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In the first part of this Everesting blog I talked about the background to our ride and what it felt like on the day. In Part 2 I’ll take you through some issues on training and nutrition for an Everesting attempt. Part 3 will cover picking a hill, logistics, equipment and pacing.  TrainingIt shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that Everesting is a challenging endurance endeavour. Even pro riders will be out there for 8 hours and most mortals will be riding for twice that. This means that you absolutely need a solid endurance base and you should be aiming to get months of consistent riding in your legs before attempting it. The best way to train for a long endurance event is, unsurprisingly, to include long endurance rides. Most amateur riders won’t have the time to put in 5 hour rides every weekend, so intensity will also play a part in developing your aerobic engine. You shouldn’t be spending any significant time above threshold, so there is no need to be developing your anaerobic capabilities. This isn’t the time for sprint interval training or a block of VO2max work. You will, however, want to train every muscle fibre you have to contribute to such a long effort and get your connective tissue prepared. This makes sweetspot work the ideal choice. You can start out with blocks of 5-10 minutes and increase over time until you can complete blocks of 30-40 minutes with a total of 90 minutes or more during a ride. If you don’t have access to long hills, some of this training can be done on the turbo but you should also get outside to work on your climbing technique and, crucially, descending. To get the most from these sessions, include low cadence work. This will engage intermediate and fast twitch muscle fibres that you’ll need on the day and also prepare your connective tissue for the challenge. You’ll also want to change your position during your Everesting ride so practice riding both in and out of the saddle and transitioning smoothly between the two. Being an efficient rider will save you valuable energy. The data below come from a training ride of about 3 hours with half the time climbing at sweetspot.  What goes up, must come down. Know the kind of descent you’ll be facing during your attempt and practice on it. If it’s straight, get comfortable at speed. For me, an arrow straight hill at 8% meant I topped out at almost 80km/h before reaching a built up area where I had to slow down. If your descent is technical, you’ll need to be really confident in your cornering. So confident, in fact, you could do it at speed after 15 hours in the saddle, because that’s exactly what you’ll be doing. If you’re coming down fast then the chances are this won’t be true recovery and your weight might not be on the saddle. I included isometric strength work with daily wall sits to strengthen my quads for this aspect. It's a good idea to have one or even two simulation rides of at least half the elevation you’ll face on the big attempt. Nothing is quite going to prepare you for the final hours, but your simulation rides are a perfect opportunity to test pacing, nutrition and equipment. Make the most of this ride by planning the details and sticking closely to your plan. Review your performance afterwards and consider whether you need to adjust anything. Give yourself adequate time to recovery after your first simulation to do another if anything substantial needs to change. NutritionHow you plan, prepare and manage nutrition on the day could make or break your Everesting attempt. Depending on your body weight, you are likely to be using 6-10,000 kcal during the course of your ride. While there is no chance of consuming this much while you’re riding, you can put yourself in a strong position by following a sensible carb loading protocol in the days leading in. Aim for 5-7 g/kg of bodyweight per day of carbohydrate as you reduce your training load. For the ride itself, you should aim to take in 60-90g of carbs per hour. If you’re pushing over 60g then you’ll need to include a variety of carbohydrates (glucose, sucrose, maltodextrins). It’s really important that you test this as some people can’t tolerate higher amounts, especially large quantities of fructose. The main advantage you have during your Everesting ride, compared to many ultra-endurance events, is the option to have your own base camp with a selection of food and drink options. Make the most of it! Ensure you have options to choose from because flavour fatigue is a real thing. That snack bar that you love might be great at the start but possibly not so appealing 10 hours in. Having something that you look forward to eating will help you keep the fuel going in. If you have a support crew, make sure they know exactly what you need so they can hand it to you and help you stick to the plan. I was planning to use Mountain Fuel flapjacks, gels and energy drink for the majority of my ride. This meant I would take in 0.5 to 1 flapjack and around half a bottle of energy drink per hour and later, when solid food might become more difficult to take on, I’d switch to 2-3 gels plus half a bottle of energy drink per hour. I also knew from previous experience that I’d probably crave savoury snacks too, so had crisps and pork pies at base camp to enjoy when we stopped.  Another item you might want to add in for this ride is some caffeine. Again, this is something you need to test in advance to make sure it agrees with you. I made use of both cans of coke, which were really refreshing on a warm afternoon, and cola gels from Mountain Fuel so I could take it on while riding. Finally, even though you’ll go in with a detailed plan, don’t be afraid to adjust it as you go. If you feel bloated with the food you’re taking on then try some plain water to dilute the sugar in your gut. Just remember that you’ll need to keep the food coming or at some point the wheels are going to come off. Keep yourself hydrated and fuelled and you’ll set yourself up for success. 
