Posts Tagged ‘Jim Cunningham’

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Pay off?

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

Friday night my coach gave me a call to discuss Saturday’s race. It would be the first since I started training with Jim Cunningham. He started out asking me if I felt ready to go. My answer was that I just didn’t know.

What I meant was that I was neither overly positive or negative — I was feeling pretty neutral. The point is that physically I feel like I have the ability and power to finish strong. On the other hand, my weakness is my technical and tactical abilities. “I can see myself riding as strong or stronger than all the other riders out there, but work so hard that I don’t have what it takes at the end.”

Jim gave me some good advice. Basically, he said you have to consider the mathematics. The math tells you that statistically the early breaks aren’t going to survive. On the other hand, the math tells you that the more riders in a break the greater the probability of success — unless there is infighting. So, success could come down to simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Another important piece of advice was to make sure I understand the course. That means knowing where the pot holes and train tracks are. It also is important to notice the wind and positioning yourself to stay out of it. You’ve got to have an understanding of these things before you start to race. You don’t want to be trying to figure that stuff out during the race.

My coach’s confidence was a big boost to me. Obviously, circumstances and situations play a role in a high finish. However, Jim expressed a confidence that was infectious. I won’t talk about the rest of our conversation just in case the competition reads this before we get out there! :-) I’ll talk about it afterward — especially if things work out!

If you follow me on Twitter and you have it notify you when I post, you might want to turn it off. I’m going to be tweeting a bit during the day. If you aren’t following @LowCadence, then follow and keep up with what’s happening during the first day of racing in the Upstate — at the Greenville Spring Training Series.

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Trust the plan

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

As the new season comes upon us (the Greenville Spring Series is only a bit more than a week away), I find myself encouraged with where I am.  Sure, race day performance will really tell the tale, but at least I’m excited with the possibilities. There is one thing to which I have to attribute this new confidence.

Coaching.

There is no way I would be at the fitness I am without the employment of a coach. It isn’t that I have learned something earth shattering. I could most likely have found a training plan online, learned more about the TrainingPeaks software, and gained the knowledge to see progression. It still wouldn’t have made the difference that I am seeing now.

Why? Accountability. All of that stuff has no human interaction. How many times have I climbed on that trainer and completed my drill when I would have rather been somewhere else? How often when in a drill did I feel like cutting a corner here or there to avoid the pain? The powermeter doesn’t lie. I knew my coach was going to see the data and he would know I wasn’t giving my best.

Encouragement. I’m not saying my coach is a slave driver. There have been times when he has sensed a struggle and has adjusted my training to help me over the hump. More than that he has simply been a cheerleader to keep me “trusting in the plan.” When I’m lost in the data, he comes along to explain it in ways that keeps me seeking to improve it. When recently I struggled with team dynamics and frustration with my lack of riding skills, he came along side to teach proper tactics and pull me out of the funk.

Experience. It is one thing to have knowledge. I’m learning quite a bit about the science and equations of training with power. Sometimes I can anticipate what my coach is going to say as he assesses my power data. However, it has been said that wisdom is knowledge with experience. My coach has been there and done that. How does all that information translate into real life? Coach knows.

I’m sure that if you have a coach you think I’m describing yours! These points are not exclusive to just mine. Where ever you are, if you want to move your game up several levels, I encourage you to consider a coach. If you are in the Upstate then you’ve got to consider Jim Cunningham at the Greenville Cycling Center. Even if you aren’t in Greenville, he can coach you — whether you are a beginner or a professional.

Was this a commercial? I’m sure it comes across that way, but it is a sincere testimonial. I was skeptical as I entered the relationship. I knew having a coach could help, but I figured I could probably do nearly as well on my own. Looking back over the last three months, I realize now how naive I was. Wow! Has it only been three months? How much farther can I go in nine more? Jim has me believing! All I have to do is “trust the plan.”

