Project Podium

So excited for this:

http://theamateurhour.org

The Amateur Hour Organisation. The governing body of cycling, the UCI, have changed the rules regarding Hour Record attempts, updating equipment regulations and imposing the requirement that anyone attempting to set a record be part of the Bio-passport system. While they don’t go as far as saying they’re not allowed, this effecti…

Fancy May Bank Holiday in Yorkshire?

You can watch or race the Women't Tour of Yorkshire, part of the legacy from last year's Grand Depart.

Oh, and the men are racing as well!

http://letour.yorkshire.com/tour-de-yorkshire/womans-race

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/128520/Women's-Tour-de-Yorkshire

Events Entries are being taken for a women’s race being held on the York circuit of the Tour de Yorkshire when it visits the town on Saturday 2nd May.

Hour record - Part 3!

So we have the basics covered - reducing resistance (bike fit and position, equipment) and maximising your engine size.

BUT physiology is a bit more complicated than that! Take rider A who has a VO2 max (aerobic capacity) of 60 mL/kg/min, and rider B who has a VO2 max of 70mL/kg/min. You'd think that rider B would have the advantage, right?

Now, if Rider A can sustain 80% of his VO2max for an hour (that's 48 mL/kg/min) and rider B sustains 65% (45.5 mL/kg/min) then rider A will clearly be able to perform at a higher level.

This is the holy grail of sport science - moving away from the lab and 'how' you do something (good economy, large engine) - and into the real world and 'what' you can do. It's a FUNCTIONAL measure.

In fact, you may have come across this very measure before - it's referred to as the FUNCTIONAL THRESHOLD. As an endurance athlete, being able to sustain a high percentage of your maximal capacity is just as important as having a big engine in the first place.

Several of the same peripheral adaptations we discussed in part 2b are also the main determinants of your threshold - more blood vessels and more powerhouses to maximise your use of oxygen to produce energy.

Training for the Hour Record - Part 2b.

Some of the physical adaptations mentioned in part 2 are what we call central adaptations. That means they relate to the lungs and heart rather than the muscles (which are peripheral). There's very little evidence to suggest the lungs themselves are a limiting factor in athletics performance as we rarely use all of our lung capacity.

However, the attributes of the heart are very trainable. As athletes we are going to try and maximise the amount of blood that we can pump around the body. That means a slightly bigger heart than normal, that can pump more blood per contraction ('stroke volume').

So what training sessions are best for training your heart?

Very simply, anyone that causes the same stimulus as the one you're trying to target. Longer efforts around TT pace (zone 4) maximise the stress on the heart and target improvements in SV.

For example: 8 x 5 minutes (5 minutes recovery) at TT pace,
2-4 x 10 minutes at zone 4 or 3 x 8 minutes at an RPE of 7/10.

Any questions on the training sessions above, then just let me know.

Eleanor