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Sterling Sports Group has been selected to manage
the 2008 SugarCRM Elite Cycling Team. The team will
be composed of 8 - 10 Elite Level (Cat 1/2) riders and
will focus on National Calendar (NRC) and esteemed
regional events while also participating in the local
race calendar.
The goal of the team is to offer a professional level of
support and development for talented riders looking to
make the jump to the next level. Over the course of the
year we will hit a variety of events including the
NRC races in California and across the U.S., a
selection of regional stage races, Elite National
Champonships and a couple of
east coast swings to round things out.
As part of the start up process we selected 13
riders to attend a Selection Camp the weekend of
October 27 - 28th. During this two day camp we did
several rides, a couple of tests (Whee - Montebello!!!)
and some rider meetings. From this we'll be
announcing our final 2008 roster very soon, so stay
tuned!
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As Pauly Shore might say "what's your power
buddy!?" Don't get left behind what is certainly the
technological wonderkund of 2007 - Power Training.
Nearly all of our athletes are training with power and
it truly gives them an advantage when it comes to
preparation. Instead of 'best guessing' your workouts
effectiveness, using a power-meter gives you the
opportunity to KNOW what you did and how it related
to what you wanted to do!
This isn't simple hyperbole. Power is a repeatable
and
quantifiable measure that is worth investigating, so
here's some 411 for ya:
Most often power is discussed in terms of watts, and
watts at threshold, or threshold power. This is simply
the maximum sustainable power that you can
msustain for approximately an hour. Many of you
may relate it to your Threshold heart rate and that's a
good
baseline for comprehension. Threshold power, like
threshold heart rate is a good way to measure your
effort on a ride or interval. Unlike heart rate, power is
a constant while heart rate is very reactive and can be
influenced by internal and external factors like
temperature, hydration, or fatigue. On a given ride
your true 'threhsold heart rate' maybe elevated or
depressed depending on these, and other factors. A
watt, however, is a watt so if we know that your
threshold power is 300Watts then it allows us to
create a training program that stresses you in an
appropriate relative proprotion.
To take it a step further consider that while Threshold
Power represents your best power for that one hour
window, you have other threshold levels that
correlate to different energy systems like sprint
power, VO2max power and anaerobic power. IEac
person has their own inherent power
profile, or 'picture' of their power at different durations.
This picture can be closely correlated with your
abilities. If I have great sprint power chances are I
can do well in sprints, if I have great VO2max power it
pre-disposes me to be good at Pursuit type events,
and if I have tremendous Threshold power I'll
probably be a pretty good time trialist.
If this has piqued your interest check out the special
offer in the Ergomo Coaching Center section above for
details on how to get into power for a great price!
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If you've been firing on all cylinders this year you're
probably ready to take a break. So how do you
effectively rest and recover from a season's worth of
athletic boundary pushing while not throwing away all
the fitness, power and endurance gains you've worked
so hard for?
The simple answer is to skip the off season! Sure it
sounds counterintuitive, but really when you think
about it an "off season" is somewhat illogical. Instead
of putting the bike away we propose that you simply
cut back on the total volume of training, and on the
volume of intensity (Zone 4+ efforts, you know the
ones that hurt!).
A good rule of thumb is to cut training frequency by 20 -
30%. So if you typically work out 6 days a week you
should only cut back to 4 or 5. As to duration of the
workouts (volume) - that can be cut back by ~50% or
so without substantial loss of submaximal ability. A
final consideration is the volume of intensity - the
amount of workout time you spend at high intensity.
During this period training intensity should not
decresae by more than 10-20% in order to maintain
the positive training adaptations. So how to put it all
together...
1. Decrease Training Frequency by ~20%
2. Decrease Training Volume by up to 50-60%
3. Decrease Training Intensity no more than 10-20%
4. Cross Train! Look for activities that you enjoy and
get out and do them regularly!
5. Take a mental break - the pressure to "go workout"
can be overwhelming. Be sure to give yourself the
license to enjoy the decreased volume and intensity
by making your workouts short and fun!!
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If you are not currently on a coaching program now is a good time to start (or restart)! We offer a variety of coaching options for athletes at every level. From the ease and simplicity of our pre built training plans to the private training sessions of our Gold and Sterling programs, each one is created with athletes in mind. In addition, If you are a member of one of our sponsored teams you'll enjoy a substantial discount as well. So do something productive for your cycling...Sign up for a Sterling Sports Group Program Today!
Sincerely,
Matt McNamara
Sterling Sports Group
email:
info@sterlingwins.com
phone:
408.891.3462
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