Crank Cycling

We’re going to start a new weekly segment called Recovery Monday. Effective training plans must incorporate appropriate rest and recovery. This column will discuss recovery techniques and trends. So prop your feet up, relax, and read on!

Sleep

Sleep is the most basic and most effective recovery technique for athletes (really any human or mammal for that matter)! An athlete in training should be getting 7-10hrs of sleep DAILY. Recent research has shown that sleep patterns and requirements vary greatly amongst individuals and that this is dependent on genetics. Another recent study indicated that after 10 consecutive days of 6 hours of sleep or less, test subjects performed as though they had missed an ENTIRE night of sleep in the past week. There is debate over one’s ability to overcome this sleep debt; some studies show that individuals can sleep longer for a few days and performances return to normal. In general however we know that sleep deprived athletes perform poorly. Overall sleep deprivation is extremely bad for general health and extend patterns of disordered sleeping patterns must be addressed (there is even an extremely rare fatal form of insomnia which has no known cure – don’t fear there are only 50 known cases). 

So now that I’ve scared you into getting more sleep, let’s talk about the benefits. Sleep is prime time for rejuvenation; your body is in a very anabolic state and all the major systems (muscular, skeletal, nervous, and immune) grow or repair themselves during sleep. Your body secretes more growth hormone while sleeping and the amout of GH is highest during deep REM sleep. Your body will also signal GH release during naps; the post workout nap is a MAJOR recovery tool! NOTE: You want to time your workouts and post workout naps to conform to the normal circadian rhythm; try to complete both workout and nap before 3pm. A 45-60 minute post workout nap is ideal, don’t go longer or it will interfere with normal sleep cycles.

Okay, how do I get more sleep? First, set a routine. Try to get to bed at the same time EVERY night! About 1 hour before bedtime turn off the TV, get off your computer and the internet, put the iPhone down. More studies are indicating that these devices engage our minds actively and interfere with sleep patterns. Spend time with the family or read a book. Most sleep scientists advise against reading in bed so pick a quiet location to read. When it’s bedtime make your room as dark as possible. Wear comfortable clothes or make sure you will be warm/cool enough while sleeping. Wear an eye mask or earplugs if necessary (frequently when I travel to events I wear earplugs, an eye mask, and will use a sleep aid to ensure solid sleep in a hotel or guest house). Sleep aids can be useful to srt a sleep schedule, but long term use should be avoided (consult your Dr). Natural sleep aids like melatonin are definitely better. Try to time sleep so you wake each morning without an alarm clock. If you wake naturally at the appropriate hour each morning this is the ultimate indication you are getting the right amount of sleep.

For all we know about sleep, many aspects are still a mystery. To read more about sleep and your biological clock/circadian rhythm I recommend searching Wikipedia for sleep, sleep debt, and circadian rhythm.

If you have questions about your sleep patterns and recovery, talk to your coach…but if you’re calling or emailling me, do it before 9pm!

Sweet dreams!

Coach Chris

You know you’ve been thinking about the taking the power meter plunge for a while now. We know that you want to quantify how hard you are pounding those pedals into submission (+- 1.5%) It is unlikely that your power meter will make you the as tough as Jens Voight,. Nor will it help you put out enough watts to power a small alpine village like Fabian Cancellara. But a PM can help you hone in your training so that you can see the maximum possible improvement, as well as make the most of your precious training time.
But what do you do with that expensive toy once you get it? Well, the Crank Cycling coaches are here to help. Crank Cycling is an authorized dealer for both Powertap and SRM and we really want to get you on a power meter. More than that….we want to get you into a power meter and teach you how to use it. That’s why from now through the end of October, we are giving you 3 months of coaching with the purchase of either an SRM or Powertap SL. It’s as easy as that. Buy a power meter and a Crank Cycling coach will work with you for 3 months. That alone is a $495 value. So head on over to the Coaches page and check out the coaches. Don’t know which coach is best suited for you? Contact head Coach Sean Burke and he will help you figure out which Crank Cycling coach is the best match for you.

So to sum it up…. Here are the reasons why you should buy a new power meter from Crank Cycling right now:

You’ll get free coaching worth about $500
It will help you make the most of your training time
You want to quantify how hard you are crushing it
They look cool
Jens Voight uses one, and he is a badass
You know you want one
This offer is only good through October 31st 2010

Contact Coach Burke at Coachsburke@gmail.com to get going on your power meter.

