Since the last post, progress has been steady on the content upload and we’re now up to 8 factsheets in the new html based free resource section. I’m pleased to report that some of them have had a few hits too so it doesn’t feel like a wasted effort! Incidentally it’s been quite an experience reviewing some of the material. Although I wouldn’t say any of it is necessarily wrong, I don’t think I’d write things in the same way if I were to start from scratch and of the material that Helen wrote, although much of it helped shape my own coaching philosophy I do recognise that in more recent conversations with both Helen and Oli it’s become clear that there are more shades of grey than absolute certainty and labelling the material factsheets is perhaps a bit of a misnomer. ‘There is some evidence to suggest or generally tends to work in our experience’ sheets doesn’t quite have the same ring to it though!
Some of the content raised a few eyebrows on one of the UK message boards and it seems our decision to open up has been largely well received. It also raised an interesting debate over the nature of Sports Science and whether it’s actually any use at all. Here are a few thoughts I’ve been mulling over in the last few days.
One aspect of the debate stems from the lack of hard facts provided by sport science on seemingly trivial questions of training and performance enhancement. In an ideal world scientists could prove that intensity trumps volume, or that training for x hours at y% of your threshold will see you progress at the fastest rate but sadly things don’t work that way. If you want real certainty and irrefutable logic then become a mathematician, but be warned that the waters get a little murky around the edges in that field too...
So what use is sport science then if it can’t tell us the answers? The real strength comes from adopting the scientific method – a key tenet of which is “using a method of inquiry based on empirical and measurable evidence” (thank you Wikipedia). The human body is complex and the individual response to training is varied. Every type of training you do is experimental, there’s no way of knowing exactly what the response will be, but you can measure the effects. You’ll never know if doing something else might have had a better effect but by collecting data on the key performance markers you’ll certainly know when things aren’t working and make changes far quicker than if fumbling around in the dark without any measure of improvement. This is one reason that power meters have been truly revolutionary in the cycling world. It’s not just that they allow the collection of objective data, but that the data being collected is on such a critical factor in cycling performance – all else being equal more power equals more speed!
Another argument is that people were racing very quickly in the past before sports scientists were on the scene and that’s undisputed. It’s often said that “success leaves a trail”. Well flip that on its head and I’d say failure often doesn’t leave a trail. With enough people participating in a given sport there are bound to be a few who having a natural gift for understanding what they need to succeed, or just being plain lucky that their chosen approach happened to be the correct one for them. What we don’t see is how many people got it completely wrong in these ‘golden days’. I’d argue that one of the key benefits of the scientific method is the speed with which errors are highlighted. In the absence of hard facts and certainty, the best we can do is minimise the time we spend up blind alleys and therefore increase the chance of eventually landing on the money. I’m sure this is one of the reasons behind the increased depth of competition across sport at all levels.
Now I’m not suggesting that athletic performance is purely a game of chance. The individuality concept can be overplayed – we are all similar in many regards and the general principles of training; specificity, overload, progression etc, all still apply and ensure that we’re not aiming blindly, and experience can identify characteristics in athletes that might encourage a certain approach. This is where art meets science and we begin to see real progress. Sports science is not a magic bullet that will provide the holy grail in athletic performance but a set of tools, or guiding principles that can help along the way. By no means definitive but just a few thoughts on where sports science sits within my own coaching philosophy at the moment...
And a slightly belated Happy New Year from all at PBscience :-)
The last few weeks have finally seen some much needed TLC for the PBscience website. One of the aspects that we have looked at is the role that the site has in supporting the PBscience community with their training and other preparations. Hidden behind the member login has been steadily building a big resource library, with close to 50 factsheets and a comprehensive session descriptions section to help with the execution and subsequent analysis of individual workouts. It’s long been my suspicion that these resources haven’t actually been that well used and sure enough, a quick look at the ‘stats’ reveals that none of the factsheets for example, have seen more than 20 hits in the last few years.
So, we’ve decided to open up our online library as a free to access resource.
A morning in front of the computer screens was enough to get the majority of the structural changes in place. Some people have recently worried that Helen has dropped off the face of the planet but this picture shows she is still alive and well (I've just been working her hard!). Firstly, rather than just making the pdf documents freely available, we’ve taken the choice to move the content over to html based webpages. This means that every fact sheet will undergo a review (rather than just a cut and paste job) and it opens up the possibility of embedding videos and other types of media to help make the information a little clearer.
