be considered to keep us all rolling. A joint in our bodies that potentially takes a toll from riding a bike is our knees. There are steps we can take to help keep our knees healthy and functioning well starting with a proper bike fit and avoiding large increases in volume and/or intensity. But protection from the environment is important as well. As the temps drop, we also need to consider protecting our knees. Not only our knees, but all of the hard working muscles in our legs. I've long been a proponent of keeping knees and legs covered, but this podcast from Fasttalk really gets into the "why" and how damaging that pushing our muscles and joints in the cold can be. Cold, Bare Legs Make You Dumb, Not Tough https://www.fasttalklabs.com/fast-talk/cold-bare-legs-make-you-dumb-not-tough/ The title is perhaps a bit harsh, but really drives the point home. Although it looks "cool" to wear a long sleeved jersey and shorts, it's just not a good idea. And I fully agree that just knee or leg warmers with a short sleeved jersey is not particularly stylish. In that case, just cover your arms and legs. If it will be warming up during the course of your ride, you can always stop and take the warmers off and stash them in your pocket. My own personal rule is 65 degrees or below, my knees and legs are covered. Do what makes you feel good, but keep in mind the words of Coach Connor that if you're overdressed you're maybe uncomfortable, but if you're underdressed, you're doing damage. Who wants to do damage? So get yourself a set of leg warmers and maybe some knee warmers and keep your legs happy. What's your take on covering your legs? Post a comment or question below. Ride on and enjoy these great early Fall days! Cheers, Coach Brian   Training with specificity is important, especially as an athlete gets closer to their event. Once the aerobic engine has been built from months or more of generalized training, it’s time to adapt the training to meet the specific needs of the event. Training with specificity is not limited to just the type of intervals that an athlete would perform, but also the terrain that they will encounter and necessary skills. For example, if an athlete planning on a gravel event with very rough terrain and plenty of short, punchy climbs, these would be two specific areas to target during training. Another example would be a twisty, tight mountain bike race. An athlete who is preparing for an event like this should try to spend time on similar trails at race pace.
While training with specificity is very important, it’s also important to not spend unnecessary time training for discipline specific demands that will not be encountered during the event(s). Huh? Simply said, don’t spend time training something that exists in the sport but that you won’t encounter. Cyclocross is a very good subject of this statement. ‘Cross is a very unique sport in that there is terrain in some ‘cross races that you might not ever see in any of your other events. Examples of such terrain include sand, snow, or wood chips. Likewise, there is often at least one point on the course where racers will be forced to dismount, run with their bike, and then remount. While this may happen in a mountain bike race or even some gnarly gravel events, it’s not a “mandatory” part of mountain bike course construction and layout. A specific example: For many years I held a weekly Tuesday cyclocross training practice where we did all sorts of drills and had some short races at the end. As the years progressed, we started spending more time practicing shouldering and then running with our bikes. While this is a good skill to have in ‘cross, as I reflected on my races, not once did I need to shoulder my bike. It was a dry year and the nature of our courses did not involve any stairs or long and steep runups where shouldering would have been advantageous. The only dismount during the races was for the barriers, and most riders were “suitcasing” their bikes with a top tube grab and carry. This was actually the same for several years in a row. Was this a huge loss of time? No, but probably a skill that we didn’t need to continue to sharpen week after week. Another example from ‘cross would be riding through sand. Again, a great skill to have and can really develop some amazing bike handling. There are also some similarities between riding in loose sand with mud and snow. BUT, if none of your races will include a sandpit, then perhaps spending time and energy seeking out sand to practice in is not the best use of these precious resources. More obvious examples can also come from the duration of the events. If an athlete is targeting “shorter” races such as criteriums, time trials, cyclocross, UCI XC mountain biking, and even sprint triathlons, riding for 5+ hours during the height of the season can be downright counterproductive. This can be a hard pill to swallow for those out there who, like me, love to ride their bikes. And I’m not suggesting that there is not value in long, low intensity rides during the base period. However, as you get closer to your events, this type of riding will likely not benefit your performance. If you're into podcasts, this is a super listen: https://www.fasttalklabs.com/fast-talk/jim-miller-usa-cycling-should-you-build-the-best-engine-or-focus-on-specificity/ And here are some great articles to help us all think about the specific demands of our events: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/training-with-specificity/ https://pezcyclingnews.com/toolbox/intervals-part-4-race-specificity/ I encourage you to train with specificity, and if you have questions or need help with this, I’m ready to lend a hand! Cheers, Coach Brian  I was first introduced to Andy Blow and Precision Hydration many years ago, but I really got to know their philosophy and science in 2020. When the pandemic hit, I took the opportunity to get as much sports science and coaching education that I could. One of the certificates I earned was through Precision Hydration and TrainingPeaks. While this field continues to evolve, the basic tenants of Precision Hydration, which are grounded in science, practice, and good sense, have stood up to the test of time.
