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In road cycling culture, early season races are where competitors hone their fitness and fine-tune their strategic-sense to be as prepared as possible for the biggest events on their calendars. Having been competing for a number years, and coming off one of the best offseason training cycles of her career, Karen Meske dropped the ‘tune-up’ from her early-season to win the Roger Millikan Criterium! What’s more, she backed that up with another solid performance, the very next week, earning a hard-fought third-place podium spot. The Roger Millikan criterium is one of the most hotly contested early season races in Southern California, so one can imagine Karen’s excitement having taken her first win of 2018 there. Following this success, we caught up with Karen to talk about what has made her start to the season different than years past as well as what lies ahead for her in 2018 in our four-question Athlete Profile. Enjoy!  Karen Meske seals her first win of 2018 with a long sprint at the Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium. Photo Credit: Richard Lee Athlete Bio: Primary Sport/Discipline: Road Cycling Average Hours of Training Per Week: 8-12hrs Upcoming Goals: The entire 2018 SoCal road cycling race calendar Interview: Question #1: Congratulations on a great win at the Roger Millikan Criterium, Karen! How did you score the win? Karen Meske: Thank you! On the final lap, I positioned myself well, fighting to be second wheel heading into turn three, the decisive turn at the bottom of the hill… As we were exiting turn three, I ‘jumped’ as hard as I could and passed the first rider in the peloton. I was out of the saddle and hammered up the hill as hard as I could, through turn four, and onto the finish line! Approaching the finish I heard someone yell another girl’s name from the sidelines so I knew another rider was close to me. In that moment I pushed extra-hard, sprinting with everything I had, until I crossed the finish-line. I was first! In other exciting news, last weekend I followed my Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium race win with a third-place finish at the 3rd round of the CBR Criterium series in the Women’s 1-3 Category. Two podium finishes back to back…not bad at all, right? Coaches Perspective/Coach Joy: Karen did a great job solidifying her spot on the podium these past two weeks! She has years of experience and plenty of racing knowledge, so it is very exciting to see her achieve these great results. In bike racing, I believe experience, which comes with age, can out-perform even the most powerful legs in any peloton. The unique aspect of these two podium finishes for Karen is that she committed to racing hard until the very end of each race. Even in the CBR race where there were 2 riders ‘up the road’ in a break-away, she stayed focused on winning the field sprint. This tactical-awareness is a new addition to Karen’s “quiver of arrows”, so to speak, and is an attribute that will land her on more podiums throughout the season! I often tell my Athletes that the easiest part of being a cyclist and bike-racer is the training. The major challenge comes when implementing tactics and executing strategy. With that said, I have challenged Karen to dig-deep and think outside-the-box to find ways to win races in many different scenarios. Seeing these results come together, after all her hard-work and study, is very exciting for me as her Coach!  It was a happy day for Karen Meske at the Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium. She won the day with a long sprint to the finish. Photo Credit: Karen Meske Question #2: You worked hard all offseason to start 2018 with some of your best fitness ever. What about your preparation for this race season is different than years’ past? KM: The only thing that was significantly different during the off-season is that I trained quite a bit with the CBS Cycling Team and other experienced riders in the Santa Clarita area. That group is very strong, so trying to keep up with them pushed me to my limit quite often! I should say that I could not have done it without my dear friend Charity Chia, who encouraged me all the way. Training with Charity and CBS Cycling prepared me to complete all four rides at this years’ 4-Days To Fitness in January, which I have never been able to do. Coach Joy: Most of us love riding our bikes because of the people we get to ride them with, and Karen is no exception! Having found a welcoming, yet challenging, group with the CBS Cycling Team in Santa Clarita has provided Karen the opportunity to log many miles during the winter months with a talented group of riders. Many of these rides had Karen “out-gunned” due to the experience and horsepower within the group. This forced her to develop her group ride savvy, experience, and tenacity, as well as her fitness to a higher level than years past! As her recent results show, over the course of this training she transformed from surviving these rides to thriving in them! Given Karen’s history of racing and training, she had a solid foundation of fitness to begin tackling 4+ hour rides with this group of riders, which then pushed her her to complete numerous offseason Gran Fondo’s and Century rides. All of this work culminated with her being able to ride toe-to-toe with the main group at 4-Days To Fitness over New Years, not to mention these two early-season race results, which is awesome!  