Archive for the ‘Triathlon Training - Bike’ Category

Every road triathlete should own a mountain bike. But why? Adding mountain biking to your road training regime could make you a better cyclist by improving your pedal stroke, handling skills, braking technique, seat position and cadence while helping ward off training monotony and staleness.

Mountain biking is fun and challenging and there are always new obstacles to overcome, whether it’s technical riding or just jumping a ditch. You may also find it easier to jump on your mountain bike during the winter months that saddle up for another road ride.

Riding your mountain bike on the road can help develop a smoother spin and a more efficient pedal stroke. Mountain bikes have higher volume tyres than our regular road bikes, so in order to stop the bike from bouncing about on the tarmac you’ll need to employ a smoother pedal stroke. Aim to pedal in perfect circles, as this will keep you steady on those larger tyres. As everyone knows, mountain bikes were designed for off road riding. According to studies mountain bikers have the smoothest spin of all cyclists. When riding bumpy, technical or soft terrain on a mountain bike, you can’t rely on leg power for speed as you can do on a road bike. Instead you have to regulate pressure on the pedals when riding over uneven terrain to keep your tyres from spinning on rocks and loose dirt. On these types of surfaces try to concentrate on feeling the traction of your tyres while you aim to pedal in complete full circles.

There’s nothing better for practising your braking technique than on a mountain bike, as the fatter wheels below you allow more feel and control of the motion. Since a bike receives 70% of its braking force from the front wheel, when braking lift your backside off the seat and extend your arms out with bent elbows and this will transfer more weight to the rear of the bike. This next statement may sound simple, but squeezing the brake levers smoothly will allow you to remain on the bike instead of flying over the bars. This is where the weight shift to the rear also helps. Think of going down hill and slowing yourself down by applying pressure on the front brake levers. You wouldn’t want to have the majority of your body weight over the front of the bike, would you?

When you ride up an incline/hill on your mountain bike and encounter obstacles such as tree roots, don’t necessarily think you have to change your path, just change your cadence. Again shifting your body weight across the bike and lifting the bike wheels will assist in clearing any low level obstacles.

Chances are as we hit the end of British summer time you’ll not be so keen to venture out on your shiny road bike and also may be a little sick of riding the same road routes. With a mountain bike you can prevent any winter training staleness by exploring new terrain while still covering a good amount of ground at the same time. Break up your ride on your mountain bike by taking in different terrain. Warm up on the road then take in some technical element and of course some hills.

When riding off-road be sure to take with you adequate supplies, such as tolls and spare tubes. If you’re venturing off further a field into unknown territory, remember to take a map (and know how to use it) some warmer clothes and some all important food with you.

By adding a weekly or bi-weekly mountain bike ride into your routine you could be a stronger more proficient road rider come 2010. Most of all, it’s great fun. So what’s stopping you?

Happy training!!

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Once you’ve managed to work out which gear shifter control makes pedalling easier you should know how to change gear, right? Perhaps, but avoiding being the mis-shifter who’s grinding bike can’t find the right gear takes practice. Knowing what you’re doing when it comes to gear changing will ultimately make you ride faster and help eliminate the gear change clunk!

Cross Chaining
According to the cycling fraternity the usual method that is ‘cross-chaining’ is bad. That is riding in a combination of the big chain-ring and the big cog, or the small chain ring and the small cog. The reality is that it can lead to clumsy shifts. If you’re on the inner chain-ring at the front and the small cog at the back, beware of the chain falling off if you shift to the big chain ring. Conversley, shifting from the big/big is often slow.

Look Ahead
The key to correct gear shifting is thinking and looking at the terrain ahead. Anticipate what gear you need and anticipate when you need to accelerate. Changing gear after the terrain changes slows you down and spends those vital energy stores. The same applies too when approaching traffic on the road. Look ahead and be in the right gear before you arrive.