Initially I was concerned that in effect this was taking something away from our existing members. However, I’m fairly confident that they will also benefit from this move. I’ve become more and more aware, that the athletes who work with PBscience choose to do so to work with the PBscience team, NOT because of the material on the website. Also, our members weren’t able to make use of the material in its existing form. For many time is an issue – it’s hard enough fitting training around a busy schedule let alone finding time to sit and read about it as well. Moreover the navigation on the site is not the best at the moment, so by removing some of the ‘layers’ pertaining to the member login it’s hoped we can streamline this and make the information more accessible to members and non-members alike.
I’m a big fan of the growing online support for freedom of information, so much of what I have learnt has come from studying other peoples websites, blogs and articles and I do feel slightly hypocritical having paid for none of this freely available information and then hiding our own work behind a veil of secrecy...
From our perspective, a greater readership of our material should offer more frequent questioning of our ideas and beliefs. I certainly hope that this will help refine and update some of our practices – placing ourselves under the spotlight in this way can only help our ‘quality control’!
From a business perspective, the accumulation of this material represents more accurately than anything the philosophy and best practises that we believe in at PBscience. Making this freely available should help perspective clients make a more informed decision on whether PBscience is likely to offer a coaching service that meets their requirements
Anyhow, because of the time taken in transferring the factsheet material into webpages this process isn’t going to happen overnight, but in the interests of goal setting I’m publically declaring my intention to have the material freely available online by January 28th, 2012. As a starter for 10, 'Training in Zone 2', ‘The importance of base building’ and ‘Top 10 errors for athletes’ are now available under the new factsheet menu item (see pic). Look out for more titles as they become available.
In my last blog post on mobility training I mentioned a recent bike fitting session I underwent so time for a bit more information. Bjorn and Nathan have both been PBscience coached athletes for a while now and so I was well aware of the bikefit training and experience they had both been gathering over a long period of time. It's been at the back of my mind that I've given ZERO thought to my road bike position since it's purchase over 6 years ago and I had an inkling that things haven't been quite optimal, so I jumped at the chance to put the guys at the newly formed Cyleprecision through their paces.
Despite having paid no attention to my bike fit, I'm very well read and experienced enough to know which elements I think are important when it comes to set up. I was going in to my fit in 'cynical scientist mode' - if I didn't agree with what was being said and done I wasn't about to keep hush because of my existing relationships with Bjorn and Nathan.
First up was an interview to discuss my riding preferences and aspirations. The optimal road bike fit for spending all day in the saddle in a mountainous sportive compared with a fast aggressive crit are quite different, so I was pleased to hear this accounted for. First box ticked. Incidentally, I asked for a decidedly non-specialised position, for I intend to ride events along the full spectrum just described!
Next my existing position was measured, and after a short warm up an assessment of my flexibility made. It's not good enough to just 'eyeball' a good riding position. On of my requirements was that my fit addressed my own biomechanics and range of motion (ROM) so second box ticked. The photo (left) is of my starting position - it's obvious to me now that I needed to make changes to allow me to bend my arms!
With my old position set up as a start point on the testing rig, Nathan and Bjorn set about making changes... cleats forward a few millimeters, narrower bars, shorter reach, higher saddle with greater setback. Some of the changes were fairly subtle but all were geared to ensuring that the position did not exceed my functional capacity, as indicated by the ROM identified in my flexibility tests.
In summary I was very pleased with the service and left happy not only with the fit, but most importantly for me with confidence in the rationale behind all of the changes made. Here is a summary of what I found to be good with the service:
Scientific method - the computrainer built into the fitting rig gives a great tool for a test-retest of any changes made during the test. My initial warm up identified a clear right leg dominance in my pedal stroke and some clear holes in my power application. This was markedly improved with the new position and I expect further improvements as I adapt to the changes
Flexibility - fit accounted for my own limitations, not just some generic benchmarks
The rig - the rig used for the fit is a fantastic piece of kit: by not using my own bike for the fit, the extent of the possible permutations was essentially infinite rather than being limited by the geometry of my frame. Fitting this position to my frame then becomes the problem...
Opportunity to experiment - during the fit, I was able to try out a number of bar widths and a number of different saddles. As a result of the testing I have swapped my 42cm bars for super-narrow 38cm Eastons and am now confident that my Toupe is the right saddle for me - everything else I tried was much less stable and much less comfortable. I was hesitant to spend on new bars without trying them first.
