Articles are listed in order of most recently written at the top of the page
OES Monthly Newsletter Archive
Straighten Up and Fly Right – Tips on How to Improve Your Descending Skills
By Adam Fivehouse
For many cyclists, the hardest part of their ride can be a long, leg burning ascent up a beautiful climb such as Lookout Mountain. However, the most challenging part is often the long, twisty descent that accompanies that climb. Becoming more confident in your descending skills can make the ride less hair-raising, more enjoyable and safer. Here are some tips on how to become a better cyclist when...[ read full article ]
Presentation of a Shift in Lactate Threshold over a Training Season
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
In the current state of endurance training and technology, data is a major factor to assist with performance improvements. For future analysis of performance gains, a coach should consider getting a starting point or baseline of the client. The information gathered can set the tone for where to focus the bulk of heart rate and/or power training. Having an understanding of the physiology of the body assists the coach in prescribing quality work over quantity. It also provides a platform to discuss human physiology...[ read full article ]
An Athlete’s Chemical Affair: Lactate as a Fuel
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
As the science of sport
evolves, coaches like me must learn to adapt to the new thoughts on how
the human body reacts to exercise. In the not so distant past it was
believed that lactate caused the muscles to stop working…brought on
fatigue…and an athlete wouldn’t be able to do anymore work once they
went beyond the threshold for lactate. A much larger school of belief
now looks at lactate as an important tool in an athlete’s toolbox.
Well, to tackle the subject of metabolic pathways in a short article...[ read full article ]
Rock the Triple Bypass in 2012! Get schooled in a good way, get a coach
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
Triple Bypass 2012 will be doubled again. The Westbound/Eastbound and Double routes that brought this event up to a new level last year are back, so is Optimize Endurance Services with training plans to help you rock the Triple. Make sure that your summer touring experience is at its best, follow a structured training plan and ensure a successful event day. This will be the fifth year OES provides purchasable training plans to prepare riders for the event. Below you’ll find descriptions about the plans...[ read full article ]
Structured Training
By Adam Fivehouse
Riding and riding and riding but not getting faster?
Have you considered training instead of riding? Bear with me, as this may sound like a simple exercise in semantics but, once you understand the difference between the two you will be on your way to your best season yet. Riding is simply that, riding. It lacks focus, lacks structure, just two legs turning the pedals. Training, however, has a specific goal and purpose for each workout, each week, each month...[ read full article ]
Future Aspirations
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
For an endurance athlete, whether recreational or seasoned racer, to aspire from season to season and year to year, they must aim at achieving something. That something for most stamina based competitors is to have a faster time or finish 'on the podium'. To accomplish any of these desires, a process of goal setting will need to be followed. This procedure can be simple to complex, depending on the person and the ultimate...[ read full article ]
Wealth of Resources: Compilation of Articles, off-season training
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
For many cyclists the fall season is a kind of 'loss' as to what to do for the next cycling season. Over the years OES has written articles that address this time in a cyclists training cycle and this article will bring them together in a step by step order. Follow the direction of the below article excerpts to get the process started for you. Links will take you to the full read on our website. Enjoy and please don’t hesitate to contact OES with questions or deeper explanations to what you have read ...[ read full article ]
'Cross Training: Preparing for Cyclocross Season
By Adam Fivehouse
As a coach, the questions I’m asked most (other than “How do I get faster at X”) revolve around nutrition. Some questions revolve around weight loss but most often folks just want to know what to eat in order to be stronger on the bike and avoid the dreaded “bonk”. Often the answers boil down to what, when and how much you should be eating both on and off the bike.
The Basics - Let’s start with a little bit of physiology. At very low exercise intensities the human body is a fat burning machine. We can exercise at these easy levels for very long periods of time because of an almost endless supply of energy from fat. Even in very lean individuals there can be over 50,000 calories available of stored fat in the body...[ read full article ]
Nutrition Basics
By Adam Fivehouse
With temperatures continuing to hover in the 90s, it’s hard to imagine that the Colorado road racing season is nearing its end. For some, this means a transition away from the rigors of structured training and racing and some well needed rest. But, for an ever increasing group of die-hards, the slow creep towards fall and winter means only one thing, cyclo-cross. ‘Cross offers a welcomed change of pace from countless hours spent staring at asphalt and allows those competitive juices to keep flowing for a few more months. So with ‘cross season rapidly approaching, here are a few pointers to get you headed in the right direction..[ read full article ]
Get back to peak performance for the Fall!