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What is Everesting?Everest - Earth's highest mountain - official elevation of 8,848m above sea level Not for the faint hearted, Everesting is described by Hells 500, keepers of the Everesting Hall of Fame, as “fiendishly simple, yet brutally hard.” Sounds like a fun day out, right?  First though, a bit of background to our Everesting ride. Holmfirth Cycling Club has been teaching kids to ride bikes since 2013 but there is an economic barrier to cycling and many children don’t have access to a suitable bike and a safe and enjoyable place to ride. This situation will be exacerbated by the economic downturn resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. Children from homes experiencing financial hardship may be unable to access facilities for sports and recreation. To tackle this, I decided to Everest to raise money for new bikes so that every child in the area can access cycle coaching and develop a love for activity, challenge and adventure that so many of us share. For a little more background or to donate (before 11 August 2020), go to https://everestingholmfirth.wordpress.com/ Originally conceived as a solo ride, I was delighted when coached athlete Hannah Tweddell (Lifting Gear Products/Cycles In Motion) allowed herself to be talked into joining me. It turns out having company on a ride like this is a big motivator.  Planning our rideLike any ultra-endurance event, planning is critical for an Everesting ride. Location, date, weather, equipment, pacing and nutrition all need to be considered, tested and refined. More on detailed preparation to come in Part 2! Picking the hill for the attempt was crucial and I found the ideal “Goldilocks” spot not too far away on Bradshaw Road, Honley. At 8-9% it’s steep, but not too steep. It’s straight for a fast descent and is close to civilisation in case of emergencies. It's a pretty steady gradient but tips up just a little so you can get out of the saddle and stretch your back. Trust me, you'll be glad of that! Based on the Everesting calculator, it would mean a total of 58 ascents and a total distance of nearly 220km.  When it came to fuel, there was only one place I’d go. Rupert and the Mountain Fuel team set us up with our core nutrition for the day – Raw Energy Fuel, flapjack bars and a mix of standard and caffeine jellies – so we could do most of our fuelling on the go. A support crew handing out bottles and snacks at the turn around helped us to minimise stops and keep the wheels rolling. We also stocked up on a variety of other food, including savoury snacks and cans of coke for later in the day. And so it begins...July in Yorkshire gave us a favourable 16 hours of daylight to work with. Sadly, it also brought us driving rain and strong winds on our target Saturday. Luckily, the forecast for our contingency day on the Sunday was perfect and we began at 5.30am, with clear skies and a light tail wind, as the sun rose behind Castle Hill (and Hannah).  Enraged by our good fortune, the Puncture Gods struck early, but a spare wheel from the support crew soon had Hannah up and rolling again and we remained puncture free for the rest of the day. We pressed on through the first 20 laps in about 4h15, making the most of the early enthusiasm, delighted to have ticked off the first third of the ride slightly ahead of schedule. After a quick stretch we were back on it for another 10 laps. However, as if inspired by our ride, the temperature also continued to climb into the mid 20s, pushing up my heart rate and leaving Hannah looking like a human salt stick.  Base CampBreaking for lunch at 1pm we had over 5,000m of elevation in the bag in just over 7 hours. However, the hurt was starting to creep in as we contemplated the fact we still had around 4,000m of climbing to go. It was inevitable that progress would slow a little in the afternoon as the pace that felt fine at the start became increasingly tough to hold. Digging deep, we kept the lap times on track and normalised power only dropped by about 5% over the afternoon. However, the repetitive strain of riding a bike up a steep hill for that long was taking its toll and it became harder to stick to the nutrition plan we had set. We relied on more regular stops to stretch our backs and break the ride into more manageable chunks of 5 reps, which provided a much needed mental boost during those final hours. I won't lie, the last few hours were pretty grim. The supporters and sherpas were a real lifeline!  SummitThroughout the day we had support riders popping in to complete one or more reps with us. We might not have had much to say while they rode with us, but we appreciated the company all the same! Club mates came to see us before heading off on their weekend rides. We’d already been there for three hours. After their rides they came back. We were still there. Some came back after their dinner. We were still there. Finally, as the sun was starting to set at 8pm, we started our final ascent. Just the two of us, side by side, cheered on by friends and supporters with cow bells and Queen’s “we are the champions” greeting us at the top. The summit of Everest and a coveted place in the Everesting Hall of Fame.  