Here’s great listen about hydration, sodium, and cramping: https://extramilest.com/blog/extramilest-show-43-andy-blow/ Despite it being a running focused podcast, the principles can certainly be applied to cycling and other endurance sports. I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions, and general musings! Cheers, Coach Brian  I've never met an athlete that did not want to perform better. Can a performance advantage be gained by something as simple as eating within a fixed period of time after your workout? Maybe...or maybe not. I can't recall the first time I heard the term "glycogen window." I've also heard it called the "window of opportunity", the "carbohydrate window", the "metabolic window", and I'm sure there are others. I feel like this was a "truth" that was taught to me many, many years ago and since then has been reinforced. And certainly something I practice. If you're not familiar with any of these terms, it's the notion that your muscles are most receptive for glycogen (the stored form of glucose (sugar) that is made up of many connected glucose molecules) replenishment within the first 30 minutes upon completing your endurance exercise. Many experts in the field suggest a 3 or 4 to 1 ratio of carbs to protein to maximize the uptake. Since carbs and protein both have 4 calories per gram, one can simply look at the number of grams of carbs and compare it to the number of grams of protein. For example, if the food item at 40 grams of carbs and 10 grams of protein, that would fit the bill of a 4:1 ratio. That's right, 3 or 4 times as many carbohydrates as protein. So you may want to reconsider if a protein shake or bar is your go-to recovery food after that hard cycling workout. Please understand that these recommendations are for after intense and/or "long" bouts of exercise. A 60 minute Zone 1 recovery spins doesn't need major refueling. A spin to the coffee shop on the beach cruiser while on vacation won't need any refueling. But a ride or event where you're putting down the power or riding for over 60 minutes with a fair bit of aggression, your muscles will get tapped of their glycogen. And that's a notion that is not argued by many. However, there are some instances where exercise less than 60 minutes may require some attention to refueling, such as a 'cross race, crit, or TT. Back to the "window"... If you dive into this and do some research, you'll find more than one source that says this window does not exist, or if it does, it is much, much longer. I've seen as long as 24 hours after completion of exercising proposed. Personally, I subscribe to, and try to practice the 30 minute window. I also recommend this to the athletes I coach. I don't have any muscle biopsies to back up my thoughts, but I do have decades of practical experience with three main points why I think it's a good idea to eat within 30 minutes. 1. Almost everyone I work with is busy. It's part of our culture. We cram more and more into our days. If you make it a habit of eating/drinking within that 30 minute window, it will get done. I've had more than one client tell me how they "forgot" to eat when they got done or "ran out of time" or "didn't have anything handy" and ended up going for many hours or worse, going to bed without refueling. Almost without fail, they didn't feel great during their workout the next day. And maybe even days after that. So if you make it a routine and maybe even have your recovery meal or drink prepared ahead of time, you'll be sure to get it in every time. 2. If we eat something sensible and planned during that 30 minutes, we're less likely to raid the cabinets and refrigerator and make bad choices later on. Those bad choices can often lead to filling our bellies with non-nutritious food, only to be hungry again after a very short period of time. Get in a good recovery mean or drink, and you'll set yourself up for better choices later on. 3. You will recover better and feel stronger on your next ride. Again, this is purely anecdotal for me, but I've worked with many athletes since becoming a coach in 2005, and have heard both successes and failures. Often those failures can be traced back to poor refueling the day before. I know I've certainly put myself behind the eight