Tucson Training camp Re-cap!

The official 2011 training camp trailer.









well every one is in. Home and licking there wounds. the good thing is no one really got hurt.
many miles were ridden TSS racked up, new skill learned and friends were made.

Our last 2 tips for you.

From a Male camper:
"Use lots of chamois cream! I can't TAINT it any more!"
I am still laughing from this one!!


And from Faith:
"make sure your equ. is ready to go!"

This is a great one that i did not think off. Particularly if you are doing an early spring or winter training camp with a bike focus (like this one). I just saw a pic of someones broken stem. It was rusted and looking down right nasty. Too many miles on the trainer led to salt corrosion from sweat. Whoever this was they are lucky they didn't get hurt or hurt some one else!
make sure your gear is top notch!
~Training camp is no time to be dealing with equipment!

and on the note here is the Bonus Number 6 tip.

~Rest up!
This goes along the lines of our article on "Training in Training races".
yes its just training. no need for the 3 week peaking phase but make sure you are rested and ready to get the most out of your training camp experience. Normally we sch. a recovery week or phase just before with a 1-2 opener days before the trip.


5 Must know tips for riding and trainig in Tucson , AZ

1. Bring 2 tubes on every ride and a spare tire in the tool box.
the roads are rough and there are shape rocks/ glass everywhere! it pretty much never rains so if something lands on the road it stays there. make sure your tire are in good shape before you leave!

2. Wear sun screen. even if it's not "hot" out., the sun is strong and you will roast your winter skin fast if your not careful.

3. Ride Mt. Lemmon. what ever it takes this is a must do! don't miss it! check the weather! it was 40's on top, almost 80 in town! so bring some warm clothes!

4. Eat local! Pic below of no-name burrito place. in the parking lot of the Safeway on st. Mary's right by the Riverpark inn. this place is GOOD! cheap and they are very nice!

5. Race in the Tucson Bicycle Classic. even if your a Tri guy/gal doing some mass start racing is great for your cycling ability! the race is fun, safe, and challenging yet not to hard for an early season event.









































LUNCH!

In the Safeway parking lot on saint Mary's near the Riverpark inn!

Tucson Training camp day 5

:

-Gates Pass

Today was gona be a nice "easy" ride but the wind made sure that was not the case. It was rippin!

With different departure times we had a smaller crew but the wind made for a great impromptu to group riding skills session!

more to come!

~Final "training camp tips"

~Camp re-cap, what next year has in store

~And our top insider tips to training in Tucson!

Tucson training camp Day 4

Mt Lemmon is simply a must do! Maybe one of the best rides you will ever do!
absolutely fantastic!

A great day today. Sunny and 70's in town mid 40's on top. a bit a wind to slow us down on the climb but not bad. I did about 230 watts avg. 240ish normalized for 2:17 of climbing.
pretty great! the climb is much like the mt Evans climb but with more oxygen. the climb never gets very steep but rarely flattens out. pace yourself well kids this climb is here for the duration!

Some pics and our training tip!






The Descent

Almost home





































some more clothes... and maybe a break...

Tucson training camp day3

Coach EK gets some local food for the crew after the tough Stage 3 Circuit race

EK Endurance Coaching press associate here. Some slow Internet and Eric's zero patience has me sending you all an update.

Despite a shorter race the training camp team is supper busy! Seminar tonight and lots of planning for the Mt. Lemmon ride tomorrow.

I was also told someone did 300 TSS today and it wasn't Eric...

No clue what that means but Eric sounded impressed. Which is not an easy thing to do.

Sorry for the short update more to come soon!!

The coaches work is never done. Eric will talk to clients anywhere!

Tucson Training Camp Day 2

Day 2 started out well. an early breakfast, lots O coffee, etc. the training group got ready for there day and as the racer group pulled out of the parking lot we noticed a flat tire... not the kind on the bike the big kind!

So a 3 man "spirited" wheel change and we were off.

I think we changed it in less than 4 minutes? not to bad.

Nick talks over some strategy with Chris before the race:

And a great training camp tip from boulder velodrome coach and 18 year cycle veteran

Tucson Training camp, Go by feel!

hey all!