Hard days are hard, easy days are easy Despite the simplicity of this message, polarised training is a topic that has excited, infuriated and baffled many amateur endurance athletes. Popularised by top physiologist Stephen Seiler, polarised training has since been promoted in countless articles and books like 80/20 Running and 80/20 Triathlon by Matt Fitzgerald. However, despite the volume of material written on the topic, it remains a popular topic to debate on internet forums and seems to divide people like nothing else (apart from almost anything on Twitter). Dr Seiler has published a series of papers that examine the training patterns of elite athletes across various endurance disciplines like cycling, running, skiing and rowing. He found a remarkably consistent pattern in the balance between easy sessions and hard workouts. Before we discuss what that pattern was, let’s establish a system for categorising workouts. Three Zone Model It’s common practice for endurance athletes to assign training zones to sessions in terms of power, pace or heartrate. The number of zones varies, often between 5 and 7, with rather complicated names like “anaerobic capacity” and “neuromuscular power”. Dr Seiler has helpfully simplified this to just 3 zones, which we’ll call “low”, “moderate” and “high”.  Unfortunately, these are defined by rather more complex physiological parameters that we could refer to by a number of different names. For the sake of argument, we’ll refer to them in terms of lactate as that’s what endurance athletes are most likely to be familiar with, even if they haven’t had a lactate test themselves. We could use ventilatory thresholds (VT1 and VT2), for example, but the discussion would be much the same. Dr Seiler has helpfully simplified this to just 3 zones, which we’ll call “low”, “moderate” and “high” When we exercise at low intensity, most of our energy comes from the aerobic metabolism, which doesn’t generate any lactate. This means lactate levels stay low, possibly even lower than at rest because we start to use some as fuel. Zone 1 is defined as being below LT1 (lactate turning point 1), where lactate levels are no higher than at rest. It’s characterised by easy breathing, where you could comfortably hold a conversation. Think recovery pace and steady endurance work. As effort ramps up, we start to rely more on anaerobic pathways that generate lactate to supplement our aerobic metabolism. This generates increasing amounts of lactate. In response, our body shuttles that lactate around and uses it as fuel and we see lactate levels in the blood start to increase. However, we’re still in control and lactate is being used as fast as it is generated.  In Zone 2, between, LT1 and LT2 lactate turning point 2), lactate concentrations are elevated in the blood but would stay constant if we stayed at the same pace. Breathing is a bit heavier but you might be able to speak in short sentences. Eventually, we can’t handle all the lactate that is being generated and it starts to build up. Now the metabolic clock is ticking! Zone 3 (high intensity) begins at LT2, which is pretty close to functional threshold power (FTP) or threshold running pace. It’s roughly the intensity we could maintain for an hour of continuous work. Anywhere above this point, lactate continues to accumulate in the blood and eventually we are forced to slow down. Breathing is heavy and you can only manage single words or short phrases, most of which might end in “off”. Theory into practiceUsing this three zone model, here are some typical sessions and where they would fit in this system:
The Polarised or 80/20 modelWhen Dr Seiler looked across different endurance sport, he found that elite athletes’ training had converged to a remarkably similar pattern - across the season, 80% of sessions were “easy” aerobic development and just 20% were “moderate” or “hard”. I believe some of the confusion with polarised training comes from the early studies, which found that athletes were training almost entirely in zone 1 and zone 3, with very little work in zone 2. This led to the idea of zone 2 training as being a “grey zone”. Consequently, people argued that zone 2 training had no value and should be avoided at all costs. Later studies found that some disciplines (typically longer steady state efforts) favoured a pyramidal distribution, with more work in zone 2 than zone 3. However, the one fact that remained constant across all studies was the high volume of zone 1 training – almost always around 80%. Typically, longer events like Ironman triathlon might favour more time in zone 2, while a short event like a UK hill climb might benefit from a more polarised approach. The most effective strategy will also depend on the individual athlete, their athletic history and how they respond to different types of training. Selles-Perez et al. (J Sports Sci Med. 2019;18(4):708‐715. Published 2019 Nov 19.) found, in their study “Polarized and Pyramidal Training Intensity Distribution: Relationship with a Half-Ironman Distance Triathlon Competition” found that a pyramidal training distribution (77.9%/18.8%/3.3%) with more time in zone 2 than in zone 3 was more effective than a polarised distribution (84.5%/4.2%/11.3%). However, note that the pyramidal distribution still involved 78% of training in zone 1. An alternative to this is to focus training on intensities in the middle zone in the belief that zone 2 training, being harder, must be more effective than zone 1. This results in a threshold intensity distribution.  