ball after not being prepared or cutting my time to close to properly refuel. Better to end your ride 15 minutes early and get some food than to push it and put yourself in a hole. Consistency is going to pay off more than intermittent solid workouts. Dr. Allan Lim is one of my favorite exercise scientists to read and listen to. Not only is he extremely knowledgeable, experienced, and interesting, he also delivers down to Earth, practical advice. You probably know his company, Skratch Labs, and may have come across his books. Here's a great quote from his Feedzone Cookbook. WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT After racing or training more than 4 hours, it’s critical that you eat at least 4 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight within 30 minutes of finishing. For exercise lasting less than 2 hours, the goal is 2 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight. This amounts to about 500 to 1,000 kcals for a 150-pound athlete, depending on the duration of training. Generally speaking, this means that you will eat as much as possible right after getting off the bike if it has been a hard day of training. After an easy day of training, you will eat enough to take the edge off. We need to eat immediately after exercise because our muscles are extremely sensitive to insulin during this time. Insulin brings carbohydrate into the muscle, where it can be stored as glycogen. Consequently, eating right after exercise helps to better restore muscle glycogen. “The Feed Zone Cookbook: Fast and Flavorful Food for Athletes,” by Biju Thomas & Allen Lim Much like I wrote about a cool-down, I have not seen any literature or research that says it's detrimental to take in a recovery meal or drink within this 30 minutes. The biggest downside I see is perhaps taking in too many calories at this time or slamming a big recovery shake after an easy or very short ride. However, if you keep in mind the notion of the recovery meal or drink is for long and/or intense rides, you'll probably be in a good place. Below are some other great listens and reads you can use as resources to help make your own informed decisions about your refueling practices. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dr. Allen Lim on The Gravel Ride https://thegravelride.bike/dr-allen-lim-founder-of-skratch-labs-talks-gravel-nutrition ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What Post-Workout Nutrition Looks Like by LENTINE ALEXIS https://blog.strava.com/post-workout-nutrition-16547/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Truth About The Post-Exercise Fueling Window from Women's Running https://www.womensrunning.com/health/food/the-truth-about-the-post-exercise-fueling-window/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ And if you really want to "nerd out", check out this article: International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutrient timing https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-017-0189-4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I also found one article where they referenced a study that noted eating anything, even something "unhealthy" is better than nothing at all. https://www.bicycling.com/health-nutrition/a20014558/what-to-eat-after-a-ride/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Remember that there are plenty of real food options out there that will work well for recovery foods and drinks. Chocolate milk is great in a pinch, too. However, those recovery powders and bars are certainly convenient and going to be better than nothing. Until next time, fuel ahead of time, fuel during, and re-fuel after. And the rest of the time try to practice healthy nutrition. If you have a question or comment, please post below. Cheers, Coach Brian Chocolate milk and a swig of maple syrup is the best recovery meal! Chocolate milk is GREAT in a pinch for sure! And like a true Vermonter, MAPLE SYRUP! https://untapped.cc/ Ted King Rocks! Caffeine...some people can't operate without their first cup of coffee in the morning, and others hit it all day long. Some folks can fall right asleep after a full cup of high test (side note: studies have shown that this may not be quality sleep) and others are wired out of their mind.