By Kim Boere, CSCS
As the racing season is in full swing for just a few more months, you may be finding yourself just plugging away. However, planning for the off season can be a huge part of ensuring a proper recovery, setting you up for an even better season next year and addressing any issues or concerns you may have with your performance now. Take these simple steps to evaluate and plan and you’ll see even better results in your training.
First, ask yourself if you are satisfied with your current racing results. If yes, then planning for maintenance or improving performance will ensure continued success...[ read full article ]
Be Well...Fed
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
Not only can you be fit, well trained, healthy and ready for an event, you can also be prepared in how to supply your body with the correct nutrition for life and activity. Many event participants show up only two-thirds prepared for the days adventure, thinking about food for the event just the day before.
Event fueling should be practiced many times over to allow for a fine tuning of "How" and "When-How Much" to take in to sustain the body for the duration. Listed out below are suggestions to set up a day of feeding success...[ read full article ]
How to achieve your best race results-the smart way!
By Kim Boere, CSCS
IWhether you are a beginner or a seasoned athlete looking to improve your race times, peaking at your race is a satisfying way to complete a race or season of races. Although genetics can help athletes, efficient and structured training will ensure that you are reaching your full potential on the course.
Often we believe that a special nutritional supplement, expensive bike or fancy running shoes will give us the best advantage when in fact it is much cheaper and more beneficial than that! With solid goals in mind and expanding your expectations realistically, you can have your best season yet! For example, let's talk about the swim...[ read full article ]
Prepare for the Altitude
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
"Don't buy upgrades, ride upgrades"---Anonymous
This quote seems to beckon the goal for most cycling events. Ascend, ascend, and ascend. So, to provide this for the participants, a large number of cycling events have their routes at an elevation greater than what most folks live at. The aspect of training for an event that not only starts higher than you normally live, but also doubles, triples your normal elevation through the day creates a paradox to which the odds are stacked against us. Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) is one name given to a condition that affects the human body when it is subjected to a lower oxygen environment. Preparation, knowledge and practice...[ read full article ]
“Great Expectations”
By Adam Fivehouse
As winter turns to spring, and trainer miles turn to road miles, we find ourselves having to resist the urge to blow off our structured training in order to spend every sunny hour on the road. “More miles can’t hurt”, is our typical justification. But quickly our rational selves usually get the best of us and we stay the course, our eyes keen on bigger things to come. We start to envision what the long season ahead might have in store. “This is going to be my year”, we always tell ourselves. The year where it’s all going to come together, the year that I’ll get that upgrade or set that new personal best. We’re already thinking about that first event of the season and how we will blow the competition out of the water...[ read full article ]
Spring training on your mind?
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
Looking outside at the snow makes it hard to believe that as of March 1st the Triple Bypass is 19 weeks away. It's time to get moving on your spring training. Several things should be happening this time of year to prepare you for the long hours in the saddle doing centuries, tours and even races. Think about your core/body strength, your training structure and ways to bring improvement into this 2011 season of cycling.
Winter is an opportune time to spend in your local exercise facility performing strength training and participating in group classes. These are some suggestions to follow for strength and core workouts...[ read full article ]
Transitions: A Time for Recovery
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
Transition is a topic usually left for the few minutes at the end of a long discussion about periodization. By definition the word means passage from one condition to another. For an athlete the shift from training to racing can be one transition and another can be racing to training. As the seasons come and go, whether talking about actual spring to summer, mountain bike to cyclocross or build phase to peak phase, a transition is involved. From a training standpoint the transition needs recovery built in for future improvement.
Recovery is another topic usually left as assumed to be understood...[ read full article ]
Getting Ready for your First Tri!
By Kim Boere, CSCS
If you are reading this then you are probably already involved in some considerably challenging workouts and endurance events. You know as an endurance athlete the rewards and benefits of cross training. Or maybe you’ve been a cyclist for a while and have been considering a new challenge. Whatever your reason for considering the challenge of a triathlon, it takes a few steps to ensure a smooth and fun outcome. Read on and discover just how easy it is to get started...[ read full article ]
Get more out of Carbohydrates
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
Heading out on the bike, jersey pockets stuffed with gels, chews and bars, bottle filled with a favorite sports drink-you plot a course for the hills. As you get settled into the ride and start to consume the tasty treasures, conversion of food into usable fuel for the body begins. Have you ever questioned whether you are getting the most out of that fuel? Like miles per gallon in a car, drive it correctly over time and an improvement in mileage can be obtained. This enhancement is more miles for less cost. The human body is cable of similar changes in efficiency.