Is polarised training right for recreational athletes?It’s fine for the pros, but I can’t be noodling around at easy intensity all the time. I need to get fit! Pros have more time to train so accumulate a huge volume of easy aerobic training. Even a pretty dedicated amateur athlete (depending on the discipline) might only train 10 hours a week. Should you really spend 8 hours of that going easy? Wouldn’t you get fitter just training hard most of the time? There have been a few studies that looked into this for trained (but not elite) runners and cyclists and the results suggest not. Munoz et al (International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 2014, 9, 265 -272. DOI: 10.1123/ijspp.2012-0350) found “Polarized training can stimulate greater training effects than between-thresholds training in recreational runners." Neal et al (J Appl Physiol (1985). 2013;114(4):461‐471. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00652.2012) found “Six weeks of a polarized training-intensity distribution leads to greater physiological and performance adaptations than a threshold model in trained cyclists” ok, so I’ll do some low intensity training. But what if I just throw in a few more high intensity sessions? A few is good so more must be better! Billat (she of 30/30 fame) et al. (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: January 1999 - Volume 31 - Issue 1 - p 156-163) looked at some trained endurance runners and found that they were able to increase running speed at VO2 max with a programme of 4 continuous (easy pace) runs, one high intensity (HIT) session, and one lactate threshold (LT) session. When they changed this and added intensity, with two continuous runs, three HIT sessions and one LT session each week they found no additional adaptive benefit, increased subjective training stress and indicators of overtraining. All of which tells us that polarised training works for recreational athletes and there’s a limit to how much high intensity work you can and should do. A typical weekAlthough the training plan for every athlete should be tailored to their history, goals and progression during the season, here’s a typical week that might result in a polarised 80/20 intensity distribution for a cyclist. The details would be different for a runner, but the principles would be the same. It includes some hard efforts, longer endurance rides and easy recovery days. The hard days are hard and the easy days are easy! It’s a sustainable, effective approach to training that could be repeated over and over, building on fitness gains over time like compound interest building up in your savings account.  What is Sweetspot Training?Sweetspot means training just below your threshold (FTP). It’s a moderately hard effort that you could sustain for long periods of time. It was popularised by Dr Andy Coggan in his book “Training and Racing with a Power Meter”, which suggests sweetspot strikes a balance between physiological strain and training duration to achieve a maximum training effect. "sweetspot strikes a balance between physiological strain and training duration to achieve a maximum training effect" To work in your sweetspot zone, aim for roughly 88-93% of FTP or 85-85% of your threshold heart rate.  Based on Andy Coggan Why do Sweetspot Training? Sweetspot training has a wide range of benefits for your aerobic engine – increases in blood plasma volume, mitochondria, glycogen storage and muscle capillarisation, for example. It’s also an enjoyable level for training where the athlete feels they’ve had a great workout without the mental fatigue of maximal efforts. Don’t discount the value of motivation!  This means sweetspot is a great option for those on a limited time budget, especially during a base phase of the season. "sweetspot is a great option for those on a limited time budget" Sweetspot intensity, especially combined with low cadence / high torque work, is also effective in decreasing the amount of energy you produce through an anaerobic glycolytic pathway (referred to as your VLamax). It might seem counterintuitive to want to decrease your energy production, but according to sports scientist Sebastian Weber, your FTP is balance between lactate production and lactate clearance. Reducing your VLamax can, therefore, increase your FTP without changing your VO2max or aerobic capacity. This means sweetspot should be a regular session for steady state athletes like time triallists, triathletes and duathletes. However, sprinters would be advised to stay away from this kind of work, especially close to race season. Finding the delicate balance between VO2max and VLamax has helped shape the training and success of Sebastian Weber’s elite riders like Tony Martin, Peter Sagan and André Greipel. "sweetspot should be a regular session for time triallists, triathletes and duathletes" However, sweetspot training will only get you so far. To reach your potential you’ll also need to incorporate other low and high intensity sessions, especially if your event demands include bursts of power like in road racing, criteriums, cyclocross, MTB, track sprinting or draft legal triathlon. Also, for most athletes, two or maybe three sessions a week is enough. Remember sweetspot does have a metabolic cost, so there is a limit to how much you can or should do. "two or maybe three sessions a week is enough"  How to do itSweetspot work can be part of a longer endurance ride or a dedicated session on the road or trainer. Completing sweetspot work on long hills or on the trainer also allows you to get the added benefits of sustained low cadence work.