Caffeine has long been a supplement used by athletes of all disciplines, and certainly not excluded are the endurance athletes. I've been reading quite a few articles recently that shed some new light on how caffeine interacts with our bodies. This is a great article on Training Peaks by Carrie McCusker out of Portland, Maine. Check it out and weigh the ups and downs yourself! ***Make sure you always consult with a medical professional about your own sensitivity or intolerance to caffeine.*** Caffeine: How it Works For and Against Your Performance And a second article at Precision Hydration by Sports Scientist Abby Coleman: Why do athletes use caffeine? Now, it's time to go get that afternoon cup o' jo...or not? Cheers, Coach B.L.  Over the past 7-8 years, more and more athletes that I work use a smart trainer for their indoor cycling, and some of the new athletes that sign on to work with me only have experience with a smart trainer and ERG mode on for indoor workouts. So is this a good thing or bad thing or is it neutral? Like most things, this is not a binary decision of “good” or “bad”, but a continuum. My initial thought was that there’s more bad than good, but I wanted to find out more. Since power (measured in watts) = torque x cadence, as long as the product of those two variables is 200, it doesn’t matter if the cadence is 20 revolutions per minute (rpms) or 120 rpms, as long as the torque changes as well. And what happens with a smart trainer is the rider will HAVE TO change the torque, or the pedals won’t move. Torque is calculated by multiplying the force applied to the pedals, by the crank length (lever arm). This is a very simplified view of the physics involved without going full nerd on you all, but the basic gist is there. What I typically see with ERG ONLY athletes is that they have a difficult time producing a steady power output outside, especially on the flats. They also often don't learn the skill of what xxx watts "feels" like in their feet and legs. This “feel” is very useful when in a group ride or race situation where staring at your power meter is not a good idea. Or if your devices have an issue such as dead battery or bad calibration. For more intense intervals, I have also seen their form really fall apart, in the way of just mashing on the pedals with a very low cadence just to hit the number. I can imagine it might not have been what we would call souplesse, or smooth pedaling like we see with the pro riders. This is not a knock on anyone. It would make sense that “if I’m hitting xxx watts and that’s the goal, then I must be getting a good workout.” Unfortunately, that’s not a binary decision, either. Imagine a personal trainer prescribed squats at yyy pounds for an athlete. The instructions were to complete 8 reps at that weight, at all costs. Form didn’t matter at all, as long as the barbell came down and then back up. If this amount of weight is just beyond the athlete’s safe capabilities, chances are their form would go out the window and they could really injure themselves. But coach…I did the reps? Aren’t I going to get stronger now? Not if you’re laid up hurt. First off, what is ERG mode? ERG is short for ergometer, which, incidentally is not quite how we actually use in the term ERG in respect to a smart trainer. By definition, an ergometer is, according to Merriam-Webster: Ergometer: an apparatus for measuring the work performed (as by a person exercising) So the smart trainer’s ability to measure watts (work), as well as a power meter, would satisfy the definition. When we speak of ERG mode as it relates to a smart trainer, we are usually talking about the smart trainer’s ability to set a predetermined intensity, measured in watts. For example, if the trainer is set to ERG mode ON and the intensity (power) is 200 watts, the rider would need to produce 200 watts. Period. It’s either 200 watts or you’re not going.  ERG Mode on for an interval workout. Perfectly executed? An analogy would be a running/walking treadmill. If the treadmill is set for 10 minute miles, a.k.a. 6 miles per hour, an individual on the treadmill would need to move their legs to correspond to this rate. If they ran too slowly, they’d fall off the back. If they ran too quickly, they’d run into the grab bar and controls. The number of steps per minute does matter, but only in the sense that the stride length would need to change correspondingly. Bottom line is, they would need to cover 8.8 feet per second which is 6 miles per hour. OK…enough of the physics and definitions. I had researched the topic of ERG mode when smart trainers started becoming popular and found many similar thoughts such as the article I link to below. There’s been plenty of additional support