Rest has been mentioned several times in this blog as being an important part of training and one that is often overlooked. Scheduled rest and recovery weeks at the Cycling Centre are one of the elements that make this program very different then a spin class and every 4 weeks we have a recovery week. I am a big believer in active recovery; however, when a recovery week rolls around I find I am tested with ways to make riding easy fun and enjoyable - especially when working with athletes who like to go hard all the time. In fact, I find myself telling athletes to easy more often then go hard!
This past recovery week happened after the Oscar Awards so the next day we had a fun "after Oscar Party". I'm not about to say that it gave the Vanity Fair party any competition, but we did have some A-list celebrities on site by the name of George, Billy, Meryl, Octavia and some others. We even had a disco ball! The music all came from movies and high 5's were handed out to the riders who could correctly name the movie the song was in. The drills we did (one leg pedalling and some efforts) were determined by the throwing of a dice and conversation revolved around movies. It was a lot of fun.
Faced with the pressure of coming up with something even more fun and entertaining there was only one thing I could do, make daiquiris! February is my least favourite month. It's usually grey, raining, cold and dark. I'm ready for winter to be over and spring to arrive, and even though it is a short month it seems to never end - bring on Spring already! That said, the winter we've had this year has been nice and mild, it really hasn't been to bad, but everyone could still use a beach day!
Many athletes were going to a real beach for rest and recovery, but we created our own beachy atmosphere with the sound of waves and wind chimes, exotic birds swaying in the sky, the coach wearing a bright beach wrap and straw hat (you can never be too careful in the sun), athletes in shades and bright colours, and of course, no beach experience is complete without a cold beverage, so strawberry daiquiris were served. It was a lot of fun and Wes won for best men's outfit with his Hawaiin jersey, while Dale won for best female outfit of a swimsuit over her cycling shorts and surfer girl skirt - hilarious!
Our next recovery week is the first week of April, the same week as Track Cycling Worlds in Melbourne, so the plan is to race the Omnium, have a sprint tournament, and finish with a Points Race. You might be thinking that this doesn't sounds like much of a rest, but after the 4-letter word phase we are currently in (i.e.: workouts are hard, hell, pain, hurt, etc.) "racing" on the "track" will be a welcome break!
We are currently in week #7 of indoor riding at the Cycling Centre and although we have moved on to a strength phase, we are still keeping a focus on technique. I am a firm believer that an efficient, smooth, and fluid pedal stroke will result in faster speeds, saved energy, and an aesthetically pleasing riding style. So we've heard the following terms, pedal in circles, scrape mud off your shoes, there's your dead spot, pull up, push forward ... but what does it really mean?
Following is a great video created by Cycling Secrets that explains the different phases of a pedal stroke. When you hear "apply equal pressure to your pedals" or "find your circles" during our workouts, what is meant is you should be thinking about the clock in the video and your toes touching each number. So if you had a marker attached to your shoe that could draw on air, it would draw a perfectly round circle - whether or not you have a square bottom bracket ... just in case you were wondering.
As we are starting to do harder workouts and our legs are fatiguing, it is common to "mash" on the pedals, forcibly push down, or "pedal in squares" in an attempt to find more power. I prefer to think of the down stroke as a push forward stroke for the sake of imagery. If you look at the clock you will see that the 3 is farther east then the 1 and 2, so in order for your toes to "connect the numbers" (remember we have a marker on our shoe), it needs to feel like you are pushing your foot forward, like a leg press, or a lunge forward. As we get tired, feet start to "drop" down from the 1 to the 5, creating a dead spot, or a spot where we are not applying any force and therefore missing an opportunity to propel ourselves forward.
The pull back phase, in general, is done well by Cycling Centre athletes, until they stand up. Especially as we get tired, it is common to "rest" at the bottom of the stroke, so when you are standing it is important to remember pedalling technique, to scrape through the bottom of the pedal stroke and push forward through the set up - which will be touched on 2 paragraphs down. Remember, every time you lack force to the pedal you lose momentum, speed, power .... and when you are standing it is usually because we are looking for extra speed and power, whether it is on a hill or a sprint finish, or to get back up to speed. By having an efficient pedal stroke you will maintain momentum and save energy.
The lift up phase is done very well by riders who have done fixed gear riding, whether it's on a track bike or at a spin class. The idea behind this part is to pull up and as you go from the 8 to the 9, through to the 10 and 11, to drop your heal. So as you move from the end of the lift up and in to the set up, you should have a flat foot, which for many means that you will feel like your toes are much higher then your heal, like you are in a calf stretch position when you start the set up phase.
Then there is the infamous set up, the part of the pedal stroke that many people don't think about as it's not part of the up or down; and if you've been reading from the beginning hopefully you have clued in that there really is no up and down, it is around and around. We touched on foot position in the lift up phase and if done correctly you should be in good shape for the set up, or the "push forward". The key to the set up is to have a flat foot. If you are a "toe rider" or have a more vertical then horizontal foot at the top of your pedal stroke then it is too big a movement to correctly place your foot for the next phase and you are losing a lot of push, or forward propulsion.
The video talks about ankling, which many people do automatically, what you need to be aware of is how flat your foot is. The flatter your foot, the bigger the lever, so the more power you can generate. When pedalling at a high cadence you rely more on momentum and due to leg speed, there is not sufficient time for ankling or big changes in foot position; so you'll find that your foot is not as flat, it is simply about smooth circles.
When looking for more power, as we are in the current phase of training, having a flatter foot, really working on having lower heals in the set up phase and pushing forward and out to the 3 o'clock will result in more power, hence speed, at the same heart rate and cadence. So it is a gained benefit with minimal change in effort. Body position also plays a role, so when you are at a lower cadence, big gear and looking for big watts, slide your bum back in the saddle, feel like you have a bit of an arch in your back to ensure you are bending from your hips rather then your waist (pelvic tilt), relax your shoulders and drop them while keeping your back straight, bend your elbows and have them in line with your shoulders (going in to the drops can help you achieve this position), and keep your head up to stay aware of what is going on in front of you. This body position will help get your glutes and quads in to pushing your feet forward and the lower centre of gravity of your body will help with aerodynamics and strength.
So we talked a lot about pushing big gears, and touched on high cadence, but what about when we are riding at our "normal" cadence, or optimal cadence. All of the principles will be the same, you still want equal pressure your pedals as you do your circles, you just may not be pushing as hard. You still want more of a flat foot rather then a pointed foot, but it may not be as flat as when you are digging in a harder gear and this may be when ankling works for you.
The following diagram was found on several other websites and I'm sorry proper credit is not given as I'm not sure who the original creator was, but it helps describe which muscles you are using during a proper pedal stroke. This is a great time of year to get in the gym and work on single leg exercises to help balance out your legs and improve muscle discrepancies and weaknesses.
