15x1 Power Intervals

Hadn't done this in a long time. Also rode inside for two hours first, one at 170 and one at 140 or so. I did these outside at Ault Park going clockwise starting each at the bottom of the loop, finishing behind he pavilion and coasting back to the star.Temperature was about 35 degrees. Avg watts on each: 510, 482, 489, 528, 526, 511, 516, 536, 514, 526, 528, 526, 536, 541, 530; NP of 421 for 44 min, 421; 520 avg on the intervals. Avg cadence around 95-100.

more 30 second efforts

I did ride my morning spin and followed that with my hour circuit class so I hit these already feeling a little tired. I went for the high cadence and shifted through the power taking it up as the 30 seconds went by. Results: 430/106, 356/121, 360/126, 346/126, 374/127, 388/122, 433/122, 410/124, 425/130, 438/125. Will take tomorrow off to get ready for the 15x1's.

10x30 seconds, high cadence and pushing some power

Todays watts/cadence: 521/115, 524/115, 543/109, 549/106, 531/111, 538/109, 536/105, 541/101, 540/97, 538/98; dropped off on the cadence from last week; will work on that tomorrow

10x30 seconds

Haven't done these in a long time. The goal was simply a high cadence and some decent power. I did these inside: 400wts/130cad, 429/128, 463/126, 480/121, 487/121, 511/113, 520/116, 517/121, 526/112, 535/114. SHould be able to be well above 500 on all of these. Just took a couple to get into it. I know that outside I'm 600+.

Great Questions From A Client

1. I have been doing the one minute intervals on a 25 minute climb. Am I better off doing them on the flats and taking more time in between in order to put out more power? I feel that on the flats with a little time in between I should be able to keep them all over 400 watts....but maybe not. Thoughts? The challenge of doing them on the climb is lack of recovery between. Assuming that you have to keep the bike moving at even a minimal speed you're still likely putting out more power than you would coasting on a flat road between efforts. I've done steady state efforts on 2 hour climbs in Tennessee. The recovery between is badly recovery. If using a hill, it would be better to go up during the intervals and down during recovery. Or, use a flat road. The recovery is very important. This is actually when our heart gets the most benefit from working so hard. The high and low bpm we're calling on is great training to increase stroke volume. This is why in time on longer endurance rides power is up while HR is the same of ideally lower. On the power intervals, I do like using a hill for the effort. The constant resistance allows me to put out more power. The coast down is a great recovery. 2. What kind of power would I need to put out in order to do a 26mph 40K Time Trial like you talk about on your web site if I weigh 75 kilos..165ibs ? Thats a loaded question as there are aerodynamic and course considerations that are unknown. But, for the sake of the discussion, lets assume a flat course, out and back, no wind, and pretty average aero position and bike equipment. At that speed, you would cover the course in about 57:00 to 57:30. If we assume a 4 to 4.25 watts per kilogram over that time, you would be 300 to 320 avg watts. I'm basing this on what I've seen with other riders over that distance and wts/kg for shorter events that we can extrapolate into longer events. Once again, its complicated because I know similar riders who put out less wts/kg but go faster over any distance due to aerodynamic advantages. If we could test you over some 10 mile, 20k and 40k actual time trials we could determine some pretty accurate wattage goals for the 26 mph, 40k tt. But, I think we're close in the 300-325 range. 3 .Assuming that I will eventually be able to hold 300 watts for 25 minutes....how long in terms of months would it normally take to have the endurance to hold that for an hour once I get it for 25 minutes ? Being completely honest, I think it would take a year to get there. Thats a big jump assuming that the 25 minutes is at 92-95% of max HR or 105-107% of LT. Once again, we need to look at getting more oxygen to your muscles. Stroke volume will need to go up as heart rate (bpm) will likely stay the same. We also need to ride further into that zone above LT where it really hurts. It can be done! Those multiple power intervals can really help with this. Doing as many tt's as possible will also help. 4.Have you had any clients experiment with high mileage (300 per week ? Certainly, 350+ at times. The added miles don't necessarily help with adding power but they can. I love riding centuries and do 18-24 per year. My power on them has increased steadily and over the same courses I've become faster at the same HR zones. I think the big weeks also help psychologically with just knowing that you can handle big days in the saddle. A shorter day with intense intervals seems more doable. With the right recovery, the big days can have benefits.

8x3 Power Intervals

Sunny and close to 50 so I went outside to ride. Did these on a steep climb close to home, Heekin Avenue. Started at Eastern Avenue and made it just about to the Ault Park entrance at Principio on each. Held 422, 415, 404, 400, 411, 410, 414, 412. Pretty happy with those, and pretty tired after those. 1900' of climbing in 55 minutes and normalized power at 368 for that time.

Day 2, 8x3 power intervals

I rode inside for about 30 in the morning, easy pace, 160-170 watts, and did this ride in the afternoon; avg watts: 403, 403, 397, 407, 407, 399, 373, 386; tired on those last two.

8x3 power intervals

Tough day doing these inside but they turned out ok with power at 368, 371, 372, 373, 375, 376, 373 and 378. Hope to do them outside tomorrow with the temps hitting the upper 40's. Ideally the power will be up 10-15 watts. HR today was hitting that 94% of max or 107% of LT HR. Three mints ins;t really long enough to get the average up very high but I was peaking HR in the right range. These were also a nice break from the 3x8 steady states at 345-355.

