Velominati Rules for Cycling

One of the guys at the shop showed this to me and I tought it was funny and so I thought I'd pass it along.  You can see how stuck (or stuck up) you are about cycling tradition.

http://www.velominati.com/blog/the-rules/

You can make your own judgement about how serious they are being .

Training Report Card

Earlier I post my goals for 2012, my primary goal:  Qualifying for the Xterra World Championships, and three goals one for swimming, biking, and running that I believe will help me reach those goals.  These goals are important to improving, but more important are the steps that you are going to do to reach those goals.  I created a report card to monitor, and motivate me to make sure I'm taking the step I need to in order to reach my goals.  One step that I didn't include in my report card, but have already taken was to stop competing in cyclocross races.  I've enjoyed cyclocross racing over the last several years, but I found that I didn't continue to swim or run during the fall, and with races every weekend I didn't get in consistent blocks of training.

I will give regular updates on my training grades through the year.  Unfortunately what I've posted below doesn't look as good as the one I made on Excel (the format didn't transfer very well).

Swimming
Swim 3 times a week

4x=A+ 3x=A- 2x=C 1x=D 0x=F Per week

Swim with focus on one form issue
4x=A+ 3x=A- 2x=C 1x=D 0x=F Per week

Most of swimming intervals for time (minimal "junk"/unstructured yards)
3x=A 2x=B 1x=C 0x=F Per week

Work on 3rd stroke breathing
2x=A 1x=C 0x=F Per week

Work on kicking and back strength trough backstroke
3x=A+ 2x=A 1x=C 0x=F Per week
Biking
Continue interval workouts
2x=A 1x=C 0x=F Per week

Regular long rides 3.5hr+ (mountain or road)
4x=A+ 3x=A- 2x=B 1x=D 0x=F Per 2 weeks

Mountain bike often 3x+ every two weeks
4x=A+ 3x=A- 2x=B 1x=D 0x=F Per 2 weeks

Mountain biking at race pace (MTB interval workouts)
2x=A 1x=C 0x=F Per 2 weeks

Mountain bike with others
1x=A 0x=F Per 2 weeks

Handling technique (manualling, bunny hopping, square edge bumps
2x=A 1x=C 0x=F Per 2 weeks

Regular Power Crank Rides 3x+ every two weeks
3x=A 2x=B- 1x=D 0x=F Per 2 weeks

Running
Wider variety of interval workouts (:30-2, 3-5, 20) 2 types per 2 week
2 Types=A 1 Type=F Per 2 weeks

More Bricks
4x=A+ 3x=A- 2x=C 1x=D 0x=F Per 2 weeks

Weekly hilly long runs 1:30+
1x=A 0x=F Per week

Work on improving running form
2x=A 1x=C 0x=F Per week

Trail run 1x+ per 2 weeks
3x=A+ 2x=A 1x=B 0x=F Per 2 weeks

Other
Plyometric workouts 1 per week
1x=A 0x=F Per week

Foot exercises 3x per week
3x=A 2x=B 1x=D 0x=F Per week

Core workouts 3x per week
3x=A 2x=B 1x=D 0x=F Per week

Resistance training (2x per week start of year, 1x per week later)
2x=A 1x=C 0x=F Per week

Yoga 2x per week
2x=A 1x=C 0x=F Per week

What fuels you?

This is something I've been thinking about since I happened onto a piece on ESPN about Adrian Peterson, and I need to share.

Here's a link to the segment:  http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4577473

At the beginning of the segment they talk about that he wants to be the "best player in the NFL ever," not the best running back ever. . . the best play EVER.  Then at about 2:00 of the segment they are looking in his pantry and it shows he has donuts, potato chips and twinkies . . . TWINKIES.  It really makes me wonder if he has really thought through trying to be the best player ever. 

My diet isn't perfect, but I don't have donuts, potato chips (unless my wife happened to get some, but either way I never have any), or twinkies. 

Review: Racing Weight Quick Start Guide

Recently read Racing Weight Quick Start Guide by Matt Fitzgerald, here are some of my thoughts.  He believes that you can't effectively lose weight and get fitter at the same time, after thinking about this it made more and more sense, if you're running a calorie deficit large enough to lose weight quickly you won’t be fuelling your body well enough to get more fit.  As a result this guide is intended to help athlete that are significantly heavier than they want to be, lose weight at the beginning (or before) of your season.

