On The Water

All it takes is a lot of patience, practice, smart preparation, a good strategy, a good nutrition plan, an intelligent coach and an athlete who listens and executes. Patience : 3 1/2 years since I completed a major race (4th at the Collegiate Nationals in 2012) without any pain in my abdominal muscles (see: New 2015 season. Shaping up, building up and racing pain-free )  Practice : I never stopped working out during the past 3 years. I couldn't run for two years but I biked a lot and worked religiously on my swim! Smart preparation : We only had 8 weeks. I lacked running volume and we increased the mileage very slowly but steadily up to one week before the race. Because we did not do any running intervals, all the intensities (endurance threshold, aerobic/anaerobic and VO2 max workouts) were done in the water (swimming).  Good strategy : My racing plan was very specific: do your best in the swim, take it out a little slower and negative split on the ...

CycleOps has been the leader in cycling indoor solutions for so many years. The company got acquired by Saris (famous for their bike racks) in 1999, and since then, Saris has brought CycleOps to the next level! Not much to tell about the science, the superb quality, the lifetime warranty, the great functionality and the awesome looks of all CycleOps products! I am fortunate to train in one of their best products, the CycleOps SuperMagneto Pro. I have used the trainer during the winter mostly but also during the season for more controlled interval workouts and power tests ( quick indoor workout , power test ). The SuperMagneto Pro belongs to the Pro-series of the brand featuring ultra-quiet progressive magnetic resistance to simulate the feel of open road cycling. The coolest feature (and one of the differences compared to the the Magneto trainer) is the four resistance settings (easy spin, open road, intervals, mountain) that make your workouts really count! The unit is super...

It's been incredibly cold right? One of the reason lots of us moved down here was for the weather. But 6F (-15C) in the winter? Hm...not quite normal for Atlanta!It's been killing our fitness!!! Not so much tho... Here is a cool workout I enjoyed the other day. You don't need any heart rate monitors or crazy gadgets for that! If you don't have too much time, if you are a beginner or if you are coming back from an injury, this is a quick workout that may take you up to an hour or so and you can combine it with weight lifting and stretching at the end. Got my CycleOps trainer down to the gym of my apartment's complex and did: BIKE -10 min warm up, easy effort -5x2 min (1 min break) @ about 50-60 RPM* on my big chainring, steady effort (~60% of your max effort) -5x1 min (1 min break) @ about 80-90 RPM* on my big chainring, fast effort(~80% of your max effort) RUN 3mi run on the treadmill @1-2min/mi slower than race pace Weight lifting/Stretch...

December 28, 2013 By coach Dave Williams The Graded Exercise Test (GXT) is a measure of cardiovascular fitness.  It shows your body’s response to increasing workload.  It can also identify lactate threshold wattage and heart rate.  A plot of HR versus power shows the cardiovascular response to increasing workload.  The lactate threshold is about 10-15% below the point where breathing becomes labored.  The corresponding perceived exertion would be about 7 out of 10.  An ideal improved training response would indicate each power step achieved at a lower heart rate and lactate threshold reached at a higher wattage with an increase in peak power achievement.  Ideally the plotted line should shift down and to the left as fitness improves.  [HR: Heart Rate; RPE:Rate of Perceived Exertion; Ventilations: E(easy), F(fast), H(hard), L(labored)] GXT Test: December 28, 2013 Lactate Threshold Heart Rate: LTHR 167 Lactate Thre...