Weekend Reading: Lessons and Memories from the Tour of Flanders

Posted on March 30, 2013 by CTS

By Chris Carmichael

Tomorrow morning, I strongly suggest you find a live video feed of the Tour of Flanders. It’s always a race worth watching, and if watching the Ronde van Vlaanderen doesn’t inspire you to get out there and put in a storming Sunday ride, I don’t know what will. I raced Flanders with 7-Eleven, and it was brutally hard. It still is, and it always will be. But as you watch the Tour of Flanders, there are some lessons you can take away and use for your own performance.

Let the distance and terrain take their toll

The Tour of Flanders is 256 kilometers this year, including 17 climbs and seven sections of cobblestones. Even if you’re the strongest rider in the race, you don’t have to be the strongest rider in every kilometer. Don’t waste your energy trying to split the field in the first 50km when the climbs and cobblestones will do it for you by the 150th. Even in local and regional racing, riders make the mistake of attacking when everyone is still fresh. That’s like trying to break a green branch. Wait until those branches are dry and brittle, and then break them with a single strike.

The better you’re feeling, the less you should do

When you have great legs it can be hard to resist the urge to let everyone else know about it, but that’s what you have to do in order to win hard races. To win you’ll need to initiate or respond to the move that creates a selection, and then you’ll have to attack or sprint to finish it off. If you’re a strong rider you might be able to make the selection and be in contention for the win on a normal day. But on the days when strong riders have great legs, they save their best effort for their last effort – the one that gets them to the line first.

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Don’t telegraph your punches

Every time you make a move, you’re providing information to your opponents. If you sprint across a gap like it’s nothing, they’ll know you have the strength to be dangerous later on. If you’re attacking or constantly going to the front to push the pace, you’ll become someone to watch. It’s better to be anonymous, so when you attack no one knows whether you’re worth chasing.

In long events, the final hour separates the men from the boys

Out of 208 riders at the start line of the Tour of Flanders, there may be 30 capable of winning a hard 200-kilometer race. Of them, perhaps 20 could win at 220. But you can count on two hands the number capable of winning at 250-260 kilometers. It’s a difficult phenomenon to describe, but riders have a point – whether it’s kilojoules or time in the saddle or a mental barrier – where the lights go out. It takes time and experience to gain the inner strength to keep the motor going strong all the way to the line. And extending that range is a big part of your training. When you know you have what it takes to go the distance, don’t worry so much about the riders who don’t. In the final 40km, when it really counts, they’ll be gone.

What I remember most about the Tour of Flanders was the energy. You know how a wide river speeds up and turns violent as it enters a narrow gorge? That’s what it’s like to race toward the narrow, steep, cobbled climbs in the Tour of Flanders. As the roads get narrower, the fighting for position gets more intense. When you hit the climbs the intensity goes through the roof and the race fans are loud enough to wake the dead. And at Flanders, it’s as if the river keeps getting narrower and the rapids keep getting bigger, and one by one riders go under to be dashed against the rocks.

Chris Carmichael
CEO/Head Coach
Carmichael Training Systems

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Weekend Reading: 4 Ways to Win by Being a Smarter Athlete

Posted on March 23, 2013 by CTS

By Chris Carmichael

The end of March is a great time of year for endurance athletes. There’s so much enthusiasm in the air, so many incredible goals being set, and so many early-season triumphs to cheer about. For coaches, this is the time when we get to talk about race tactics and strategies, in addition to power numbers and fitness markers. For me that’s the fun stuff. I like the science of training, but I love the passion for winning

Here are a few of the things I’ve been telling athletes over the past few weeks. It doesn’t matter if you’re lining up for a business park criterium, the Saturday Morning World Championships, a 70.3 triathlon, or a marathon. Or you might be headed out for an important training session. There’s something in here for everyone.

If you’re taking pulls at the front and you get dropped, it’s your fault.