Training with the CBS Cycling Team has helped Karen Meske be her best leading into the 2018 race season. Photo Credit: Charity Chia Question #3: What is one of your biggest cycling objectives for this season and what events are you most excited about? KM: My biggest objective is to be able to continue training and racing throughout the year. I am currently in school, doing clinical rotations and completing assignments on top of my regular work duties. So my goal is to make sure I can keep my riding volume up so I don't lose too much fitness over the school year. If I can achieve that, I will be happy! I should mention that I enjoy the series of CBR races and am looking forward to the Chuck Pontius Criterium in Santa Clarita too. I want to do well in all those events. Also, I am hoping that there will be a few Women’s Master’s races along the way to do too! All in all I am really hoping to continue to train and race when I can this year… I am excited about any race I can go to with good fitness. Coach Joy: As long as we have been working together, Karen has done a fantastic job balancing her busy work and school schedule with her cycling aspirations to create a life that works well for her. To maximize her adaptation to training, we are diligent about adding rest around her brutal 12hr. work shifts at the hospital, as well as lightening the training-load when school projects and exams are assigned. Having the chance to “front-load” training with solid weekend training rides has allowed Karen to maintain her fitness-level throughout the winter. Additionally, this provides the opportunity to add days off the bike during the week, when needed, to ensure she is peppy for her work and studies. With her current fitness, we are both confident she can jump into any race and be able to handle the intensity and duration the peloton dishes out!  Karen Meske is known to jump into a few Master's races each season for 'extra' fitness. Photo Credit: Sherri Foxworthy Question #4: What is/are your favorite workout(s) in your training program? Also, please share a ‘knowledge-bomb’ you have learned while training with BWC. KM: Some of my favorite structured workouts are the 15 second sprints I do at the Rose Bowl and the 3x 6-minute 260-270w threshold efforts I execute on Angeles Crest Highway. This will be my 4th year working with Coach Joy and she has always given me workouts that are challenging but doable. That keeps me motivated and enjoying my training! As for a “knowledge bomb”; shorter/harder structured workouts allow me to stay in race shape while I am working and going to school. With all that said, I want to say, “thank you so much for all your guidance and support over the past 3-years, Coach Joy!” Coach Joy: I think it’s clear to see that those sprint workouts are really paying off at the races! Karen has successfully sprinted to a win and won a field-sprint to earn 3rd place. She has won each of the sprints she has contested over the past two weeks, which is excellent! It is great to see the structured workouts we put together have made an immediate impact on Karen’s performance at the races. With that said, I always try to assign workouts that will align her racing and group-ride goals. In this case the sprint efforts and short threshold intervals do very nicely. Volume isn’t always the key to success, nor is it possible for every Athlete to maintain high volumes of training throughout the year, so keeping Karen’s rides short and “to the point” allows us to avoid burnout that accompanies a busy work and scholastic schedule. By not dumping too much workload on her in training, she has maintained great life-balance, which is the key to longevity in Endurance Sport. I am excited to have another season to work with Karen and help her learn new tactics, strategies, and skills that can take her racing to the highest level possible. But outside of her racing success, it has been great to see Karen show up at her favorite weekend group rides and go ‘turn for turn’ with her friends. That success alone is a great return on her training investment!  