The triathlon space is full of really well-written articles about the concept of Long Slow/Steady Distance training (LSD) as the optimal way to build fitness en route to an Iron- or Half Iron distance event. As convincing as these authors might be, practical experience shows that the sooner you can get faster, the faster you’ll be overall.
For a second let’s depart from the objective data gathered from untrained male subjects in Belgium tested to fatigue in 1998 on rowing ergometers. . Let’s take a look at this real world example from the tale of two triathletes.
The final measure of our success, as coaches and leaders of a team of long course triathletes, are their performances on race day. Inside Endurance Nation there is no “look at what I did as a pro; look at the initials behind my name; look at my fancy business polo shirt…you gotta pay me $$$/mo cuz I say so.” Our results talk for us. We are going to regularly and repeatedly hit you between the eyes with the performances of our athletes and remind you that none of them is paying us more than $79/mo to be a member of our team and that you can try us out, for free, for 30-days. Until we close the doors on 5/1/2009, that is!
Note: This is the second results installment of 2009, please click here for #1.
Executive Summary
Joe Ruiz: Caesar Rodney Half Mary, Goal 1:52:35, actual 1:52:39, and a negative split John Peterson: Shamrock Half Marathon, 1:41:40 (7:43/mi), first half mary, first run longer than 10 miles, negative split. Michael Graffeo: 5k test, 19:29, a 1′ PR after only four weeks of Endurance Nation David Ambrose: 24% FTP (from 209w to 260w) and 2.3 VDot gains during the 16 week Out-Season Program. Trent Prough: 28% FTP gain (from 210w to 269w) during Endurance Nation Out-Season Program David Vanette: 40% FTP gain (from 178w to 250w) during OS
At Endurance Nation we are big on having our athletes learn how to ride in groups, to train with faster people. Why? In our experience, your perception of your physical limitations are shaped by the perspectives of the people you surround yourself with. If you, and everyone you know, think that 18mph on the bike is fast, chances are you’ll do a lot of 18mph riding…no amount of which will every build 20mph fitness! But if you can learn how to ride and train with faster people you’ll experience an exponential fitness and learning curve growth!
The following is from an email I wrote to the Pasadena Tri Club. PTC has a great tradition of group riding, particularly with a Wednesday night brick that we run from March through October. Last week, with a relatively early 5:30pm start and our second session of the ’09 season, we had between 30-40 riders join us for laps of the Rose Bowl!
….snip….
Like Haroon said, great to see so many people out there so early in the season, at such an early start time! Better things to come! More importantly, I think we had about 15 riders in the first selection of the A group on the third lap. I observed a lot of things but since it’s difficult to deliver useful and tactful instruction when your tongue is in the spokes…I’ll give that now.
When the paceline is wound up and hammering, think of it as train, with:
The Engine: a rotation of guys who are sharing the work at the front. One guy pushes wind until he’s ready to rest, then he pulls out and drops back down the line to get back in and rest on a wheel. His work is taken up by the “second wheel,” the guy who was behind him, who is now at the front taking his turn of work. The Engine naturally forms itself, as guys (and gals) who feel then can contribute to the smooth operation of engine take their place in the rotation and take their turn of work at the front.
The Passengers: these are the people that are sitting behind the Engine, getting pulled along.
Notes:
No one in the Engine expects the Passengers to do any work. Just sit back there, stay out of the way, yell “car back,” tell us “nice pull” every now and then, maybe buy us coffee at stops (hint), etc. But just stay out of the way.
But if you find yourself in that Engine, in the middle of the rotation of guys who are doing work at the front, you will be expected to contribute to the effort by taking your turn at the front. Period.
To insert yourself into the Engine and NOT take a pull is extremely poor form.
When it is our turn to work (you go from second wheel to first wheel), to surge and accelerate the speed of the paceline is poor form.
To be riding 3rd or 4th wheel, move out of the line, accelerate up the side and past the guy doing the work is poor form, especially if the group has been working very hard and smoothly together as a group (ie, everyone is contributing). You are in effect saying to the guy who is pulling “thanks for crushing yourself at the front and pulling me along. I’m going to repay your work by quickly accelerating past you so that, while you are totally shelled, you can make a choice to either accelerate to earn the privilege of getting on my well rested wheel, or watch me disappear…have a nice day!” You can only imagine the reaction if said move happens after you’ve been sitting in for 80 miles of a 100 mile ride…Heroes are heros all day. Zeroes try to be heroes at the end of the day when the heroes are tired. To do so is to disrespect the work they have done for you, all day.
If you feel you don’t have the fitness to contribute to the effort, how do you stay out of the Engine?
Observe who is doing the work. You’ll usually see the same 4-5 guys up at the front each week, the guys who have the fitness and skill to drive the train.
When one of these guys moves off the front, slides down the side and starts looking for a gap to get back in the rotation and rest, OPEN UP A GAP AND LET HIM IN. If you don’t let him and he gets behind you, guess what. Congrats, you are now in the Engine and will be expected to work. If your turn comes and you DON’T work and this guy, who just came off the front, is now expected to work before he was ready, you have instantly identified yourself as a non-worker in engine, the workers in the engine will be pissed.
If you accidentally find yourself in the Engine and don’t want to be there, get out of there before it’s your turn to take a pull. Simply move out to side, motion for the guy behind you to come up, and just say “I’m outie, getting in the back.”
I can go on and on but hopefully this helps. No one sat down and taught me this stuff, I’ve just learned it through miles and making mistakes. But hopefully now you’ll have better situation awareness and can make a better contribution to the smooth running of a paceline.
On Sunday night 3/29, Endurance Nation will host a live webinar event to showcase our latest free resource: The Endurance Nation Bike Fit eBook. (Event details are on Facebook)There are limited slots available: 50 for Team EN members and then another 50 to be distributed via our network of partners. Please read on to learn more and find out how you can put you name in the offering for a spot.
During this hour long event, eBook co-author Todd Kenyon (TTBikeFit.com) will discuss, with EN Coaches Rich Strauss and Patrick McCrann, the principles of bike fitting for triathletes. This will include REALTIME video analysis of several Pros and Age Groupers. There will be time at the end for a question and answer session. The slides, video and audio from the webinar will be added to the EN Bike Fit eBook, creating a one-of-a-kind resource to inform and empower triathletes to make better decisions around frame selection and bike fitting in general.
Participants not only get the insider info from the webinar itself, but they’ll also receive the first edition eBook (as a PDF download) before anyone else.
To get your spot, please reply to this post with a quick paragraph on how an improved bike fit will help you this season. Top 5, most creative replies will win a slot…to be announced by Friday.
Sign up for twice monthly email updates @ topics you want! EN will never sell or spam your email!
2011 EN Triathlon Rallies
Every year Endurance Nation hosts FREE training camps across the US. Last year more than 150 triathletes joined us!! In 2011 we'll be holding events in:
. Let’s take a look at this real world example from the tale of two triathletes.