In some of the hottest weeks of the summer bicycle racers from all across America congregate in Milwaukee Wisconsin for 14 days of racing. This 2 weeks of racing is called superweek. The fields are big and the racing is fast and technical. If you want to pay your dues or earn your racing stripes you go and race superweek. One of the riders I manage on the Ranchos Development Elite Team has gone over to race for one of those two weeks. Below is an interview I did with him about half way through his race week.

Cheers
Coach Jesse

Anatomy of a Win
By Sean Burke and Chris Daggs

Eric Marcotte from the San Diego based Pista Palace team picked up yet another win at the Blue Trolley Criterium this past Saturday. As a full time chiropractor in Tempe, Arizona and a “part time” Cat 1 racer, Eric has become a regular winner of races over the past 18 months in the Southwest and beyond. He has amassed dozens of wins, including stages of Valley of the Sun, the Melon City Criterium, and the San Pedro Grand Prix to name just a few. Recently, he just missed the win at Elite Criterium Nationals where he finished third. Marcotte is definitely a HUGE factor in any race he attends and frequently finishes ahead of most of the “full time” professionals; other riders comment it’s often a foregone conclusion that he will win the race! Eric shared his power data from Blue Trolley so that we could see what it takes( besides talent, dedication, and skill) to win a regional race.
We know that many of our riders train and race with powermeters, so here is your chance to see how you measure up. We used Cycling Peaks WKO to analyze the power file and see what we could find. For starters, Eric averaged 299 watts for the entire 90 minutes. This doesn’t sound all that spectacular, but we can look at another calculation called “norm power.” Norm power (NP) is an algorithm that attempts to describe what the effort feels like, and the training stress it puts on the athlete. For an effort with frequent surges, NP will be much higher than average power. For a steady effort, such as a flat 20K TT, NP will be very close to average power. Eric’s NP for the entire race was 373 watts, and while we can’t say that this is exactly the same as holding 373 watts for 90 minutes, we can easily see that this effort was very hard! The Blue Trolley course has a small hill that the riders went over 50 times and Eric pushed between 450 -600 watts each time up and over the hill!
Another way we can analyze the data is to look at the power for Eric at the beginning, middle, and end of the race. It is quite easy to see that Eric conserved energy in the beginning. His average power was 289 watts for the first third of the race. This is a sound energy conservation strategy as rarely does a winning move go during the first 30 minutes of a 90 minute crit. During the middle 30 minute section, he averaged 305 watts; Eric tested the waters including a five lap solo attack at 365 watts for almost 10 minutes. Finally, Marcotte averaged 319 watts for the last 30 minutes of the race where he was highly active at the front, ultimately bridging to the winning move, and then winning the race. Eric is known for his sprinting prowess, but didn’t have to fully open his sprint in this race. He motored up the final hill at 1200 watts and that was enough to finish off his two breakaway companions; SoCal legend Jamie Palonetti (Amgen-Giant Masters)and newly crowned SCNCA RR Champ, Lucas Binder (Swamis DET).
Eric will be the first to say he rarely looks at his power numbers during a race; he relies on the killer instinct honed over many seasons to win races. But by looking at his numbers and dissecting his race we see the exact effort it takes to win a tough SoCal criterium. There’s no substitute for talent, dedication, and skill; but having some good data sure helps us all get a little closer to our goals.

The three yellow lines show Eric’s average power for the first, middle, ands last third of the race. You can clearly see his 5 lap attack around minute 50, as well as the big effort he put in around 1:24 to bridge to the winning break.

A good warmup can  be an integral part of  your race.  Typically the harder the race will start, the more important the warm up.   So while a warmup may not be so important for a long road race, it can be very important for races such as crits, time trials,  track races, or cross races.      The purpose of the warmup is to prepare the athlete physically as well as mentally.  To get the mind in race mode, to warm up the muscles, and to prepare the hormonal mileu that helps  get you going.  This warm up should be  done on a trainer or rollers, and should start about 35 minutes before you plan to head for the start line, not 30 minutes before your race.  The warmup may be altered depending on environmental conditions ( ie: heat), or for individual athletes.  The warmup can be based on heart rate, power, or simply 1-10  RPE. I will use the RPE scale here, because it is essentially universal and different riders and coaches may use differen terms to describe power and hear rate zones.

Feel free to print this out and take it to your next race:

Coach Burke’s Crit Warmup.  All efforts done at a comfortable high  legspeed.  Roll into all efforts, don’t jump into them.