Karen Meske is a proud member of the SkyFlash Race Team and enjoys the ladies she rides and races with. Photo Credit: Hector Castillo Summary: We hope you have enjoyed reading about Karen Meske’s racing success as much as we have enjoyed sharing it with you. For any Athlete, confidence is key to top-level performance. And without exception, confidence is earned through purposeful training, effective workouts, and detailing the unique aspects necessary to achieve success for your goals. At Big Wheel Coaching it is our passion to help every Athlete develop their confidence to the highest level possible through potent training. With that said, we think the famous NFL Quarterback, Roger Staubach offered great wisdom on developing confidence: “Confidence doesn’t come out of nowhere. It’s a result of something… hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication.” In summary, confidence is earned, just as an Athlete’s best fitness! #TrainYourPotential Until Next Time, Be Safe, Train Hard, & Have Fun! -Brian & Joy McCulloch Big Wheel Coaching Developing both aerobic capacity (endurance) and muscular power (strength) is key to creating the best fitness for Endurance Athletes. For many cyclists, this means a steady diet of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). With interval sessions designed to grow “top-end” fitness at various durations and power-outputs to make the Athlete successful on event-day. With that said, and although interval training is an effective means of developing both strength and endurance, there is more to training than just intensity work and recovery fractions. Just as important is developing a robust “base” of endurance fitness that ensures an Athlete has developed what is referred to as ‘economy of effort’. Economy of effort for an Athlete happens when both the muscular and aerobic systems become as efficient as possible. So then, what type of training should an Athlete do? Is the prescription primarily interval work? Or is there an approach that develops both the power and endurance necessary to perform optimally?  Interval training is designed to prepare an Athlete for the high-intensity workload that is experienced in competition, but it's only one component of good fitness. Photo Credit: Danny Munson, DMunsonPhoto.com A Recipe For Great Fitness: Interval Training + Endurance Work One training methodology that maximizes an Athletes adaptation to training-stress is coupling interval training with endurance work, in the same workout. Blending HIIT training with endurance work targets both of these critical elements of fitness that are required to be a successful cyclist. While training, we suggest Athlete’s complete the bulk of their interval work early in a workout (unless prescribed otherwise) and then go on to finish their session with steady-paced endurance work. This approach ensures that interval work is done powerfully, with ‘fresh’ legs to trigger maximum adaptation, while subsequent endurance-paced riding adds additional training-load without leaving lasting fatigue in the Athletes’ legs. By structuring training in this way an Athlete receives the benefits of interval training while adding valuable T.S.S. points (Training Stress Score) to each workout. This translates into a higher level of fitness that is punctuated by strong legs with repeatable efforts.  Endurance training is the 'bread and butter' of elite Athletes, and when coupled with proper HIIT training, this recipe can take your training to the next level! Photo Credit: Danny Munson, DMunsonPhoto.com Why Not Just Ride Hard All The Time? Many Athletes can be forgiven for falling prey to the notion that, “if some intensity is good, more must be better”. This concept of piling-on copious amounts of interval work, in each training session, is common for Athletes not following a structured training program. Unfortunately this type of training ends up creating so much lactic acid in an Athletes’ legs that frequent rest days must be added to their training to allow for proper recovery. This limits the depth of fitness an Athlete can achieve. In short, they will not be strong late in a ride or race. For other Athletes not following a structured training program, a pitfall that is common is adding endless ‘grey-zone’ training to a workout. This type of training generally leads to a ‘soft-strength’ where an Athlete can ride somewhat hard all the time. Generally the Athlete will stunt their interval training, not riding hard enough, then ride too hard during the recommended endurance portion of the session. This leads to a type of fitness well below an Athletes’ true potential. It should be said that for most Endurance Athletes, just two or three intensity workouts a week is all the work their bodies can absorb and recover from. Thus, adding more intensity or grey-zone training than can be recovered from is a recipe for over-training.  A well-prepared Athlete has both the power and endurance to achieve their athletic goals and highest potential. Photo Credit: Danny Munson, DMunsonPhoto.com
