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Texas Triathlon Camp, Part III
Joe Friel, Bike Technique & Training (Physiology)
by
Terry Beopple
*Note, all material taken directly from notes taken, no material is
reproduced.
When you are not rested or giving yourself
enough time to recover, you will lose fitness. You should maintain your
consistency and frequency, but use different levels of intensity – you can’t
do interval training everyday and expect to get better; an interval session
will require you to rest, not necessarily taking a day off, but taking a
long, slow run or swim or bike instead of one filled with intensity.
Fitness results from the following:
Increased Aerobic Capacity – how much
Oxygen you can process.
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This is largely genetic and cannot be
controlled.
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You can increase this with lots of volume in
your training and by doing intervals (3 min hard, 3 min recovery)
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3-6 years of focused training will get you
to your maximum level.
Elevate Lactate Threshold – improve how
your body processes lactate.
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You can train the body to deal with lactate.
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Train just above zone 5 doing longer
intervals with short recoveries (6/2). These intervals will not be as
hard as those in aerobic training.
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Most of your time spent on improvement
should focus here.
Economy – Being efficient, do the same
work with less fuel.
Ways to improve
your economy include: lowering your body weight, lowering
your psychological stress, more aerodynamic equipment, more aerodynamic use
of your body position, eliminating useless, energy-wasting movement.
Pedaling Mechanics
– at the top of your cycle, be pushing forward with the foot, not down. At
the bottom of the cycle, be pushing backwards, not straight down. On the
down stroke, you apply force. At the bottom transition, ‘scrape the mud off
your shoes’. On the upstroke, take all weight off the pedal. At the top
transition, push your foot forward into your shoe. Focus on one of these
(top or bottom transition) as you cycle in order to improve mechanics.
Also, in most instances, your heel should be slightly raised.
Ways to refine
pedaling skills – Fixed gear riding, spinning classes, Single
Leg Training, computrainers, Mountain Biking on hilly trails (this will
force you to keep even, steady tension on the chain so you don’t spin out),
spin-up drill (go from normal cadence increasing in speed until you are
bouncing in the saddle; reduce cadence to the point that bouncing stops, and
maintain that pace as long as possible).
For climbing, use the following rule of thumb:
Divide your mass (weight) by your height in
inches.
If this number is 2 or less, you should stand
for climbing.
If this number is 2.4-2.5, you should sit for
climbing.
If this number is between 2 – 2.3, you may go
back and forth.
If the number is greater than 2.5, you will
always sit, unless you are changing muscle groups.
NEXT
INSTALLMENT - PART IV- CHECK BACK!
Periodization - Joe
Friel
There
are three basic skills the triathletes seek to train and develop....endurance,
force and speed...MORE NEXT MONTH!
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