Sweetspot Hills – Include 2-3 climbs of 15-30 minutes at sweetspot intensity during a ride of 1.5 hours or longer. Trainer workouts – make sure you bookend these intervals with a suitable warmup and cooldown
Q - Why do you think so many athletes get injured?Dalia - From my own personal experience of working with athletes, the most common reasons I see for people getting niggles are usually ramps up in training, over training but also sticking to one discipline, i.e. just running and no mobility work/cross training/strength training. I also feel that our general modern lifestyles play a part too. We sit at desks for several hours a day, we then sit in cars or public transport and then we sit again at home. Therefore we don’t spend as much time exercising our range of movement in different ways. Chris - There are many reasons for injury to strike but increased training load is often a factor. This might be an acute load from a single session or a more chronic issue where total training load over time leads to breakdown. Athletes love their sport and always want to do more. Sometimes the hardest part of coaching is convincing people to do less! If people paid as much attention to their recovery as they do their training then we’d definitely see fewer injuries. Q - What techniques can athletes use to keep their body in top shape? Dalia - Cross training is great for athletes! Perhaps there is a weights class you can do at the gym. Not only does this provide you with extra power for your sport, stronger muscles will help injury prevention. Swimming is a great low impact exercise that can help work on our breathing but also a sport that can be done on rest days (we are talking easy here). Range of movement is great for athletes so a yoga class is perfect, it doesn’t have to be high impact either or even an hour long. Sometimes just a 20 minute yoga video in the morning before work is fine. Sleep is really important, something many of us struggle with but it’s important not only for our health but for our performance and recovery. Chris - I agree that cross training is great advice, particularly for runners. Participation in other sports has been shown to reduce injury risk and can be used to provide aerobic conditioning without the pounding of running. On the flip side, cyclists can suffer from very low bone density unless they supplement their training with activities that place a mechanical load on the skeleton, like running or lifting weights. Another important issue is diet. Many athletes undereat because they are trying to reduce body fat, thinking that this will improve performance. This can lead to a condition called Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport or RED-S. This is characterised by low-energy availability and low bone mineral density. In women, it typically results in menstrual dysfunction, including loss of period. It may not be as obvious in men, but results in low testosterone and can lead to long term health issues. To stay healthy, athletes need to fuel the work they do! Q - Athletes love their foam rollers! How should foam rolling be used? Dalia - I’m not a big fan of foam rolling personally. If I do it then I do it quite lightly. It’s rather superficial and I would just rather have a massage! I get why it can feel good and *feels* like it’s releasing muscle. Most people do it wrong though! People often believe that foam rolling has to be painful but this could be doing more damage than good. Foam roll to level that’s comfortable, like a deep massage. If in pain, muscles could tense up and we put our body through unnecessary stress. Here are a couple of articles that are worth a look: What foam rolling is actually doing when it hurts so good Your IT band is not the enemy but maybe your foam roller is Q - What advice do you have for self coached athletes? Chris - Concentrate energy on getting the basics right and be patient. When you start training or increase your training load, your aerobic fitness can increase very quickly. All that exercise capacity is like a new toy that you just want to play with all the time. Ride further! Run faster! Unfortunately, our musculoskeletal system (bones, muscles, cartilage, tendons and ligaments) takes a bit longer to catch up. One possible reason for this is that connective tissue only adapts to the first 5-10 minutes of each activity. As we become capable of training sessions much longer than this we increase the gap between our capacity to do work and our body’s ability to withstand the load. The result is often a disappointing and frustrating battle with injury. To avoid this, I prefer to work on exercise frequency before extending duration and intensity. Light to moderate exercise 4-6 days a week is a safer way to build fitness than two monster training sessions at the weekend. There are some popular guidelines out there, like increasing your mileage by no more than 10% a week, but these are far too generic and can quickly lead to a greater load than athletes can handle. Increase your training slowly and then hold at that new volume. See how your body responds and then decide whether it’s safe to add more. Long term development comes from consistency over weeks, months and years so don’t rush it! Think about your equipment but don’t overcomplicate it - fit and comfort are the most important factors. For runners, the choice of running shoes can be bewildering. Look online and you’ll get evangelical insistence that there is only one true path to running shoes enlightenment - cushioned, minimalist, barefoot, maximalist! Forget all that and just wear shoes that feel comfortable, rotate through several pairs of different shoes and replace them when they’re worn out. Simple. For cyclists, a bike fit isn’t just for the pros! A bike fit from an experienced practitioner can help keep you pain free. Something as simple as an incorrectly set seat height has been shown to increase the risk of knee injury. Finally, don’t wait for injury to strike before you take action. A history of injury is consistently the biggest risk factor for future injury so the best thing you can do is stay injury free to start with! Q - What should athletes do if they develop a niggle? Dalia - Don’t google it! Or ask on Facebook! See a physio/medical professional. Very often we feel a pain in our knee and just assume it’s the knee, we may foam roll, book in a massage, google our symptoms, ask on Facebook but my advice is to always see a professional who can take a look at your biomechanics, like a good sports physio. Very often people lack strength in core, glutes and ankles, range of movement is limited, muscles compensate. So whilst you think you may have a knee problem, it could be coming from other areas. With some injuries or niggles rest is advised, others can sometimes benefit from continuing our sports (but steady) and/or loading exercises. A good sports physio can advise you on this. Chris - Firstly, stop doing things that hurt! A niggle is often the first clear sign that something isn’t right. Next, assess your training leading up to this point. Have you had a particularly hard session? Has your overall training load increased? How about rest and nutrition? Has equipment changed or is it worn out? If a short period of rest or reduced training doesn’t resolve the situation, definitely go and see a professional for advice. Q - How can a massage therapist help?
