Cycling Training Tips

Bronze Medal at 3K Pursuit World Championships With Only 10 Hours Training Per Week

Case Story: Peter Ettles, 3K Pursuit.Last year I received an email from Peter Ettles from Scotland asking me to help the World Track Championships. Peter had a 3K pursuit as his primary discipline, a scratch race, and a points race as secondary events. That email had the perfect timing because I, at the same time,

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Optimize your cycling training with basic knowledge

Cycling training should not be made more difficult than it already is. Consider how many cyclists who have won great races, championships and honour without knowing anything significant about cycling training principles, nutrition or training planning (not to mention heart rate monitors, power meters etc.) There are a lot athletes having success, because they have talent and do a lot of clever things without knowing it: They train hard, they rest and they eat proper amounts of food.

Thus, they make above 95% of their potential performance by doing these things right. Advanced training methods can only add a few watts to this, but in tough competitions these can be crucial. But for a beginning it can be valuable to read these articles to avoid the most common mistakes and understand the basic principles of high quality cycling training:

Recovery Tips for Cyclists

Basic Principles of Cycling Training

Heart Rate Monitor Training Mistakes

Strength Training Mistakes

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My Goals as Cycling Coach 2008

I thought it might be interesting to have a little insight look to my work as cycling coach in 2008.

This season I have significantly reduced the number of riders I plan training for. Thus, I have only 2 riders that receive training plans in 2008. These two riders are both very talented and focused on optimizing their training with power meters, so I still spend quite a lot time on coaching. The most important reason I have reduced the number of athletes is time. July 2007 I became dad for the very first time and in January 2008 I finally graduated as medical doctor at the University of Aarhus.

Becoming dad was the most fantastic experience ever and makes every day even better. Thus, I have naturally given the highest priority to my little daughter, Lea. Finishing of my studies on the university also took a lot time and starting in my first job as medical doctor is obviously also quite time consuming. These two factors made me conclude that I had to reduce the number of athletes if I shouldn’t reduce the quality of what I did.

As I mentioned previously, I will only be coaching two riders this year.

U23 rider makes progress with SRM power meter

The first rider is Jakob Bering who is riding his second season as U23 rider. He rides for a continental team called Team Designa Køkken. I have been coaching him for more than 6 years. He won a silver medal at the national championships for U23 last season and played a central role in Denmark’s team victory in Tour de l’Avenir (Tour de France for U23). He is a climber and is currently training very hard to peak his performance in a stage race in April. Hopefully he will be representing Denmark in the U23 World Championships later this year.

Jakob uses a SRM power meter in all intervals and until now I have been very satisfied with the numbers I receive in my inbox. He is stronger than last year and compared to last season we’ve known the dates for peak performance in months. There is a huge difference from planning a peak performance in two months instead of just two weeks (or less..!). Now he is a more integrated part of the national team, which gives me a better possibility to plan his training and tapering compared to last year where every little stage race was like having an exam. When I plan a tapering protocol for a specific race I usually start at the peaking moment and work backwards. If I have 14 days, I start with the day before the big event, then the day before that one and so on until I reach day 1 in the program.

Tapering protocol is a corner stone

Thus, my programs are often identical in the final period because the tapering protocol is a corner stone in all my training programs. Though these tapering protocols look identical they might be adjusted to some specific requirements in the upcoming event.

Junior rider focusing on climbing

My other rider is Rasmus Malmkjær who is a talented junior rider. He rides on a very strong junior team which is probably the strongest junior team in Europe (Team Festina Hobro). His speciality is climbing steep climbs, so I hope that he will make some good results in some international junior races in southern Europe this year. He uses a Polar CS600 to optimize his results. Climbing is his number one skill, but on home ground in Denmark he will still be a strong rider, though he will be not strong enough to compete with the best riders on windy, flat roads. My biggest challenge is to make him produce as many watts as possible compared to body weight, making him an even better climber. We won’t focus much on flat races, because that will never be his speciality.

Challenging jobs as cycling coach in 2008

Thus, I have some really challenging and exciting jobs as cycling coach this year even though I have significantly fewer riders. I have received several emails with questions about why I’m not posting so often and I hope that this post explain why. Since July 2008 I have re-published some articles that deserved some additional attention. I hope that all readers understand and in some way respect this decision.

What coaching jobs I will do in 2009 is still uncertain.

If you have any questions or comments to my plans for 2008, feel free to post a comment.

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Introduction to Training with Power Meter

Power meters like SRM, Ergomo and Powertap are very useful if you want to optimize your training and start getting better results. Before you throw away all your pocket money consider how serious you are with your training. If you find it very difficult to stick to a rigid training scheme, doing specific intervals in heart rate target zones, then a power meter might not be the best choice for you. If you think that analyzing your performances or registrating your training sessions is a waste of time, then you are probably not ready for cycling with a power meter yet. But if you get excited when you turn on your computer immediately after parking your bike, watching your heart rate file, then you will likely be even more excited about the data from a power meter. If you like to make training plans or have a cycling coach who works out plans for you, then a power meter will be a very powerful tool, which gives you opportunity to make better training plans.