Day one of the EK Endurance Coaching Training camp is ON!

Gona have some cool vids and pics of our days training here in Tucson, as well as daily tips from the coaches and athletes. what to do and what NOT to do for your next training camp.

TT warm up in the AM

and the training camp tip of the day:


Some times in the middle of our threshold intervals, long rides, racing our friends up climbs, "the" group ride, we forget to pay attention how we feel. Like, who cares what your power meter says! How does it feel?
Today I tock a chance and went by feel. the first stage of the race here is Tucson is a 3 mile TT. flat then up hill. its short and it hurts! seeing my watts made me a bit worried as I powered up the first hill but I felt good. i said, "i really have no business doing this power for 8 minutes but i'm gona try, it feels like i can do it?" and woldn't you know it. and yes I think without capital leters.
My old 5' max power out put I held for over 8! a bit more actually!
So learn gang! learn your body, learn how it feels when you do this or that.
remember your power meter, that fancy software, HR monitor, all the cool numbers. there just tools. use them right!

Really! on the bike strength work!?!

a good article here and me doing a little bit of venting...


Gale Bernheardt recently had an article on active.com about an injured athlete she was working with. He could not do threshold intervals or tempo intervals for long periods. the collar bone injury was to much.

However, the athlete could do short very intense intervals. 20-40 seconds. so max efforts were prescribed. article here. At the end she notes improvement in not only shorter duration efforts but longer ones as well.
This is a good read. worth the 5 min.read. EK Endurance Coaching athletes will read this and say i did. "yeah! I was doing this 3 years ago!"

It is another case confirming recent studies with strength training (they finally use trained cyclist instead of random couch potato #1-2-3) and my own less scientific study I did over the last 2 years on this topic.


the short of that experiment:

Weights= max power gains of 2%
On the bike strength work= 10% gain in max power (in half the time as with weights)

This article also sounds like...
This and this the presentations I give about weights being a waist of time for cyclist and triathletes and ... OK that's enough of tooting the EK E.C. horn.


But Eric his max power didn't go up in this case? why?
Most likely because of his injury he wasn't ablt to really go ALL OUT on these shorter efforts. but rather at a 1' -5' mean, maximal power out put. still the results are great. also when doing on the bike strength work you get the added benefit of... well, riding! your effort, the strength your building is specific its... here's that word, "functional". AND... while these people are building "strength" they are also getting many endurance adaptations like capillary growth, mitochondrial density and, the big one here, better neurological function.

This is almost like doing one workout with two effects...

lifting weights is great. for lifting weights. I was having a conversation with 2 personal trainers a few weeks ago on a ski vacation about this. someone asked us in the bar

"do you think P-90X really works?"
"hell yeah" i said.
"confusing muscles, making them adapt and grow all the time sure it works, but for what?" I said. "what are you gona do with this new strength? if its pull ups, flinging ropes around, doing shoulder press while standing on one leg, yeah. if its a bike race or 1/2 ironman. no way"

My new friend Mike (a personal trainer for years) chimed in
"yep. he's right. I see people, alot actually, who improve greatly on leg press but when they go to do squats, nothing. no improvement, it doesn't transfer"
I had never heard this example before but it made perfect sense to me. still it sounds hard to believe...
his friend, another personal trainer, looked over and said. "all of my muscle is for show only. if i help a friend move or something, i'm the first one to get tired". We all laughed. funny but true.

A Few things I have heard some highly respected coaches and personal trainers say/ talk about:

~There is no such thing as cross training. (cross working out maybe)
~Functional strength work is the only way to go.
~Weights might help but at what cost? how much time is it gona take to improve 1%?
~If your weakness is week enough it will hold back everything else.
~Even if your weakness is not race specific it can be the cause of you not reaching your goal.
~X-country will make you stronger at x-country skiing, not riding. you'll stay "fit", happy, and it'll keep you from gaining weight. but it won't directly make you ride faster.
~Fitness is in the muscles! your lunges don't get bigger!

So... miracle intervals? not really, just smart training.