Training Plan...

[madisongrrl]

I'm kind of at a crossroads. It's time to step it up or admit my mediocracy. Needless to say, I'd like to step it up. I would like to make the jump from Sport Level mountain bike racing to Expert level moutain bike racing for 2007.

I've been an athlete all my life. I've played tennis, run track, played soccer for the majority of my life on a competitive travelling team, I've competed in triathlon and duathlon, I enjoy downhill skiing. I started racing mountain bikes in 2003 and got really serious about it in 2005 (gave up all other sports and commited myself to doing a local, but competitive 12 race series and also regional events).

I've always trained myself. I've read a lot of books (Gordo, Friel, Carmichael to name a few) I've attended various clinics and I'm also working on my USA Cycling Level 3 coaching certification (so I can better train myself). That being said, I hate making a training plans for myself. I hate it, hate it, hate it. I'm always tweaking it, second guessing myself or skipping the training because life gets in the way. And sometimes I don't have the time to think about it with my job being so busy lately.

I was kicking around the idea of getting a coach, but I might hold off on that until after the 2007 season. So I thought the second best thing might be this.

http://www.trainingpeaks.com/traininglog.asp

And I might also buy this...

http://www.trainingpeaks.com/trainin...p?plankey=2168

...so I don't have to spend precious time thinking about my training plan. I'll just be doing what someone tells me.

What do you guys think?

[velogirl]

You sound like a smart girl. My sense is that you can probably develop your own plan as well as purchasing a "canned" training plan. I'm not an expert on either of these, but there is also some "tweaking" you can do in the training peaks software (so you might have the same challenges). However, maybe you won't second-guess a plan you get from another source.

The next step, of course, would be an online coaching commitment like CTS. Typically you'll find minimal personalization to a plan like that, but you will have a bit of interaction/accountability with a coach.

Or, consider just hiring a local coach. There are some fabulous coaches in your area. You can start with a minimal commitment with most coaches (6 months) and see if you like it.

ps -- unless USAC has changed the curriculum since I became licensed, you won't learn anything about training plan design in the club coach materials (ie level 3). They cover a bit more in the expert (level 3) and really dive in at the elite (level 1).

[madisongrrl]

You sound like a smart girl. My sense is that you can probably develop your own plan as well as purchasing a "canned" training plan. I'm not an expert on either of these, but there is also some "tweaking" you can do in the training peaks software (so you might have the same challenges). However, maybe you won't second-guess a plan you get from another source.

This might sound ridiculous, but I don't want to think, I just want to do. And see what happens. No tweaking, just follow a training plan. I would guess even if the training plan is not perfect for me, I'll will see a huge payoff from it just because I put the time in. Have you used training peaks? If there is too much tweaking going on with it? Else, I might just buy a training plan.

The next step, of course, would be an online coaching commitment like CTS. Typically you'll find minimal personalization to a plan like that, but you will have a bit of interaction/accountability with a coach.

Nothing against CTS, but I think I'd hire a local coach before I spent a wad of cash on their training system.

Or, consider just hiring a local coach. There are some fabulous coaches in your area. You can start with a minimal commitment with most coaches (6 months) and see if you like it.

I might hold off on this until next year. I have a few unfinshed projects that I might need some extra cash for. I'm building up my single speed frame this winter/spring and I'll probably save up for another hard tail (since I just sold mine). It would be nice to have a HT for some of the courses around here. And, I'd also like to have money to do another NORBA event.

There are some pretty great coaches here (and female coaches too). There are also some people who are not on that list, who are not technically certified coaches or who did take all the coursework, but are not listed because they did it just to train themselves. So I already have a few people picked out.

ps -- unless USAC has changed the curriculum since I became licensed, you won't learn anything about training plan design in the club coach materials (ie level 3). They cover a bit more in the expert (level 3) and really dive in at the elite (level 1).

I'm not sure, I haven gotten into the materials yet. I would like to finish the level 3, then in the future work on level 2. The seminars you have to attend for level 2 seem to really dive into training and bike fit...two subjects which I really have a deep interest in.

[velogirl]

Two other options I didn't mention.

Develop your own training plan and hire a coach to work it over. I have a bunch of clients I do this for. I tweak their original plan and for some of them, I review their journal and plan once every month or every two months. There is no other feedback or coaching interaction.

Or, hire a coach to develop a personal plan for you without the coaching aspect. It's a one-time commitment with the coach, but you get a plan specifically developed for you with your background, goals, limitations taken into consideration.

I think either of these would be preferable to a canned plan or on-line training and the cost is probably pretty comparable.

[han-grrl]

i happen to be looking at that very same plan last night. i have been racing sport for several years now. and well, not very good at it either. but i did my 24 hour solo this year, and well, now i had a taste of "real" commitment to training. and i well, should be committed, but i want to do MORE of this. and well, race expert. We have a local series, and i decided i am going to attempt expert (means an extra lap) and i still don't know which of the Quebec Cup or Ontario Cup i would like to focus on. anyway, i have been doing my own plan for the last couple of years, and well, i think i have taken myself about as far as i could go on my own. i need a little more guidance. i am not sure a canned plan is best, as it doesn't take into account my weaknesses...

as an aside, i had taken the last two months off, not that long on purpose (i was sick the last two weeks). today i did my first road ride in TWO months. it hurt. and i loved it. i actually maintained my usual average speed...just not so much the average heart rate from two months ago. i still loved it. two months ago i didn't want to think of long rides. now i can't remember why i stopped! i hope thats a good thing. i am looking forward to getting back into training now. i want to invest in a power meter (the ibike i think,its well, budget friendly), but i think i need something better to train on indoors as well.

anyway i am babbling, probably from the excitement of my ride today.