Adding Endurance Work To An Interval Training Session Coupling steady-paced endurance work into any interval session is fairly easy, as all it requires is a little discipline and some open-roads. Upon completing the prescribed interval work and subsequent recovery periods, settle into a steady endurance Heart Rate or power output, preferably with a quick cadence (85+rpm). This output is akin to a standard endurance workout and is punctuated with an even-pace regardless of the terrain. That means your pace will slow on climbs or rises, increase on ‘flats’, and otherwise vary to keep the power-output in the endurance-zone. What is most important to achieving success when adding endurance work to a training session is riding by H.R. or power, not speed. An Athlete should expect speed to vary, sometimes widely, based on the terrain and wind conditions during a given training session. Summary: By adding steady-paced endurance work to the back-side of any interval training session an Athlete can increase their daily TSS-point accumulation and grow their fitness as rapidly as possible. These additional daily and weekly fitness “bonus-points” will go a long way to ensuring an Athlete arrives in the best possible shape for their goal-event. In closing, training for an endurance event on-road or off, requires developing both strength and endurance. And with limited training time it becomes exceedingly important to develop each element as much as possible. By following a regular recipe of interval training plus endurance work you can be confident that your training as effectively as possible without risking over-training or having ‘flat’ legs. #TrainYourPotential Until Next Time, Be Safe, Train Hard, & Have Fun! -Brian and Joy McCulloch Big Wheel Coaching The Southern California road race season is just a month old and there has already been four weekends of racing! While much of the rest of the country is battling frigid winter weather and logging trainer-miles in their personal 'pain-caves', SoCal bike racers are already adding lung-searing race intensity to their routine at local criterium races. As one of the SoCal hammerheads that has attended every race this season, and even raced multiple events every outing, Gil Ron is making the most of his offseason upgrade from Category 4 to Category 3 by racing regularly. His short-term goal was to, "score some early season success." Excitingly, it took less than a month of racing in the fastest and most challenging pelotons of his cycling career for Gil to earn his first podium of 2018, last week at the CBR Super Bowl Sunday Criterium! Without question, Gil has been working hard in training to earn a podium placing, but it was his effective strategy and disciplined execution of his plan that transformed his early season fitness into a podium placing. Following his 2nd place finish in the Masters 35+ 3/4 Category, we caught with Gil to talk racing, training, and what is on the horizon for him in 2018 in our 4-question Athlete Profile interview. Enjoy!  Gil is at home at the front of every race he attends. He is always working hard and pushing the pace! Photo Credit: Gil Ron Athlete Bio: Primary Sport/Discipline: Road Cycling Average Hours of Training Per Week: 10-14hrs. Upcoming Goals: The 2018 El Tour de Tucson Interview: Question #1: Congratulations on your first podium of the 2018 season, Gil! What about this race was different than previous events? Was it course conditions, race strategy, position, fitness, a combination, or something else? Gil Ron: Thank you. I approached this event no different than any of the races I’ve been racing this season. It was "business as usual" in my mind. With that said, Coach Joy and I have been working-hard, every week, to make sure I am as prepared as possible to race, while ensuring I am not losing fitness by tapering too-much for upcoming goals. Together, Coach Joy and I decide what races I should race, since I just upgraded to Category 3 and can also race numerous Masters events. For the CBR Super Bowl Sunday Criterium we decided that I would use the Category 2/3 race as a ‘warm-up’ to get some racing miles without being overly aggressive or draining my energy. I wanted to save my best legs for the Masters Category 3/4 race later in the day! I had fun doing the Category 2/3 race, but my mind was focused on the Masters 3/4 event. In the Masters race, I knew where I needed to be with 2-laps ‘to go’ and also where I needed to be with 2-corners ’to go’, so I was confident I would have a good result. I am excited to say that the race went almost exactly as planned, one of my iSpeed Racing teammates covered the early break-away, ensuring our team was represented. His effort made it so I could “sit-in” and wait for the sprint, it was perfect teamwork. With 7-laps to