This was drilled into my head when I was in a breakaway in a small race in Europe about 30 years ago. My director pulled up alongside me in the car and told me to stop taking pulls. I didn’t listen. He pulled up alongside me again a little while later and told me that if I kept pulling and got dropped from the break because of it, then I was just an idiot. That got my attention. I thought I was being smart and doing the honorable thing by continuing to pull through. But it was a race, and the finish was what mattered. If you’re sitting on and still get dropped, then the riders with you were just that much stronger and there was nothing you could have done to change the outcome. But if you get dropped from the break, or the peloton, by your own doing, that’s just bad tactics. I’m not saying you should just suck wheels all day and then sprint for the win, but you have to find that balance between contributing to the pace making and saving enough energy to be a contender at the finish.

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Where there’s a wheel, there’s a way.

This has been a mantra of mine since I was a kid. And people seem to grasp the concept when there’s a stiff headwind or crosswind, but then they forget about it when the wind is at their backs or the pace slows down. Drafting is about conserving energy so you have more power for crucial moments later on. Don’t drift out of the draft in tailwind sections; stay on the wheel and coast. Save energy. Don’t get lazy when the pace is low, stay in the wheels. When you stick your nose into the wind, make sure it’s for a good reason.

Stay focused all the way to the end.

Whether you’re in the middle of a hard training block, a stage race, a weekend omnium, or even a training camp, it’s important to stay focused on nutrition and hydration in the final hour. Too many athletes start “smelling the barn” about an hour out from the end of a long ride or race. They stop eating and drinking, figuring they’re almost home and they can just handle it later. And sometimes it’s an economic decision; functional foods like gels cost money, so people figure they’ll save that last gel for tomorrow’s ride instead. It’s a mistake. The final hour is when you’re glycogen stores are depleted, your hydration status is compromised, and your core temperature is likely to be elevated. By keeping that food in your pocket and bottle in the cage, you’re just adding to the recovery work you’re going to need to do in order to perform well the next day.

Be honest about your weaknesses

Athletes are tempted to focus on improving their strengths, because you win with your strengths. But your weaknesses are how you’re going to be beaten. Your weaknesses are the things that will prevent you from being in a position to use your strengths. I recently had a long conversation with an athlete who favors himself to be an excellent climber. But he’s a terrible descender, and he’s not doing the work required to improve. So he leads the peloton over the summits of the first few climbs and chases back after the descents, but later in the race he can’t chase back to the lead group anymore and his race is over. Training your strengths is easy. It’s fun, and it feeds your ego. Winning is never easy, but it’s the most fun and even better for your confidence. If you want to win, you can’t just do the fun stuff in training. You have to do the work that pushes you outside your comfort zone and builds the skills and fitness that will support – and even elevate – your strengths.

Always remember that performance is more than power numbers, and that while fitness is a necessary component of winning, it’s your passion and intelligence that matter even more.

Have a great weekend!
Chris Carmichael
CEO/Head Coach
Carmichael Training Systems

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Weekend Reading: The 4-in-1 Burrito Recipe to Fuel Your Training Day

Posted on March 16, 2013 by CTS

When we were putting together the ideas for CTS Triathlon School, providing accommodations in a CTS Athlete House and having an on-site chef were two of the things I pushed hardest for. And I’m glad I did, because the environment of the CTS Athlete House is unbeatable. It’s supportive and easy going between workouts, and then everyone comes together to push each other during training sessions. And key to the success of that environment is Chef Ken Montaney. He keeps everyone fueled up, and as an athlete himself, he understands the intersection of food and performance. It’s not just the nutritional side of the meals, but also what foods and what portions athletes need before, after, and between their workouts. If you get a chance to go down to Tucson (cyclists are welcome as well, you don’t have to be a triathlete to stay at the CTS Athlete House) between now and April 14, you’ll get to meet Chef Ken and taste great meals like the one below. If you want more info, fill out the form here (http://trainright.com/inquiry-form/) and we’ll contact you on Monday.

Have a Great Weekend!
Chris Carmichael
CEO/Head Coach
Carmichael Training Systems

 

The Tri School Breakfast Burrito: 4 Burritos to Fuel Your Day

By Chef Ken Montaney

Since we started Tri School in January, the breakfast burrito has become a favorite for athletes after their biggest workout of the week, a 4-5 hour climb of Mt. Lemmon (followed by the obligatory Tri School brick run).  After such a long workout no one has the energy to change or clean up before eating.  They want (more like need) food now, and the breakfast burrito satisfies the hungry masses quickly.  Even outside of Tri School this is one of my favorite recipes for my epic days in the saddle, since I can make one batch and use it 3 times that day: before, during, and after the ride.  It is simple, packs plenty of flavor and energy, and you can make it in about 10 minutes.  Here is a recipe for 4 burritos (one for before, one during, and one after, plus a bonus one for later).