RoadBikeRider article on stretching

Personally, I'm with the stretching is a waste of time camp on this topic. Proper strength training through full ranges of motion should provide all you need, in my opinion. Stretching Doesn't Deliver / Why Stretching May Help You Stretching Doesn't Deliver By Gabe Mirkin, MD Whenever I see someone stretching before cycling, I worry that the person doesn’t know much about training. You shouldn’t stretch before a competition because stretching weakens muscles. You shouldn’t stretch after hard exercise because stretching muscles that are already damaged by intense exercise delays recovery and increases risk for injury. You waste your time stretching because you cannot lengthen muscles or tendons by stretching anyway. Extensive Research shows that stretching: * does not lengthen muscles (Clinical Biomechanics. June 2014;29(6):636-642), * does not prevent sports injuries (Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, March 2005), * does not prevent muscle soreness that follows vigorous exercise (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 4), * decreases muscle strength when done before competition (Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, April 2006), * limits how fast you can run (The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, April 2013, & Sports Science, May 2005), and * limits how high you can jump (The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, April 2013). Stretching Does Not Lengthen Muscles You can make a muscle longer while you are stretching, but after you finish stretching, the muscle returns to its former length. People who stretch regularly, such as gymnasts and people who do yoga, can stretch further than non-stretchers because they can tolerate more pain while they stretch. Stretching a muscle pulls on nerve fibers in the muscle to cause pain, so you stop stretching when it hurts. When a person is given an anesthetic, he can stretch much further because he feels less pain. Regular stretchers stretch so often that they feel pain later than non-stretchers do and they learn to tolerate more pain when they stretch. If muscles did remain stretched, stretching would harm you because the overstretched muscle would lose its elasticity and be much weaker. Placing animals in muscle-stretching casts for several weeks can cause the muscles to grow extra units called sarcomeres, but muscles return to their original length soon after the cast is removed. How Muscles Move Your Body Every muscle in your body is made up of thousands of individual fibers. Each muscle fiber is composed of sarcomeres; repeated similar blocks, lined end-to-end to form the rope-like fibers. Each sarcomere touches the sarcomere next to it at the Z line (see diagram). Muscles move your body by contracting, which shortens each muscle fiber. Muscles do not shorten (contract) equally throughout their lengths. Muscles contract only at each of the thousands of sarcomeres. It is the cumulative shortening of thousands of sarcomeres that shorten fibers to make muscles contract and move your body. The Chemistry of a Muscle Contraction Look at diagram below. This is the chemical structure of a sarcomere. A sarcomere contains two chemicals: actin and myosin. The actin chemicals line up between myosin chemicals above and below them. The actins slide toward each other to shorten the sarcomere. When thousands of sarcomeres shorten together at the same time, the entire muscle contracts. Stretching Does Not Prevent Sports Injuries Muscles and tendons tear when the force applied to them is greater than their inherent strength, so anything that makes a muscle stronger helps to prevent injuries. Lifting weights prevents injuries by making muscle fibers stronger. Stretching does not strengthen muscles so it does not prevent injuries such as shin splints, bone stress fractures, sprains or strains. Stretching Does Not Prevent Next-Day Muscle Soreness A review of 12 studies published over the last 25 years shows that stretching does not prevent muscle soreness that occurs eight to 24 hours after you exercise vigorously (The British Journal of Sports Medicine, December 2011; 45:15 1249-1250). Researchers in Australia reviewed five studies, involving 77 subjects, to show that stretching does not prevent next-day muscle soreness (British Medical Journal, December 2007; 325:468-70 and 451-2). To enlarge a muscle and make it stronger, you have to put enough force on it to feel a "burn" during exercise and damage that muscle. That is why proper training requires some degree of muscle soreness on the day after an intense workout. Athletes train by taking a hard workout, feeling sore the next day, and then taking easy workouts for as many days as it takes for the soreness to go away. Since stretching does not reduce muscle soreness, stretching will not help you to recover faster from hard exercise. The best way to recover from exhausting competition is to move with little pressure on muscles, such as cycling at a relaxed pace (American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, June 2007). Stretching Before Exercising Weakens Muscles Elite college sprinters were timed in 20-meter sprints, with and without prior multiple 30-second stretches of their leg muscles. Both active and passive stretching slowed them down (Journal of Sports Science, May 2005). Stretching before competition or training weakens muscles. Stretching prevents you from lifting your heaviest weights or running your fastest miles. It limits how high you can jump, and how fast you can run (Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2013 Mar;23(2):131-48 and J Strength Cond Res. 2013 Apr;27(4):973-7). Stretching weakens muscles temporarily by almost 5.5 percent. The longer you hold the stretch, the more strength you lose. Holding a stretch for more than 90 seconds markedly reduces strength in that muscle. Stretching reduces power: how hard you can hit a baseball or tennis ball, or how fast you can swim, run or pedal. When you stretch a muscle, you pull on the muscle fibers and stretch apart each fiber at the thousands of Z lines. This damage occurs only at the Z lines throughout the length of the muscle fiber, to weaken the entire muscle. On the other hand, warming up makes muscles more pliable, so it helps you to run faster and lift heavier, and to prevent injuries. Stretching Does Not “Warm Up” Muscles Stretching can never be considered “warming up.” Holding a muscle contraction does not generate much heat and therefore does not warm up muscles. Warm up by starting out your exercise slowly and gradually increasing the intensity. This raises muscle temperature to make muscles more pliable and resistant to injury. Since almost 80 