SPRINTING CAUGHT ON FILM

I recently purchased a new Contour camera and have been playing around with it - apparently I'm not the swiftest at figuring which lights mean it's recording and remembering to stop recording during the boring bits, but I did catch some of our ride on tape (oops, showing my age) this past week-end.

We warmed-up and cooled down as a group and then did some 500 meter sprints on a 2.5 km loop, so there was a nice long rest in between where some people remembered to change in to an easier gear and pedal over 94 rpm (stickers will be awarded!), and some reverted back to old habits, but I'm sure you'll be picking up the pace after a few more rides with me reminding you to "pick it up".

This was the first outdoor ride for many this season and it reminded us that riding on a trainer is very different then riding outside.  Although the power and the pedalling technique, and the gains in aerobic endurance transfer over, the feeling of the wind, the rough pavement, the hills, the ability to rock the bike, are all things we need to get used to again.

Although many reverted back to old habits, it didn't take long to incorporate what you've learned this winter on to the road and the sprints that we've been doing inside with all the gear changing were a warm up to what we did outside.

So here are the key points:
* Keep your cadence over 94 - or aim for 100 rpm - when conserving energy
* Listen to your legs as to when you should change gears, when it gets too hard - shift, when it gets to easy - shift.  By listening to your legs, rather then anticipating what the road ahead will be like (i.e.: you see a hill and shift immediately in to your easiest gear losing all your speed), you will be more efficient and your momentum will continue to move you forward.
* When producing maximum power slide your bum back in the saddle, arch your back a bit, hands in the drops, elbows in, body low, and push forward with your feet.  There was a great shot from Ghent-Wevelgem this past week-end of a rider going up one of the 17% grade hills and from the front I could see the entire sole of his shoe as he "pushed" forward with his feet looking to power over the hill.  So flatten out the feet, heels down, and push forward rather then down.

So without further ado, here is the video I made from our ride this past week-end.  I promise the shooting and editing can only get better!

PARTY, PARTY, PARTY

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!