Areas for progress - an obvious area that I need to work on is flexibility to allow myself to adopt a more aggressive aerodynamic position for racing. Four weeks later I am pleased to report that thanks to the kick up the backside from Bjorn and Nathan and the use of mobilitywod I have made big progress and have noticeable less lower back, shoulder and neck discomfort on longer sessions.
All in all I was very impressed by the service offered by Cycleprecision and the guys did a great job of dispelling my initial cycnicism. I'll certainly be going back (as a paying customer I might add...) before purchasing any new kit and once I've established a level of mobility that will allow me to adopt a more 'racey' position. Get in contact with Bjorn if you have any questions about what's involved.
** Incidentally Bjorn is offering a great deal for PBscience athletes, I have emailed everyone with details.
A quick post based on the aspect of training that I hate most and (surprise, surprise) has therefore become my own personal weakness - flexibility. I was given a rude awakening at a recent bikefit from Bjorn and Nathan (more on that later), with the realisation that at my current flexibility levels, I should really have my bars above the level of the saddle to preserve optimum posture. Not something I wanted to hear given my pursuit of an aerodynamic position for racing...
I know Helen and Oli both swear by Yoga, but having tried a class or two at the local gym, I was put off by all the lying around relaxing and breathing. Not my cup of tea I'm afraid; I've got stuff to do. I was also in need of something to fill the gap for some of the PBscience athletes who share my mobility weakness but are operating on severely time restricted schedules - if you've only got 6 hours a week total training time, how can I presribe 2/3 hour long yoga classes a week and expect to still see progress on the bike?
Enter Kelly Starrett and his mobilitywod project. This is born out of the crossfit community - wod stands for 'workout of the day', a phenomenon that's proved extremely popular on the crossfit main site. Essentially mobilitywod is a video blog offering 10 minute mobility workouts to help restore soft tissue quality and range of motion. Hopefully some of the PBscience athletes will remember the session Phill Sykes did for us on hip mobility and specifically hip flexor tightness - we spend most of our lives in hip flexion, read 'sitting', and so most peoples hip flexors are victims of at least some adaptive shortening. For those who need reminding, here's a mobilitywod take on the same theme. If you have acces to a great trainer like Phill (and the time to use them!) then there's no substitute for some one-to-one tuition but mobilitywod offers the next best thing.
If this is an area that you feel needs some work in your training then I'd thoroughly recommend starting at the first episode and working your way through the program. I'm currently around 30 days in and have made a lot of progress, not only on my specific cycling mobility weaknesses but I've also improved my posture and in the most non-scientific terminology possible, I'm 'moving' better. Incidentally, episode 135 http://youtu.be/PZNdCuLKh0o features a top cyclist who's been working with Kelly to support his bike training. Some may find the American 'enthusiasm' a little off-putting but stick with it, this guy really knows his stuff and after watching a few clips you'll understand most of the phrases and start to get a feel for what the program can offer.
Hopefully this will provoke a rebuttal from Oli and/or Helen in defence of yoga*...
*(admittedly many of the mobilitywod sessions involve yoga poses)
Busy times in the PBscience camp at the moment, with the majority of the PBscience community returning to training ahead of the 2012 season. This means many hours spent discussing goals and targets and deciding on the best approach to meeting these goals. It was an absolute delight then, to listen to Dave Brailsford on BBC Radio Five Live this morning talking through the plans that British Cycling have got in place and the approach that he has championed in his time at the top of the sport. Lots to be taken on board by us that is very relevant as we look towards our own targets for 2012
One passage that particularly struck a chord with me
"It's not just a training plan. it's a living plan, a life plan, a nutritional plan, a psychological plan, etc"
But more than that, once that plan is in place (and within the next few weeks - all PBscience athletes should have that plan in place and agreed by coach and athlete!)...
"The one thing that successful athletes do, is they have this massive ability to adhere, or comply to their training, and if I could measure one thing it would be that: just how much adherence there would be. If you've got a compliance coefficient for example... that one figure alone would tell you the difference between the winners and the losers."