since I first looked into the topic. I have also experienced that, with the athletes that I coach, as I help them transition them off of ERG mode that they're able to translate that power better to the "real" world. For harder efforts, I believe it's VERY important to have ERG off. The benefit of ERG forcing one to do the wattage and stay steady could be beneficial for lower (Zone 2/Zone 3) workouts, but once we get to Zone 4 and above, the athlete should really listen to their body and hit the "range." ERG may force us to go much harder than would be appropriate for the day, the rep, the set, etc. Additionally, for the really hard efforts above LT2 (commonly referred to as VO2 Max Intervals or Anaerobic Capacity Intervals for example), like many coaches, I prescribe a range. The training platforms such as Zwift or Garmin will target the middle of that range, which could quite possibly be completely inappropriate if not unattainable for the athlete. Better to push the power that hits somewhere in the range and is repeatable for effective training. Likewise, for any drill where there are quick cadence changes such as spin ups, fast pedaling drills, or sprints, the trainer can't always keep up. As important, it forces a specific power, which is often not the goal of the drill. High cadence is the goal and the power may be quite variable. While a high power number is usually an indicator of a strong sprint, true sprint efforts are so short that the power could fluctuate a fair amount from sprint to sprint. In my opinion and anecdotal experience, ideally ERG mode would never be on, with perhaps one exception. What’s the exception? If an athlete has a hard time NOT going hard or needs to chase down everyone that passes them on Zwift, having ERG mode on to keep that rider at a lower intensity could be beneficial. I’ve also had more than one client tell me that they put ERG on so they can “just shut off their brain and pedal.” I can understand and relate to this, but I also think that it’s important to “be there” when you’re training and think about your form, the goal of the workout, your breathing, etc. But if ERG mode on helps folks get through a lower intensity workout, then it could be worth it. Check out this article that is not in support of ERG mode:: https://www.360velo.com/why-dont-use-erg-mode/ And here’s an alternative viewpoint: https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/fitness-and-training/erg-mode/ Hope this sheds some light as to why I recommend not using ERG except for very specific conditions. If you haven’t tried doing workouts outside of ERG, give it a try. What's your take? Have you ever used ERG Mode ON? Are you a die hard ERG Mode fan? Post a comment or question below. Cheers, B.L. ERG mode is evil :D Hi Coach -been awhile but i still follow you and thanks for including me in your emails !  When I see how often some folks struggle to find the will to ride their bikes, I realize I’ve been blessed with what seems to be relatively high motivation to ride. I love riding bikes. I really enjoy riding and training, and racing is just the best. I’m usually pumped for solo rides of many, many hours, and rides with friends and family is so amazing I feel like it’s a gift when I’m out there. I can even get fired up to ride my trainer or rollers. And if not fired up, I don’t dread it, at least. One thing that really helped to boost my motivation was becoming a father and having less time to ride. I usually get pretty excited about my times to ride and am not likely to squander them away. However, like most, I can suffer from low motivation from time to time. Just recently I had an obligation during my “normal” riding time on a Sunday, but did have a window to get out later in the day. On my training schedule was an endurance mountain bike or road ride, so nothing too taxing. It was a beautiful day, blue sky and the sun was shining. It was a bit chilly, but a long sleeved jersey and leg warmers would be sufficient, so throw out that “excuse.” But for some reason I was dragging a bit. I did all the checks: I was feeling fine; resting heart rate was normal; training stress supported a ride; life stress was “normal.” No reason to not ride. I said to myself, “Just get dressed, throw a leg over and get out there. Ride to the woods, do a little loop, and come home.” So I did just that. As I hit the woods, though, all of a sudden I got instantaneous boost of energy and motivation. As I pedaled and enjoyed some great singletrack, riding became essentially effortless, and the fun-o-meter began to escalate. It turned into a GREAT ride and I certainly wasn’t going to go home early. I finished that ride with more energy than I began with and had a huge smile on my