Minutes

1-10: Start  VERY easy and slowly built to a 6 or 7 on the RPE scale.

10-12: easy easy pedaling

12-14: RPE 4-5  ( moderate effort, below race pace)

14-16: RPE  7 ( race pace)

16-17: easy easy pedaling

17-19: RPE 4-5  ( moderate effort, below race pace)

19-21: RPE  7 ( race pace)

21-22: Easy easy

22-24: RPE 4-5  ( moderate effort, below race pace)

24-25:  RPE  7 ( race pace)

25-26: RPE 8 ( HARD race Pace)

26-30: Easy pedaling, may extend longer

As the team manager for the Ranchos DET Team I have the opportunity to share in the challenges and successes of cyclists who ride at the top tier of amateur racing. One of the Riders I work with now is Bryan Larsen. He started out the year as a category 2 and has recently gotten his upgrade to category 1. Category 1 is the top of the amateur ranks. Bryan is a full time student and getting his upgrade has taken lots of hard work, focus, and balance. Bryan was recently invited to participate at the Sacramento Gran Prix as part of a Composite Team. Below is a race report of the Sacramento Gran Prix. The Sacramento Gran Prix was a Pro-Am event held on may 16th 2010 the same day the Tour of California finished in Sacramento.

Sacramento Grand Prix write up:

Hometown. Hometown crowds and friends. Same Course as the Tour of California circuit. And Money. What other reason do you need to be motivated, nervous, and excited all at the same time? And I think nervous was an understatement, as I was more nervous before this race than I had been since national championships back in 2008. My nervousness was only amplified by my crash last week at the Long Beach Grand Prix while still in contention for a descent place.

I’ll walk through a couple key points from the race:

50m in: Crash.
1 lap+50m in: crash.
2 laps: crash.
Etc etc etc
No joke, There was a crash at the start. And while receiving a free lap the rider(s) proceeded to take down half the 170 racer group moving at 34mph on the following lap while trying to reintegrate themselves into the pack. They ended up giving about half the pack a free lap and let them start riding prior to the front end of the groups arrival at the pit, which means I went from about 15th place to 85th place in a second.

With about 8 laps to go a two place prime was announced and I wasn’t super far from the front so I decided I might give it a go and just start late and not dig too deep. I did start late and by the time I was starting to sprint Justin Williams was basically crossing the line while I rolled in securely in 2nd. We cruised back into the pack only to see lap cards one lap later. I got real nervous when I saw this for two reasons: 1) I had just done a sprint and only had 6 laps to recover now and 2) MORE CRASHES. Everyone thought they could win the race and were doing stupid things to try and get to the front which in turn only caused more pileups. A break went up the road with about 3 laps to go with Yahoo blocking for their rider in the break. The break was caught and Yahoo decided to do a Bahati style lead out while riding the inside straight before flicking riders to swing wide right before the turns before swinging back to the inside line. Coming on two laps to go, there was MAJOR crash in the last corner. It happened relatively close to the front and I could hear it not too far behind me. The following lap we were coming into those dangerous corners, 3 and 4 and the moto decided to try and neutralize the race but Yahoo and everyone else essentially went around him. There was no way we were being neutralized with 1.25 laps to go. People were still sprawled out on the pavement in corner 4 from the previous lap’s crash. 1 lap to go. And I’m sitting about 20th. WAY TOO FAR BACK! Crash again while a group of riders were pinched through a corner. Next corner: CRASH! Everyone wanted what only one person can have and that was a win at the Sacramento Grand Prix. I found myself flying into the last corner under Justin with a little heads up on my part he didn’t pinch me and as a result I let him role by me immediately following the turn. 500M to go. I’m 7th-ish wheel and glued to Justin Williams’ wheel. Yahoo was still at the front driving as hard as they could and I was out of the saddle almost immediately and before I knew it I was pinched by a Yahoo guy and forced me into the wind to the left of the rest of the leadout train which happened to be right when Justin jumped forcing me to lose out on that valuable accelerating draft. I had to push my own wind and continued to do so. I crossed the line 4th within ¼ of a wheels length from 3rd. I’m glad I stayed upright, in fact if you had asked me 5 laps into the race how I’d finish I would have said I was going to go down. Another note: I think I heard there were 5 or so crashes in the last 3 laps!