Well worth listening to the whole broadcast if you get a moment, not at the expense of your training plan though! Perhaps one to ease the boredom of the next turbo session :-)
Helen has previously blogged about her reccie of a venue in Girona as a potential for a future PBscience camp. Well... we've decided to host the 2012 PBscience Spring camp at Gironacycling.com, so I decided it was only fair that Oli and I got to take a look too! Here is my report on what we've all got to look forward to.
The venue
Gareth and Fiona are now well established in 'Mas Pelegri' and have a few years of running and hosting camps under their belts. The accomodation is absolutely first rate and I really can't fault it. Sleeping 26* in total, each room has en suite bathroom facilities as well as a number of lounge areas and a huge dining area. My personal favourite was the view (opposite) from one of the upstairs reclining areas. Stunning - the picture off my iPhone (alas not yet a 4S) really does not do it justice. All food is prepared freshly on site and again I can't fault the cooking! The 2 ft thick concrete walls keep the rooms cool during the day and warm at night, but under floor heating is provided in case the temperature drops at night time. The house is located in a very quiet area so noise at night is not a problem but I hazard a guess that with the thickness of the walls, any noise wouldn't get far anyway!
*The student in me thinks that were this a halls of residence (if only) it could comfortably sleep 100.
Training
There's a reason this area is home to so many pros, the variety and quality of training routes and the dependable weather makes it flippin' fantastic! Oli and I managed to sneak in 3 rides while we were there, the routes are visible courtesy of Garmin connect below. The eagle eyed among you may notice that the Day 1 ride does not start and finish in the same place and took a few 'detours'. Evidently suffering the after-effects of an ungodly start time for our flight. We became 'geographically embarrased' (despite having been within a mile from home at one point...) and with fading light (okay, it was dark) Gareth came to the rescue. The second day saw us cover ~80km on the Volcano loop, before a flatter 100km on the final day to scout out the roads towards the coast. All well surfaced, with light or non-existent traffic and with Oli riding hard enough to see me grimacing on his wheel and chucking SiS gels down my neck at an unhealthy rate of knots.
Veterans of previous PBscience camps will be familiar with test day. For the last few years this has involved a TT up to the Lluc monastery in Mallorca, towards the back end of the camp. Part of our trip was to identify a suitable Catalan equivalent. Enter the infamous climb of Roccacorba... For Bradley Wiggins it was holding 6.1W/kg during a pre-Tour test on Rocacorba with his then Garmin team that first hinted at his breakthrough 2009 performance. For a sneak preview check out Ryder Hesjedal's ascent on youtube.
In many ways a return to Mallorca next year would have been the easier option, the roads around Port Pollensa have become very familiar to us as coaches but also to the riders who have supported previous PBscience camps. Part of the attraction of a training camp is the chance to visit another location and I think Girona offers an exciting prospect. The big plus points for me include the greater variety of routes on offer and the more dependable weather. We were incredibly lucky in Mallorca this year, but we only have to cast our minds back to the snow of 2010 for a reminder of how changeable the island weather can be. Although this will be a very bike focussed camp, Girona has the added benefit that swimming facilities, and an abundance of trails for running sessions are readily available to help cater for our growing multisport community. Finally no PBscience blog would be complete without the obligatory coffee stop photo - Banyoles is ideal for that post-ride caffeine shot!
I for one am very excited about the camp and hope as many of you as possible can join us for what promises to be a great week. Roll on February!
This year saw the inaugural running of the Haute Route, billed as Europe's highest cyclosportive. Certainly not one for the faint hearted, the route would see riders cover 730km with 17000m of climbing (15 cols) over 7 days. Add in the competitive element of fighting for the leaders jersey or a high placing in your respective age group and you have all the ingredients for a fantastic event. Never one to shirk a challenge, Tony signed himself up. Here is a collection of his daily text message updates, a brilliant insight into the ups and downs of multi-stage events. For a more comprehensive race report (best race report ever?), a link to Tony's novella is provided at the bottom.
Haute Route Stage One: 107km, two climbs, 2500m ascent
Well I felt ballistic today. I struggled a little on the first flat 50km as it got rather fast in a big bunch, but once the Col de la Colombière appeared I seemed to just go past everyone. I had to hold back thinking of the next 6 days but just felt like superman (climbs were 275W and 270W pegged back from 290W). Anyhow it seems I was 7th overall - I finished with a 22 year old Dutch boy who beat me in the last 1 km. I have a feeling that was a few places higher than Alain Prost. I've not seen any official results so I might be quite wrong. I'm now very afraid that tomorrow I'll feel that I badly overcooked it today. Time for a nap - see www.hauteroute.org for official results. Team Tony
PS. Ah ha not quite as nice - 27th not 7th (sanity rules) but 3rd in age group and as it happens 8 minutes in front of Prost!