face. Stoked! So that’s one good tip when low on motivation--just show up. Note: Always do a self-check or talk to your coach if not sure, though. Get dressed and just start pedaling, allowing yourself to turn around after 20 minutes if you’re still not feeling it. This is again assuming you shouldn’t take a rest day, you’re not getting ill, and you’re not forcing extra stress into your life. You might be surprised how great you feel once you get rolling and before you know you’re an hour into your ride. Here are some more great tips when low on motivation presented by the awesome folks over at GCN: GCN Tips for Motivation What has worked for you to get you out there door when running low on motivation? What’s your best tip? Keep in mind that sometimes that low motivation is speaking to you and you quite possibly SHOULD take the day off the bike. But if the green lights are there, go for it. Chances are you won’t regret it. Cheers, Coach Brian I have motivation to ride in general but life threw some curve balls that distrusted my race schedule and I found myself without purpose. Not sure if motivation drives purpose or the other way around. Just reset and created a big goal/challenge and now feel the need to ride and train. Motivation and purpose will now have me cranking full gear for the foreseeable future!! I learned the hard way overtraining last year that if you're a dedicated athlete and have a day of low motivation (not someone with chronic low motivation just an off day) it's probably better to listen to your body and do something less active letting your body rest. When you're charging hard most of the time and you wake up occasionally not motivated I learned that my system is telling me something. Those signals are ignored at your own peril!  I wrote a post a couple of months ago (Free Speed!) about reconnecting with Dr. Matt Miller, a longtime friend and fellow mountain bike racer.
From his site, www.mtbphd.com : “Dr Matt Miller is a sports scientist and entrepreneur focused on MTB rider performance. He was the first to publish findings on using FTP to predict MTB race performance and pioneered braking analysis on the trails. Matt is the Inventor and Founder of BrakeAce, the world's first brake sensor and analysis app. BrakeAce was successfully funded on Kickstarter in August 2021. He has coached gravity and endurance MTB racers 1-on-1, including riders earning multiple USA National Championships and top-10 overall finishes in the Enduro World Series. He continues to consult for major brands in the industry and publish educational science content for mountain bikers.” Matt lived in Pennsylvania when I met him and we raced many of the same regional and national events. He was always so much fun to be around and once he aged up, a great competitor to race against. Most of the time I only saw the back of his jersey, though. Now he lives in New Zealand, with some of the best trails in the world right down the street from his house in Rotorua. Riding destination for sure! I was honored to be invited as a guest on his podcast, Demystifying MTB, with the two of us getting into a great discussion about The Top Three Mountain Bike Training Tips. Within in the episode I presented my three best tips which include some workouts to help you get faster on the trail. Dr. Matt and I share many training philosophies and it was really fun talking about some great training ideas and the why behind them, with an occasional trip down memory lane. Here’s a link to the YouTube version: https://youtu.be/SdS5ReLSRC4 But if you’re more of an audio only type of person, here’s a link to the podcast on Matt’s site: https://www.brakeace.com/podcast/episode/2859ee5a/top-3-tips-for-mtb-training I’ve been on a few podcasts before but this was the first mountain bike specific one. If you have any suggestions, comments, feedback, or the like, please shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment here. Also, please pass on the links to anyone that you think may be interested, as well as to folks who would want to learn more about BrakeAce, the world’s first brake power meter. The first round of orders have been shipped and Dr. Matt is currently taking pre-orders, so don’t delay! Order here: https://www.brakeace.com/shop What’s YOUR best mountain bike training tip? Post this up or any questions or comments below. Until next time, keep working on that aerobic engine. Your mountain bike will thank you. Cheers, Coach Brian  Polarized Training has become quite popular over the past 5 years or so, but after talking about training modality this with many athletes and upon reading and listening to discussions, I believe it is often widely misunderstood. So what exactly is it and why the confusion?
