Nya Långa Lugnet, Falun, Sweden

This past weekend, SoS Athlete, Colin Osborn Raced in Falun Sweden and here is his race Recap!

Wow! What a sweet race! I was already having an awesome time in Stockholm, riding and and sight seeing, but the racing has been really fun. Partly aside from the adventure it was a welcome to return to racing and feeling as good as I did back in March, where I was able to perform how I felt I should.

The course it self was really cool, pretty much 3, 20km loops at the Falun ski mountain in Northern Sweden of really fast, fun, twisty and technical mountain biking. The last loop was my favorite, having the most climbing and also single track. The last 2km actually reminded me a lot of riding in Breckenridge and Snowmass, Colorado. In pre-riding I was really enjoying how fast everything and was curious to see how it was going to be in racing.

Race day came, and was off fast with some gavel road sections that kept everyone in a pack for quite some time. In the beginning it was a lot like a road race, people jockeying for position and also trying to keep the pace high. Luckily I was able to stay out of trouble and keep decent position. Once we got off the roads I was struggling to pass people, but was able to move up a pretty good amount. I really went deep in the race, but did feel better and better as the race progressed.

On the last lap I really tried to turn it up and go all out in an effort to make up more places and came away in 23rd. I was hoping for a top 20, but, for hopping off a 16hr plane only a few days before and still having some jet lag, I’ll take it. I love racing in other countries and seeing what they have as their race courses. being from Colorado I feel we have a wide variety of terrains and courses, but always fun to check out other ones. Plus, after years and years of watching ski events here at Falun, it was petty cool being able to race here myself, even if it was on my bike

Next up it’s off to Germany for the start of Trans Germany, or Bike Four Peaks as it’s been renamed this year.

Up up up!

Follow Colin on his blog here!

Managing Weight with Training Tools

The general population puts the majority of focus on weight numbers but as endurance athletes our goal is to make our bodies effective and efficient machines.  We already push ourselves physically and mentally and many focus on the effectiveness of our weight and bodies’ composition.  Power to weight is a great example of this efficiency, making each pound productive in reaching a final goal.  As athletes, one of the hardest things can often be maintaining weight during a taper or transition period when volume and/or intensity is low.  During these times it becomes more important to utilize many of the tools that are at our disposal including: testing, heart rate monitors, power meters and especially a 3 day nutrition log.

Calculating Your Burn Rate

Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is a measurement of what our body would burn calorically if we were completely sedentary.  This number is what it takes our body to simply sustain life.  There are several things that can alter this including age, weight, body composition, supplementation, medications and stress.  Your numbers for RMR can be estimated with many online calculators, my personal favorite being at shapeup.org.  If you are looking to personalize it for yourself you can do a resting metabolic rate test, which we offer at Science of Speed.  This test gives you precise data that is specific to your own bodies needs and adds a much greater level of accuracy.

HR monitors and power meters can be a good way to gauge our total calories burnt.  Heart rate can have it’s inaccuracies, however, it can help you track your trends in training with your weight and allow you to become proficient at estimating your needed calories.  If you are looking to add an even greater level of accuracy power meters are an amazing tool for tracking caloric burn through kJ, which correlate roughly 1:1 into calories.  Tracking these numbers with RMR, and a calculated estimate of your daily activity can give you very reliable numbers for your overall needs.

Tracking it

By far the most successful thing that I have found for my own personal weight maintenance and many of my athletes’ success is completing a nutritional log.  It is certainly something that you can do daily but it can take a fair amount of time.  Doing a three day period, including one weekend day, monthly or bi-monthly gives a realistic gauge of consumption vs. burn.  I have found two great apps that have lead to great success for many of my athletes.  Trainingpeaks.com’s mobile app helps track training and nutritional data and makes it a one stop shop for all of my athletes to see their schedule, upload training files and input their dietary intake.  Not looking for something quite so detailed?  Another very useful app is MyFitnessPal.  It is free, very user friendly and has many great features.  With both of these you get the ability scan barcodes, create your own meals and most importantly get a breakdown of calories as well as your percentages of carbohydrates, fats and proteins that you consume.

