Monday, November 29, 2010

Progressive training at Bicycle Village

Bicycle Village will again be offering the 12 week progressive training program.It is based on the program we offered the last few years with great success.This 12 week focused program is cadenced-based and designed to leave you with a foundation that will enable you to make the most of your 2011 season. Emphasis on pedal technique and leg speed during the first four weeks will set up the following months providing increased fitness and speed. The cost of the class is $150 and will include power threshold testing.

This class will run January 3rd – March 23 in the Spin Room at Bicycle
Village
.

  • Classes will meet every Monday and Wednesday from 6 to 7pm.
  • Power threshold testing will be done twice during the class by
    appointment.
  • Please bring: bike, towel, water bottle and cycling cloths.
  • Recommended but not mandatory: cadence computer and heart rate monitor.
  • Class is limited to the first 16 (sign up at Bicycle Village).

Itinerary sample:

January Pedal Technique and Leg Speed

During these workouts the emphasis will be on pedal technique and leg speed. Classes will start with cadence spin ups ranging from 60rpms to 140 rpms and move to one legged drills. The focus during these classes will be increasing leg speed and smoothing out ones pedal stroke at varying cadences to increase sustainable power at a given heart rate.

February CP Sprints – Maximum Cadence Efforts

During this workout the concentration is on achieving and maintaining maximum RPM’s while remaining smooth at the top end acceleration. The focus during recovery is relaxing the body to aid in lowering the heart rate (HR) through bio-feedback. Developing the Adenosine Triphosphste-Creatine Phosphate (ATP-CP) energy system will help open up your VO2 max capacity. While CP Sprints are not maximum HR efforts they do tax the ATP_CP energy system making it more efficient. Inserting CP Sprints 3 to 5 weeks prior to the beginning of intense anaerobic threshold training will help increase your ability to work at a higher percentage of your maximum HR while remaining aerobic.

March Anaerobic Interval Training – Super Maximum Sustainable Power Efforts
These workouts will help increase your maximum sustainable power output and work at a non-sustainable work rate. These intervals are hard to endure, however they are the most important workouts in a race training program because they improve lactate tolerance by increasing capillary density, blood volume and red blood cells.

Note: If interested please prepay and sign up at the front counter at Bicycle Village, we are allowing only 16 participants

Saturday, November 27, 2010

2010 Club Challenge

Once again we will be participating in the USAT Club Challenge. We need all PPTC members to join in and help us defend our title from last year! December is the swim focus month, January is the ride focus month and February is the run focus month. All miles count and it's a great way to keep motivated through winter. Email Nicole at
to learn more and to sign up. We need to have the roster set by December 1st, because that's when we start counting miles!

IM Hawaii viewing party

The Colorado Springs Swim School would like to invite you all to our IM viewing event on Dec. 18th at the CS Recreation Center between 2-5pm. This will be a unique active event as everyone attending will be encouraged to ride, run, etc on our spin bikes (Look and SPD compatible pedals), treadmills, ellipticals or with their own bikes on our trainers. Following the airing we will have a panel discussion with three local AG triathletes who have all raced multiple Ironman races, including Hawaii. They will be available to discuss their successes and failures and how they are able to prepare for an Ironman with multiple other responsibilities in their lives. This will be an ideal time for aspiring IM athletes, and those who have done an IM, to gain knowledge from others who can share insight on what it takes and what they did to become Ironman athletes.

Admission is free to Rec Center members, and non-members admission will be either a food item to share during the panel discussion or $6 which will go directly to the CS Swim School scholarship fund which provides free and reduced-cost lessons to those who can not afford them.

The panel will include:
Eric Peterson - Full time employee for CSU, multiple IM finisher and AG winner. Numerous IM Hawaii finishes
Chrissy Steigerwald - Mother of three and multiple IM finisher who has been on the podium in Hawaii
Neal Oseland - Full time job, father of two with multiple IM finishes including two IM Hawaii

We encourage all of you to take advantage of this opportunity to gather some motivation, gain some knowledge and have some fun!