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Posted in Bicycles, Life, Review, Training | 1 Comment »

The function of form

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

I’ve gotten to where I don’t really analyze my ride data until I get the file with mark ups from my coach, Jim Cunningham, of the Greenville Cycling Center. He ends up doing a much better job of finding the various efforts. Plus, I like the anticipation of finding out what he is going to say about my execution and progress.

After Saturday’s ride he commented in the report: “Wow, MEGA epic TSS points at 345.5!” This is something he comments on regularly. It took me forever just to figure out what it meant! Time Sweating in Saddle? Actually, it means Training Stress Score. It is a fancy way of saying, “This is how hard you trained today.”

Let’s say you rode for 1 hour at your functional threshold – as fast as you could for that period – you would get 100 points. Or as Joe Friel puts it: TSS = (sec x NP x IF)/(FTP x 3600) x 100. In other words, to get your TSS for a given ride you multiply the amount of time you rode in seconds by your normalized power and the percentage of your FTP. You then divide that by the number arrived at during your FTP test times the number of seconds in an hour. Finally multiply it all by 100.

Got it?

That is why I use TrainingPeaks.com and WKO+ – not to mention a coach to explain it all! It is enough for me to know whether I have reached the desired TSS for that day. There have been several times where I haven’t, so to hear that I’ve exceeded the desired amount is good news.

Ultimately, TSS leads us to CTL and ATL. Your Chronic Training Load is the accumulated effects of the TSS over a given period. For me that period is 42 days. Your Acute Training Load is the shorter term effects of the TSS. For me I consider the last 7 days.

The balance of your fitness and rest during those times is your TSB – Training Stress Balance. That is what a racer is talking about when he says he is in “good form.” Hunter Allen gives this simple equation: Form = Fitness + Freshness. The goal of every racer is to reach their A race with the best combination of Fitness and Freshness.

According to Jim, my CTL is doing great. However, just because my body may be strong and able to put out power doesn’t mean I’m ready to go race. I’ve been exerting a lot to get that fitness and that has led to some tiredness. You could say the tools are there, but I’m too tired to use them. So, I am not on best form because Form does not equal Fitness + Tiredness.

I could take some time off and that would bring the Freshness back into the equation, but if I don’t keep training at a certain level I will lose my Fitness. Form does not equal Unfit + Fresh. It truly is a balancing act and the goal is to combine the stress of exertion with the healing effects of rest. If you time these things correctly, you can arrive at your A race with proper form — Form = Fitness + Freshness.

Thankfully, it is all science. With my Quarq CinQo powermeter, WKO+, and a knowledgable coach, I have all the tools to make this work. It is cool to watch the little blue line move across the Power Management Chart in WKO+. I watch it graph upward as Jim puts the hurt on me and then it drops – like this week when I am not on the bike as much. However, I know that next week it will start climbing up again. I also know that it will climb higher than last week. So the CTL continues to climb until my A race.

I’m still waiting to sight that mythical animal called the Taper. The Taper is the final combination of Exertion and Rest before the A race. Jim speaks of this time with great reverence (okay, I’m exagerating) because the plan says that after the Taper I will truly begin to experience the results of the work I have done since November. I feel like Jim is the scientist and I am the beaker. He keeps putting in a combination of efforts, rest, time, and instruction. The beaker is starting to put off smoke, but we won’t know for sure if the experiment is a success until we pour it out for the A race.

To be honest, I don’t know what to expect. For now I’m just having fun watching that little blue line continue to make its steady way up the chart. The function of form is to give the best opportunity for success possible. Then it is just up to me and the bike.

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There is a dent in my sprint

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Had an opportunity to ride with my coach yesterday. He was along to help evaluate my sprint. I really appreciated him coming out especially since he was a bit under the weather.

Speaking of weather, it was beautiful! The temperature was in the upper 50s and the sun was shining warmly. It was a bit breezy, but nothing like Monday!

