 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.
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 Happy Pi Day! Yeah, I'm a math nerd at heart.
Despite the bitterly cold temperatures, 30 mph wind gusts, and sideways snow here in the North East, spring is right around the corner. We've sprung the clocks forward and have that extra daylight in evening, just begging us to get off of our trainers and out on the road and trail. Let's go get that fresh air!  Free Speed
by Dr. Matt Miller (a.k.a. MTB PHD) Yeah, right…”Free Speed.” Believe it or not, it’s out there for the taking and this is not an infomercial. Any endurance athlete obviously has to have the physical capabilities and engine to perform their sport. But there are ways to get faster without improving our fitness. In a very skill dependent sport such as off-road cycling (mountain bike, cyclocross, and even gravel to some extent), this is even more evident. One of the most important skills in these disciplines is effectively applying (or not) your brakes, but can we measure something like this? Thanks to Dr. Matt and his amazing team, now we can! Will you be happy with your future self?  Picture this…you just rolled back into your driveway from a multi-hour winter base training ride. It’s cold, you’re cold, you’re tired and hungry, and you just want to get out of your cycling clothes and get some good food and warm up. You glance at your bike as you park it in your stable and see it’s a mess. “It’s OK,” you think, “I’ll clean that later.” And then you get busy or just conveniently forget until…the next time you go for a ride and it’s a mess or worse and not even rideable. So you just lube the chain and deal with the extra wear and tear, until that next time. And the cycle repeats.
 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 |
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Coach B.L.Coach B.L. is the head coach at BJL Coaching and an avid racer and cycling enthusiast himself. Archives
March 2023
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