Think Smart
When you’re ready to over-take another rider during a race, don’t necessarily announce your attack with a noisy gear change. Just drift out of their draft area so they can’t hear your gear change. Done correctly this decreases your wattage for a slight moment so you can quietly shift into your attacking gear and then pounce.

Care For Your Chain
If you chain is worn out you gear changes will suffer. Change the chain more frequently and you won’t have to change your cogs and rings as often. Riding in constant wet-dry weather can also weaken your chain. If you feel that your chain is in good condition and a cable adjustment hasn’t resolved the issue, inspect you chain rings and cassette for any rough edges or nicks.

If you love your bike, and what multi-sport athlete doesn’t, it will love you in return, especially if you learn how to change gears more efficiently making the shifts lightly and carefully.

Happy Training!!

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Every hill climb regardless of how long, short, steep or steady it is has one fundamental and that is ‘effort’. This ‘effort’ has other elements associated with it too that could make or break a successful trip to the top!

Next time you’re out training, or racing for that matter, try to think about these next few topics and see how much easier it will be to reach the top.

Set A Pace
If you go above threshold too soon, you’ll blow up and slow down before you reach the top. Keep your breathing deep and comfortable and your heart rate below threshold at the start of the climb. As you get your rhythm, gradually increase your effort until you’re climbing at threshold. The final 200m of any climb is the best place to go for it and attack the hill. If you start off smart, you’ll have enough energy to finish strong.

Take Deep Breathes
Many triathletes just use the top part of their lungs, taking shallow, jagged breaths as they climb which limits how quickly and efficiently you can move fresh oxygen to moving muscles. Practise deep breathing into your belly, entirely filling your lungs. Also deep breathing will help to keep the nerves calm during the stress of the climb.

Stay Seated
Your backside should be firmly on the saddle for most of the climb. About 5% more energy is utilised when you stand on the pedals during a climb. Shift your weight back slightly for maximum leverage on the pedals. Stand only when you body needs a break from seated position or if you need to accelerate. When you stand make sure you keep your bottom back so that the saddle’s nose brushes the back of your thighs and your weight is over the crank. Standing with your weight too far forward will only loose traction on the back wheel.

Keep Loose
Your upper body should be relaxed so you don’t waste energy. A good indication that your upper body’s relaxed is slightly flared elbows. They should be outside of your knuckles. If your elbows are tucked in, your lats are stretched which can restrict breathing.

Use The Right Gear
Don’t be afraid to use easy gears. Don’t feel like you need to grind a big gear. The key is to gear down and keep the cadence high in a comfortable range. Most will say between 70 – 90 rpm is optimum spinning.

Develop Your Power To Weight Ratio
The amount of watts you generate per kilo of body weight is the key success of climbing. The top climbers will produce 6 – 7 watts per kilo, the best in the world may even be around 5. High intensity training can raise your wattage by around 5% over a season. Try this session once a week during a steady ride in order to develop your power-to-weight ratio. Climb for 10 to 30 minutes at or near lactate threshold heart rate (about an 8 out of 10 on the rate of perceived scale of exertion, RPE).
One of the easiest ways to increase you power-to-weight ratio is to lower the ‘weight’ element. By loosing those few extra pounds you’ll see much quicker results.

Happy Training!!

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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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The club run was never intended to be a pure training ride, it’s a social event really and that’s exactly how it should be treated. All ride at the same pace and the strong help the weaker and everyone has a good time. So when do we actually train then? On the turbo during the week of course, as this is where you’ll ‘keep strong’ by doing short interval based strength and power sessions.

Bike strength and power training might seem to be one of the same but they are not. Strength is muscle strength, using the legs, or mainly the muscle groups below the waist for endurance cyclists. Power means aerobic power using the respiratory muscles groups, the diaphragm, lungs and heart. We need to look for a good balance of muscle strength and aerobic power and what no better place to train it than on the turbo.

Either of these can be performed on open roads during the warmer/lighter months.

