October 31, 2006
If we take a look at long distance running, I will have to introduce you to a legendary coach: Arthur Lydiard. He invented the term ‘jogging’ and got famous for his strategies to achieve peak performance in long distance running events. When the runners started to run longer distances, they got more efficient and achieved a better endurance. LSD (Long Slow Distance) improves your peripheral adaptations, which means increased capillary density, more myoglobin, more mitochondrias, better use of free fatty acids as fuel and larger glycogen stores. Also there are probably some neural adaptations that make running more efficient. Training at slow speeds has only very little effect on VO2 maximum.
Read the full article about Long Slow Distance Training
October 29, 2006
Bicycling.com has published an article worth reading. It is about the Massachusetts Institute of Technology cycling team who train in the wind tunnel to optimize their aerodynamics. Wind tunnel optimization is used of many of the professional teams at the Pro Tour. Mark Cote worked with the former Team CSC captain Ivan Basso to optimize his aerodynamics through optimization in the wind tunnel.
In the interview Mark Cote answers questions related to wind tunnel optimization and team time trials:
On aerodynamic wheels:
“Most people don’t realize that a non-aero helmet creates four times the drag of a non-aero wheel set. So you can spend two thousand dollars on a wheel set, or spend two hundred on a helmet and be faster. How you put your race number on matters more than having an aero wheel; today, we glued on our numbers to get them to fit flatter. Then there’s water bottle placement: On a round-tubed frame, having a bottle on your seat tube is more aerodynamic than not having one at all, and it’s much more aero than putting it on the down tube. And wearing gloves in a time trial will slow you down more than using a non-aero front wheel.”
On shaved legs:
“Shaved legs? I think they’re faster, but we haven’t really tested them in the tunnel. I did try to convince Ivan Basso to shave his head when he came to MIT. He wouldn’t do it, even though it was for science.”
Read the full interview at Bicycling.com
October 25, 2006
Cyclists apply forces to bike pedals in order to overcome the forces resisting forward motion (hill climbs, wind resistance, rolling resistance, acceleration, etc.) Traditional power meters like SRM, Powertap and Ergomo measure the forces applied by the cyclist (direct measuring). The new iBike Pro is the first power meter that measures the resistive forces working against the cyclist (indirect measuring). The principle is that forces applied by the cyclist is exactly the same as the forces from wind resistance, rolling resistance and gravity. Thus, if you know these factors you can calculate the forces applied by the cyclist. The iBike Pro measure both wind speed, hill gradient and bike speed.
Body position does not affect power output
As you can guess, there are several variables that can possible affect the measuring. One of the biggest problems in my opinion is that the power output will not change if you change body position. That means that data from the rides will reflect the average power output rather than the actual power output.
iBike Pro website FAQ about the body position problem:
“Most riders stay in the same position about 90% of the time or more, so the percentage of the total ride where there is a wattage difference won’t be great. The iBike Pro assumes that the athlete remains in the same riding position, so changes in riding position will not be reflected by changes in the iBike’s wattage readings.”
My opinion about iBike Pro (haven’t tried it yet…)
I think it is a interesting concept, but it is very difficult for me to understand why they measure power indirectly. That doesn’t make sense to me. I am not sure that this product can be used to seious wattage training, but I would really like to try one to see how it performs. There are some good things that could make iBike Pro to a competitor for the other power metres: It weights only 60g and costs 399$, which is nothing compared to the more expensive and heavier products on the market.
October 22, 2006
This training program is designed for serious riders who already have a solid mileage. I will recommend that you use a heart rate monitor or even better a power meter in your training. During short intervals a heart rate monitor is worth nothing because the reactions from the cardiac system are delayed with a few minutes. People that enter this program should know about the terms overreaching and overtraining.
Have a look at the 18 hours per week training program
October 12, 2006
Read more at Floyd Landis Case
In the published material you will find:
Attorney Howard Jacobs’ motion for dismissal, submitted to the Anti-Doping Review Board (ADRB) on September 11, 2006
The complete World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) document package, inclusive of the testing information from Landis’ ‘A’ and ‘B’ samples
A PowerPoint presentation created by Arnie Baker, M.D. with specific reference to the critical points in the testing procedure.
This publication is made of Landis’ crew and should be read with a critical view.
October 12, 2006
I have made a list of posts that I would like to post in the future. If you have any comments or suggestions, please leave a comment.
- Old school bike training
- Is Long Slow Distance (LSD) training dead?
- What is anaerobic endurance training
- How to reduce body weight
- How to reduce bike weight
- Optimization of aerodynamics with a power meter
- Case study: Power meter based training