Carbohydrates (CHO) are one of three macronutrients the human body needs to sustain life, fat and protein are the others. When food in endurance sports is discussed, we usually only talk about fat and CHO as major fuel sources for the body. The contribution of protein as a fuel is minimal...[ read full article ]
Finish strong!
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
The summer event season is well underway. Whether it’s one bike tour, multiple running races or a triathlon series, it may be time to dial in training. To attain goals set for these events, coaching and physiology testing can help guide competitors and everyday athletes. The process of training from data retrieved from a test like lactate threshold begins early in the winter. So, by this time in the summer, that data may not be as accurate for training because of the adaptations brought about from the training. A midsummer slump can be due to using older data and this can result in unreached goals for the end of summer. To reverse this trend and get a much deserved personal record for that last event of the season, a retest is in order.
A midsummer test of lactate threshold can help identify heart rate and power zones for current physical condition. This has several benefits which...[ read full article ]
A Mid Summer’s Day Event Preparation: Be Ready For The Big Day
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
Preparation for a race or event can have many facets. Some preparation should have started months in advance and some takes place the morning of the event. The trick to it all is finding the type and extent of preparation that works best for you. This takes practice, practice, practice and should be done each and every day leading up to the event.
Each time a workout is started, your equipment should be inspected to ensure a successful workout. On a daily basis, plan out the timing of meals and workouts. Follow a checklist to make sure there is adequate fuel in the system and onboard to replenish the body. Hone this list as you learn more about what works best for the exercise...[ read full article ]
Prepare for Successful Climbing
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
Turn that mountain into a molehill. Many cyclists mentally increase the size of a climb and let it tower over them, when a few simple processes can make the ascent more pleasant.
Mental preparation brings about a toughness that will help you perform better. Having an understanding of the elevation gained over the distance to the top and the types of pitches will help you to formulate a plan to attack it. Take your average climbing speed and the miles of the climb you want to do to assess the time it will take to ascend it. Nothing will be more crushing to your confidence than to know that you’re still only halfway when you thought you would be at the top already...[ read full article ]
Earn Those Saddle Sores: Longer Duration Cycling
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
Cyclists are headlong into the spring season with longer daylight hours and more favorable temperatures for outdoor riding, along with fierce headwinds. This combination stokes a strong desire to release our bikes from the constraints of the indoor trainer and let it run free to seek out longer and longer durations. This newly liberated steed can do wonders for our fitness and our outlook on the impending season of events.
Completing several one hour rides on the trainer each week ultimately won’t provide you the specificity of duration needed to complete an event requiring many hours...[ read full article ]
Start a Food Journal and Watch Your Endurance Grow
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
Our society is wrought with symbols of it to the point of worship. It is our sustenance, nourishment, fuel, energy, calories along with countless other words to describe it. Food. Call it whatever you want, but the revolution of production in the food industry has created a bounty like no other in history. With such an abundance of choice and ideas on how and when to consume it, many of us have lost a sense of what the basic purpose of it is: to provide health and energy.
I hesitate to open a dialogue about the world of diets...[ read full article ]
What’s strength have to do with it?
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
So, what does strength have to do with it? Well, everything when it comes to health. When performed properly and in periodized fashion, strength training can enhance all facets of daily life. These include daily active living and exercise.
Daily active living includes a multitude of body movements like: getting in and out of bed, bathing, reaching for the cereal box on the top shelf, walking up and down stairs, and carrying groceries into the house from the car. Basically everything we do as mobile humans involves the use of muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments and bones. Without some measure of strength we would be hard pressed to complete even the easiest of daily tasks. With our world of reduced physical labor, it becomes important to take up strength training to...[ read full article ]
Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR): The power of data capture
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
With fall upon us and the long days of summer waning, the amount of time to train will change for most of us. This means less time on the bike with possible indoor activities that may not use the same amount of energy. A reduction in energy expenditure per day can happen due to the weather dictating more of our mode of exercise. So, have you thought about the change your eating needs to go through as well? [ read full article ]
Coaching Myself: Preparation for a 100 mile MTB race
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
A perspective that I believe is often overlooked in coaching, is that of the coach and his or her training. I read many articles about how athletes have achieved this or that through coaching, which is good to see. I would like to give an account of how I coached myself to compete in my first 100 mile mountain bike race, the Breckenridge 100, which took place on July 18th. This article will be an example of practice what you preach and lead by example. [ read full article ]