The concept of polarized training was “invented” over 20 years again by sports researcher Dr. Stephen Seiler. Dr. Seiler looked at training data of successful professional endurance athletes and saw a commonality. To over simplify it, they trained either really hard or really easy. Both of these terms are relative terms, of course. And they training really easy about four times as much as really hard. He found that it fell into a breakdown of about 80% low intensity and 20% high intensity. I believe a major source of the confusion comes from this notion that 80% of the training is “hard”, and 20% of the training is “easy”. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Apparently it’s not. What I’ve learned is many athletes interpret this as, at the end of the week, 20% of the TIME they spent training should be hard, and 80% of the TIME should be easy. For example, in a ten hour training week, two hours would be high intensity and 8 hours would be low intensity. With this incorrect interpretation, if an athlete did five workouts in a week, each two hours long, that athlete could do 24 minutes of high intensity work during EACH workout. When it’s detailed like that, it’s clear to see that would be a recipe for burnout, injury, and/or overtraining. This is not what Dr. Seiler observed nor intended with this model. A true polarized system is based on 20% of the WORKOUTS are hard, and 80% of the WORKOUTS are easy. So over the course of ten training days, two would be hard, and eight would be easy. I’ve seen this is challenging for many athletes, as it takes tremendous discipline to only go hard two out of every ten training sessions. Or perhaps one could say that many find it very difficult to go easy on eight of those ten workouts without sneaking in a little “effort” here or a QOM/KOM attempt there. The differentiator is making those intense workouts REALLY quality sessions. Along with that, the lower intensity workouts need to be true low intensity. Dr. Seiler defines the low intensity workouts to be at intensity below your ventilatory threshold 1. For detailed information in an amazing slide deck by Dr. Seiler check out: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephen-Seiler/publication/310725768_Seiler's_Hierarchy_of_Endurance_Training_Needs/links/583590c208ae004f74cc51f5/Seilers-Hierarchy-of-Endurance-Training-Needs.pdf Another bit of confusion comes from the concept of “hard” days. What’s hard? If one were to only take a snapshot of the polarized model, hard days would be those eye bleeding Zone 3 (in the three zone model, or Zones 5+ in a five or more zone model) efforts. You know…those efforts that are maximal and often called VO2 Max Efforts or Anaerobic Capacity Efforts. However, if you listen to Dr. Seiler, you’ll hear him talk about even sub-threshold (FTP) efforts as hard days. But he’ll also talk about efforts such as 100 seconds on, 50 seconds off at max. Hard is really relative to the training period that the athlete is in as well as their overall goal and the duration of the effort. Three of his workouts are 4x4, 4x8, and 4x16 (four reps of x minutes) each at maximum intensity for that duration. Obviously the 4x16 intervals would need to be performed at a lower intensity than the 4x4 intervals. Check out the deck link above for an interesting study Dr. Seiler did using those intervals. As a coach, I find it very effective to apply different modalities depending on the athlete, training period, goals, available training time, and more. Even when using a periodized approach, however, it often shakes out that there will be one or two “hard” workouts a week with the remaining workouts being lower intensity to really build that aerobic engine. This is particularly true for athletes who race frequently or have that weekly group ride throw down. If you’re interested in learning more, here’s a great article in Pez Cycling that also includes a link to a podcast with Dr. Stephen Seiler: https://pezcyclingnews.com/toolbox/cycling-polarized-training-stephen-seiler/ Looking to learn more about other training modalities? Here’s an informative and enjoyable listen that breaks down common training modalities, including the Polarized approach: https://trainright.com/tim-cusick-periodization-training-modalities-training-rhythm/ Have you tried a polarized approach? Any thoughts or questions on training modalities? I’d love to hear from you with a comment or question below. Until next time, make your easy days easy, make your hard days hard, and make your off days OFF. Ride on! Coach Brian |
AuthorCoach B.L. is the head coach at BJL Coaching and an avid racer and cycling enthusiast himself. Categories
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