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At Espresso Performance Coaching, we believe that strength training has a part to play in the programme of all endurance athletes. It’s an important factor that has benefits for health, general athleticism and sports performance.
 How does it improve performance?The first thing you need to know is that it works. Here are a couple of solid examples from the research literature: Blagrove (2017) found in a systematic review that strength training improved running economy, time trial performance and anaerobic speed, concluding that “the addition of two to three ST [strength training] sessions per week, which include a variety of ST modalities are likely to provide benefits to the performance of middle- and long-distance runners.” Ronnestad (2011) found that combining heavy strength training and regular endurance training increased cyclists' mean power output production during a final 5-min all-out sprint after 3 h of submaximal cycling by 7%. Sounds like a race winning strategy to me If you need any more convincing, then several mechanisms have been suggested:
 Methods of strength training This blog post focuses on strength training for performance and the recommendations reflect that. There are many other strength training modalities, like plyometrics, that we can and should use for general athleticism. Some coaches, like Renato Canova, have had huge success combining endurance work with strength circuits in a single workout. However, we’ll save those for another day. The exercises most likely to benefit endurance athlete’s performance are multi-joint movements biomechanically similar to their event. I’d suggest you start with deadlifts and squats and, if seeking variety or progression, look at variations of these. As you progress, unilateral, single limb options like split squats or single leg deadlifts could be more specific, help to address muscle imbalances and also develop your core stabilisation. If you’re new to strength training, you should start cautiously and get individual coaching from a qualified professional. Lifting heavy weights with poor technique is a recipe for disaster so please seek advice. You can also develop your technique while gaining the benefits of strength training using low to moderate weights or even just body weight. If you are happy with your technique, select 3-5 exercises and for each complete:
As you become more experienced, move to heavier lifts. You can change your protocol:
Ideally, you’ll be strength training 2-3 times a week but if you can only manage one session, do that.  Combining strength and endurance training For the novice athlete, including any strength training in your programme is likely to be effective and the single recommendation is simply to do it and not worry too much about the details. You’ll see gains in performance and your volume of endurance training is unlikely to compromise this.
For the more experienced or advanced athlete, we need to pay attention to programming strength training to get the maximum benefit. There’s little evidence that strength training interferes with developing endurance, but endurance training can certainly interfere with strength gains. This is one reason why you are unlikely to get huge from two or three short strength sessions while also running 80km a week. Sorry to break that to you. To avoid interfering with our strength gains, one simple option is to complete the training on different days. However, advanced athletes might be training around 6 days a week, sometimes twice a day, and may need to complete strength and endurance work on the same day to maintain training volume. In this case, research suggests that signalling from strength training lasts 3-12 hours following a session. Endurance training in this window will blunt your adaptations to strength training. To avoid this, complete the endurance training first and strength training later in the day. To get the most from the strength session, make sure you allow adequate rest and recovery after an endurance session to avoid reducing the quality of your second session. Finally, consider when in the week to complete your strength work. At Espresso we believe in keeping easy days easy so hard days can be hard. This means we usually schedule strength training on the same day as a hard run or bike workout, with the endurance work completed first. This isn’t the only viable approach, however. In a recent conversation with an Olympic triathlon coach I learned that the GB Elite Squad completed strength training on an easy endurance day. This programming meant their high intensity endurance sessions, which were the primary focus, were not compromised. As always, the solution depends on the needs of the individual athlete. The self-coached athlete will need to experiment with different strategies to find what works best. This series of blog posts is a quick guide to different types of interval training and focuses on the fundamental principles involved. Armed with this and a few examples, you’ll be ready to start adding intervals into your training week, whatever your event. The principles of High Intensity Training (HIT) or High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) apply