How do we train strength and power?
Quite easily, just a couple of fairly short sessions a week is all you need to do through the winter. A note of warning though before you begin. If you have current knee or back problems don’t attempt to do these sessions as they will definitely aggravate the injury.

Strength training is done in very short explosive flat out efforts lasting between 5-10 seconds maximum in a massive gear/resistance with long recovery periods of 2-3 minutes in between. The resistance and gearing must be far bigger than anything you would ever use during normal training on the road and you must ‘explode’ into each interval. Maybe do 3 such efforts the first time you try it and add one each week until you are eventually doing 7-10. Too much to soon will be counter productive so stick to 3 initially. Also never hurry the rest period, 2-3 minutes may feel to long, however your muscles will need the recovery in order for you to go again at full tilt. The 5-10 second effort should be ‘anaerobic’ here and isn’t long enough to drive your heart rate too high

The power intervals are done in a big gear but only a couple of sprockets bigger than you feel comfortable with and NOT massively over-geared as with the strength element. Intervals here last between 2-4 minutes with equal rest, i.e. 2 mins effort 2 mins rest. You should feel like you’re working quite hard in these intervals. Your heart rate may be 10-15 beats above your anaerobic threshold meaning you should feel a fair degree of breathlessness but nothing like racing. As with the strength intervals, start off with maybe 3-4 of these intervals and gradually build the number of reps as weeks pass.

Short and sharp is the key to the success of these sessions. All done within an hour including a warm up and cool down. Warm up well and spend plenty of time cooling down in a small gear otherwise you’ll have stiff legs the following day. Remember to train like this in full race position as this brings the race specific muscle groups into use.

Finally remember to consider your own level of fitness and current injury state before testing yourself with either of these strength or power sessions.

Happy training!!

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The two components of pedalling are technique and cadence. Despite the expression ‘it’s like riding a bike’, correct pedalling technique and cadence often do not come naturally and require long practice to cultivate. The three characteristics of good pedalling technique are immobility above the hips (except when out of the saddle), no lateral movement of the legs or feet and a relatively even application of force throughout the pedal stroke. The three most common errors in pedalling technique are body rocking, wide knees and pedal stomping.

Rocking in the saddle is a waste of energy. It’s most common causes are having the saddle positioned too high or riding in too high a gear. However, other causes could be lack of sufficient flexibility in the hamstrings and hip flexors, s well as weak gluteal muscles. If you find that you tend to rock in the saddle, first of all check your seat height and your pedalling cadence.

Failure to maintain a pedalling cadence of at least 70 rpm on all terrain, except steep climbs and descents, is an indication that your gear selection is poor. However, if you can eliminate these causes you should concentrate on correcting muscular imbalances in your lower body with some functional strength training and thorough stretching. You can also complement these measures by paying attention to your form when you ride and consciously not rocking in the saddle.

The problem of wide knees is typically also caused by the above muscular imbalances and is often exacerbated by setting the saddle height too low, which many cyclists do because of their tight hamstrings. To correct wide knees check the set-up of your bike, if it seems right or you cannot comfortably pedal in the correct position then begin work improving the flexibility of your hamstrings. As your flexibility improves you should find that you can adjust your bike set-up. Like before, also pay attention to your form and force those knees in when you catch them creeping wide.

Pedal stomping (also called mashing) is a descriptive term for failing to apply force evenly throughout the pedal stroke. In particular it entails concentrating force on the downward gravity assisted portion of the pedal stroke and allowing momentum to carry the pedal back around to the top. Beyond the gravity factor, the reason this problem is so common is that the muscles that serve as the prime movers for the upward portion of the pedal stroke (gluteals and hamstrings) are relatively weak and under-developed in the average person because of all the sitting we do. Continuing to ‘stomp’ will only make the muscular imbalance more pronounced because of the repeated ‘stomping’ taking place.