go the field caught the break-away, so all I had to do was position myself in the top-10 while waiting to make my move in the last 2-laps. I placed myself properly leading into the sprint, just as I had visualized and practiced in the Category 2/3 race. I did have a small screw-up half-way down the dash to the line, but managed to save it, and push again to finish 2nd! It was a great feeling to see the plan came together! Coaches Perspective/Coach Joy: I am so excited for Gil and his CBR success! He is extremely fit and is sprinting very well right now, but the key to finishing on the podium in a sprint is always positioning and execution. That is why I was very happy that Gil wanted to use the Category 2/3 race as an opportunity to learn the dynamics of this race course. In the sport of bike racing, it seems that developing “race winning” fitness is the “easy part” of the equation as there are plenty of fit riders within a given peloton. The difference between the racers that get results and those that don’t is their ability to develop a strategy, stay disciplined to it, and execute their plan to the best of their abilities. By harnessing that three-step process Gil was able to increase his chances of a great result more than any single workout in his training plan.  The first podium of the season feels good! The smile tells it all. Gil was very proud to be sprinting with the leaders. Photo Credit: California Bicycle Racing Question #2: You and the rest of the iSpeed Race Team have been racing a lot of early season races, here in SoCal, and the team is already having solid results. What does a successful 2018 look like for the iSpeed team? GR: For 2018 the iSpeed Race Team’s main objective is to get each of our riders to the Category 3 level! To do that we have to look at the big picture, to think long-term, but also we have to look at our opportunities each week for every individual on the team to have success. We are a young team, but we are having a lot of fun together and enjoying the “new team baby-steps” as we get together to race and train each week. Coach Joy: It has been great to see the iSpeed team out “in force” at the races this season! The team has done a great job creating a fun environment at organized-rides and criteriums’ throughout the off-season and now they are ready to “take-on” the race season. With the majority of the team being category 4’s, they have a great opportunity to develop team tactics and execute them to the best of their abilities. Being comfortable and confident with your teammates is such a huge asset within a team. So it is a big bonus that so many of the iSpeed group lives close to each other. I should also mention that late last season, I put together a race-clinic together to help Gil and his teammates race together more cohesively. I can see that they have been working on the tactics they learned as they are executing sound race strategy each week! With all this in mind, and Gil’s incredible enthusiasm as a driving force in the team, I am excited to see where 2018 takes iSpeed Racing!  Gil and his team have done a lot of work together preparing to race this season. His Masters 3/4 podium placing was a team result! Photo Credit: Gil Ron Question #3: What is one of your biggest cycling objectives for this season and what events are you most excited about? GR: Generally, I want to get stronger, build power, fitness and keep honing my race-craft. Specifically, I focused on the El Tour de Tucson in November, last year. I am proud to say that I was 19th-place out of 1,780 riders. So this year, my goal is top-10! I have myself the best Coach out there, so I am confident I can do that. As for local races, I was looking forward to the Tour de Murrieta Omnium, but they cancelled the Time-Trial, so I am less focused on the event. Now it is just another race on the calendar. With TdM becoming a two-day event, I have no specific goal for myself at the moment, but my big objective is to see our team build it’s name and reputation in every category we compete in! Coach Joy: Gil is such a talented cyclist and can have success at events all season long! Leading into El Tour de Tucson 2017, Gil had done various SoCal Gran Fondo’s where he was able to enhance his endurance fitness by riding in pelotons filled with very experienced riders. Additionally, he was able to practice his hydration and nutrition habits on long-days in the saddle ahead of El Tour. Having these positive experiences leading into El Tour 2017 ensured that Gil was "dialed-in" for the race. Seeing all the hard-work he put in made it even more rewarding when he earned his top-20 result! With El Tour 2018 still a distant spot on the horizon, Gil has a great “over-arching” goal for the season in working for the team. His focus and drive is sure to help his iSpeed team earn results all season long!  Gil and his iSpeed Racing teammates are always working together to earn the best possible results together. Photo Credit: Gil Ron