Please RSVP to kdessart@csswimschool.com if you plan on attending so we can plan accordingly.

Steve V's IM Arizona Race Report

Saturday morning checked in bike and transition gear bags. Since the weather was questionable in the bike bag I packed my helmet, bike shoes, arm warmers,
gloves, socks, bike shorts, a sleeved jersey and a tri jersey. In my run bag I packed running shorts, running shirt, compression socks, and running shoes. I don’t use the special needs bags. Realized Friday night that I had forgot my swim suit and had to fight the crowds at the Ironman store. I bought some CEP tri shorts to wear as a suit. Woke up 4AM ate an apple and bagel with almond butter and honey. Drove down to the course at 4:30 got my nutrition stuff on the bike and chilled out in the car for an hour.

The water temp was 61 degrees the coldest I have ever raced in. I wore the tri short but no top because of the cool weather. I thought a dry top would be better for the bike. Fortunately I brought a neoprene cap to wear under the race cap. I wanted to get in the water early to get towards the front so I hopped in and holy crap it was freezing! By the time I got to the start line I was shivering. So I headed to the wall on the right side and sat up on the wall to try and warm up. I sat there shivering and looking at all the floating trash until the start. When the gun went off it was a washing machine as usual which lasted about 5 minutes. At that point I found some open water and focused on getting into a rhythm and avoid drinking the water. Staying on the right side is a longer swim but allowed me to sight on the wall for about ¼ mile before moving to the center of the lake. The overcast made it easy to sight the buoys. The swim is an out and back with an exit on steps. Fortunately there was a hand rail and volunteers to keep me from falling over from the head rush. My swim time 1:04.23 (1:31/100yds) 3rd out of 84 in my age group. I was pleased with the swim since I hadn’t had much swimming in in the last month due to my 2 cracked ribs.

The wetsuit stripper was great and I was off to T1. During the swim the clouds broke so I decided to go with the tri top and stay with the tri shorts to save time in transition. I decided against the gloves and arm warmers. T1 time 6:00.

The air was cool but not cold heading out of town. Once out of town the winds picked up to about 20 mph. It was a diagonal cross wind that seemed to be from the front so I figured it would be better on the way back. Wrong! It was worse coming back. The first loop was bad the second loop was worse. The third loop the wind seemed to let up some but not much, probably a change in direction. For nutrition I took a GU Roctane every 45 minutes, one Salt Stick tab and one Sport Legs tab every hour. For hydration I stuck with the Power Bar Perform drink supplied on the course. I also ate an almond butter and honey sandwich on white bread at 3 and 5 hours. I felt good on the bike for the whole 112 miles. My bike time was 6:04.55 (18.4mph) 21st out of 84 in my age group. The time was much slower than I wanted but I am satisfied considering the winds.

I decided to keep my tri top and shorts on for the run to save some time in T2. The only problem was I struggled to get my compression socks on so T2 was 5:23.

On to the run. The first 3 miles were on pace with 8:00/mi. Then the hammer fell
and I was running from an 8:30 to 8:45 to mile 16. The last 10 miles were between 9:11 and 9:59. I managed an 8:20 for the last mile. For nutrition I took a GU Roctane, one Salt Stick tab and one Sport Legs tab every hour. For hydration I stuck with the Power Bar Perform drink supplied on the course. My run time was 3:53.18 (8:55/mi) 1st out of 84 in my age group. I guess I wasn’t the only one hurting out there.

My finish time was 11:13:57 5th out of 84 in my age group. 359th overall out of
about 2360 finishers. Overall I am quite pleased. I missed Kona by 2 slots but that means I will need to work harder next time. I wish someone would have told me that 1 week between Clearwater and Arizona wasn’t enough time to recover. Oh, that’s right everyone told me that.