percent of the energy used to power muscles is lost as heat, you must contract and relax muscles continuously to generate the heat necessary to raise muscle temperature. Prolonged Stretching Limits the Ability of Muscles to Store Energy Muscles are like rubber bands. They stretch and contract with each muscle movement. This constant stretching and contracting stores energy. For example, when you run, you land on your foot and the muscle stops contracting suddenly. The force of your foot striking the ground is stored in your muscles and tendons and this energy is released immediately to drive you forward. Your foot hits the ground with a force equal to three times your body weight when you run at a pace of six minutes per mile. Up to 70 percent of the force of your foot strike is stored in your Achilles tendon and other tendons. This energy is released by your muscles and tendons to drive you forward for your next step. Stretching decreases the amount of energy you can store in muscles and tendons and therefore weakens you. You have less stored energy to drive you forward, so you have to slow down. Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation After reading all these negative remarks about stretching, you may ask if there is any good scientific data to show that stretching can benefit exercisers. Good data show that athletes can become stronger by stretching their tendons before they contract a muscle. The longer a tendon, the greater the torque the muscle can put on a joint, and the more force it can generate to make you faster and stronger. Passive stretches do not do this. It is more effective to try proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), in which the athlete stretches his tendons and then tries to contract the muscles from the lengthened position. Gymnasts have been shown to increase their flexibility more after PNF stretching than after static stretching (Journal of Sports Medicine and Fitness, December 2014). In fact many athletes incorporate plyometrics into their training programs. For example, they jump off a series of steps consecutively. Their leg tendons are stretched when they land and they contract their stretched muscles to do their next jump. However, this has been shown to increase their chances of injuring themselves. Gabe Mirkin, M.D., is a sports medicine doctor and fitness guru. A practicing physician for more than 50 years and a radio talk show host for 25 years, Dr. Mirkin has run more than 40 marathons and is now a serious tandem bike rider with his wife, Diana, often doing 30-60 miles in an outing. His website is http://drmirkin.com/. ___________________________________ Why Stretching May Help You By Coach John Hughes Note the title of this piece “Why Stretching May Help You.” Each cyclist is an experiment of one with different goals, and different strengths and weaknesses. That’s what makes coaching interesting! As a coach I look holistically at all the variables that will help a cyclist reach that person’s goals. I stay current on the latest research, but I also interpret that research carefully to see if it is or is not applicable to a specific client. My client Jay’s areas to work on are different from Ellen’s. Jay’s goal is an age-group medal in the time trial. Ellen’s goal is to complete a century. Jay doesn’t even come close to touching his toes. If he were more flexible, then he could ride with a flatter back, be more aerodynamic and go faster. Ellen can put her palms on the floor and stretching isn’t necessary for her performance, but she has a weak core, so core strength exercises are important. My oldest daughter is a resident at St. Joseph Hospital in Denver. She’s taught me to interpret experimental results carefully to see if the claimed result is a) valid and b) applicable. A study published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) examined claims made by the popular TV M.D. Dr. Oz. The study concluded that only 46% of his recommendations were valid! (BMJ, December, 2014) Just because an expert—including me—tells you something, test it and verify if for yourself. Scientific Experiments Test Specific Hypotheses A scientific experiment is designed to test a specific hypothesis. For example, does pre-exercise stretching have any effect on maximum power? A study of elite college runners concluded that both active and passive stretching before sprinting slowed them down. (Journal of Sports Science, May 2005). What if the experiment is whether riding with a flatter back reduces drag and increases time trial speed? Yes, a flatter back improves aerodynamics and has a positive effect on speed. A flatter back is the result of improved flexibility. How does this apply to Joe, whose goal is to go as fast as possible? From the first experiment we conclude that he shouldn’t stretch before a hard training session or race. From the second experiment we conclude that he should stretch almost daily at some other time to improve his flexibility and performance. If you do a hard ride to build power or speed, then you suffer micro-tears in your muscles, and stretching won’t help to repair these tears. Does this mean that stretching should never be part of a recovery program? Ellen is training for endurance, and riding at a conversational pace she does little muscle damage. She is stiff the day after her long ride, and stretching will relieve the stiffness so that she a) feels better, and b) can resume training sooner. For more information on stretching and recovery see my eArticle Optimal Recovery for Improved Performance. In most cases stretching helps my clients. Here’s how: More Power. One of the reasons that Fabian Cancellera is so fast is because of his flexibility (which is partially hereditary). He can place his hands flat on the floor behind his heels! Because of his flexibility he can rotate his pelvis farther forward when time trialing. This allows him to use his gluteals more (big butt muscles) to get more power. Even if you don’t race, making better use of your glutes will make you a better climber, for example. More aerodynamic. Only two of my clients (one is 74 years old!) time trial, but all of my clients ride in the wind. Greater flexibility improves their ability to stay in the drops. More on-the-bike comfort. Most of my clients are endurance riders. In their events they ride against the clock and the clock doesn’t stop when they’re off the bike. Improved comfort means less time off the bike. Try this experiment: Stand bent over about 45 degrees with your hands on a table and with your back arched just a little. Lift your head to see ahead and note how much you use your neck muscles. Now flatten your back and notice how your head rises and visibility improves without muscle