Han

[velogirl]

I haven't used the iBike yet. At $400 it's a great deal and much less expensive that PowerTap or SRM. Some of my friends have been field-testing the iBike (while still having either a PT or SRM on their bike). The iBike seems somewhat accurate, but there are definitely situations where it isn't (pack riding, descending, changes in position on the bike during a ride like going from the hoods to the drops), due to the way it estimates power output. I think it might be a decent tool if used to train alone in certain circumstances, but I would probably wait until they make a few more revisions before making the investment. And understand the limitations.

[han-grrl]

I have been reading various reviews. It does sound like a pretty good deal.
I think seeing as my power is well, not exactly that ummm...powerful, i am not too worried about times it tends to flake out. plus, i do most of my training on my own anyway...

[velogirl]

So, there's been lots of ibike chat on the wattage forum lately. Apparently, one of the downsides is that you can't use it on a stationary trainer or rollers. Just something to think about if you do any of your winter training inside.

[Offthegrid]

I have to plan my training because I'm working on the three disciplines of triathlon, so I need to work in (for now) 2 swims, 2 fast walks, 2 bikes and 2 strength training sessions. I just use a simple calendar template I downloaded from Excel, then log my training into Trainingpeaks (the free service). Of course, it's easier for me because none of my workouts are over an hour yet and I don't worry so much about speed.

But now it seems that my new personal trainer is going to work with me on that part of it.

I have no idea how much online planning costs, but you might want to see with a local coach to see how much different the price is.

[han-grrl]

Sigh...i have been trying to figure out what is best for spending money on...

right now i am looking at getting the ibike and a trainer that has power on it (the Tacx flow i believe has it, and there is one at nashbar as well).

so together (in canadian$) will be roughly 1000$...which i think is still less than the price of setting up the power tap...

[Cassandra_Cain]

I gave the iBike a serious look before finally deciding on getting a PowerTap Pro. It has been, for me at least, overwhelmingly the right choice.

The iBike has some serious issues with dropouts and rough terrain, not to mention it is useless indoors. The polar is a better option and more reliable, but then it too is useless indoors.

There's a whole other way to go at this though....

The trainer I have, (and use extensively, kurt kinetic) offers an option of a computer that gives wattage readouts (average, max, current) - for just an extra $50 over the price of the trainer itself. I've compared the published power curve for the KK and found it within 10% of my powertap readouts, so I'd say it is useful and reasonably priced. If I didn't have a PM, this method would be my choice.

I won't mention coaching because in doing so once, the words name-dropping and useless were said....

[madisongrrl]

I won't mention coaching because in doing so once, the words name-dropping and useless were said....

I don't understand? Are you saying that someone made some negative comments about you talking about your coach? If so, I think that is b.s. I started this thread to talk about training, coaching systems etc. Please feel free to do so.

[velogirl]

Sigh...i have been trying to figure out what is best for spending money on...

right now i am looking at getting the ibike and a trainer that has power on it (the Tacx flow i believe has it, and there is one at nashbar as well).

so together (in canadian$) will be roughly 1000$...which i think is still less than the price of setting up the power tap...

Actually, have you looked at the PowerTap prices lately? Once they introduced the wireless, the prices of all the other models fell. And, there's a surge of used PT Pro & PT SL on eBay from folks who are replacing them with the wireless. I'll probably do the same and I've got two that I'll be selling.

Yes, I'm a big fan of PowerTap. It's science-grade accurate, easy to switch from bike-to-bike, and light enough to race with. Oh, and it's easy to use as well.

Of course, no power meter will make you faster unless you know how to train with it!

[Cassandra_Cain]

I don't understand? Are you saying that someone made some negative comments about you talking about your coach? If so, I think that is b.s. I started this thread to talk about training, coaching systems etc. Please feel free to do so.

No worries - I'm not getting into that coaching question again.

What I am open to talking about is the powertap, which I have, along with one of the cyclingpeaks training plans. The latter is road-based for threshold power (sustainable power) improvement, so it may or may not be useful to someone with a MTN-bking focus. Finally, I've been using cyclingpeaks WKO software and am very positive about that.

[velogirl]

I've compared the published power curve for the KK and found it within 10% of my powertap readouts, so I'd say it is useful and reasonably priced. If I didn't have a PM, this method would be my choice.

10% is actully a pretty big deal if you're training with power. Let's say you're doing threshold intervals (2 x 20s) at 240 watts. Training 10% below (at 216 watts) would put you far below threshold so you wouldn't be getting training benefit. Training 10% above (at 264 watts) would probably be impossible so you wouldn't accomplish your workout. This differential would be even more noticeable with shorter intervals since you're at a higher rate of power.

But since you have a PT, why don't you just use that on the trainer rather than replacing or adding another power device? That's one of the nice benefits of a PT -- you can use it on the trainer as well. Of course, you need to know how to adjust your power zones for inside training since they'll be a bit different.