Turn Your Training Up

Top 3 Overall
 

So this past weekend I was supposed to do my first Triathlon of the season but because of a nagging shoulder injury I had to bail and instead opted for the last race in the Triad Duathlon Series on Saturday. This was just fine by me seeing as how the level of competition was guaranteed to be good and I needed to compete in order to defend my Third Place Overall position in the series. I had a good first run, felt good on the bike, and struggled through the second run to end up in 3rd place on the day and thus holding on to my position in the series. So despite a rather mediocre performance I had to be happy on the day.



 

 



Me and Matt
 

 While at the race, I was talking to Glenn Thompson and Matt Sommer about training. Matt mentioned that he needed to develop more power on the bike, but felt that it was difficult at times to gauge because he didn't have a power meter. I then had a very similar conversation with Peter Walton on my training ride on Sunday. This has been a question that seems to come up a lot... "What can you do to work on your power output when you don't have a power meter?" What if I told you that the answer to this question is outside your front door and it wouldn't cost you any extra money to implement?

 

 



During the Winter months and off-season, power development is down in the Weight Room. As you may recall from my previous Weight Training Series, by lifting weights like a weight lifter you force your body to adapt and gain power. During the season, you can do the same thing by Climbing. Just as you can't hide from the squat rack, you can't hide from a mountain. Either you can lift the weight or you can't... Either you can push that gear up the mountain or you can't. It's the same concept but now it is sport specific in order to prepare you for your season of racing.

 



Me and Darren during our Tuesday Mill Mt. repeats.



How much climbing is based on your goals for the season. Most of the time I recommend a long road climbing session (2-4 hours)  on one of your weekend rides and a short (1-2 hours) climbing session during the week. I do this on Tuesdays in order to allow for enough recovery prior to the weekend. These sessions are not easy. I do them at or above Tempo pace with the goal being to spin a gear as much as possible. Just like pushing a heavy weight on the squat rack or leg press, these climbs are all about turning over that gear and keeping it going at a constant rate the whole way up the climb. When you first start, keep your Heart Rate down in order to keep lactate acid from building up too quickly and as you progress you can push harder. These types of climbing workouts are not are not about how fast you can get up the mountain, they are about building power quickly! If you can find someone just as crazy as you to partner up with then you've added another challenge that will push you that much harder. Add this into your weekly routine and after a month I promise you will be amazed at how much stronger you feel on the bike. This added power will help you be faster during the bike leg of your race and be less fatigued during your run section and the only cost is your level of commitment to the workout.