Stage 2: Megève to Les Arcs 102km, 2800m ascent. 3 Cols, middle one a bit mega
Well I woke up thinking that getting to reception would be a challenge as it was upstairs from my room. On start line I thought this is hopeless I'm so tired. Got going and missed a break of what seemed like 50 riders, so thought I'd have an easy day - well that went through my mind. Needless to say some sort of red mist came over me and come the 3 climbs I went as fast as I could (275W, 260W, 255W). Ended up 31st overall and 3rd again in my group. Amazing, although I put in some big efforts today and was in a right state at the finish. My descending is poor and I'm losing a fair bit of time here but it's not hopeless. Tomorrow is a huge day, 100 miles and mega climbs. Gulp. Team Tony
Stage 3: 169km, 4000m ascent. Huge climbs.
Man I'm totally exhausted. 29th overall today, but last hour was rather plodding. There was a howling head wind the whole way, really bad in sections. It's one thing going up these mountains, it's another with 20mph of wind in your face. Anyhow still 3rd in my group and about 20th in general classification. Time trial tomorrow if I can get out of bed. Team Tony. Col de la Madeleine 275W, Col du Télégraphe 245W, Col du Galibier 215W (!).
PS. I really think the wind did for me on the 15km before the Télégraphe. I should have waited for a group. I'm really stuffed but I think everyone is. Done the cold bath, drinks, massage, some of the stretches, foam roller to go, am wearing compression tights and hope to sleep, have BCAAs. Anything more I can do?
Stage 4: time trial, 12km and 1100m ascent
Went well but decided half way up to hold back. Burying myself may have got me 2 minutes better time but blowing up tomorrow could lose an hour. So 38th today but remain 29th overall and 3rd in my group. Tony. 1st 6km 285W, 2nd 6km 262W, 275W for the climb, 55:54 total time.
Stage 5: 112km 2600m ascent, 4h20
Bad day today. I couldn't keep up a high pace and mis-read things. A big group went away on the first 5km but as the climb progressed I passed so many I thought I was beginning to do okay. No one passed me on the descents and come the second climb I dropped a group of 15 riders. Utterly shattered at the finish and disappointed to find I'd finished 37th. I'm now 30th overall and 3rd in age group, but I must perform tomorrow! This event is well, er, challenging. Team Tony. 258W, 240W, 252W for 3 climbs.
PS. It's a shame because I'm still kicking out a good deal more power then in the Etape, but maybe it's just calibration. I've reached the stage of the walking dead. My heart rate is now suppressed and in every way I'm tired. Still just one day to go and a short much easier stage. Tony
PPS. Hmm just seen the results. I can see I lost pretty much 4 minutes on the descent (I whizzed past the female yellow jersey and her team with about 10km of the climb but they whizzed past me about 10km down the descent - she finished 3 mins ahead). Anyhow still clinging on to 30th but gained time to consolidate 3rd in age group. Pretty good really. There is no doubt I'm climbing rather well. Shame I'm not 20 years younger! Tony
Stage 6: 2300m ascent but just 79km today. 2h20
A new sensation of uber-fatigue has descended upon me. Still it's amazing just how much abuse one's body can take. I played an amateur game today not realising where the neutralised section ended and the race began. This meant I was outside the lead group going up the enormous 25km, 1600m ascent of the Cime de la Bonette - the highest pass in Europe so they told us. There was a strong headwind but no worry as I just overtook folks the whole way up. There was a nasty crash in front of me on a very windy descent, which made me particularly cautious and I lost about 6 of the places I had gained. No worry as I finished 40th and am hanging on to 30th overall. Third in my group looks, dare I say it, fairly safe as I gained time on the folks behind me. One day to go! Team Tony. Climbing average 258W
Stage 7: 140km 1000m ascent
Today was different, a one hour climb followed by an incredible 60km more or less downhill. I don't think I've ever been at such a sustained high speed. Frightening and a buzz. Finished 58th today behind a big bunch of riders but didn't lose much time. Strangely, lost time on the climb - not steep enough and a massive tailwind (273W). Overall came 31st*, 3rd in my age group which was the main objective, and 2nd best Brit. This was the best sports thing I've ever done by miles. Entering Nice with a police convoy and everyone hooting and cheering was quite a buzz. Life at the limit - fab. Team Tony
*Tony's overall placing included a number of teams above him so he was in fact the 18th solo rider!