Maintainence or Loss

Each day’s nutrition can vary drastically.  From the long training sessions that lead to high caloric burn and the rest days that result in very low caloric needs so too will your caloric intake needs vary.  Much like training, tracking our nutrition can be a very good thing to help take you to that next level but it can be taken to the extremes.  A safe approach to weight loss is moderate weight loss (1-2lbs/wk ¹) over an extended period of time and by properly monitoring your nutrition and workload with the above listed tools you can track this very precisely and effectively reach your own weight loss goals. So, take that next step and begin tracking your nutrition.  Don’t track the days that you know are your “good” days, instead get a realistic snapshot and take a critical look at it.  If it is overwhelming to track your own training progress, nutritional progress and everything else that is involved we are here to help you bring the science to your training and help you make it to whatever your next level may be.

¹ http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/aim_hwt.pdf

Killer Abs and a Weak Core:

Becoming a Well Balanced Athlete

So many people dream of that flat stomach and a shredded six pack and do thousands of crunches trying to improve their core strength.  There is one fundamental flaw for this thought process however.  Many people spend their days hunched over their computer at work, slouching in the chairs we sit in and for triathletes and cyclists alike, spare time is spent laid out over their favorite bike.  This routine leads to the rectus abdominis (abs) being worked frequently and many other important stabilizing muscles neglected.  

The problem with this neglect is that it leads to an imbalance of weak stabilizing muscles and an underdeveloped core.  So what?  As endurance athletes our core is what stabilizes the rest of our body to do the work that we are constantly demanding of it.  Whether you are on the bike, running or in the pool your core is providing a platform for the extremities to work from and if this is weak we limit our performances before they ever begin.

The important part is to remember what all your “core” is composed of.  Not only is it the muscles of the stomach but also the back, neck, obliques, hip flexors, glutes, erector spinae and hip abductors/adductors that are in need of attention and strengthening as well.  There are many workouts that have been designed to help target these specific muscle groups but the sample workouts below are focused on a handful of them that will work the majority of these groups. Try these strengthening exercises after your next workout and begin becoming a more well rounded athlete

Plank- Laying on your stomach lift your body off the ground and support your weight with your elbows and forearms.  body should remain straight with knees on the ground.  Hold for 30 seconds each time.

Supine Glute push up- Laying on your back with your feet on a medicine ball lift your hips off the ground while keeping your shoulders in contact with the floor.

Rotational crunch-  Assume the standard crunch position with your feet flat on the ground.  Raise shoulders off the ground until torso is at a 45 degree angle to the ground.  Rotate upper body 45 degrees to each side (hands should go from one side of body to the other.

Side bridge- Laying on your side, Support your body with your forearm and elbow.  Be sure to keep body in a straight line.

Bicycles- Laying on your back in a standard crunch position, raise your feet off the ground by bending at the hips.  Make a circular motion in the air with your feet like you are pedaling a bicycle.

-Brady Irwin

Equipment Like the Pros

Over the past week there has been a great deal of hype in the cyclocross world.  With the Elite men and women racing in Louisville for the first ever U.S. based Cyclocross Worlds.  If you have been reading through any of the cycling news based sites or magazines you would have noticed that there has been a great deal of focus on these important races.

Photo from: Velonews.com

One thing that has not been mentioned that has stood out to me is the story of current U.S. National Champion, Jonathan Page.  Through 2012 he has not had a bike sponsor, or title sponsor for that matter, and had been riding and racing on a Blue brand cyclocross bike.  After his Nationals victory he was signed by Fuji bikes, hardly one week before his largest race of the year.

Here is what I see as a coach, bike fit specialist and athlete:

• Even though as a professional and he has a full time mechanic to take care of his equipment and make sure it works well you drastically increase your risk of something going wrong.
• When you have been training and racing on the same equipment for a whole season.  One week out you are now changing not only the bike but the fit and the way the bike handles.  As many of you know fitting is not always an instantaneous process and a fair bit of the fine tuning takes time.  Having a bike that doesn’t feel perfect has a big impact on not only comfort but confidence which ultimately can impact outcome.
• As athletes we all fall prey to marketing hype, athlete promotion and “sex appeal” of equipment.  This is a perfect example in my eyes that a lot of times it comes down to money for so many athletes.  Keep in mind that your hero is working when they are training and racing.  A lot of the equipment comes down to a paycheck even if it isn’t the most optimal thing out there.  You can see this at some of the large races where a wheel is re-branded with another name but the dimpling clearly means it is a Zipp wheel.