fatigue! Relieve ride discomfort. One of our last warm days in Colorado I climbed for three hours up a canyon. My back got tighter and the last half-hour my glutes were screaming. At home I do the cat stretch on my hands and knees, alternating arching the back and then pushing my stomach down to bend the back the other way. Starting back down the canyon I did the same stretch on the bike (always looking ahead!) and, other than those pesky glutes, had a pain-free, enjoyable ride home. Faster return to training. After dinner while watching TV I stretched for about 10 minutes, paying particular attention to my glutes. The next day my glutes had loosened up enough that I could ride again with pleasure. Wait a minute, you say. Research shows that stretching doesn’t lengthen muscles or tendons. How can it possibly improve flexibility? Try this experiment: stand, stretch your arms overhead and interweave your fingers so that your palms are facing the ceiling. Slowly bend at the waist, moving your hands toward your toes. Just stretch until it feels tight, not until it starts to hurt. Hang there for a count of 10, then straighten back up. Do this a half-dozen times. Are your hands getting closer to the floor? The first time you bent over you went as far as your normal range of motion, but your muscles were still partly contracted. Those six repeats reduced how much your muscles were contracted and increased your range of motion. Stretching also helps: Restore range of motion. When you ride, your feet make circles, with your legs going through a limited range of motion, neither fully extending (except when climbing out of the saddle) nor fully flexing. As a result, your muscles get tight and you lose range of motion. Stretching returns your partially contracted muscle fibers to their normal extension. Dealing with cramps. Research suggests that muscles that get accustomed to being shorter are more vulnerable to cramping, i.e., muscles that aren’t stretched and are exercised in a shortened position like riding. You can reduce the probability of cramping by stretching regularly. If you cramp, stretch gently to relieve the cramp and then move the affected muscle gently through its range of motion without making it work enough to cramp again. For more information see my eArticle Preventing and Treating Cramps. Prevent overtraining. Research with Nordic skiers shows that the best indicator of potential overtraining is the skier’s attitude. Is the skier excited about training the next day? Or dreading it? As reader Neil Taylor suggested in his remarks about stretching, stretching just plain feels good and improves one’s mood! By letting go physically and letting a muscle loosen up, one can also let go mentally, which may reduce anxiety about training. And if you’re not stiff when you roll out of bed, you’re probably more excited about getting on the bike again. Aid activities of daily living. I’m 65, and most of my clients are in their 50s, 60s and beyond. We have twin goals: to continue to do the sports we love and to continue to live healthy, normal, active lives for as long as possible. The normal condition for most muscles is to be partially contracted. When you are sitting down, your arm and shoulder muscles aren’t at full extension. While writing “Distance Cycling,” I spent too many days and hours working on the computer. My upper body got so tight that I couldn’t reach the pretzels on the top shelf in the kitchen! Stretching helped. Reduce day-to-day discomfort. When you are sitting, your hip flexors are partially contracted. (They’re the muscles you use to raise your leg.) We all sit too much and, unless stretched, partial contraction becomes the normal position for our hip flexors. This pulls the back out of alignment, resulting in low back pain. You know you need a strong core to hold your pelvis in the proper position. But tight hip flexors and strong core muscles are pulling your pelvis in opposite directions! Both core strength and flexibility are necessary for a healthy back. Aging gracefully. Falling isn’t graceful! Chronic upper body tightness results in poor posture. Poor posture results in poorer balance. Falls are the number one accident for us older folks! Part of aging for most people is losing range of motion, another example of “use it or lose it.” The American College of Sports Medicine recommends doing some form of flexibility exercise at least twice a week. When should you stretch? The purpose of a warm-up is to raise the temperature of your muscles. Most forms of stretching aren’t active enough to do that and may reduce peak muscle power. Coach Dan Kehlenbach’s Dynamic Flexibility Training for Cyclists does raise the temperature of your muscles and is an effective warm-up, as is moderate-intensity riding. Why do most pros stretch before a competition? Don’t their trainers know better? They stretch just enough to be sure that they have normal range of motion, and then exercise more vigorously to warm their muscles. Stretching after you get off the bike will relieve immediate muscle tightness, but won’t prevent Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), the way my glutes felt the day after the hard climb. It it’s convenient, stretch while having a post-ride recovery snack. But if you don’t have time, don’t worry; you can stretch later. Thinking holistically, the purpose of stretching is to increase flexibility. Since that’s the goal, when you should stretch is pretty flexible (pun intended). In general it’s easier to loosen up your muscles when they’re warm, so stretching later in the day is better than with your first cup of coffee. I know that, but I still usually stretch with my coffee because that’s a convenient time for me. Some is better than none! How should you stretch? Many of us remember Bob Anderson’s classic book, “Stretching,” and have an image of sitting on the floor bent forward and holding a stretch for at least 30 seconds. That’s static stretching. There are many modalities of stretching represented among RBR authors: static stretching, Kehlenbach’s Dynamic Stretching, Alan Bragman’s Active Isolated Stretching, Joe and Maria Kita’s Yoga. Using a hard foam roller on your muscles and massage also relieve tightness and improve flexibility. Which one is best? Remember the second sentence of this article? “Each cyclist is an experiment of one with different goals, and different strengths and weaknesses.” The answer is: Whichever form of stretching that you like, works best for you, and that you will actually do! Every one of my clients, if he or she stretches regularly, improves flexibility. For all of the reasons noted above, increasing your flexibility will both make you a better rider and a healthier person.

