22 March 2012

Doin' some research

Anybody out there interested in helping me do some training research? If you are training with a power meter, send me 2-3 power files (.fit, .wko) with sprint workouts (Subject: sprint training files). These would be training days with multiple short (15-30sec) maximal efforts.

Can't guarantee I'll have any interesting feedback for you, but we'll see.

Send 'em to me at jeff -at- fascatcoaching.com

14 March 2012

CU Boulder TTT Practice

Rode with the CU squad today doing some TTT practice. Fascat coaches the team and is paying special attention to preparing the A team for the team time trial event. We drove a scooter and paced the team out to the test course. 4 guys rotated and put in a decent 50+ minute effort over a mostly flat course. I was on my bike and got a motorpace session behind the scooter while observing the team. They looked good, but there is always room for improvement.

There are a lot of little techniques that help the team time trial performance. Obviously, the biggest factor is fitness, but every little bit adds up. Probably the second biggest factor is knowing your teammates on the bike. You need to be able to know how they ride, especially when they start to fatigue. Also, you need to really pay attention to the wind and give your teammates enough road to find the draft behind you. Seems obvious, but often breaks down when you are in the red zone.

I remember doing the Nats 100k TTT with Plymouth/Reebok in 1988. It was definitely one of my hardest 2 hours on the bike.

The weather was off the hook, 70 degrees and a mild wind. Nice.