For a full write up on his preparation and a more detailed run down on the event check out Tony's race report - La Haute Route story. It really is worth sitting down with a coffee to read, if only to discover how 'Team Tony' came to be born...
Last month I had the pleasure of supporting Peter Moon as he took to the roads of Sussex for the East Sussex Cycling Association's promotion of the RTTC National 24hr Championship Race. Peter has been kind enough to share his story, so here's part one of a two part post. First up we have the build up to the big day and stay tuned for a blow by blow account of the race itself. Over to Peter...
The Longest Day
My preparation for the 2011 RTTC National 24 Hour Time Trial
I always planned to ride a 24 but had been putting it off because the training involved would ruin what I had become to recognise as a normal racing season. When it was announced that Mike Hayler and Esther Carpenter were planning to promote a 24 hour event here in East Sussex I had no excuses – being right on my doorstep – it was an opportunity not to be missed. When I told Ann that I was going to enter, but would have to ride that year’s 2010 Mersey Roads 24 hour as a practice run she said “No way, you haven’t done the training”, but after a chat with Tim Carpenter, I think he convinced her it would be beneficial.
So off to Cheshire I go with my mate Geoff Smith… Geoff, a seasoned 24 hour rider, takes it all in his stride, while I seem to be building too much pressure on myself and start to feel quite unwell during the journey north. With very little sleep the night before, I started the event feeling somewhat unprepared to say the least. To cut a long story short, after suffering sickness and diarrhoea during the ride I finished a miserable 4th from last. All I can say is that I learnt a great deal that day, and was determined to use that knowledge to help me in the East Sussex Cycling Association 24 Hour event the following year.
It is now October 2010 and it has been playing on my mind – I considered that if I were to do well in the ESCA 24, I would need a coach. Then out of the blue I received an email from Dan Henchy of PBscience regarding coaching packages they had to offer. As I know head coach Helen, a former Eastbourne Rover, and Dan, a local competitive cyclist, with PBscience based in Eastbourne their tagline ‘be the best you can be’, it had to be fate – so I signed up.
In November I went to the PBscience ‘Winter Workshop’ seminar in which Helen and Dan gave us all great insight to what training would be expected of us over the winter months. I took great heart in what Helen explained as a journey over the ensuing months of training which was not going to be just about me – it was about Ann too. Ann and I sat down to talk through the 7 months ahead, acknowledging it would be hard on us both, if I’m not at work I would be training, eating or sleeping.
During December I had a lab test with Dan to establish my current fitness and to establish the parameters that I would be training at over the coming months. Dan told me “we want to gain an extra 40 - 50 watts on my lactate threshold by June”; this would put me in a good position to reach my goal of a top 12 finish in the National event.
Over the winter months I spent hours upon hours on the turbo trainer, I also spent time in the gym and at the weekends long steady rides on the road. Dan had me enter the early season races (where I had good results) then finish racing in April so I could increase my training miles at the weekends. With my employers agreement we planned for me to book one or two holiday days off work each week so I could increase my weekly training hours.
In May my training rides seemed to be going wrong, I was having lots of bad luck and my confidence of competing in the 24 was dwindling. Dan suggested I enter the SCA 50, a good result would boost my confidence; I raced quite fatigued at the end of a big week of training but rode a course PB – Dan was right, my confidence shot straight back up.
June, the month of the National 24, I had two weeks of big training miles and then two weeks of tapering down to the event. In training I had ridden every inch of the course over and over again, I knew every pothole, practised the fastest lines through corners and roundabouts. We had logistics meetings; practised nutrition, hydration, Dan and I also rode the night circuit through the ‘night’ to ensure the equipment I would be using was OK. After everything we had done surely I would be ready now?
In the fortnight proceeding the event I had gradually changed my sleep pattern so on the day I would not wake at my normal time of 04:30, ready for an early morning training session, but to wake at 09:30. This would be less than three and a half hours before my starting time of 12:56. Long suffering Ann was packed off for the three nights prior to the event to ensure that I would get decent nights sleep.