In order to overcome pedal stomping it may be worth while working on your ‘pedal stroke cycle’, which means analysing which muscles of your lower body should be invoked at certain points throughout the full 360 degrees of the pedal turn. To describe this with only words would make for a hard read, so next time I blog about bike training I’ll get together a drawing to assist with the explanation. As well as this pedal pattern there are also a few good indoor cycling drills that can help develop this feel. Again we’ll discuss these next time.

In the mean time whilst out cycling try to be more aware of your cadence and cycling form. At this stage of training (base) try to keep your rpm relatively high (approx 90rpm), keep the knees tucked in and if you do ‘pedal stomp’, just try to be more aware of the full pedal stroke through out the full pedal turn.

Happy training!!

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It’s back to that time of year again when we’re base biking! I really enjoy this particular phase of the training cycle as you really don’t need to think too hard about it, just helmet on and steady away. Great time for the long social group rides in the great outdoors.

Your primary goal during the base phase is to lay a broad foundation of aerobic capacity and raw endurance. Secondary emphases are improving technique and increasing cadence and pedalling power. Your seasons racing goals and fitness levels will determine the length of this base period of your training, but typically can last between eight to twelve weeks (three lots of four week training blocks). Figure 1.0 shows a typical twelve week base period with three, four week training cycles. Notice the reduced training in week four of each block. This cut back will allow your body to absorb the training that you’ve already completed and prepare you for the next specific block.

Provided you’ve had a reasonable phase of general preparation, start the phase with low volume and low intensity and gradually increase both. At first, most workouts should take place at the lower end of the endurance intensity range. By the end of the phase, most workouts should take place in the middle and upper parts of this range, as in hard group rides. Throughout the phase, the majority of your endurance rides should entail spinning at a slightly higher than optimal pedalling cadence. Also in the first several weeks of the base phase, do one or two technique drills each week and a set of power intervals or jumps in one of your weekly endurance rides.

After the first couple of weeks of base building, begin doing one weekly or biweekly long ride and increase the duration of the ride slightly every other week. About the same time, begin performing a weekly brick workout.

Towards the end of the base phase, mix in some more high-intensity training in an informal way. One way to do this is to begin attacking the hills you encounter in your endurance rides. Another way is by participating in indoor cycling workout classes. Speaking of which, if your winter training can’t be done outdoors you may need to resort to indoor cycling or turbo sessions. Don’t be too scared of the weather, just be sensible out on the roads and be prepared.

Over the next fortnight we’ll have a look at some typical base sessions, as well as some cycling efficiency drills. In the mean time there’s no harm to just go ride your bike, make the most of the remaining daylight!!

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Clever cycling isn’t all about long, slow rides at a high cadence. The key to clever cycling is to build power by adding intensity with the correct training sessions and clever use of gears. Runners looking to make the transition to triathlon often have a head start, mostly because of the light build and quick turnover of legs, both of which can be a great advantage in a triathlon. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that if your coming to triathlon from a running background, you might find that you don’t yet have classic cycling strength in your quads.

The bike leg is the longest and most strategic part of any triathlon, so it’s crucial to make the most of it. Your bike training should always include a long ride at a slower pace and lower heart rate, just like your long weekend run. Try to also include one shorter ride per week, similar to a tempo run. Then if you have time, you could also include a turbo session, hill session or spin class to work on your intervals.

Don’t forget that cycling will shorten your hamstrings and calves so you’ll need to stretch them thoroughly after each bike session to keep yourself in good condition.

By boosting the power to your legs you’ll be able to overtake on hills and find a second wind on the flats when you competitors are flagging.

High Cadence
Choose one short ride per week where you ride in a higher gear than usual. This will build muscle strength and power in the leg muscles and teach your body to cope with the stress of being tired.

Grind It Out
Climb a hill without changing gear. This will probably be a killer workout but you’ll see fast results. From time to time, make the effort not to drop down into an easier gear while you’re heading up a hill. After a few sessions you’ll find that you’re able to make it up the same hill in the harder gear with less effort. Try to avoid hills with heavy traffic though.