I really wanted to impress him. He has said that since we have started this relationship he has been surprised by two things – 1) my leg speed, and 2) my potential to be an adequate sprinter. What I mean by adequate is that it certainly will never be my strength, but that I might surprise a few people if the situation was right. In our session, I wanted to give him more reasons to believe!

My first mistake was that before leaving the office I stopped by the coffee shop and got a rather strong brew of Pumpkin Spice coffee. I was nursing it as I rushed home to change and then headed to Cleveland Park. I took one more swig before hopping on the bike.

During the warm up I felt just fine. Then it was time for me to do 6 x 8 second all out sprints with a 4 to 5 minute recovery between each. We came into the straight where I was to launch and then I attacked.

Right off the bat I felt very sluggish. Jim had told me to start out at a higher cadence than normal and then shift into the harder gears as I got my leg speed up. There were a lot of things to think about with my form, cadence, and time. I didn’t feel focused at all and when I looked down at my meter near the end of the sprint I saw the low number of 888 for my power. Yuck!

Turns out I didn’t impress Jim at all! First, I had gone the entire time with my hands on the hoods. Second, I was leaning too far forward. Third, I started in too easy of a gear. Fourth, I shifted too soon. I’m sure there were more problems, but I can’t recall them at the moment.

Here’s the deal – other than the starting out in too easy of a gear, this is how I have always sprinted. Typically, I put it in the hardest gear I can and spin it out. What I learned in my session is that my typical way of sprinting might produce a peak of 1300+ watts, but it also means I can’t hold it and I begin to bog down.

So, it was back to the drawing board for the following sprints. I tried varying cadences and positions on the bike. Finally, I was in the drops, learning to have a neutral spine, keeping my rear near the seat, and shifting properly. I might not have been going very fast, but at least I was starting to look more like a sprinter!

About the third attempt it hit me. I started to feel very sick to my stomach. I knew my heart rate was no where near maxing and the efforts, though intense, were very short. Why was this happening? I even started to get stitches — which I haven’t had in a year or so.

All this — the stomach, the numerous things to consider as I sprinted, and the seeming low output on the wattage — had me reeling and I was pretty frustrated. Jim then had to go and I was left to do the remaining 45 minutes or so by myself. As I continued the cool down I got slower and slower as my stomach felt worse and worse. I kept drinking water hoping it would help clear things up.

Finally, toward the end I started to feel better. Looking back, I’m certain it was the coffee. Besides being strong I don’t typically drink coffee that soon before I ride like that. Another lesson learned!

Toward the end of the ride I was stopped by a LowCadence.com reader. He talked of how he had started out climbing Paris Mountain in a triple in 18 minutes and now he has graduated to a compact gear and is down to 14+ minutes! The thing I needed to hear at that point was that this blog had been an encouragement to him. Suddenly, my stomach was feeling really good!

At home I took a look at the data and it actually wasn’t as bad as I was feeling. My max wattage for the session was 1374 watts. That is just short of my desired 1400. None of the attempts registered a max below 1000 with most being between 1200 and 1300.

So, the bad news is that I have dent in my sprint. I’m technically a mess with form and technique. I am not comfortable doing things right because I have had bad habits for some time.

The good news is that with Jim Cunningham as my dent remover, I have potential to see some good improvement in this area of my riding. When I finally train myself to sprint like I am supposed to, I think I’ll feel much more confident in the races this year where we’re all putting the hammer down for the line.  Wow… me as a sprinter! I’m starting to feel more sexy already!

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Funk does not equal flunk

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Saw a Twitter entry from my friend Bryant Young. He has been training hard over the winter in preparation for the upcoming season. He has some lofty goals and has been working hard to meet them. Like me, he is a busy man – actually busier! Trying to stay on the bike and still perform in all the other areas of our lives can be a challenge.

Anyone out there ever fell into the “funk” relating to getting ready for a new season? I would be interested in knowing how you handle it?