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What you need

  • 2 medium potatoes (russets work fine but sweet potatoes are good here too)
  • 4 ounces of your favorite lean protein (ground beef, chicken, tofu, etc.)
  • 4 Eggs
  • Your favorite homemade taco seasonings (I like a combination of chili powder, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper) or a Taco Seasoning packet from the store will be fine
  • 4- 12” flour tortillas (you can go whole wheat if you choose)
  • 4 ounces shredded cheese (Colby jack, mild cheddar, or other similar cheese)
  • Extras
    • Salsa
    • Avocado
    • Spinach/Arugula

How you do it

  • Clean the potatoes, poke them with a fork, then start microwaving them
  • While the potatoes are cooking, sauté the protein (a non-stick pan means you can use less oil to cook it up) with some salt and pepper.
  • When the potatoes are done, chop them up small (doesn’t need to be fancy cut, just rough cut to bite size) and toss them in with the beef.  I keep the skins on the potatoes, but you can remove them if you’d like. Add your favorite taco seasonings to taste.  Adjust salt until there is a very small hint of salty flavor.
  • Break the eggs into the pan and start scrambling them into the protein/potato mixture until cooked through.
  • Microwave the tortillas for 15 seconds until soft and pliable.
  • In each tortilla add 1 ounce of cheese and add equal portions of filling to each tortilla.  Roll up 1 tortilla and wrap in foil.  This is the one you’ll take with you and eat on hour 3 or 4 of your ride.
  • In the remaining tortillas add spinach/arugula and avocado. Roll 1 up for your pre-ride meal (I don’t add salsa into this one so I’m not dealing with spicy peppers during the first hour of the ride).  In the last two add salsa, roll up and refrigerate.

Now you have a pre-ride meal that will top of your glycogen stores and tastes better than plain oatmeal.  And you have a burrito for the ride, to give you something solid and substantial for a strong second half.  Eat half about 2:30 into the ride, and then an hour later eat the rest, and it will probably be the most delicious burrito you have ever eaten.  After the ride, microwave one of the refrigerated burritos and eat that with your Gu Brew Recovery drink for a great kick-off to your post-ride recovery. Try this once and you’ll be craving these by the end of all your big rides!

Ken Montaney (Chef Ken) is a resident of Tucson and has been racing as a triathlete and more recently as an amateur cyclist for the last 6 years. Professionally he was a chef at the Ritz Carlton-Dove Mountain before deciding to move on to work directly with athletes and their food and nutritional needs. He is passionate about improving athletic performance through food, and has been preparing meals at the CTS Athlete House for athletes training at the CTS Triathlon School.

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Weekend Reading: 6 Springtime Mistakes Endurance Athletes Make

Posted on March 9, 2013 by CTS

I am out in Santa Ynez, California having a great time coaching at our Spring Training Camp this week, and I’m looking forward to the Solvang Century this weekend. This morning I really wanted to bring you the piece below from CTS Coach Daniel Matheny, because I hear a lot of the same misconceptions from athletes as I travel around as well. Daniel coaches mountain bike pros Sonya Looney and Tammy Sadle, along with a lot of road riders and racers, and he’s been heavily focused on the intricacies of training with power when athletes go back and forth between road and mountain bikes for workouts and competitions. He’s an accomplished racer on the road, mountain, and cyclocrosss bike, I’m impressed by his commitment to his athletes, and he’s one of the most sought after coaches for private camps.

Have a great weekend!
Chris Carmichael
CEO/Head Coach
Carmichael Training Systems

 

6 Springtime Mistakes Endurance Athletes Make

By CTS Coach Daniel Matheny

Over the past few years I’ve spent the latter part of the winter and spring traveling to training camps and events, and that means talking with a lot of inquisitive athletes. And while every athlete is different, there are some topics that seem to come up every spring. If you can avoid making these 5 common mistakes, you’re bound to have a great season!

