Max | Stronger Cyclist

Mountain training

posted on March 27th, 2011 in Cycling, Cycling Tips, Ride Reports, Strength Training by Stephen

So after I got the results from my VO2 Max test, Tony & I went over what the prescription to increase those numbers would be. I’m not a fan of Time-Trialing. But I am a fan of being a Strong cyclist. So, to get the training started I went to the North Georgia mountains and did a ride known as the gaps – well, a variation of the gaps. Climbing the mountains will allow me to get my Heart Rate in my zone for the prescribed period of time and allow my legs to increase strength by climbing these mountains!

I drove up and parked at the Turner’s Corner store and headed up Neels Gap – aka Blood Mt. I haven’t ridden my bike in the gaps for at least a year now & it showed on the first ‘warm-up’ climb. I seemed to be in my largest cog almost as soon as the climb started. There is no cheating the Mountain, The mountain can make a bad day worse.

I was hoping that after the warm-up/re-introduction to climbing that my legs would loosen up and feel good for the 1st actual climb – Nope… wrong again. I basically played mental games against my body, for about half of the climb up the mountain – brain saying we have to keep doing, keep pedaling, at least get to the top…. the body was on defense. Stop, hold it right here, I need a break.

I was suffering and I was hurting, and honestly your reading this blog and this test was part of what kept me going to the top. Each subtle relief in the terrain is a test – do I take a relief from the pain, or do I keep my heart rate at the prescribed intensity?!

I wanted a 12×25 cassette to make the climb more bearable – I usually always start my training season on that cassette then switch to a 11×23 later in the season as my legs no longer needing the 25. And my brain was angry for not finding it this morning, and the body was paying the penalty.

Out of the saddle through the hairpins, flop back down in the saddle on the straights. I keep my Heart Rate between 165 & 170 for the duration. The body is again in conflict, it is burning fuel & creating lactic acid & now must flush it out as fast or faster, as it is creating it. This is the prescribed workout.

Slowly I dragged myself upwards until I could see the sign for the AT (Appalachian trail) – only a 1/4 mile to go. I get to the top and soft pedal as I catch my breathe and check out the view.

I hydrate, and ingest some fuel as I debate going home or pushing on to climb another gap, taking me further from the car. I finally decide to attempt the next gap, Wolf-Pen. This is a climb that is always tough for me. For me it is a little deceiving. At first the switch backs seem to allow for some acceleration, but the next section feels a little steeper each time. The uphill sections keep my heart rate maxed out. Slowly I make my way to the top.

There is a section on this climb that always ‘seems’ like it should be easier than it is – but today, although it is tough, I am taking it steadily. Slowly crawling my way up. There isn’t much speed involved, but that is ok, I’m going purely off of Heart Rate today. 1 switch-back at a time.

If you watch old stages of the Tour De Georgia, about the only reason you know this is a climb is they are out of the saddle…. not me. I’m in anguish in these hills, however there is the other side of the coin today, the downhills will be my REWARD!
After reaching the top, and take a brief break, I turn around and descend what I just finished climbing.

Thanks to my buddy ‘HillBilly’ for the video:

Now, I still have 1 more climb to make it back to the car, back up Blood Mountain. On this climb, I am feeling better, the body is working more with me, but I also feel fatigued. I do what I can, and stay in my target HR range and make my way to the top.

Although I can feel the fatigued setting in, I am trying to keep up with the gel & hydration. The legs are responding fairly well, and this climb actually seemed easier than I had thought it would be. This is only the 2nd or 3rd time I had climbed it in this direction. It seems to kick hardest early on, then mainly level off more than the other climbs. With a little speed to keep the HR up, I can now kick little with each incline – then settle back into a decent pace.

View 3 Gap! 2011-03-23 1 in a larger map

After the final descent I do a little exploring on some roads that were fairly early in the ride. I always seem to be curious what is around the next bend.

my VO2 Max Test

posted on March 22nd, 2011 in Cycling, Cycling Tips, Reviews, Ride Reports, Strength Training by Stephen

Now that the group rides & races are getting geared up, I thought it would be a good time to get a true baseline check of where my fitness is truly at – not just guess based on how I do amongst others – but truly where I am at.

The dreaded VO2 Max Test: 1 of the best 10 minute workout that everyone HATES! And endurance athletes use to gauge their fitness.
VO2Max: is your ability to uptake AND utilize O2. The benchmark test of pulmonary (lung) capacity.

So, I got Tony at ATS to get me onto the schedule. The day came and after the instructions I hopped on my bike, which was on the Computrainer. The breathing mask got strapped on (not the most comfortable thing, but the ride will make you forget it), and after some calibration – I started pedaling.

Oh, it wasn’t too bad at first…. In fact, it was just a little spin. Tony reminded me to keep up my cadence, ‘doing good, let’s bump it up a notch‘. Now I’m starting to feel some resistance on the pedals. Ok, buddy, settle in – doing great! Then, I think to myself – Why am I here? Why am I doing this? I remind myself I’m doing for me and you the reader & right then, I re-focus – any negative thoughts are heard, and just as quickly as they are there, they are forgotten. I focus on the pedal stroke, relax the body, deep breathing. Negative thoughts are always around, it is a matter of how much you focus on them is when they linger. In training, I hear them and push them aside & Move on!