Well, Bryant, I was hoping you could tell me! It seems like as soon as the 2010 race calendar landed on my desk I started to feel the funk. Ironically, it is that feeling that the season will never get here that seems to cause the lethargy — even though it is as close as it has ever been.

Of course, Bryant (like myself) has recently battled a sickness. I think that always has the potential to mess with your mind as I mentioned earlier this week. I think part of starting to get out of the funk in our cases is working to get back as healthy as possible. It is amazing what the feeling of strength can do to help you back to a positive attitude. You just have to recall to mind how you know you can feel and focus on that positive expectation.

How do I plan to battle the funk? Other than working to get back to full health, I plan to focus on today. For me the funk comes because I am thinking too much about the future. I start wondering how I’m going to make it all happen! In a moment’s thought the entire rest of my training season and the race schedule piles on my head. Of course, that all happens in the context of all the other facets of my life. It can be overwhelming!

I am told over and over — “Trust in the plan.” Bryant and I share the same coach and he keeps reminding me that his job is to worry about the schedule and making sure I’m where I need to be. Let him do his job and I just need to find the time TODAY to follow the plan. When I get on the bike TODAY, I need to do it with the joy that I know it can bring. I’ll do what I need to do tomorrow when it gets here.

Before I know it, the season will be here and I’ll be exactly where Jim said I would be. If I’m there, then I know it is going to be a great year! Remind yourself, Bryant, that all this will be worth it then.

Beat the funk?  Don’t worry about tomorrow. Focus on today – there is enough to think about right now!

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Good luck, Bryant!

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Better understanding my recovery rides

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Last week I mentioned how hard it is for me to properly execute the recovery rides that I am assigned by my coach. You can read about my thoughts here. I asked my coach, Jim Cunningham, with the Greenville Cycling Center to explain his approach to these efforts.

Pedaling a ‘high’ cadence (i.e. 90-100 rpms) increases HR, ventilation, dilation, etc. more-so than low/lower cadence.  I often refer to this as ’speeding up time’ as an athlete will recover more quickly (there are times when complete rest is called for) with this greater blood flow.

Think of it this way – one can circulate his/her blood:

1000 times in 1 hour lying on couch  OR
3000 times in 1 hour riding easy.

Further, torque is lower at higher cadence thus putting greater emphasis on the lungs/heart and less on the working muscles.  More, power can be low in the recovery ride (in your case, sub-180) as leg speed on it’s own causes some of the physiological response (note, spin-ups in very easy gear will often push HR in zones 3 & even 4).

Had you pedaled at an average of say 85 rpm’s would you still have a ‘recovery ride’?  I suspect so but not as much of one.

Jim said he was going to ask some of his coaching friends for their takes on the question. I can see what he is saying. The only thing that was throwing me was that the Quadrant Analysis seemed to indicate that this was not a recovery style ride.

The bottom line is found in the answer to the question Jim asked me at the conclusion of his explanation, “Do you feel your recovery ride was easy and refreshed you?” I have to answer yes to that. Even though I felt as though I was working during the ride, afterward I felt very relaxed, loose, and refreshed.

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Can you fail an FTP test?

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Saturday after my functional threshold power test, I sent the data to my coach, Jim Cunningham. He was traveling in California and was unable to give me his analysis that day. However, on Sunday afternoon just before I sat down for a meal with family, the phone rang. It was Jim.

After the normal exchange of pleasantries — it was raining in Greenville and sunny in California — Jim got down to business, “I looked at your data and thought it would be best to give you a call to get your thought process during the test.” Somehow I figured that would be the case. My approach was probably a little unorthodox.

“I noticed that you had a higher cadence in the beginning with an average wattage around 260 watts,” he continued, “but then your cadence drops significantly three different times and at those points your wattage is over 300 watts.” Yep, the graphs don’t lie.  That is exactly what happened.