Mistake #1: Thinking summertime events are far away.
Races and events in mid-June are only three months away. August is only 5 months away! Yes, there’s plenty of time to get in shape and get your training in order, but the sooner you get on it, the stronger you will be and the faster you will be. Blizzards may be dominating the news right now, but Memorial Day will be here in a blink of an eye! [Get started on a 3-month trial of CTS Coaching – Ed.]

#2: Thinking they’ve already missed the boat.
Just as some athletes I talk to are still procrastinating about starting their event prep training, I also hear from a lot of athletes who have already thrown in the towel on 2013. They figure it’s already March and their out of shape, especially compared to some of their buddies who are flying already. Well, it’s not too late. As long as you’re focused and have a solid plan, you can make a ton of progress in as little as 75-90 days. This is especially true for time-crunched athletes who have a lot of years of endurance sport experience. Those years of experience will make regaining fitness easier and faster. You may be slow and easily winded now, but you could still build race-winning fitness by summertime!

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#3: Hitting the throttle too hard at the sign of warm weather.
I see this one every single year. The weather breaks and the sun comes out, and cyclists and triathletes immediately go from riding 3-4 times a week to 6-7 days a week. I admire their enthusiasm and don’t want to squelch it, but piling on volume and intensity before you’re ready for it means you’re digging a hole now that could take a month to get out of later. Remember, the warm weather is going to be around for a long time. It will be warm for so long that in 6 months you’re going to looking forward to cool Fall afternoons. Stick with the training plan or coaching program you’re on; if you’re eager to spend more time in the warm sun, make some of your endurance workouts longer, rather than adding more workouts into your week.

#4: Thinking it is too early in the season for workouts at and above lactate threshold.
The decision on whether high-intensity training is or isn’t a good idea is not based on the time of year, it’s based on your current level of fitness and the amount of training volume you can accommodate in your lifestyle. I work with a lot of time-crunched athletes who can only train 4 days a week, which means they automatically have 3 recovery days each week. They can afford to incorporate more intensity, and they need to in order to get in enough workload to see improvements.

#5: Thinking they have to lock in all their events right now.
There’s always a flurry of activity early in the spring as athletes register for summer events and races. That’s great, it gives athletes a set of goals to guide their training. But if you’re not entirely sure what you want to do in August or September, don’t sweat it right now. Focus on building as big an aerobic engine as you can, because that gives you flexibility later on. The philosophy I take with my athletes is that if you have great fitness you can always back down the workload or shift the focus of training to adjust for a change in your event schedule. But if you’re behind on fitness, you have less flexibility. [Check out the 2013 Epic Endurance Bucket List and find out if you’re Bucket List Qualified – Ed.]

#6: Trying to lean out too fast.
We (CTS) have been making a big push recently with the Raceweight Weight Loss Program, because we know this is the time of year when athletes are trying to get down to a faster race weight. That program takes a balanced, performance-oriented approach to weight loss, which means you lose one, maybe two, pounds per week. What you don’t want to do is what a lot of athletes tell me they are doing, and that’s starvation training, radical diets, and bizarre supplementation. Yes, weight loss may be beneficial for some (not all) athletes, but excessively rapid weight loss is nearly always detrimental to training performance.

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Weekend Reading: 3 Training Revelations to Boost Your Performance

Posted on March 2, 2013 by CTS

This week’s blog is from CTS Premier Coach Renee Eastman. I’ve known Renee since we both worked at USA Cycling back in the 90s and she epitomizes what it takes to be a top-notch professional coach. She can be tough when she needs to be, but she’s wise about when an athlete needs a push and when they need a supportive shoulder. I’ve rarely seen a coach who, in one moment, has the patience and compassion to teach fearful novices how to descend, and who, in the next, can take a Fortune 500 CEO to task over half-assing his intervals. Recently Renee’s been in Tucson, and it sounds like it might be hard to get her to come back to Colorado.

