Archive for February, 2009

How fast or slow do you spin those pedals when racing? We see the top tour riders spin at high and low cadence all the time, however have they conditioned themselves to ride like this or is it genetics?

Broadly speaking, higher cadences are fuelled by the aerobic system, where glycogen and fat are burned to power the slow and intermediate twitch muscle fibres. As power output increases the proportion of fats burned decreases in relation to glycogen, although some fat is still used. Glycogen requires more oxygen to burn than the equivalent amount of fats, so as power output increases so does oxygen demand.

High output power using a low cadence recruits a greater percentage of fast twitch muscle fibres than high power with high cadence pedalling. Fast twitch muscle fibres are fuelled entirely by glycogen (glucose), but this metabolic pathway also produces lactic acid as a by-product. High power at low cadences will therefore deplete glycogen quicker while producing lactic acid, which is partly why low cadence, high power pedalling is so tiring.

Changing to high cadence pedalling won’t suit everyone. Fast twitch muscle fibres are bulkier than slow and intermediate ones, which is the reason why sprinters are generally bigger than climbers, as they have a large proportion of fast twitch fibres.

So if a sprinter tries to climb in a low gear with a high cadence they will be pedalling with a lower total number of fibres than a climber, as only their slow twitch fibres will engage.

If you look at the long tour races the big sprinters tend to take mountain stages in a group, keeping a steady pace and just trying to get through the stage. However these guys still use the same gears as the riders who are way ahead up the mountain, they just spin at a much slower rate.

The most appropriate pedalling cadence is an individual preference; however remember that the genetics of your bodies muscle fibre types go a long way in determining which style suits best. Give both high and low cadence pedalling a go as you may be surprised with the outcome!

Happy training!!

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I came across this article via ‘David Zabriskie’s’ ‘Twitter’ updates and thought I’d share it with you. It’s a fantastic idea, I just hope the guys can raise the finance to get the product out to market.

Fed up with being clipped by cars during the dark winter months, the designers at Altitude combined two things they love, bikes and lasers, to create an instant bike lane and make night time cycling a whole lot safer.

Their bike-mounted gadget, called LightLane, beams two bright red lines and the universal symbol for cyclist on the pavement, neatly delineating a bike lane to remind motorists to yield a little space. It should make everyone feel a little more comfort on the road.

The LightLane started life as an entry to a design competition aimed at promoting bicycle commuting. “Having witnessed several friends be hit by cars while in traffic, we felt the intimidation of sharing the road was one of the bigger barriers to commuting by bicycle,” Gant said. He designed the gadget with Alex Tee.

“Although it doesn’t establish a clear and predictable path for a rider to follow, it does encourage a driver to provide the rider with a wider berth by capturing their attention in a different way,” Gant said.

LightLane is only effective at night, of course, something Gant said underscores the need for proper bike lanes. “Permanent lanes are much more proactive and LightLane is more of a reactive solution to the problem,” he said.

Gant and Tee are trying to determine the best color and orientation for the lasers. Once they tackle that question, they’ll turn their attention to financing and building a prototype that is resistant to rust, easy to clean and difficult to steal.

It should cost around $50 and I’m hoping to see the product on sale come the Autumn, because I WANT ONE!! Genius idea guys!!

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Which idiot thought they could ever get away with stealing this beauty? It’s a shame that the Trex TTX 9.9 SSL has already been a contender for my ‘bike of the year 2009′ otherwise I’d have been bleeting on about this one untill the cows came home!

This is the most expensive complete bike build so far in my ‘hall of fame’, costing somewhere in the region of $10,000, or a shade over £7100.

While the TTX above was AWOL the Trek ProjectOne Team frantically built up a new bike to be ready for todays Tour Of California time trial stage and added a rather neat piece of artwork to the frame….class!

Now I’m not so sure which bike Lance intends to ride today. Will it be the recovered bike, or the new TTX build with the artwork?

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Remember last time when I talked about the Glycaemic Index (GI), well here’s the next instalment, on how the GI can help your performance. A very simple theory, but one that with a little planning could benefit your training and racing massively.

While the GI concept was originally developed to help diabetics control their blood sugar levels, it can also benefit everyone else too. In particular, it can be used to help people manage their weight but more importantly for us ‘sports people’, potentially improve our performance.

The key to efficient glycogen refuelling (energy to the muscles) is to maintain steady levels of blood glucose and insulin. When glucose levels are high (for example, after consuming high GI foods), large amounts of insulin are produced, which shunts the excess glucose into fat cells and stored as fat. But it is the combined effect of a large amount of carbohydrate as well as the food’s GI value that really matters. This is called the glycaemic load. A high glycaemic load can result from eating large quantities of any carbohydrate or moderate amounts of high GI foods. This produces a large surge in blood glucose and insulin.

Conversely, eating small amounts of any carbohydrate or low GI foods produces a low glycaemic ‘load’. This results in a small yet sustained rise in blood glucose.

So to optimise glycogen storage and minimise fat storage, aim to achieve a small or moderate glycaemic load, eat little and often and avoid overloading on carbohydrates, and stick to balanced combinations of carbohydrate, protein and healthy fat.

There’s no real need to cut out high GI foods all together. The key is to eat them with protein and/or a little healthy fat. Combining your carbohydrates with you protein (and healthy fat) results in steadier insulin levels and less fat storage. For example, have a baked potato (high GI) with a little cheese or tuna (low GI foods). Both the protein and fat put a brake on the digestive process, slowing down the release of glucose.