On Saturday morning the day of the event I woke as planned had a large breakfast and calmly prepared myself. At 10:30 my mates and helpers Ross and Steve arrived, after yet another brief on plans and going through my boxes of spare kit, food and drinks, we set off to Berwick Village Hall. Arriving at the HQ the whole place was buzzing with excitement, with so many people it would have been easy to get overly involved in the chit-chat and use precious energy that I would need later.
I signed on, collected my race number, had a quick chat with my team-mates Richard and Geoff before finding a quiet place to change into my race kit. Dan had since arrived and we were going over our race strategy – don’t go over 220 watts or 140 heart rate, I would start steady and finish strong, surely that would be easy!
Steve then drove me from the HQ to the start at Mitchelham Priory where I assembled my time trial bike, put on my aero helmet and gloves, and it was time to ride to the start! Approaching the starting area I could see masses of people lining the road and cheering each rider off the start line. My number ’56’ is called and I roll to the start line, following brief pleasantries with Mick Kilby (head timekeeper) and Mike Anton (pusher off), I am given my 30-second countdown. I sit there astride my Cervelo P3, my bike, my pride and joy ready to start and think of the seven months of hard work and sacrifice for Ann and I is over, today is my reward, today ‘I will be the best I can be’.
Watching this video clip this evening really got me thinking about the differing ways athletes go about their training schedule. It never ceases to amaze me, how much thought and discussion goes into the planning and writing of a training plan and how little thought and commitment sometimes goes into the execution of said plan. Vern Gambetta's wealth of experience offers a great insight into what it takes - I'm afraid "Just do it" doesn't really cut it if you want to be the best you can be!
"If you don't win 90% of your workouts, you have no chance of being successful in the competitive arena"
What does it take to win your workout?
Many athletes score their training sessions on a scale of 1-10. We are looking for a score of 9 or 10 in every session you do but what sorts of things need considering to consistently hit this level consistently? With a little thought I came up with this list (by no means exhaustive!)
Know your session goal - kind of obvious but how can you judge if your workout was a success unless you knew what you set out to achieve?
Never lose sight of the bigger picture - digging yourself a hole so deep in one session that you are unable to train effectively in the following few days is a hollow victory.
Finish the job - your workout is not won as soon as you climb off the bike. The focus now must be on evaluation and preparing for the next session. Post-workout nutrition, download and analyse your data, and take every step available to recover for the next session
Focus - as Vern says, winning your workout is about making choices, so make sure your mind is on the session. Sports psychologists describe how the best athletes associate during their performances. Rather than trying to think of something else or looking for a distraction when things get tough, focus on your effort and your body's signals. I'm afraid for your key sessions iPods are a no-no!
Realistically, for most athletes there is more to life than sport and scoring a 9 or 10 for every session is virtually impossible -especially when training must be squeezed in around work and family life. The first step on the ladder is simply turning up. Avoiding missed sessions will go a long way to helping reach your goals but the higher you aim, the greater the level of commitment required. Next time you're simply going through the motions to tick off another session in your plan - remember Vern's words!
Perhaps starting a blog before spending the best part of 3 weeks out of the country was not the best way to begin a regular blogging habit but here I am a month later with my second installment. Nothing too insightful - just an update on what I've been up to.
First up was a week snowboarding in Andorra. Not much to say on that other than a top week with lots of time on the mountain and some great company in the evenings. Most importantly I managed to come home with all my bones in one piece! One notable story was seeing a snow plow having slid through the armco barrier on our return transfer. I can admit to a little panic that our coach would follow in similar fashion but the driver did a great job, even with the holiday rep begging him to slow down for the whole journey!
An incredibly busy 3 days at home followed, before returning to Gatwick for the flight to Mallorca and the beginnning of the 2011 PBscience training camp. We couldn't have asked for better weather, with temperatures into the late teens and sunshine with light winds each and every day - after the snow of last year to say I was relieved would be an understatement :-) Rather than bore you with the usual details of which rides we did and how much coffee we drank - I'd instead like to share some of the more 'peculiar' goings on...
First up (in chronological order) was the Saturday transfer from Palma airport to Port Pollensa. All seemed to be going swimmingly as Helen and I met the happy campers and their transport... until we spotted the minibuses get pulled over as they left the airport and the driver seemingly arrested...