Question #4: What is/are your favorite workout(s) in your training program? Also, please share a ‘knowledge-bomb’ you have learned while training with BWC. GR: I would say that it doesn’t matter what workouts I like, each of us is different and has different goals. I want to become a stronger rider, better racer, and help lead our race team, so I like the workouts that help make those goals possible! I should also say that no one is born a racer, so everyone needs to work hard to become successful. Back to the workouts, workouts are not supposed to be fun, they are supposed to be challenging. So I say that doing intervals is awesome… only after you “saved” the ride and see that you hit the prescribed numbers. For me that's an amazing feeling! BWC and Coach Joy has helped improve my fitness a lot in less then a year. If I had to do it without BWC, I think it would have taken me years, if at all. Having a solid training program is the only way to get solid results, that’s why every day we work and build toward a very special event in 2021… I feel lucky I found a partner like BWC and Coach Joy to help me achieve my best cycling fitness! Coach Joy: Gil starts every workout with tenacity and is diligent about the details. He is motivated to get each workout ‘just right’ regardless if it is a challenging interval session or a workout that develops pedaling skills. Gil knows each workout is important to the “fitness puzzle” and gives every one 110%! As his Coach, it makes me so happy to see him be this disciplined... the results speak for themselves. Gil is only three races into Category 3 and is already finishing on the podium, so I am confident when I say, “exciting things are in his future!” Summary: We hope you have enjoyed reading about Gil Ron’s criterium success as much as we have enjoyed sharing it! Without question, it is his attention to detail and emphasis on fitness, not to mention a focus on strategy that is continually propelling him upward in his training and at the races. From the coaching perspective, we know that Gil’s example of developing the best possible fitness and coupling it with a thorough and effective event-day strategy is a recipe for success that is difficult to beat! Additionally, we hope it will inspire you to look at every element necessary to become the very best Athlete possible. It's why created the 'hashtag'... #TrainYourPotential Until Next Time, Be Safe, Train Hard, & Have Fun! -Brian & Joy McCulloch Big Wheel Coaching As a sport, cycling is unique in the way it blends fitness, competition, and a social element that bonds enthusiasts of every level through shared-experiences. It is these fundamental elements, and so much more, that keep many of us pedaling, mile after mile. With that in mind, and the knowledge that every rider wants to cover those miles faster, we have compiled the following “fundamental elements of training” that can be put to use during every workout, long or short, easy or intense, to ensure a successful day in the saddle. By making these “fundamentals” a regular component in training you are sure to pedal faster and see greater gains from all your miles. Enjoy!  A proper warm-up and cool-down is a great time to enjoy the social element of cycling that we all enjoy so much! Photo Credit: Big Wheel Coaching #1: Warm-Up & Cool-Down Properly- Every Workout Although this may seem obvious, warming-up at the beginning of each workout is not as common as one might think. Each of us can be faulted for trying to squeeze in a “quick workout” or otherwise finding an excuse to avoid warming-up before a workout begins. With that in mind, it should be said that the purpose of warming-up is to prepare the body and mind for the workload ahead. What’s more, a good warm-up allows the body time to divert blood-flow from non-essential organs to skeletal muscle (i.e. the legs) that will power a successful workout. In regards to “warming-down”, the benefits also suggest that this should be a regular practice as it jump-starts the recovery process and allows the body to begin repairing itself following a tough bout of training. By incorporating a proper warm-up and cool-down an Athlete can both reduce their chances of sports-related injury and maximize their bodies adaptation to training stress with each workout they perform.  