Periodized training for the Triple Bypass
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
Part :1 Traditionally when training for an endurance-specific event like the 2009 Triple Bypass, a cyclist will need to go through several phases of training over the months leading up to the event. The physical demand and mental preparation it takes to complete 120 miles over three mountain passes is such that attention paid to planning out details and performing certain types of workouts will allow for an enjoyable day in the saddle amongst friends. Preparation and base training are the introduction that provides the body with the initial stimulus to advance fitness. [ read full article ]
Part :2 Preparation and base training were discussed in the March Bike Beat; the next phase of training to promote a stimulus to advance fitness is the build phases. Traditionally when training for an endurance-specific event like the 2009 Triple Bypass, a cyclist will need to go through several phases of training over the months leading up to the event. The physical demand and mental preparation it takes to complete 120 miles over three mountain passes is such that attention paid to planning out details and performing certain types of workouts will allow for an enjoyable day in the saddle amongst friends. [ read full article ]
Part :3 The last segment of Periodized training to discuss is the taper. This phase is simple, but very important for realization of the goal designed in a training plan. Traditionally when training for an endurance-specific event like the 2009 Triple Bypass, a cyclist will need to go through several phases of training over the months leading up to the event. The physical demand and mental preparation it takes to complete 120 miles over three mountain passes is such that attention paid to planning out details and performing certain types of workouts will allow for an enjoyable day in the saddle amongst friends. [ read full article ]
Stay on track
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
With the change from summer to fall upon us and winter quickly showing up to the party, it seemed like a good time to look at some tips that will help you complete your workouts now and through this winter. Below are ten suggestions to consider when the seasons throw you off track of your training plan. [ read full article ]
A Three Part Series: Loading, Fueling, and Replenishing Carbohydrate for the Endurance Athlete
By Cindy Stonesmith B.S. Human Performance & Sport
Part 1: The concentration of muscle and liver glycogen prior to exercise plays an important role in endurance exercise capacity. The body stores approximately 450-550 grams of glycogen within the muscle and liver for use during exercise. At higher exercise intensities (>65-75% VO2max), glycogen becomes the main fuel utilized for energy production. [ read full article ]
Part 2: How quickly an athlete can reestablish muscle glycogen from an exhausting bout of exercise is an important factor for performing optimally in tomorrow’s training session. Although a normal diet, high in carbohydrate (65-80% of total diet) has been shown to restore muscle glycogen levels to normal over a 24 hour period, most endurance athletes do not have the luxury to wait 24 hours between training sessions for their muscle glycogen levels to be topped off. This is why your post-exercise carbohydrate meal becomes vital to your weekly training plan. [ read full article ]
Part 3: It’s the night before your big event and you’ve been looking forward to a big spaghetti meal with garlic bread. You’ve been contemplating marinara or alfredo sauce all day. You even skip the wine and go for the beer because you know beer has more carbohydrates. You’re carbohydrate loading and this ritual, as an athlete, is just as important to you as your daily workouts. [ read full article ]
Pre-Event Warm-Up Strategies for Cyclists
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
With the 2008 season of events for cyclists in Colorado underway, I thought it would be good to present some strategies for preparation. Nutrition, equipment, trip planning, knowledge of the course and warm-up are a few of the items on the top of the list. [ read full article ]
Core Stability and Balance for Cyclists Revisited
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
In last year’s article I discussed the following core stability moves: planks, hip lifts, hip lift with knee extension, floor back extensions and oblique crunch. I would like to introduce two more core stability moves that increase the intensity of these isometric contractions: prone ball roll and supine leg curl. These are both done with an exercise ball and can be further increased in intensity by isolating to one leg. [ read full article ]
Train with a purpose
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
Each spring, the little voice that has been locked away, endurance training, calls out for some attention. This is especially true for those folks who want to do well in events or races this summer. [ read full article ]
Spring Training, Triple Bypass on your mind?
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
Finish strong!
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
The summer event season is well underway. Whether it’s one bike tour, multiple running races or a triathlon series, it may be time to dial in training. [ read full article ]
Wetter is Better: Proper Hydration for Increased Performance
By Rob Lockey, CSCS
As the sun finally decides to take up residence in our hemisphere this summer, the many outdoor activity seekers are inclined to live in a dehydrated state while trying to improve their athletic abilities. [ read full article ]
Core Stability and Balance for Cyclists
by Rob Lockey, CSCS
As the winter slowly disappears and the days get longer and warmer, many cyclists will come out of training hibernation. You may have been hard at work but chained to a trainer, burning rubber. [ read full article ]
OPTIMIZE ENDURANCE SERVICES - mobile coaching, testing and training for the endurance and recreational athlete Rob Lockey, CSCS, ACSM/HFI . USA Cycling L2 Certified Coach ph: 303.356.9893 . e: rob@optimizeendurance.com