Luckily all was resolved (at least we got another driver) which leads on to Bjorn's day one puncture. Now Bjorn is no stranger to punctures in Mallorca but this was something special even by his standards The ferocity of the explosion somehow split the inner tube in half and wrapped it around his hub and rear brake. Well done for staying upright.
That evening saw the world renowned engineer on camp fill the dishwasher with washing up liquid. The culprit will remain nameless but the occupants of appartment 16 were rumoured to be clearing up foam late into the evening...
Not to be outdone on the kitchen appliance front, Chef discovered that 25 minutes on a low heat was the perfect cooking guidelines to ensure your bibshorts were dry and toasty ahead of the days ride.
Coach Carter's brain was equally crispy by the end of the day when Chef's request for a whisk saw a bottle of finest scotch return from the supermarket :-)
In all seriousness, the decision to abandon the typical hotel model of running a camp was not one that Helen and I took lightly but the willingness with which everyone mucked in, helped ensure the decision was the correct one. Obviously this would not not have been possible without Pete's expertise in the kitchen, so a big thank you on that front. Hosting the camp in appartments meant the nutrition and hygiene were many levels above that of the standard hotel buffet, all helping to support the hard training. Also, an added benefit of shared living space was the much improved social environment - everyone who had joined us in previous years remarked on how much better they got to know fellow campers and the sharing of experience that allowed.
Since the last post, progress has been steady on the content upload and we’re now up to 8 factsheets in the new html based free resource section. I’m pleased to report that some of them have had a few hits too so it doesn’t feel like a wasted effort! Incidentally it’s been quite an experience reviewing some of the material. Although I wouldn’t say any of it is necessarily wrong, I don’t think I’d write things in the same way if I were to start from scratch and of the material that Helen wrote, although much of it helped shape my own coaching philosophy I do recognise that in more recent conversations with both Helen and Oli it’s become clear that there are more shades of grey than absolute certainty and labelling the material factsheets is perhaps a bit of a misnomer. ‘There is some evidence to suggest or generally tends to work in our experience’ sheets doesn’t quite have the same ring to it though!
Another argument is that people were racing very quickly in the past before sports scientists were on the scene and that’s undisputed. It’s often said that “success leaves a trail”. Well flip that on its head and I’d say failure often doesn’t leave a trail. With enough people participating in a given sport there are bound to be a few who having a natural gift for understanding what they need to succeed, or just being plain lucky that their chosen approach happened to be the correct one for them. What we don’t see is how many people got it completely wrong in these ‘golden days’. I’d argue that one of the key benefits of the scientific method is the speed with which errors are highlighted. In the absence of hard facts and certainty, the best we can do is minimise the time we spend up blind alleys and therefore increase the chance of eventually landing on the money. I’m sure this is one of the reasons behind the increased depth of competition across sport at all levels.
A morning in front of the computer screens was enough to get the majority of the structural changes in place. Some people have recently worried that Helen has dropped off the face of the planet but this picture shows she is still alive and well (I've just been working her hard!). Firstly, rather than just making the pdf documents freely available, we’ve taken the choice to move the content over to html based webpages. This means that every fact sheet will undergo a review (rather than just a cut and paste job) and it opens up the possibility of embedding videos and other types of media to help make the information a little clearer.
Next my existing position was measured, and after a short warm up an assessment of my flexibility made. It's not good enough to just 'eyeball' a good riding position. On of my requirements was that my fit addressed my own biomechanics and range of motion (ROM) so second box ticked. The photo (left) is of my starting position - it's obvious to me now that I needed to make changes to allow me to bend my arms!
Gareth and Fiona are now well established in 'Mas Pelegri' and have a few years of running and hosting camps under their belts. The accomodation is absolutely first rate and I really can't fault it. Sleeping 26* in total, each room has en suite bathroom facilities as well as a number of lounge areas and a huge dining area. My personal favourite was the view (opposite) from one of the upstairs reclining areas. Stunning - the picture off my iPhone (alas not yet a 4S) really does not do it justice. All food is prepared freshly on site and again I can't fault the cooking! The 2 ft thick concrete walls keep the rooms cool during the day and warm at night, but under floor heating is provided in case the temperature drops at night time. The house is located in a very quiet area so noise at night is not a problem but I hazard a guess that with the thickness of the walls, any noise wouldn't get far anyway!