Ten Things To Stop Doing

from TrainingPeaks blog by Jim Vance, USAT Level 2 coach 1. Stop Ignoring Recovery What you eat, how much you sleep, the beers, it all affects you. The intensity you go on easy workouts is also vital. Without recovery, there is no training. The formula for training is Training = Stress + Recovery. If athletes only do the stress part, the adaptations won’t happen, or will soon stop. Yet, we all know an athlete that says, “I’m just going easy today,” and doesn’t really mean it. Don’t be the athlete who trains hard, but then eats a bunch of junk food, stays up late drinking and partying, and yet wonders why they can’t get any faster. 2. Stop Doing Other Athlete’s Workouts Instead, focus on what workouts YOU need. Sometimes, (in fact many times), that means you need to train alone. Peer pressure is no way to train effectively. If you train with a lot of egos, let them go. Limit group workouts to those which are in line with your goals and specific needs, at the right time. This especially includes recovery workouts. (See #1). If you can’t train effectively on your own, then you are not addressing the real issue. If you really are committed to your goals, training according to those goals shouldn’t be in question. 3. Stop Sabotaging Your Training When life gets stressful, skipping workouts because you're not in the mood only brings about more stress and frustration with training and lack of results. Training is your escape, keep it that way. Skipping that transition run because you think you're too tired, is a missed opportunity to build confidence with a great run, or to learn to better pace your bike. So many of us value performances in our lives, and to not give yourself the best chance to perform, just sabotages your efforts and investment. 4. Stop Ignoring your Diet and Weight What you eat affects your recovery. (See #1). If you aren't thin, you aren't as fast as you can be. I'm not saying you should look anorexic, or be unhealthy, but to think those extra 10-20 lbs you could lose aren't affecting your performance, is ignoring the obvious. If you're 20+lbs over an ideal race weight, there is no training plan or lightweight bike that can overcome that handicap. The excess weight also means higher risk for injuries, which can sabotage your training. (See #3). 5. Stop Obsessing About Volume If it really mattered, the athlete who did the most volume would win every race. Ultraman competitors would be the best Ironman and sprint racers. Tour de France winners would win the single-day races. It's about the quality of training you do, not how much training you do. 6. Stop Doing the Same Thing Over and Over The body responds best to variance in training. If you've been doing the same things over and over for years, and aren't happy with the results, or seem stuck at a plateau, it's time to address the real issue, your training. If you’re not satisfied with what you’ve gotten from your training, then change it. 7. Stop Ignoring Your Warm-ups and Cool-downs for Your Workouts and Races The older you are, and the higher your goals, the more they matter. It's like sabotage. (See #3) Research shows these help greatly with performance and recovery, so make it a priority. 8. Stop Ignoring Technology in Your Training You use technology in nearly every aspect of your life, from your iPhone/Android to your laptop and software at your job or at home. Why is it so hard to believe power and pace data can help your training and racing on a daily basis? (See #3). If you’re not willing to learn how to use these tools, how committed are you to your goals if you know they can help? If you’re afraid the data might tell you something you don’t want to hear, then see #3. 9. Stop Thinking you Need a Faster/Newer/Better Bike You need to get training right. (See #1 through #8). 10. Stop Being Negative With Yourself There is nothing anyone or any coach can tell you that will supersede what you say to yourself. If you don't believe in yourself when you toe that start line, the result is pretty much already determined. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jim Vance is a Level 2 USAT Coach, an Elite Coach for TrainingBible Coaching, Head Coach of Formula Endurance, and is a former elite triathlete. You can find his training plans in our store here.

Weight Training Thoughts

Reply to a client wondering about the benefits of strength training year-round: On the weight training, I would also take into the account the benefits of correcting imbalances created by cycling (rounded shoulders, rounded lower backs, only training in the right/left saggital planes with our legs, static position of the arms, forward position of the head and resulting stress on the neck and shoulders and upper back, etc), the benefit of injury prevention by training all muscles in a greater range of motion than actually used in the given sport, the added cushion should you go down, the exchange of muscle for fat and the resulting increase in watts/kg (probably the greatest gain most masters would see; better than spending $10,000 on the bike for 4 lbs saving…lets lose 15lbs on our body), and the increased efficiency of the legs working against a strong core, foundation (neck through hamstrings) and upper body. The pro's have the advantage of full-time dietitians to monitor their 3-5% body fat and they can handle the broken collar bone better than the typical working stiff who still has to go to his/her 40 hour per week job with their arm in a sling.