What does this mean for you.  Be smart, remember that you do this for fun and because you love your sport.  If you are unsure of what to do research the product and if you can’t find anything try to find a friend or trusted source that has the knowledge to help you.  This could be your local bike shop or it could be your coach.  As coaches many of us pride ourselves in doing a fair number of research on a great deal of our sport to offer our athletes a less biased viewpoint.

Press Release: Liz Gerrity Joins Rose Bandits!

For the 2013 cycling season, Science of Speed athlete, Liz Gerrity will be racing for The Rose Bandit Cycling Team.  Liz’s several years in the saddle have brought a great deal of success to her including many first place wins but the crowning jewel are her SECCC Time Trial Championship and her 2nd place finish in the Florida State CAT 1/2/3 Road Race Championships.  2013 is sure to bring a great deal of success for Liz and Science of Speed and her coach, Brady Irwin, can not wait to see all that we know she is capable of!

3 FREE months of coaching!

This weekend brings many people to the end of their race/event season with Tri the Rez.  With hundreds of athletes out there mixing it up and pushing themselves to the limit for the last time this season SoS is giving one lucky athlete the opportunity to use the winter months to improve fitness and start next season off at a whole new level!

How to enter: Come by our booth the day of the race and get registered.

Cost: $1.00 per entry (no limit on the number of entries)

Are you unable to attend Tri the Rez or would like to support the FSU tri club?  Register and pay at Sunshine Cycles before close of business (6pm) Friday October 26th to be a part of this great opportunity!

 What if you don’t win?

Don’t worry, we still have you covered!  SoS is running our Of Season Eliminator discount to help you make the most out of these winter months.  Through November 15th you can take advantage of 1 month of free coaching when you sign up for a 12 month training program!

Go HERE for more details!

Raffle money goes to support FSU tri club.

Selecting Your Events – The good, the bad and the ugly

With a season winding down for so many and decisions being made on races and events for next year there is no better time to discuss some ideas to help you chose the best events for next season.  Too often in my years of coaching I have seen smart people make very poor decisions when it comes to selecting events.  Whether this is the number of events, the level of the event or the lack of priority I have seen athletes over extend themselves and either become “burnt out,” overly fatigued or injured.  To make 2013 a successful year for you take these four thoughts into consideration when looking at events.

Planning: This is by far the most difficult portion.  With events becoming larger, more popular and more epic there are so many fun things to chose from. You must take a critical eye to your events and remember that your body can only handle so much before it breaks or breaks down.  Be selective and remember if you do not over do it there are still plenty of years of racing left in you.

Progression: Just like an athlete spends years training for the Olympic trials and games you must be wise in your progression.  Take the time to build.  If you just bought your bike yesterday an Ironman in February in Panama is not the best choice.  Take the time to build your fitness, expand your knowledge and become a well rounded athlete

Prioritize: There are many different types of events in a schedule; fun ones, training races, tune up races and A races.  Alll races are training races but not all races can be an “A” race.  The key is to select the important events and then design your training leading up to those.

Periodization: Now that you have key events you can periodize your training program.  This periodization can be a month long a year long or even a decade long dependent upon what your goals are and how large the events can be.  The key is to have a plan but realize that deviation is not a bad thing.  We get sick, life plans change, fatigue changes and because of this so does training!

Take your time in selecting your events and chose ones that you want to do!  No one can motivate you but yourself. If you do this and follow these steps you will set next year up to be one of the most successful yet.

Are you unable to take a critical look at your calendars and make decisions on this?  Let us know!  SoS coaches can help you make some of those crucial decisions and help you not only enjoy your year but perform well and finish the season wanting more.  Contact us at athletehelp@scienceofspeed.org for further assistance!

Off-Season Eliminator

Race season is drawing to a close for many and the cold winter months are quickly approaching.  This is the time of the year when training typically begins to slack, however, the off season is where you can make large improvements in your fitness.  Make a commitment to turn next year into your best season ever by having a Science of Speed coach help you use the “off season” to build your fitness, stave off weight gain and start your next season at a new peak!  Don’t give your competitors the upper hand by taking months off of training, contact athlete help today to have an experienced coach help you meet your goals.

• Sign up today for a 12 month contract and receive one month FREE

• Sign up today for a 6 month contract and receive one month half off

Offer Ends November 15th, 2012