Power meter training starts a new era

Like the heart rate monitors started a new era back in the 80´s, and got mainstream in the mid 90´s, the power meters started a new one in the early 90´s and are now getting popular among amateur riders here in 2006. The SRM crank system was the one and only power meter system in the beginning, but now there are a couple of other systems on the market. Powertap and Ergomo uses different technologies than SRM´s crank system, but they give a precise measurement of watts. SRM is the most expensive system, while Powertap and Ergomo is less expensive. I will not make further comments on the differences between SRM, Powertap and Ergomo, but instead save my words for a review later. What you need to know is, that there are different technologies and different prices. Generally they all allow the workload to be measured correctly.

In the first couple of weeks I will recommend that you just continue to train as normal. It will be a very good education for you to spent this time studying how quickly the power meter react to your effort. People get surprised when they accelerate the bike for the first time and discover that they are pushing more than 500W (for a short while, naturally”¦)

After a few weeks you will be getting more familar with your new equipment. You are now ready to make your first observations with this powerful tool. Before you can start doing intervals or pacing with your power meter, you have to make a test of your physical performance. To make things easy and time saving, I recommend you do a 5 minutes allout test to measure your wattmax. You can use the software that followed your power meter or you can a software system like Cyclingpeaks which offers more opportunities. After your 5 minutes allout test you have to figure out what your average power output was. Also notice your body weight since this is an important factor when comparing test results. You are now able to make your first training program based on test results from your power output.

Make maximum power tests to define your intervals

It is possible to convert your test result to shorter or longer intervals. There will be less accuracy depending on what kind of rider you are. Some people can keep a high percentage of their VO2 max for a very long period of time, and other people who are much better at shorter distances where they can perform impressing high average watts for short intervals. Therefore this table is only a guideline and the best way to define your target zones is to do a test at that specific distance. If you are a track rider and are training for 1km time trials (anaerobic endurance and strength) you will have to test your power output at that distance.

Power output Training examples
Sprinting 200-?? % 5×150m (complete rest)
Anaerobic endurance 100-130% 5x(1+6min)
VO2 max 90-105% 3x(3+2min)
Threshold 85- 90% 3x(8+4min)
Endurance 50-85% 3 hours
Recovery 40-50% 1 hour

Next time you go to a race, use your power meter to collect data from the race. You will see, that you spend time in all the target zones in the table. Have a look at the interesting parts of the race. This investigation is an important part of having a power meter, and it is here you can discover things you would never have found out. You can see the difference it makes in crosswinds to sit behind a bunch of riders compared to suffering in a long line. When you see that big difference, you will definitely try even harder to keep your good position in the bunch in the crosswinds next time.

Time trialists uses watts for pacing

Time trialists love to train with power meters because they can see exactly how good they perform and make it easier for them to see progress. With a little training it is possible to use the power meter as a pacer during the time trial. In this situation they can compare their physical performance from time trial to time trial. These data files are not affected by the wind, course or equipment, so they are very useful to see how the form changes.

If you have a velodrome in your neighborhood you can make tests to improve your position on your bike. Serious time trialists should consider this and at least give it a try. Testing in a wind tunnel is very expensive, so testing on a velodrome with your power meter might be a cheap alternative. When you do the tests you will need at least one assistant to take split times for each lap. With a little training in this setup, you can try different positions and equipment, and see which combination saves most watts. This part of using a power meter is the more challenging part, but I promise, that it is very satisfying when you save a couple of watts.

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How To Make It To The Podium With Less Training

Yesterday I published and commented on the results from Dave Simonson. Today, I will talk about Marc Moeller who is a category 3 rider with an ambition of promoting to category 2 this season. That goal sounds quite fair if Marc’s training wasn’t limited to only 8 hours per week. Thus, Marc gave me a challenge when he entered the project, but also a great chance to test how much progress you can achieve with training program with limited time available.

Wattage controlled intervals
I chose to push Marc’s intervals to the maximum capable amount. He was supposed to do intervals three times a week, but these days were not only like regular interval days, they were really tough workouts that required a dedicated effort to succeed. These intervals were monitored on his PowerTap Pro. There was a risk that this program could be a failure if the total training load was too heavy.

The three interval days were one session with anaerobic intervals (6 bursts of 40 seconds at 600-650W, recovery 6minutes), one training day with VO2 max intervals (3 times 3minutes 400W, 3min recovery or a couple of sets of 6 bursts of 40/20seconds at 410+ W) and finally one day with threshold power intervals in the range of 3 to 15minutes, normally with a total time of 24-30minutes. Two times a week there were sprint sessions with short power sprints and regular sprints.

Have a look at the graphs and full results

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Tour de France - How to win a stage

How To Perform A Watt Max Test

Watt max testing is a fast and accurate way to evaluate your training. I normally recommend serious riders to do a couple of these tests through the season.

Why you should do a watt max test
First of all, it is very motivating to follow progress in performance. When you word hard to achieve a better performance, it is very satisfying to see that you are not vesting your time. Even for small increments, the test is very sensitive.
Secondly, it is possible to use the test results to modify your training program. This could be done either through optimizing your power outputs in the intervals or maybe a test will show that you need a recovery week. The optimal situation is to evaluate the test results with your cycling coach.

Watt max test
1. 15 min warm up
2. 100W workload ”“ increase intensity with 10W every 30sec.
3. Keep cadence at min. 80rpm.
4. Ride until exhaustion
5. Notice the last completed power output. = P
6. Notice seconds spent at exhaustion power output = T

How to calculate the result from a watt max test
Watt max power = P + (T/30x10W)

Example: A rider gets exhausted after 15 seconds at 280W. Thus, his last completed power output is 270W. Calculation of Watt max power = 270W + (15/30 x 10W) = 275W

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