Complete Results

Place Racer Category MM:SS Avg MPH Peak MPH Avg Watts Peak Watts AvgWatts/KG Location Race Date 1 Hannah Stedge F19-29 18:19 20.30 26.22 198.67 293 3.81 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 Place Racer Category MM:SS Avg MPH Peak MPH Avg Watts Peak Watts AvgWatts/KG Location Race Date 1 Marie Sparrow F30-39 17:25 21.36 27.16 232.37 412 3.71 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 2 Carissa Derr F30-39 18:41 19.91 25.50 210.84 315 3.37 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 3 Heather Smith F30-39 21:24 17.38 23.40 168.33 313 2.75 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 Place Racer Category MM:SS Avg MPH Peak MPH Avg Watts Peak Watts AvgWatts/KG Location Race Date 1 Alix Payton F40-49 16:37 22.37 28.46 262.13 338 4.45 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 2 Kristine Hofstra F40-49 16:52 22.04 29.80 263.42 440 3.87 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 3 Jane Haberlandt F40-49 17:31 21.23 27.82 238.06 480 3.62 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 4 Carisa Peters F40-49 18:24 20.21 25.96 203.10 376 3.86 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 5 Judith Stutes F40-49 18:45 19.83 25.88 196.70 338 3.61 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 6 Heidi Riffle F40-49 19:53 18.71 25.44 187.11 351 2.43 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 7 Vivian OConnell F40-49 20:44 17.93 23.34 166.66 270 2.83 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 8 Sue Zurface F40-49 21:06 17.63 24.10 160.89 291 2.36 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 9 Alicia Figliola F40-49 22:58 16.20 21.58 144.92 253 2.13 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 Place Racer Category MM:SS Avg MPH Peak MPH Avg Watts Peak Watts AvgWatts/KG Location Race Date 1 Mary T. Adamo-Price F50-59 21:24 17.38 21.54 152.84 212 2.93 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 Place Racer Category MM:SS Avg MPH Peak MPH Avg Watts Peak Watts AvgWatts/KG Location Race Date 1 Joseph Lawhorn Fixed 16:42 22.26 29.12 273.87 718 3.55 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 Place Racer Category MM:SS Avg MPH Peak MPH Avg Watts Peak Watts AvgWatts/KG Location Race Date 1 Brandon Collins M10-14 17:18 21.49 29.32 257.50 671 3.78 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 2 Dylan Rockwood M10-14 18:11 20.45 29.40 216.68 548 3.85 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 3 Robert Pokupec M10-14 22:18 16.67 24.46 150.88 327 2.46 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 Place Racer Category MM:SS Avg MPH Peak MPH Avg Watts Peak Watts AvgWatts/KG Location Race Date 1 Evan Price M19-29 14:28 25.71 32.24 380.52 520 5.24 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 2 Joshua Ebert M19-29 14:48 25.11 32.40 367.99 581 4.51 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 3 Philip Minutolo M19-29 15:29 24.01 32.24 345.93 559 3.72 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 4 Joshua Bozue M19-29 15:35 23.86 30.28 339.91 686 4.68 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 5 Steve Herman M19-29 15:48 23.52 30.84 298.86 413 4.71 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 Place Racer Category MM:SS Avg MPH Peak MPH Avg Watts Peak Watts AvgWatts/KG Location Race Date 1 Michael Whitaker M30-39 15:37 23.80 32.20 339.26 685 3.94 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 2 Scott Miller M30-39 15:38 23.77 30.08 309.90 496 4.88 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 3 Ishema Umuhoza M30-39 15:43 23.67 29.38 300.36 485 4.41 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 4 Michael Szymanski M30-39 15:51 23.47 30.56 304.77 372 4.36 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 5 Michael Szymanski M30-39 16:26 22.62 29.52 282.60 418 4.05 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 6 Mike Sullivan M30-39 16:29 22.56 29.16 309.45 530 3.33 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 7 Pete Hitzeman M30-39 16:35 22.41 29.40 298.10 721 3.46 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 8 Matthew Moyer M30-39 18:03 20.61 27.06 226.71 475 3.33 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 9 Jason Litke M30-39 19:43 18.86 25.00 199.06 374 2.58 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 Place Racer Category MM:SS Avg MPH Peak MPH Avg Watts Peak Watts AvgWatts/KG Location Race Date 1 Dan Payton M40-49 14:09 26.30 33.96 414.46 562 5.08 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 2 Sean Martin M40-49 15:09 24.54 32.70 355.70 586 4.17 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 3 Jeff Coudron M40-49 15:18 24.30 31.20 330.48 566 4.55 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 4 George Collins M40-49 15:41 23.71 30.64 328.61 622 3.81 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 5 Anthony Dobbels M40-49 15:56 23.35 29.36 330.26 736 4.04 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 6 Kurt Scharte M40-49 16:01 23.21 30.08 301.99 409 4.24 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 7 Jeff Williams M40-49 16:05 23.13 31.72 313.57 532 3.32 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 8 David Cox M40-49 16:08 23.06 29.42 302.97 466 4.05 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 9 Eric Boltz M40-49 16:10 23.00 27.48 316.21 689 4.05 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 10 Tom Susec M40-49 16:20 22.78 29.68 314.38 696 3.47 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 11 Fred Peters M40-49 16:37 22.39 28.00 315.40 740 3.23 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 12 Alan Stutes M40-49 16:42 22.27 28.34 294.60 587 3.82 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 13 Craig Scarberry M40-49 17:09 21.68 27.22 277.94 635 3.76 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 14 Keith Ranly M40-49 17:22 21.41 28.54 254.15 362 3.74 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 15 Tony Tucker M40-49 17:37 21.11 28.80 245.05 408 3.27 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 16 Andrew Pokupec M40-49 17:42 21.01 28.00 285.20 528 2.68 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 17 Scott Backer M40-49 17:54 20.77 27.88 246.82 572 2.86 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 18 Bill Brickey M40-49 18:27 20.16 26.98 232.68 520 3.11 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 19 Kevin Blake M40-49 19:47 18.79 24.76 195.82 318 2.66 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 Place Racer Category MM:SS Avg MPH Peak MPH Avg Watts Peak Watts AvgWatts/KG Location Race Date 1 Peter Wimberg M50-59 14:40 25.34 33.28 376.08 466 4.82 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 2 Jim Oelgoetz M50-59 15:34 23.90 29.72 339.55 646 4.05 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 3 Len Schuster M50-59 16:06 23.10 29.56 301.29 525 4.29 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 4 Garry Blair M50-59 16:19 22.80 30.62 294.69 558 3.82 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 5 Tom Blaney M50-59 16:27 22.60 28.34 295.49 448 3.88 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 6 Glenn Smith M50-59 16:34 22.43 28.14 300.25 590 3.48 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 7 Dale Eads M50-59 17:21 21.42 30.52 276.69 381 2.96 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 8 Doug Fecher M50-59 18:17 20.35 26.48 263.39 559 2.58 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 9 Mark Harris M50-59 18:18 20.32 26.26 279.90 604 2.68 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 10 Bill Haberlandt M50-59 18:52 19.71 25.44 224.97 523 2.92 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 11 Brent Douglas M50-59 18:57 19.62 25.84 200.44 371 3.05 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 12 Greg Palmisano M50-59 29:27 12.63 18.72 128.50 345 1.67 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 Place Racer Category MM:SS Avg MPH Peak MPH Avg Watts Peak Watts AvgWatts/KG Location Race Date 1 Patrick McMullen M60-69 16:08 23.06 31.04 298.74 501 3.66 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 2 David Benner M60-69 16:24 22.68 30.58 316.29 516 3.49 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 3 Richard Dammel M60-69 16:27 22.61 30.74 297.54 436 3.49 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 4 John Dallman M60-69 16:57 21.95 30.12 280.54 362 3.26 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 5 Dennis Murray M60-69 19:33 19.01 24.68 202.88 362 2.63 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 6 Chuck Smith M60-69 19:35 18.98 27.96 231.18 495 2.32 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11 Place Racer Category MM:SS Avg MPH Peak MPH Avg Watts Peak Watts AvgWatts/KG Location Race Date 1 Jack Lynch M70-79 17:33 21.20 28.52 250.05 391 3.11 Dayton,OH 2015-1-11

Indoor TT

In my state of complete exhaustion I once again forgot to hit the INT button at the end but here is what I can pull from the data: 14:40, 5 seconds off my PR, avg cad at 97, avg power at 386 according to the stages, 377 according to Computrainer, HR holding around 170-172 once I got into it and peaking at 176 out of a max of 182. I was 389 in November. Felt like I was much slower than that so overall did better than I thought I was doing during the race. Wanted to avg 380+ on the computrainer so not too far off.