One thing that I thought was very good was that he doesn’t promote any fad or outrageous diet, it’s a diet that you maintain and be healthy, but not to achieve your maximum fitness.   He suggests increasing your protein to about 30% of your calorie intake, as opposed to 20% for your best training (reminiscent to the Atkins Diet, but not to extreme).  In addition to that increase protein intake he suggests eating unprocessed food, whole grains, fruits and vegetables (nothing that just about anyone wouldn’t suggest).

In terms of working-out one of the biggest things that he promotes in doing high intensity workouts, the big advantage of doing this is that the high intensity workouts increase how many calories you burn during the rest of the day.

There are obviously a lot that from the book that I haven’t discussed (specific workouts, meal plans, weight lifting suggestions), but I think for the intended audience (a triathlete, cyclist, or runner) who isn’t at the weight they would like to be for the season I think this book could be an extremely helpful tool.

1x10: My thoughts

This past year I’ve been riding my mountain bike with a 1x10 gear setup, one chainring in the front and 10 speeds in the back.  I was fortunate to get my bike this way out of the box thanks to Specialized making their Epic Expert Carbon 29er in this configuration in addition to the more standard 2x10, I say more standard, but the 2x10 setup has really only been out for a year and a half or so. 

I have absolutely love this setup (it’s lighter, I never have to worry about shifting the front derailleur and my chainline is much better), and will be setting up any mountain bike I have for the foreseeable future this way, even if I have to convert a 3x10 or 2x10 setup to the 1x10, by swapping chainrings and adding a chain guide.  Previously I had used the standard 3x9 (on a 26” bike) setup and while doing mountain bike rides and used the middle chainring exclusively, while racing I would use mostly the big chainring.  In both cases I was cross chained a lot, while riding I was to the outside of the cassette, and while racing I was toward the inside of the cassette, by no means ideal in either situation.

Two things have made running a 1x10 setup easier than it had been in the past:  11-36 cassettes and 29” wheels.  When Sram and later Shimano went to 10 speed mountain bike cassettes the biggest cog went from 32 to 36 (in most cases), this expanded the gear range of the cassette by more that 10%.  If you are using a 29” wheel not only will each of your gears will be more than 20% bigger (something crank manufactures haven’t quite got their heads around in my mind, you’ve got to be a compete monster to turn over a 42x11 on a 29er), but the gear range will ALSO be more than 20% wider.  When you combine these two factors the gear range is well over 30% wider than 1x9 setup and 26” wheels (the downside to this is the gaps between gears is also more than 30% wider, something that I haven’t noticed to be a problem at all). 

It is important to get correct front chainring for yourself, a 34 has been perfect for me:  I’ve never needed anything easier than a 34/36, and while I have spun up the 34/11 I certainly haven’t been able to spin it out.  It’s pretty easy to get 32 and 34 tooth single speed chain rings (you definitely want a single speed ring so the chain doesn’t get dropped), if you need anything smaller that’s where you might run into some issues, and they aren’t mass produced to my knowledge.  I know you can get a 30 tooth ring/spider from Homebrewed Components (a couple of the guys on the BikeSource MTB team have gotten them).  Also you definitely need a good chain guide to keep the chain on the chainring, I’ve had really good luck with my minimalistic Specialized one (I drop the chain a couple times during the Spring/Summer, but since then haven’t dropped a chain once) and I know a bunch of guys on the MTB team have been running models from E-thirteen with a lot of success

A couple items to think about before rushing off to the bike shop to set your mountain bike up 1x10.  Riding in Charlotte we don’t have any extended climbs that you might encounter in other area, that might make a 1x10 set-up not ideal for climbing, my suggestion would be to look at the smallest gear you are using and make sure that you’ll be able to get that small of a gear ratio.  To go along with that if you ride in the big ring a lot see what range of the cassette you are using and make sure you have that covered in your setup.  Also a chain guide is designed to keep the chain on the chainring, and it can be pretty hard to get the chain back on if it comes off (I always kept a multi-tool with me to be able to move the chainguide if the chain came off).