Hill Repeats
Just like running try a hill rep session on your bike. Choose a long, fairly steep hill that’s free of traffic. Power up it, turn around and coast down, using the downhill as an active recovery. Do this 8-12 times per session and you’ll be able to tackle hills in races better than most.

Windy Days
Annoying, frustrating and energy sapping, riding into the wind is no fun at all, but you can turn a negative into a positive by using, not hating, a headwind. Put your head down a purposefully ride harder. The added effort will mean you’ll motor along on less windy days.

Work Out
If you have time and resources, gym work can compliment your bike training by helping to build strength in your leg muscles. Once we get into the winter months I intend to introduce video based exercises to compliment both bike and run training.

Spin Time
As a qualified spin instructor I can vouch that these classes will have you melting into a puddle of your own sweat. A good spin class can make a real difference to your training, but make sure you choose a class with a good instructor that factors in hill climbs, sprints and intervals. Avoid the classes where you do push ups on the handle bars!

Turbo Power
Cycling on a turbo trainer is useful hen it’s too dark, or weather beaten to cycle outside, but you should also consider turbo training as an integral part of any cycling programme.

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A fast bike leg is crucial to a good triathlon performance. The bike is the longest leg of any race, so the winner is likely to be the person who can produce the most power, or at least the most power relative to their weight, while on two wheels.

Top triathletes now base a lot of their cycle training and racing on power. Power is the rate of work being completed. The work is the effort it takes you to move from one point to another and overcome friction and drag. How fast you do that work is referred to as power and is measured in watts.
Remember, the purpose of improving fitness is to produce more power for a given level of exertion, in other words more watts for the same effort. Power on the bike involves speed . If you want to ride quicker on the bike leg you need to produce more watts at your race pace. The concept is the same regardless of race distance.

Before you hang up your cycle shoes after a long season give the following bike power test a go. This will give you a good idea of the shape you are in now and will give you something to work towards throughout the winter months.

Even without power measuring tools you can still perform a meaningful self test by riding a specific route over a known distance. Make sure this is circular or out and back to ensure that you are riding through even weather conditions, and try to do the test on a calm day. After a thorough warm up, ride the route to the best of your ability and record your time, average speed and average heart rate. Alternatively you could do a 15 min time trial on an indoor trainer. Aim to ride flat out but try to pace your effort over the full 15 mins.

As you get fitter your average speed will increase, which means your sustainable power output rises. Along side this, your average heart rate shouldn’t be significantly higher, meaning you’re producing power/speed for the same effort. While you’ll notice improvements in your average heart rates and speed, you won’t be able to put a figure on your increased power output without a specific power-measuring device.

Doing this test once a month during the off season will help you monitor your training and also provide a quality effort session. During the season, race times will provide a platform to monitor your improvements. However it is a good idea to repeat this session every now and then to keep an eye on your progress.

Happy training!!

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What with the good old British weather and the fact training time is of a premium, it can be quite difficult to fit in those all important bike sessions. Worry not, get on the turbo. Cycling on a turbo trainer is very useful and should be considered an integral part of any triathlon cycling programme regardless of the time of year.

Next time you can’t get outdoors to cycle, try this short but effective turbo power session.

1. In an easy gear, warm up for 10 minutes.
2. Increase the gears until you feel as if your struggling, then cycle for 45 seconds all out in this gear(which should feel very hard). Your cadence shouldn’t drop below 70 rpm. If you don’t have a fancy turbo with onboard computer you can check your cadence by dropping one elbow to knee height and count how many times your knee hits your elbow as you cycle. Time this for 15 seconds and multiply by 4.
3. Find an easy gear and do an active recovery for 45 seconds. Your cadence should be around 90 rpm.
4. Repeat this a further 8 times.
5. Do a 15 minute warm down in an easy gear and focus on cycling in circles, i.e. pushing your feet forward and backwards as well as up and down.

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