to everyone, so you can use these workouts on the running track or turbo trainer. This time we’re focusing on short intervals. What are short intervals? Short intervals last just 15-60s. This isn’t long enough to reach your maximum rate of oxygen consumption (VO2max) in a single interval so they rely on using a very short recovery period and blocks of intervals lumped into sets. This means your heart rate will keep climbing through the first few intervals before you max out. Despite this, you can accumulate a long time at VO2max through the workout. These intervals have a long history but have also received a lot of attention in recent years as “magic” training, with research showing they might be more effective than standard long intervals (see our last blog post for more on these). In their excellent review of interval training methods, Paul Laursen and Martin Buchheit (2013) talk about intervals of 15s up to about 60s and recommend using recovery periods equal to, or shorter than, the work interval. This means something like blocks of 15s on, 15s off, written as 15/15. Other research by Ronnestad and colleagues has focused a 30/15 protocol and found benefits for a range of athletes, from recreational up to elites. Eminent sports scientist Stephen Seiler has also talked about these intervals, noting that they are physiologically very similar to long duration VO2max intervals, but may have some additional benefits resulting from the higher intensities reached. Why do it?Short intervals are designed to increase your maximum aerobic capacity by having you accumulate significant total time at or close to your VO2max. They may also benefit your anaerobic capacity because they involve working well above your anaerobic threshold.  How to do it? Interval training is typically described as sets of intervals or work and rest, where 10 x 30/30 means 30s of work followed by 30s of recovery, repeated 10 times. Usually these intervals will be arranged in sets with a longer recovery period between them. Runners can do these over any terrain running at around 3k effort or faster. For cyclists, these are perfect for indoor training on the turbo or rollers. Good targets to aim for are about 120-130% of your FTP or 100-120% of your 5-minute power. Effort level will be higher for the shorter intervals and bit lower for the longer ones. Having said that, the best way to pace these is probably by feel. Just go as hard as you can manage without having to drop your intensity. You’ll learn pretty fast what you can do! Try this progression of workouts, including just one in your training plan each week:
Always make sure you bookend the interval session with a thorough warmup and cooldown. Alternatively, you could try the “Ronnestad” intervals:
Other combinations of duration, reps and sets are just as valid. Don't feel you have to follow this prescription exactly to get the benefit. Free turbo trainer Zwift workout! You can download a free Zwift workout for the Ronnestad intervals developed by Espresso Performance Coaching!
What is interval training?If you want to take your performance to a higher level, interval training is almost certainly going to be part of your plan.
In this series of blog posts, we’re going to look at different types of interval training, why you’d choose to do them and give you some example workouts you can try for yourself. This time we’re focusing on long intervals. What are long intervals? Long interval are performed at a high intensity for long enough for you to reach and spend significant time at your maximum rate of oxygen consumption (VO2max). Typically, that will mean intervals of 2-5 minutes with a total work duration of between 12 and 30 minutes. Recovery periods will be about as long as the work interval. If you monitor heart rate, you should be getting up to 90-95% of your maximum heart rate after a minute or two. However, there is also some interesting research from Stephen Seiler that suggests accumulating more time at a slightly lower intensity might by even more effective. More on this below! Why do it?Long intervals are designed to increase your maximum aerobic capacity by having you spend as much time as possible operating at or close to your VO2max. How to do it?  Interval training is typically described as sets of intervals or work and rest, where 10 x 2min / 2 min means 2 minutes of work followed by 2 minutes of rest, repeated 10 times. Runners can do these over any terrain running at around 3k to 5k effort. For cyclists, these are perfect for indoor training on the turbo or rollers. Good targets to aim for are about 120% of your FTP or 90-100% of your 5-minute power. Try this progression of workouts, including just one in your training plan each week:
Always make sure you bookend the interval session with a thorough warmup and cooldown. Alternatively, you could try the Seiler approach, which involved a slightly lower intensity but longer intervals. It’s been shown to be more effective than the traditional 4x4 session, so definitely worth considering as a part of your toolbox:
Free Zwift workouts!Try these free Zwift workouts developed by Espresso Performance Coaching and let us know what you think in the comments below!