Proper hydration and nutrition habits are paramount to maximizing our bodies ability to perform optimally in stressful scenarios. Photo Credit: Kathy Fegan Kim/Cotton Sox Photography #2: Eat Early & Drink Often- Fuel Your Workouts For Maximum Gain It doesn’t take much research to see that there is a mountain of literature available detailing the benefits of eating and drinking during a workout. Despite this seemingly common knowledge, there is also no shortage of conflicting views on the best-practices an Athlete should follow to maximize their nutrient uptake during exercise. With this in mind we offer the following ‘jump-off’ point to help each Athlete determine what hydration & nutrition approaches suit their unique situation: A- Look to consume 200/kcal, or more, per hour on rides lasting more than two-hours. Note: rides of 90min. or less don’t usually require food, but use your best judgement, this is not a “hard and fast” rule. B- Consume at least one water-bottle of fluid, per-hour, each hour of a workout. Note: An Athlete should drink more when it is hot (above 80*F), and likely less when it is cold (under 45*F). C- The greater the overall intensity of a workout, the more easily digestible the hydration and nutrition sources must be. For example, on easy days solid nutrition is completely suitable, but race-day will likely require semi-solid or liquid nutrition sources.  A 'red' workout on your TrainingPeaks calendar is not the end of the world. When this happens, move-on and don't stress! Photo Credit: TrainingPeaks #3: There Are No “Make-Ups”- Move-On After Missing A Session The typical cyclist is a Type-A, driven individual that is working to improve in one or many areas of their fitness. So it is no surprise that when they miss a workout the initial reaction is an intense desire to ‘make-up’ for the loss. Unfortunately, that drive can be counter-intuitive, unproductive, and leads to further setback or in some cases over-training. The wisdom to take from this ‘fundamental’ is that a missed workout is exactly that, a missed workout. Let it go! Just as research has shown that we never truly “catch-up” on sleep, an Athlete is unable to “make-up” for missed training opportunities. When this happens to you, we suggest moving forward by adjusting the training plan to account for the missed workout(s) and working to get back into your routine as quickly as possible. Note: In the case of missed training due to travel, work, family, or other commitments, an Athlete can often resume regular training immediately. However, if the missed training is due to illness or injury, training should be “re-worked” to account for any loss in fitness as the result of the time off.  Knowing how to apply your effort on the bike is as important as having oodles of effort to give! Photo Credit: Kathy Fegan Kim/Cotton Sox Photography #4: Over-Achieve Where It Counts- Know When To Go Hard Or Easy This bit of advice is particularly valuable for those Athletes that are following a structured training program, but also has value for the more casual cyclist. This is because knowing how to balance “intensity”, “volume”, and “recovery” is key to creating the greatest adaptation to training. Unfortunately, most Endurance Athletes are guilty of not training hard enough on “hard days” nor easy enough on “easy days”. By giving extra effort on the interval portions of a workout, while being disciplined about riding easy during the recovery fractions, a cyclist is sure to get the biggest gains from each workout they perform.  Pacing off a friend can be good or bad, what matters most is learning to pace yourself to complete every effort to the best of your abilities. Photo Credit: Lisa Mindel
#5: Pace Yourself To Finish Strong It’s a sad reality, but “blowing-up” is an experience that many cyclists can relate to. Nearly every bike rider knows what it is like to have gone to hard, spent all their energy, and be left wishing they had more watts to give. One way to combat this and “finish strong” during an interval, long day in the saddle, or at a race is to be conservative at the start of any effort performed. Additionally, we suggest thinking of every effort as a hard, harder, hardest type output (unless otherwise prescribed). This simple pacing strategy is especially helpful on longer efforts where it is common to expend to much energy early, which results in a drop in pace as the interval wears-on. By being disciplined about pacing and starting more conservatively, regardless of the duration of a given effort, an Athlete is sure to have a more positive experience and greater success in every training session. Summary: We hope that you have enjoyed reading this edition of the BWC Coaches Corner and that applying these tips to your training regimen helps you see gains straight-away! At Big Wheel Coaching, helping our Athletes get the most out of every training session is our passion. And that passion directs our focus to how an Athlete executes a particular workout as much as it guides us to prescribe them the best training protocols possible to achieve their goals! #TrainYourPotential Until Next Time, Be Safe, Train Hard, & Have Fun! -Brian and Joy McCulloch Big Wheel Coaching |
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