I always aim to have breakfast, a reasonable size snack mid-morning, lunch, healthy mid-afternoon snacks and an evening meal. The types of foods I eat in each of these meals may differ slightly depending on the days schedule, however my main aim is the same every day, which is never to feel incredibly hungry and to graze my way throughout the day.

Next time when I talk nutrition we’ll take a look at what the best foods are to eat before, during and after exercise.

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This weekend welcomes the thirteenth edition of the ITU Winter Triathlon World Championships in the central Austrian town of Gaishorn. Usually home to only about 1,000 people, Gaishorn welcomes the world with elite, junior, under23, age group and team competitions this Saturday and Sunday.

The Men’s and women’s events will contest the same 7.5km run, 12.5km mountain bike and 9.9km cross-country ski course. Also included in the weekend’s festivities are the junior, under23, age group and team world championships.

You can find out more information on the numerous weekend activities here.

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Get £10 off all orders over £40 of Lucozade Sport products at Lucozade Shop with this exclusive gift voucher.

It’s the time of year to get your new fitness regime off to a great start, so kick start your fitness with this great gift voucher offer, which gives you £10 off when you spend £40 at www.lucozadeshop.com.

It easy! Simply enter this gift voucher code LSNY1 in the ‘promotions’ box at checkout and your discount will be applied.

Lucozade Sport is the UK’s number one sports drink and we have the perfect range of products to kick start your New Year fitness regime available now from our official online shop.

Lucozade Sport sports recovery products are scientifically designed and tested for athletes, sports people and gym-goers, using proven sports science to give you an edge in training. Improve your sports recovery time, avoid dehydration during training and enhance your endurance performance with Lucozade Sport.

The gift voucher expires on 16/02/09. The gift voucher can only be redeemed once. For full gift voucher terms and conditions please visit the lucozadeshop.com website.

Click here to visit Lucozade Shop.

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Ever wondered what your swim workout structure should really look like? The basic template below should help plan those sessions a little better by breaking down the workout into four distinct categories.

Warm-up
Generally 300-500m with focus on breathing efficiency. Swim any stroke if you wish.

Drills
300-1000m focusing on technique. Check out some of the drills already posted here.

Main Set
Varies greatly depending on goals and ability level, focus on your effort.

Cool Down
Generally 300-500m with focus on breathing and technique.

Do three types of main sets per week. A short interval or speed day (25’s, 50’s and/or 100’s), longer intervals (100’s, 200’s and 300’s) and even longer intervals (500 to 1000). If you feel your technique slipping during a main set, don’t be afraid to throw in a ‘drill’ in the middle of the set to tune your technique. Main sets can be adjusted up and down in distance, with repeat times changed and distances altered and even mixed up. Be creative with your swim workout, use the categories as a frame to create your own personalized training program.

Remember to always do focused and specific technique work. It is more important than training hard!

Defining your effort when swimming can be done in many ways, however the most convenient and effective method of gauging your effort is buy your rate of perceived effort (RPE). ‘Race pace’ is usually
thought to be about 85 to 90% RPE and refers to a race pace for a distance swim of 500-3000m. An all out sprint of a short distance (100m or less) would be 100%.

The categories of your RPE could look like;
Easy: Anything under 65% RPE, used for warming up and recovering.
Easy aerobic: 65-75% RPE
Fast Aerobic: 75-85% RPE
Threshold: 85-90% RPE
Anaerobic: 90-100 RPE

For reference, drills should be in the ‘easy’ to ‘easy aerobic’ zones.

A sample main set (working on aerobic endurance) could look something like;
6 x 200’s. Negative splitting is a great way to do a set of 200’s. The negative splits could be any combination of efforts, i.e. first 100 at ‘easy aerobic’ pace and the second 100 at ‘fast aerobic’.

Unlike in running and cycling, the risks of swimming too hard are less crucial, for several reasons;

The cooling effect of the water allows for harder efforts as well as a lower heart rate since the heart does not need to pump blood for cooling the body.

The horizontal position of the body allows the heart to work a little easier because it is not pumping against gravity.

Damages to muscles is minimal, especially as compared with running, in which the pounding takes a toll on muscles, joints and tendons.

Elite-level or pure swimmers (where swimming is the main sport they do) swimmers typically swim two sessions a day and one is generally very hard. Imagine running twice a day with one workout a day on the track, your body would be a complete wreck after a few days! The bottom line is, go ahead and train hard in the pool, your body is more than capable of handling it.

Happy training!!

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In October, 200 lucky athletes will find themselves with the opportunity of a lifetime at the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championship via the Ironman Lottery Program. Will you be among them?

With 150 slots available for citizens of the United States and 50 slots available for international competitors, sign up now for your chance to win the hottest ticket in the sport of triathlon: an invitation to the start line at the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

The Ironman Lottery Program will close on February 28, 2009. Don’t miss your chance, sign up today.

The full list of winners will be available to view at http://ironman.com/ beginning Wednesday, April 15.

For more information on the Ironman Lottery Program, visit the Lottery FAQ page.

Good luck.

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Congratulations to ‘MartinACunningham’ who has been randomly selected as the winner of January’s monthly draw.

Just by registering with Trispace News, ‘MartinACunningham’ has won a Triathlon DVD. Register with Trispace to receive our monthly newsletter as well as being automatically entered into our monthly draw.

Register now to have a chance of winning February’s prize, a ‘2XU’ run cap like the one below. Once registered and you remain registered, you’ll be entered into the draw each month automatically. Register by midnight February 28th 2008 for a chance of winning Februray’s prize.

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