It was a neat experience racing on the same course as Cavendish would be winning later in the day as well as standing on the same podium step looking out with your hands up. Maybe one day a few years from now . . . well, it never hurts to dream

Bryan is on the far right and Justin is looking back at him

Bryan is on the far right again

At the rate Bryan is going he will be in the professional ranks soon. Good job Bryan keep it up!

Cheer
Coach Jesse

I’m going to do a weekly column called Coach the Coach. Coach the Coach is going to be about those valuable lessons we as coaches learn along the way; lessons that we pass on to our athletes, but sometimes we need to relearn ourselves!

This weeks Coach the Coach: Overextended

Sometimes it seems like we are doing everything right, but those fitness gains aren’t coming or the results seem to elude us. If we’re doing everything right, whats going on? 

And the answer to our question is right there in the question: everything. Instead of focusing on a few key things we are probably trying to dial everything in just right: am I riding enough, do I have the right intervals scheduled, am I eating the right food in the correct amount, do I have the right orthotics in my shoes, do I have have the right shoes, is my position okay, do I need lighter wheels… and the list goes on. Combine this with trying to juggle a life outside of cycling which probably includes a significant other, a fulltime job, and maybe children and we are overextended. Inevitably something has to give and lets hope its not something important.

Luckily the solution is simple: do less. I’m not advocating shirking responsibilities or skippping workouts, but be realistic about what you can accomplish in the time you have. Schedule your week out ahead of time and see what can be done. Prioritize tasks so the most important things come first. And most important, don’t cut corners on the important items – if you’ve got an important family event or training ride schedule enough time for this event. You’ll find that you are successfully accomplishing all the big things and some of the small stuff really wasn’t all that important.

Chris

June and July are the peak months for most racing seasons throughout the US. Most championship races are held in these months, including Junior, under 23, elite senior, and masters nationals. Some state championships also take place at this time of year. This means peaking, tapering, and speed leading into these months are key. All of these are accomplished by lessening time and duration in your workouts, while increasing intensity and effort.

These changes in your workout can be as simple as removing a long ride and adding more sprints, or by pacing with a motor and incrementally increasing the speed until your peak. An important component to these efforts is having rest days so your legs recover, as well as phasing in new exercises gradually so as not to incur injury.

One common workout to do to help build this speed is 30 second speed intervals. These 30-second bursts are followed by a 2-5 minute rest and repeated. Efforts in races at the height of the season are usually more intense and more frequent. By this time in the season, many riders are fit from training and racing and want to show off that fitness by attacking over and over again.

Riding in this aggressive manner splits the race fields in half, thins out the weaker riders, and helps us drop our friends on the Saturday club ride.

If you need help designing a training program that can increase your speed, we at Crank Cycling can help you. Shoot us an email. Let’s see what we can accomplish together.

Cheers,

Coach Jesse

Come join us for the 1st Annual Blue Trolley Criterum. It should be an amazing day of racing

View the Blue Trolley Criterium flyer here

Sign up at www.socalreg.com

Usain Bolt is the fastest man alive, but can a top track cyclists beat him? That was a question posed in the June issue of outside magazine. Most trackies know that a top track sprinter doing a 200M time trial will go almost twice as fast as a 100m runner ( both pretty darn close to 10 seconds, with the track rider going twice the distance), but the cyclists has the advantage of the standing start. The folks at Outside magazine went to Jim Martin, and former track racer and now one of the top cycling bio-mechanist in the world. Just do a google scholar search and you’ll see. Jim has done extensive work in modeling performance, so from a theoretical perspective, he was the guy to answer this question.
Jim took some power data from Sean Eadie, the 2002 match sprint world champion, along Bolt’s 9.58 100M and ran the model. From a standing start, it makes sense that the longer the race gets the more likely the cyclist is to win, as the runners are already slowing down after 100M and the cyclists is just gaining speed. But it is a pretty close race at 100M. Who do you think won?

The answer is the cyclists by 0.16 seconds. Bolt pulls ahead at the start, but then Eadie Passes him at 89.7 meters. Jim’s models are excellent, and can be be highly accurate, but when it comes down to 0.16 seconds, I think it could still be anyone’s race. If those two men lined up at the starting line in top form, I wouldn’t have much confidence in predicting the winner one way or the other. I would love to see something like this happen. It would be great or Gatorade, Red Bull, or a company like that could put on a race with Bolt and a top track sprinter…..maybe Chris Hoy or Gregory Bauge…Jaime Staff is known for heaving a blistering start, so he might be a good candidate. What do you think?

Usain Bolt vs Sean Eadie, from Outside Magazine June 2010