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Blueberries may protect muscles from exercise damage
Antioxidant-rich extracts of blueberries may counter the detrimental effect of excessive exercise, according to new results from a new study from New Zealand.
Posted by admin as News, Nutrition, antioxidant, power at 9:42 AM MST
I’ve been debating on the subject of high intensity training vs lower to 
moderate intensity training otherwise known as continuous training(click link training programs). There is a time and a place for both. Control the amount of intensity and you’ll be much better in the long run. High intensity interval training (HIIT) can produce to many mistakes that lead to illness, injury and burnout. Sure, the majority of athletes are time crunched. They have families, careers and other obligations. What happens to lost training time do to illness, injury and burnout?
The Pareto Principle is a good example of how to train. Spend 80% of your time below 70% max heart rate. Another way to look at it, and be on the safe side, is to take 180-age and train around this heart rate 80% of the time. How do you spend the 20%? That is the finesse part of training. There is a fine line between to much intensity.
Marc
Posted by admin as Training, intervals, performance, power at 1:36 AM MST
During yesterdays chit chat group ride from Joyride Bicycles I produced a training stress score of 73. Here is how TSS is figured out mathematically: .57 intensity factor^2 x 2.25 hours x100 = 73 TSS.
How much energy did I use? You don’t need a calorie measuring device to do this. I burned approximately 1100 kcal. The human body stores approximately 350-400 grams of carbohydrate. At 4 kcal/g that comes out to 1400-1600 kcal as carbs stored. Let’s make it 1500 kcal that I store for, arguments sake.
TSS basically represents glycogen usage. So 100 TSS = 100% usage and thus 15kcal, in this example, is equal to 1 TSS (15kcal x 100=1500 kcal). If I take yesterdays chit chat ride TSS of 73 and multiply it x 15kcal/TSS I come up with 1100 kcal that I burned during that ride.
To find out more on how to use power in your training and the metrics related power visit training peaks.
Marc
So you’re out riding, for that matter doing anything, and you want your family ect… to know where you are. You want them to know you’re safe. You can use Google latitude on your phone to track your every movement. Your family or friends, from their computer, can follow along and watch as you ride down the highway.
Marc
Make good use of those commercials while on the trainer. During the commercial pump up the intensity to around 80% of max heart rate. This is a 2-3 minute effort. Then recover when your program comes back on.
Another way to make the trainer time go by, go at 70% of max heart rate for as long as you can. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends hitting at least 70 percent of your MHR while you exercise to maximize your calorie burn and fat loss. Then recover by spinning. Next, try to go at 85% of MHR for as long as you can.
Make your trainer workouts fun. Burn up that trainer and burn up some calories
For that special loved one or maybe a gift for yourself try out one of my training services. Let me design a training program, for next year, and they will remember you every day of the year. Maybe you, yourself, need that extra push. I’ll be there for you to get you to the next level.
Rightway Performance » Gift Certificates!
Marc
Posted by admin as Rightway Coaching Services, general, power at 1:32 PM MST
If you have limited time to train there is a technique that increases endurance as described by Dr. Gabe Mirkin in this article Why Sprinting Improves Endurance. This involves short, 30 second, intervals at maximum power. I mentioned, in the previous post, that I recommend this type of interval session to fine tune your criterium/cyclcross fitness. Seems like it also boosts your endurance.
If your event is anything over 1.5 to 2 hours, I would recommend still putting in time at over 1.5 hours. You still want to be specific to your event by building up time in the saddle and developing the pathways associated with longer durations.
Finally, as a beginner you should have a good base of 3-4 months before attempting these. There is a greater risk of injury if you don’t have a good base built up.
Marc
Posted by admin as Training, intervals, power at 9:56 AM MST
Paying Your Oxygen Debt! via Personal Trainer Today – Education and Network for Health and Fitness Professionals.
The above article explains the physiology behind a couple of workouts that I prescribe before a criterium, these also work for cyclocross, that an athlete wants to do well in. The two main workouts are 15 second on/ 15 second off and 20-30 second maximum efforts. When you vary the reps, sets and recovery these can become extremely difficult. These workouts are not done that frequently because of the intensity. They are done in the last few weeks leading up to the event and will push your fitness to it’s peak. Since these efforts are so short, heart rate lags behind, and a power meter is the ideal tool to gauge your efforts. You can use perceived exertion, but make sure you’re around a 9 to 10, on a 1-10 scale.
So, when that special crit or cross race is fast approaching try doing these 2-3 times per week. You’ll raise the ceiling of your fitness quickly.
Marc
I got a couple of strength training books the other day. “Weight Training For Cyclist” by Doyle and Schmitz and “Explosive Lifting For Sports” by Harvey Newton. My goal for this winter is to become more knowledgeable on weight training. I also plan on taking the Resistance Training Specialist course from the National Federation of Professional Trainers from whom I have my personal trainer certificate. All this to better serve the athletes that I train. Oh yea, and to fulfill my CEU’s with NFPT and USACycling.
Marc
Always on the look out for up and coming technology and ideas that can help an athlete, I came across this one from Dr. Allen Lim. Team Garmin Slipstream is one of those teams that is providing some interesting research on it’s athletes to improve performance and making it public.
Also, this site will give you the science behind hydration/dehydration.
Marc