I opened my eyes and dared enough to take a peek at my Heart Rate, then my eyeballs bulged – 160′s already?! Now the reality of the effort and wattage creeping up and all I could hear was Darth Vader breathing through the mask. This is going to be B-A-D….. and getting worse every slow painful minute, that passes. Again more encouragement from Tony – “You CAN do this!!” This is why people come to his spin classes year around! I continue my efforts. I grip the handlebars a little tighter & bear down on the pedals even more – steady cadence – push/pull, push/pull.

I remember when they asked Jackie Joyner what she thought about when running hurdles. She said: “1,2,3,4,5,6, JUMP!”
I closed my eyes again and worked on ‘spinning’ my legs more smoothly, but it seems it is not going to happen, the wattage is too high, legs are mashing. Deep diaphragm breathing. I’ve been here many times, and suddenly I find myself here again – My lungs are heaving, Legs are screaming, lactate is in Friday afternoon rush hour – all routes are bottle-necking and the brain screams: NO MORE! I fight back the agony and hold on, hoping to push out some big wattage numbers.

Suddenly Tony starts the countdown – finally, but it’s too slow – I’m trying to mash the pedals, rock the body, yet all I can think of is “I wish someone would stop pouring hot liquid lava onto my thighs”. He ups the wattage again and suddenly I feel very like someone looking for help… about to fall into the lava flow and be melting away. As much as I’m pushing, the pedals slow, and my cadence drops like I just ran into a Hor’s Category climb.

And just like that, Tony says, DONE & presses a couple buttons on the computer, unhooks the mask and then drops the resistance on the computrainer – but I’m not done – I have to come to a complete stop. We are now checking my recovery rate from a very intense effort. So, here I am sweat going everywhere I’m taking in gulps of air, and I’m thinking ‘I just want to spin out my legs and flush the lava out of my blood stream. We wait until I get back under 120 and finally done.

Results here

What is VO2 Max

posted on March 14th, 2011 in Cycling, Cycling Tips, Reviews, Strength Training by Stephen

VO2 max is the maximal oxygen uptake or the maximum volume of oxygen that can be utilized in one minute during maximal or exhaustive exercise. It is measured as milliliters of oxygen used in one minute per kilogram of body weight.

VO2 max or maximal oxygen uptake is one factor that can determine an athlete’s capacity to perform sustained exercise and is linked to aerobic endurance. It is generally considered the best indicator of cardio-respiratory endurance and aerobic fitness.

Elite endurance athletes typically have a high VO2 max. And some studies indicate that it is largely due to genetics, although training has been shown to increase VO2 max in untrained athletes up to 15-20 percent, but well-trained athletes are unlikely to realize an increase in VO2max of greater than 3-5 percent. A major goal of most endurance training programs is to increase this number.

Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) is the maximum amount of oxygen that can be used by the body for maximal sustained power output (exercise). Since the body uses oxygen to convert food into energy (ATP), the more oxygen you can consume, the more energy, power, or speed you can produce. VO2max defines an endurance athlete’s performance ceiling, or the size of his or her “engine.” Research has shown that VO2max significantly determines performance in endurance-based events such as cycling, triathlon, running, and Nordic skiing.

Track Elite National Points Champion Daniel Holt getting his VO2 Max Test:

How is VO2 Max measured?
Many endurance athletes already have some idea of what a VO2max test entails: an incremental increase in exercise effort until the participant is unable to continue increasing his or her workload. The athlete can perform the test using any number of exercises: running, cycling, rowing, and even swimming.
Read what I thought of this experience Here

Because VO2max will vary between sports for various individuals, athletes will generally perform the test in his or her preferred sport. Regardless of the testing modality used, all the tests do the same thing. They take a happy-go-lucky individual and turn him or her into a grimacing, suffering, and most importantly, gasping test subject. As exercise intensity increases, a machine calculates oxygen consumption (VO2) by collecting and analyzing the test subject’s inspired and expired air. With each incremental increase in power output by the athlete, more muscle mass is employed and more oxygen consumed. VO2 will thus increase linearly with exercise intensity until the body reaches its maximum ability to consume oxygen. At this point, oxygen consumption will level off, or plateau, when the subject reaches his or her VO2max.

The VO2 max test will nearly pinpoint your lactic threshold, which is the heart rate you will be able to sustain during a timetrial.
A test will also show you exactly where your Heart Rate Zones efforts are for training – this takes the guess work out of estimating your zones!

A great thing about a VO2 Max test is that it gives you a gauge of specifically where your body is at and where your efforts will give you the best results. For instance, some people go anaerobic quickly and thus, need to do more base (Long Slow Distance) miles.
Or maybe you have a good base and need more hill repeats, or maybe you need more high intensity intervals.
Some people have good lung capacity, but not enough leg strength while others have great leg strength, but not enough lung capacity to supply the necessary oxygen to those legs and need to do Time-trial efforts.

The VO2 max results will give you a graph of evidence where you are doing well and where you could improve with the proper intervals.

Just send an email via the contact page to get an appointment!