Day before the indoor tt

Rode 40 minutes at 200 then did 5x1 power intervals at 422,431, 439, 445 and 450. Finished with 20 minutes at recovery pace. Feeling ready for tomorrow. Will try to match the power I held at the November event.

Morgans Canoe Now Partnering with Endurance Summit

Local outfitters and triathlon sponsor Morgans Canoe has come onboard as a partner in our Endurance Summit. I'm also working with them on a training plan for their June 7, 2015 Little Miami Triathlon. Looking forward to working with Gary Morgan and his team.

Wrapping up the week

On Wednesday I rode my spin class (55 minutes, 255 avg) and then did my 55 minute strength class. Thursday was a recovery day riding at 60 watts for one hour. Today was 2.5 hours at endurance pace of 200 watts. Tomorrow will be a short ride, maybe one hour, with 5x1 minute power intervals in preparation for the Sunday indoor tt. Making plans for a ride sometime in February where I'll cross over the 275,000 career mile marker. Hope to do it in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We'll see who the weather looks that week.

How Exercise Keeps Us Young

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS JANUARY 7, 2015 Active older people resemble much younger people physiologically, according to a new study of the effects of exercise on aging. The findings suggest that many of our expectations about the inevitability of physical decline with advancing years may be incorrect and that how we age is, to a large degree, up to us. Aging remains a surprisingly mysterious process. A wealth of past scientific research has shown that many bodily and cellular processes change in undesirable ways as we grow older. But science has not been able to establish definitively whether such changes result primarily from the passage of time — in which case they are inevitable for anyone with birthdays — or result at least in part from lifestyle, meaning that they are mutable. This conundrum is particularly true in terms of inactivity. Older people tend to be quite sedentary nowadays, and being sedentary affects health, making it difficult to separate the effects of not moving from those of getting older. In the new study, which was published this week in The Journal of Physiology, scientists at King’s College London and the University of Birmingham in England decided to use a different approach. They removed inactivity as a factor in their study of aging by looking at the health of older people who move quite a bit. “We wanted to understand what happens to the functioning of our bodies as we get older if we take the best-case scenario,” said Stephen Harridge, senior author of the study and director of the Centre of Human and Aerospace Physiological Sciences at King’s College London. To accomplish that goal, the scientists recruited 85 men and 41 women aged between 55 and 79 who bicycle regularly. The volunteers were all serious recreational riders but not competitive athletes. The men had to be able to ride at least 62 miles in six and a half hours and the women 37 miles in five and a half hours, benchmarks typical of a high degree of fitness in older people. The scientists then ran each volunteer through a large array of physical and cognitive tests. The scientists determined each cyclist’s endurance capacity, muscular mass and strength, pedaling power, metabolic health, balance, memory function, bone density and reflexes. They also had the volunteers complete the so-called Timed Up and Go test, during which someone stands up from a chair without using his or her arms, briskly walks about 10 feet, turns, walks back and sits down again. The researchers compared the results of cyclists in the study against each other and also against standard benchmarks of supposedly normal aging. If a particular test’s numbers were similar among the cyclists of all ages, the researchers considered, then that measure would seem to be more dependent on activity than on age. As it turned out, the cyclists did not show their age. On almost all measures, their physical functioning remained fairly stable across the decades and was much closer to that of young adults than of people their age. As a group, even the oldest cyclists had younger people’s levels of balance, reflexes, metabolic health and memory ability. And their Timed Up and Go results were exemplary. Many older people require at least 7 seconds to complete the task, with those requiring 9 or 10 seconds considered to be on the cusp of frailty, Dr. Harridge said. But even the oldest cyclists in this study averaged barely 5 seconds for the walk, which is “well within the norm reported for healthy young adults,” the study authors write. Some aspects of aging did, however, prove to be ineluctable. The oldest cyclists had less muscular power and mass than those in their 50s and early 60s and considerably lower overall aerobic capacities. Age does seem to reduce our endurance and strength to some extent, Dr. Harridge said, even if we exercise. But even so, both of those measures were higher among the oldest cyclists than would be considered average among people aged 70 or above. All in all, the numbers suggest that aging is simply different in the active. “If you gave this dataset to a clinician and asked him to predict the age” of one of the cyclists based on his or her test results, Dr. Harridge said, “it would be impossible.” On paper, they all look young. Of course, this study is based on a single snapshot of an unusual group of older adults, Dr. Harridge said. He and his colleagues plan to retest their volunteers in five and 10 years, which will provide better information about the ongoing effects of exercise on aging. But even in advance of those results, said Dr. Harridge, himself almost 50 and an avid cyclist, this study shows that “being physically active makes your body function on the inside more like a young person’s.”

http://www.fox19.com/clip/11007722/falling-off-the-resolution-wagon-at-work

5 minute steady state and some one minute power intervals

Held 341, 344 and 351 on the 5 minutes as I started at 330 and went up every minute or so until at 360.On the one minutes I hit 406, 409, 415, 422 and 433 with cadence 107-111. Could have done more on those but just felt like mixing it up after so many 8 minute efforts the last few weeks. I was actually kind of tired today. Had to get up early to be on local tv, Fox 19, to do a New Years fitness segment.

Another set of 4x8's, mid 300's

342, 347, 350 and 346: These are tough! Felt pretty good. When comparing to these done inside back in November my average today was just 1 watt different than that say. And that was the week before I rode the first indoor tt. Riding easy tomorrow given todays effort and the fact that its going to rain most of the day.