I explained to him that I was fearful of starting out too strong and that I took it easy in the beginning but measured my effort to keep myself close to my known FTP average. The bursts were times when I stood and dropped the cadence in order to increase the wattage to bring the average up. The times between the bursts were me attempting not to red zone too early from the harder efforts.

“I understand,” he replied. “However, typically in a TT effort you try to maintain a steady effort.” Somehow I knew he was going to say that. “I think at some point in the future we need to have you do another TT effort, but this time keep you in the 80s for your cadence. It could be that for TT efforts you will do better with a lower cadence.”

I explained to him that when I ride at a higher cadence it gives me a very good cardio workout, but I cannot sustain high wattage for very long doing so. I get much more fatigued when I am spinning at 95 to 100 rpm in order to hold a 270+ power level. Bigger gear in the 80s and I can hold that power level much longer.

On Sunday night my workout was supposed to be an hour ride with a large portion of that in a 190 to 220 watts zone. I determined I wasn’t going to look at the cadence readout on my Garmin Edge 500. I was just going to find a gear that allowed me to hold that wattage and felt comfortable to me.

At the end of the workout, I felt great! I then looked at my power file. Every interval was nearly dead on between 82 and 84 rpm. I was also better able to sustain a steady rhythm. Even when I felt as though I was spinning faster during the warm-up and cool-down, I was still only at around 86 rpm.

I realize that I need to learn to ride at a higher cadence.  However, I also think cadence is somewhat of a personal thing. There is an amount of finding what works best for you. I can see myself settling in somewhere between 85 and 90 rpm. Time will tell.

And, yes, I realize now that when it comes to a TT effort FTP test, I need to measure my effort out across the entire period instead of dipping and spiking.  As Jim said near the end of the conversation, “You shouldn’t have had that much left in the tank at the end.”

The bad news? I didn’t really do my FTP test correctly. The good news? Most likely had I done it correctly, I would have had better results. On top of that, I still increased my FTP by 10 watts. I’ll go with the good news!

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Waiting on the word from my coach

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

My second Functional Threshold Power test occupied my mind yesterday. It was a pretty busy day without it. I was a little nervous going into the event because I knew I was a little more pressured than usual and my schedule wasn’t going as I planned. Still, the time did come and now I’m waiting on my coach for the official results.

At 7:30 AM I was at a budget planning meeting with my two business partners. Actually, it was just one. The second had gotten a bad head cold the night before and joined us later on the telephone.

That meeting lasted until a little after 11 AM. Of course, by that time the Upstate Winter Bicycle League had already started. There would be no pink cat. 4 sprinter’s vest for me.

Then to make matters worse, a toilet in the office building had plugged. There was water gathering in the carpet in one of the programmer rooms on the other side of the wall from the restroom. Since care of the building is one of my responsibilities, it was up to me to get it cleaned up.

That led to a late lunch which then led to a late start on my pre-test ride. That ride was to be a 2:15 ride with a warm up of 15 minutes at under 180 watts, a sustained wattage between 180 – 220, and then a cool down for 15 minutes under 150 watts. It was a little cool out there, but not bad.  I was well layered and only my fingers started getting a little cold by the end.

After getting off the bike and getting myself sorted out with some food, it was time to get back on the bike.  This time I would be on a trainer in my basement. This ride would be different in that I was supposed to work up to giving a solid TT effort and that would determine my Functional Threshold Power.

20 min. FTP effort (Click to enlarge)

20 min. FTP effort (Click to enlarge)

It starts off with a 10 minute warm-up with a nice little push in the last two minutes. After 5 minutes of backing off from that last effort, you start a 20 minute effort maintaining wattage between 220 – 240 watts. Then it is time to spin easy for 10 minutes. Ready? Now it is time for an all out effort for 20 minutes before finally spinning down for a final 10 minutes.

Everything was going according to plan until the first 20 minutes segment. Even though I was in my unfinished basement and the temperature was in the mid-50s, I was really starting to get warm. I knew that would lead to fatigue. So, I got off the bike, opened the door to the outside, and set up a fan. Things started to cool down quickly and I got back at the task at hand.