Chris Carmichael
Founder/Head Coach
Carmichael Training Systems

3 Training Revelations That Will Boost Your Performance

By CTS Premier Coach Renee Eastman

Working training camps is one of the best parts of being a CTS Coach, so I jumped at the chance to escape winter in Tucson, Arizona, at the CTS Triathlon School and the Tucson Spring Training Cycling Camp. And even though the weather is improving in Colorado Springs and I miss my cats, life in the CTS Athlete House is so good that I’m not sure I’m ready to leave.

When I’m at home I lead the reasonably disciplined lifestyle of an endurance athlete in training, but staying at the CTS Athlete House has shown me just how good an athlete’s life can get! It’s also taught me 3 lessons about how I – and you – can improve our habits in our everyday lives.

Revelation & Lesson #1: I need a Chef Ken

I can’t describe how awesome it is to step through the door after climbing Mt Lemmon and have professionally prepared food waiting for you. But what I really appreciate most is the fact that Chef Ken tailors meals to the training schedule. For instance, at Trischool, when there’s a hard run workout scheduled for the afternoon Ken will make sure that lunch is relatively light and easy to digest. But if we’re coming in for a later lunch after a long ride, the heft of the meal reflects the effort we just did and the fact there’s nothing strenuous coming up later in the day. And since he’s planning it, that’s one less thing I need to think about!

The take-home lesson is to pre-plan your post-workout meals, and perhaps even do some of the prep work before you leave. We have all made questionable nutrition choices when we stagger through the door after a hard, windy Saturday group ride (“Nachos would be great right now!”). And athletes looking to lose weight are often undone by these knee-jerk meal decisions (an issue we address in the Raceweight Weight Loss Program). Instead, get a Chef Ken or make your meal decision beforehand, when you’re still of sound mind.

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  • Raceweight Weight Loss Program: Jersey feeling a bit snug recently? We can fix that.
  • Dirty Kanza 200: Are you tough enough to ride 200 miles over gravel roads in the flint hills of Kansas? This is an event you should really look into!
  • Climbing Camps: One-on-one instruction to help you go uphill faster!
  • Hors Category Climbing Camp: Experience classic Colorado climbs with extensive instruction and guidance from CTS Coaches. July 9-14.
  • Epic Endurance Camp: Prepare for your biggest summer goals with this endurance-oriented camp in Santa Ynez, CA. April 3-6.
  • Epic Mountain Bike Camp: Ride the best Breckenridge, Colorado trails and prep for your MTB goals with one-on-one instruction, video skills analysis, and more.
  • Power Meter Payment Plans: The industry’s only no-interest, no-fee payment plans on power meters. Plus unbeatable prices on SRM and PowerTap units.

Revelation & Lesson #2: I love being followed.

Training with a support vehicle is paradise. I don’t have to stuff my jersey with extra clothes or carry four bottles at a time, and of course spare wheels are much nicer than changing flats on the side of the road. But the bigger opportunity is access to entirely new ride loops. Instead of planning around the need to find water for refilling bottles, we just go where the best loops are the water’s in the truck.

I have some athletes who put together DIY training camps, and although I think you should all come a CTS camp, a DIY camp with a few buddies is a good way to get in some great training. My lesson from Tucson is that a support vehicle should be part of your DIY camp. How? Well, don’t ask your non-riding spouse to do it. That won’t end well. Instead use a rotation. Each athlete takes a day or at least part of a day behind the wheel. Consider it recovery time, and remember that cops are less likely to bother you if you leapfrog your group rather than creep along behind it.

Revelation & Lesson #3: None of us can do less than all of us.

The environment in the CTS Athlete House is relaxed and social. We hang out in the living room. We read, talk, watch movies, and maybe go to take naps (napping is good). Everyone has fluids nearby, which provides positive reinforcement for good hydration habits. Some athletes have even credited the environment with “forcing” them to relax. In a way, they’re right. It’s difficult to break the routines we’ve developed to cope with and thrive in our busy lives, but being around like-minded athletes who share a common goal makes that process easier.

The lesson here is that your environment impacts your recovery – positively or negatively. When you’re not training all that hard you don’t need to duck yard work on Sunday afternoon, but when you’re in a heavy training period it becomes more important to carve out real downtime, connect with your inner slacker, and go to bed early.

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