Training Tips

"Getting back to racing this year taught me some good lessons. It was a modest re-introduction, don't get me wrong. There have been some issues in the last couple years that certainly didn't help, but a lot of it was on me. I just needed to make the time and commit. That took more than I expected."

The importance of skill work includes: better balance on the bike and in the peloton, maneuvering through a pack of riders during a race, managing obstacles/avoiding crashing and how to pick up speed quickly in a mass start situation (applies to: MTB Cyclocross and Road situations).

The winter and the holiday seasons are coming closer. Most of our ALP athletes enjoyed their off season break sometime back in October or November and by not it is time to be back training for next season.

Summer is winding down and many parts of the country have already seen a shift of weather, signaling the end of a long road season and for others, the start of the cyclocross season. Whether you take a break now from structured training and racing or do it after cross, it's important to get the most out of your off-season. This is where the biggest gains can be made.

“Cooking at home and eating healthy is one way you can improve and meet your overall health, fitness and training goals.” by Patricia Dowd, ALP Cycles Coaching-Tuscon Training Camp Chef What’s for dinner? I recently learned this question is dreaded by many people who find cooking a chore, intimidating and something they would rather not […]

It's choose your own adventure time...it's been a long week. You've had multiple deadlines at work and still managed to fit in your daily training prescribed by your coach. You've had to cut your nightly sleep totals by 30-60 minutes each night and by Friday, you're more than ready for the weekend. Do you: A) let loose and unwind from the week. Go out with friends, have a few drinks, stay up late and plan on catching up on your sleep during the weekend - that's what coffee was invented for, right? Or B) Get a nutritious, well balanced meal and head to bed early.

Myofascial Release: Sounds fancy, eh? Chances are you're already doing some sort of myofascial release. Whether you use a foam roller, normatech boots, a lacrosse or tennis ball - you're attempting to release the tension due to trauma, posture, or inflammation. Or in a cyclists case - attempting to make your legs feel better after doing hundreds of thousands of pedal revolutions in a single ride. Sometimes it is downright painful. Yet after you're done, you feel 10 times better. 

"The winter and the holiday seasons are coming closer. Most of my athletes enjoyed their off season break sometime back in October or early November and by now it is time to be back in training for next season."

Shhhhhh…. Don’t tell anyone new to the sport but cycling is based on suffering. A lot of suffering. You have to push your body to the extreme to overcome gravity, inertia, strong winds, and at time physical ailments just in order to cross the finish line. It can be painful, gut wrenching, exhilarating and 100% satisfying.

Lately, a lot of people are dealing with nasty seasonal viruses/flu that are going around. Athletes are a primary target because after intense training, our immune system are compromised and they can’t protect us, causing an "open window effect". That “open window effect” has a duration of about 3 to 72 hours. This is why it is very important to get enough and proper recovery especially after a hard ride, workout or race!

While working at the team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank Pro Women's Cycling camp this spring, I had the chance to go to the FASTER AZ wind tunnel in Scottsdale Arizona. I spent a whole day at the wind tunnel with 3 of the TIBCO riders. I never had the chance to test my bike position/ equipment in a wind tunnel during my own racing career.

Deliberate practice. You can apply it to anything you're trying to learn: musical instruments, racing cars, martial arts, any newly acquired skill and of course, bike racing. But practice is more than just riding a bike - deliberate practice is a method of acquiring and learning a skill. It's breaking down movements with rigorous skill assessment, doing that movement repetitively, getting specific information feedback and working on better skill performance.

As the road racing season approaches (and has started for the lucky ones that got to race in Australia - me!) it’s important to remember the importance of teamwork.

You’ve probably heard all the rage about making your own food on the bike. A lot of companies in the market are coming up with more organic and natural recipes for their bars and gels, but they can be expensive. Plus it’s not as much fun to buy them when you can make them inexpensively right in your own kitchen.

Unless you live in the tropics or some warm southern state like Arizona or Florida, chances are you’ve succumbed to the trainer this winter. While the trainer is better than not getting on the bike at all, you may experience differences in power output. I asked a bunch of coaches, from my fellow ALP Cycles coaches as well as my network of colleagues to see what their experience is with indoor verses outdoor power, and it turns out they all agree that for some athletes, there is a difference. But just how much of a difference is unpredictable at best.

Last weekend, in Colorado Springs, was the USA Cycling Coaches Summit. Every two years coaches from around the country come to USA Cycling to increase their coaching knowledge and knowhow.

This blog is about my experience at the UCI DS training program. I spent the last 3 weeks in Switzerland and it was almost like a reunion! I knew lots of the people in my class, people that I have met somewhere during my long pro racing career.

"How many of you have overtrained?"  asked Dr. San Millan to a room full of 25 coaches and athletes.

Every single person raised their hand.

Everyone, at some point in their athletic lives, will overtrain. In the summer time it's easy to throw in extra mileage even though you've done 15 hours of riding that week and it's only Friday - what's the harm? And while it's ok to pile on the extra miles every once in a while, making a habit of it means you'll eventually find out why rest days are super important. And that lesson could cost you a week, a month, a season or a full year. 

We’ve become obsessed with data and athletic performance: watts/kilo, time spent in specific zones, nutrition, strength training and conditioning - yet very little emphasis is placed on the importance of sleep as a means to optimize athletic performance. You work hard at hitting your numbers during interval workouts, gaining strength at the gym, logging your every move - but are you sabotaging your efforts by not getting enough sleep?

As a coach, I'm always looking for ways to improve my coaching game. I read anything sport psychology I can get my hands on, study race tactics, share information with other coaches and I also get to apply self-coaching to see if what I'm sharing actually works.  I'm also blessed to be married to a coach and we frequently bounce ideas off of one another. When I found myself floundering in the national level crits this season, struggling with how to surf the front of the field verses tail gunning the back, Benjamin had some suggestions.

Fall is right around the corner. The road racing and MTB season is coming to an end, many of my athletes have already completed their last race for 2016 or then they maybe have 1 or 2 races left. The question is now what? Taking an off season break already is a bit early- even though your mind is probably tired and the motivation not as big anymore.