The big race is done, the medal is hanging proudly with the reminders of other sporting achievements and… then what? What does the dedicated athlete do next? How do we prepare for next year’s goals when they can feel so far away? What is the goal of pre-season training?Before we consider how to go about pre-season training, we need to know what outcome we want from it. At Espresso Performance Coaching, the goal of pre-season training is very simple: “to prepare your body and mind for the demands of event specific training to come.” Next season, your build and peak phases will take you to a new level of fitness and athletic performance, but only if you have laid the foundations for success. Typical approaches to pre-season Athletes take different approaches pre-season but few are making the most of their time. Many are actively harming their chances of a successful season to come! Let’s take a look at some typical approaches to pre-season. The TraditionalistThe Traditionalist believes winter should be spent accumulating long slow miles. There is no variety, no intensity and, for the typical time-limited amateur, no point. While this approach does address one of the key elements of the pre-season discussed below, it fails to provide adequate support for the work to come. On top of that, those long, slow miles take time. Amateur athletes training 8-12 hours a week don’t suddenly have 20 hours to train and even more to recover. This means the Traditionalist isn’t fully preparing for the demands of race training and faces a significant loss of fitness. The BulldozerLike Arnie’s Terminator, the Bulldozer absolutely will not stop. Not wanting to face losing fitness, they take no off season. The day after the race, they’re back on the turbo or the track, banging out hard intervals. Surely, this means they will be ready to crush weak, lazy opponents next year! Sadly for the Bulldozer, they are destined to see early season form slide away in stagnation, burnout or injury. Peak fitness isn’t something you can hold year round. They have no chance to refresh mentally or physically and don’t take the time to build a solid platform from which to build to a greater level of peak fitness. The Couch PotatoFor the Couch Potato, this is the OFF season. A time to indulge, relax and put their feet up, safe in the knowledge that the race season is done. Throwing the trainers to the back of the cupboard and pulling the dust sheet over the turbo, the Couch Potato worries not about the loss of fitness, changes in body composition and loss of routine. When the time comes to think about next season’s goals, the Couch Potato will be found scrambling for a quick fix, ready-to-race in 4 weeks plan and will never achieve their athletic potential. So, what do we do at Espresso Performance Coaching? We address the key elements of pre-season preparation that will set up our athletes for their best season yet. What are the key elements of pre-season preparation?Recover and refresh In the wake of the big race, there should be time for a physical and mental break from the intensity and focus of peak performance. This is a time to deal with physical niggles so they don’t become season spoiling injuries. Make time for friends and family that have made their own sacrifices for your sport during your period of intense focus. At Espresso Performance Coaching, we also use time to review last season and plan for the next. What worked and what didn’t? What are your future athletic goals? Are you aiming to go faster or further? Are you considering a change in discipline? Swapping the TT bike for hill climbs or crits, switching from the road to the fells? What excites you for next year? However, it is important that this phase doesn’t stretch out and become a Couch Potato’s “off season”. Depending on your event, a few weeks is probably enough before you start to build gently back into training. StrengthThe pre-season phase is for building physical competence and then strength. Hill running and low-cadence work on the bike are great exercises, but they aren’t building your fundamental strength. That only comes with dedicated strength work. Strength training will strengthen muscles, bones and connective tissue to withstand the training to come. It will also develop the neuromuscular pathways from brain to muscle to use the strength you have more effectively. Build your physical strength now and it will take far less effort to maintain it during the build and peak phases of your season. There is no need for complicated exercises and expensive equipment, but your regular routine should include the fundamental movements - squat, lunge, hinge, push, pull and brace. Include exercises that address these compound, multi-joint movements and you’re well on the way to being a stronger, more athletic human being. SpeedTo race fast, you need to move fast. Suddenly adding speed work after neglecting it all winter is a recipe for injury. Prepare your body for the work to come by incorporating running strides and cadence drills. These will teach your body to move fast with improved economy so you get a better return on the energy you use. Later, strength and speed can be turned into power but the time for that will come. Be patient! MobilityWinter is the perfect time to cultivate a mobile body. Note that I didn’t say flexible body. Flexibility refers to the passive range of motion, whereas mobility refers to the range of motion that you can actively control. While flexibility may be desirable, what athletes need most is mobility. An excessive range of motion without the ability to control it may even increase your risk of injury. Drills and exercises that expand your mobility in the ankles, hips, trunk and shoulders should be a staple of your winter training. These will help you to become a more efficient, robust and less injury-prone athlete for the season to come. Aerobic fitnessFinally, the part that most athletes will jump straight to when designing their winter programme. Your stronger, faster and more mobile body will need a solid aerobic foundation on which to build your best season yet. For all events lasting longer than a handful of seconds, aerobic fitness is critical. You can develop your peak fitness for racing in a surprisingly short time, but only if you have the aerobic base to start with. This is also the perfect time to cross train. Your can develop your general endurance while you mix it up, so get off road or hit the pool. This is a great chance to break up the routine and have some fun. A focus on aerobic fitness doesn’t mean a winter of just long, slow miles either. You may start with an emphasis on easy volume, but you can include increasing amounts of intensity with tempo work, sweetspot and hill repeats. Just remember, you aren’t aiming to be in peak fitness right now. Peak fitness can only last for a matter of weeks, so don’t be a December hero. Use your intense sessions sparingly and progressively to get ready for the high workload to come. SummaryRemember the goal of pre-season training is to prepare your body and mind for the demands of event specific training to come. It isn’t to reach your peak fitness now. With diligence and patience, you can develop a rock solid foundation from which you will surge past your competitors who failed to prepare correctly in the pre-season.
Use this time to develop your core competencies as an athlete:
If you would like guidance on preparing for your best season yet, get in touch and see how Espresso Performance Coaching can help. |
AuthorEspresso Performance Coaching works with athletes of all levels to help them reach their performance goals in cycling, running and multisports Recent Blog Postspowered by Surfing Waves
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