Power meters, Heart rate monitors, online training logs, V02max testing, Blood Lactate testing, Biomechanical gait analysis, GPS distance and speed monitoring devices, super nutritional supplements, electronic swim lap counters...blah blah blah. 

 

Geez...sometimes I wonder how athletes ever got by in the 'old days' with just a pair of running shoes and a '6-speed' bike! With all of the technology available today, you'd think that we're all like the 'Drago' character in Rocky IV... being poked and prodded to death in an attempt to become athletic 'machines'!

 

I want you to do something on your next training run, ride or swim. I challenge you to go 'old school' and train without your various monitoring devices and all of the buzzes and beeps that happen all around you. Instead of focusing on your watts or heart rate, focus instead on how you are feeling and start working to develop a really good sense of your perceived effort.  'Monitor the Gauges' of your body, so to speak, instead of monitoring the meters hooked up to your body. 

 

In my many years of coaching experience, I have noticed that the most successful athletes are those who have the greatest sense of self awareness. They know when they are at threshold, when they can push harder and when they need to back off. This self awareness was developed over years of learning how their bodies respond to various levels of training and racing intensities. And you know what... even 10, 20 and 30 years ago, athletes were going pretty darn fast without all of the tech gizmos and complex training methods we have today.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not anti-technology. There is tremendous value in using the new training tools available on the market. In fact, the combination of using technology appropriately and developing your self-awareness at the same time is lethal to your competition!   I just make the observation that many age group athletes get way too caught up in the gizmos and data...and they'd most likely get faster if they just put their nose to the grind stone and actually 'trained' a little harder!

Train...OLD SCHOOL!
Be Strong and Focused,
Coach Troy
troy@coachtroy.com

 

 

 

 

SPINERVALS 22.0 - TIME TRIALAPALOOZA
Now that the season is in full swing, you need to be focused on building the amount of quality training you do. It's important to train the body to work at high levels of efficiency and sustain peak output for as long as possible before being forced to slow down. To do this, you need to perform 'threshold' training workouts. Threshold Training improves the body's ability to sustain a high level of pacing as well as enhances recovery from hard efforts. For example, when riding up a steep hill, an athlete with lots of threshold training will be able to crest the hill 'fast', recover quickly and 'bomb' down the other side. An athlete without ample threshold training will need to coast down hill before regaining momentum and applying power to the pedals, resulting in slower bike splits.

From the Spinervals Cycling DVD library, we offer 22.0 - Time Trialapalooza to address this concern and improve your threshold. This 80 minute time trial workout is threshold training in its purest form and done once or twice per week, depending on your experience and needs, will boost your riding speeds like nothing else.

This DVD contains a very effective threshold set and stars elite athletes from Team Gear West in Minnesota, including top pro triathlete, David Thompson.