Affects of Alcohol on Your Body

"DRY January", for many a welcome period of abstinence after the excesses of the holiday season, could be more than a rest for body and soul. New Scientist staff have generated the first evidence that giving up alcohol for a month might actually be good for you, at least in the short term. Many people who drink alcohol choose to give up for short periods, but there is no scientific evidence that this has any health benefits. So we teamed up with Rajiv Jalan at the Institute for Liver and Digestive Health at University College London Medical School (UCLMS) to investigate. The liver plays a role in over 500 processes vital for functions as diverse as digesting food, detoxification and hormone balance. In 2009, of the 11,575 people who died of liver disease in the UK, more than a third were attributed to alcohol consumption. Most of what we know about liver health comes from studies of people with chronic disease, many of whom are alcoholics. Very few studies have focused on liver function in apparently healthy people. Our project was on a small scale, but Jalan felt it could yield clues as to the effects of short-term abstinence. On 5 October, 14 members of the New Scientist staff – all of whom consider themselves to be "normal" drinkers – went to the Royal Free Hospital in London. We answered questionnaires about our health and drinking habits, then had ultrasound scans to measure the amount of fat on the liver. Finally, we gave blood samples, used to analyse levels of metabolic chemicals linked with the liver and overall health. For the next five weeks, 10 of us drank no alcohol while four continued as normal. On 9 November, we returned to the hospital to repeat the tests. "You're going to be very excited," said Jalan, when the results were in. First off, he revealed that there had been no significant changes in any of the parameters measured for the four people who didn't give up alcohol. But the changes were dramatic and consistent across all 10 abstainers (see charts). Liver fat fell on average by 15 per cent, and by almost 20 per cent in some individuals. Jalan says this is highly significant, because fat accumulation on the liver is a known prelude to liver damage. It can cause inflammation, resulting in liver disease. "This transition is the harbinger first for temporary scarring called fibrosis and ultimately a non-reversible type of scarring that destroys liver structure, called cirrhosis," says Jalan. Although our livers were all judged to be generally healthy, the fat reductions would almost certainly help to retard liver deterioration, he says. Then came another surprise. The blood glucose levels of the abstainers dropped by 16 per cent on average, from 5.1 to 4.3 millimoles per litre. The normal range for blood glucose is between 3.9 and 5.6 mmol/l. "I was staggered," says Kevin Moore, consultant in liver health services at UCLMS. "I don't think anyone has ever observed that before." Glucose was measured using a fasting blood glucose test taken after participants had refrained from eating or drinking anything but water for 8 hours. This stimulates production of the hormone glucagon, which releases glucose from body stores into the blood. In a healthy person, a rise in glucose triggers the production of insulin, which tells certain cells to take up glucose from the blood to maintain a safe blood sugar level. Type 2 diabetes results when cells no longer respond to insulin, leading to high blood sugar. A drop in circulating glucose in our tests could mean that our bodies had become more sensitive to insulin, removing more glucose from the blood – a sign of improved blood sugar control. We also lost weight, by 1.5 kilograms on average. Total blood cholesterol, a risk factor for heart disease, dropped by almost 5 per cent, from 4.6 to 4.4 mmol/l. A healthy amount is considered anything below 5.2 mmol/l. "Basically, you're getting improved glucose and cholesterol management," says Moore. The benefits weren't just physical. Ratings of sleep quality on a scale from 1 to 5 rose by just over 10 per cent, improving from 3.9 to 4.3. Ratings of how well we could concentrate soared 18 per cent from 3.8 to 4.5. "It represents a significant effect on quality of life and work performance," says Jalan, although he acknowledges that self-reported experiences are open to bias. The only negative was that people reported less social contact. Our experiment gives no indication of how long the improvements persist. "Whether it's 15 days or six months, we don't know," says Jalan. However, it lays the ground for larger studies, he says. "What you have is a pretty average group of British people who would not consider themselves heavy drinkers, yet stopping drinking for a month alters liver fat, cholesterol and blood sugar, and helps them lose weight," says Moore. "If someone had a health product that did all that in one month, they would be raking it in." Still, that doesn't mean it is OK to indulge for the other 11 months. "That's absolutely the wrong message to give out," says liver specialist Scott Friedman of the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. "What's surprising is how quickly the benefits were evident, but think about how much you could gain from more prolonged abstinence." "These results show that even a relatively short period of abstinence impacts on the liver," says Nick Sheron at the University of Southampton, UK. He says that liver disease can develop over the course of 30 years, so a short period of abstinence needs to translate into long-term behaviour change. "But what a hugely encouraging start this is," he says. "And if you can persuade a bunch of journalists to have a month off the booze there is really no excuse for anyone not to be able to do the same thing, is there?" Thanks to all who gave up their free time, including Matteo Roselli and Emmanuel Tsochatzis at the Royal Free Hospital for performing the liver scans Correction: When this article was first published on 31 December 2013, it gave an incorrect percentage for the drop recorded in blood glucose levels. This article appeared in print under the headline "Here's to a dry January

New Year

I'm not one to make new years resolutions. Seems like I've been hammering away at certain goals for a long time and don't really need to make any big proclamations to keep motivated. Looking at 2015, the goals are winning the Cleves series in the 50-54 while being top 5 overall and getting back into the 21's, winning the state 5k and 10k, medalling in the 40k, and then winning the national championship in the 5k and 10k in Minneapolis in July. Ideally these are met by increasing watts/kg and working on the aero position on the tt bike. I'll be on Fox 19 WXIX next week talking about how to get people motivated to be lead a fit life. Might be Tuesday morning around 8:15.