The meat of the test started with the 20 minute all out effort. Knowing my habit of starting out too early, I tried to start out below what I knew my Functional Threshold Power level to be.  I did this for the first 5 minutes.  My Garmin Edge 500 was telling me that the Quarq CinQo power meter was recording 260 watts. I then shifted down and stood putting out over 300 watts for a couple of minutes.

That effort moved up close to my known 270 FTP. However, I knew I could not sustain that for the next 15+ minutes.  I backed off to recover a little bit until I reached the 10 minute mark.  At that point, I upped the wattage again.  This time the watts went up to 276.  Now it was time to recover slightly for the final push to the end.

I watched as the wattage dropped during those minutes to around 274 watts.  I knew that was better than my previous test, but I was certain it did not represent where I was today. It was time to stand and push to the end. So, with about 4 minutes left, I came out of the saddle, shifted down, and then pushed to the end.

It was worth it! Yes, I felt kind of sick by that last pedal stroke, but looking at my Garmin I saw an average of 279 watts for the 20 minutes.  That is nearly a 10 watt increase over my last FTP test. That final push had raised my average by about 5 watts.  Looking at the graph, I see that it was also the portion of the ride where I put out the most wattage.

I uploaded my data to Trainingpeaks.com and my coach, Jim Cunningham, who has been in California coaching at the Olympic Training Center, will soon let me know if I did everything correctly so the test will be valid. I can’t imagine it won’t be. I will be curious to know if he expected a better performance.

Me? I’m pretty happy with it. I have had a very rough start to my training due to all the physical problems I’ve been having. It has hampered my off the bike training most of all, but has not made training on the bike as profitable as I would like either. To see any increase it encouraging. Now that I am starting to beat this pain, I hope the next segment of my training will be even better.

Who knows what my numbers will be next time? Yes, I realize that an FTP of 279 watts just puts me in the Cat. 4 level, but – hey – that is what I am! I would love to see myself over 300 before all is said and done. You’ve got to start somewhere!

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Posterior and Posture

Friday, November 27th, 2009

Forgive this extended video of my backside. However, I’m placing this up on the blog so my chiropractor can see the video before our meeting this Wednesday when he plans to put me on my bike. He is doing his best to help me past this knee pain and posture problems I’m having. This video provides some good real life data for him to consider.

It was a good ride. I can certainly see how these training rides are different from how I would typically go out for a morning ride. Jim was keeping me in my pedals the whole time. No coasting on those downhills! You’ve got to keep that wattage up whether you are climbing or descending.

The funny thing is that it actually makes descending even harder than climbing.  It is easy to hit 240 watts when you are climbing up a hill. It isn’t so easy to hit it when you are going down it! I found myself more out of breath coming to the bottom than arriving at the top.

Jim says these rides serve the purpose of preparing me for later rides when I am going to have to go harder for shorter periods. I’m training my legs to keep pressure on the pedals… on and on and on… It will become second nature when I’m pushing and feeling like I want to let up.

Good stuff.  With Jim and Dr. Mruz working with me, I really think my body is going to be ready for the next season. I’ve also got to keep focusing on the mental and teamwork side of the bike.

It will come.

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An iPhone view of the GCC open house

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

Saturday I had the opportunity to drop in on the open house for the new Greenville Cycling Center presented by Jim Cunningham Coaching. Jim has put a lot of work — and investment — into this new business. It was great to see many in the cycling community come out to show their support.

I wish I could have stayed longer, but I had to rush off to another event. Saturday evening was the return party for the Palmetto Peloton Project Challenge to Conquer Cancer Ride. It was great to see everyone again.

It was a pretty busy weekend — as you might have noticed from the lack of blog posts and the not so good video editing in the above clip! Hey, there is more to life than this web site… like making sure I complete all the training exercises Coach Jim is sending my way. :-)

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