Castelli Ride Series Skillz and Drillz, January 4

Welcome to 2017 and a new edition of the Castelli SkillZ and DrillZ Ride. We had a good-sized group of about 75 riders, and today was different for a whole lot of reasons. First, I am still in Santiago, Chile, visiting family, so I do not have my bicycle, Wahoo Kickr, or normal computer setup. That was challenge number one.  Second, we introduced a different form of the ride today, one that did not necessarily have us riding together as a group after our warm-up period.  In the end, we pushed through the obstacles and got a good ride in to start the new year.

As I stated earlier, I have been out of town, so this SDR was an exercise in improvisation. I put my Stryd power meter on my shoe and connected it to my iPad as a power meter, which worked well enough to get me out of the pen with the group.  Typing while jogging back and forth on my mother-in-law’s patio was a bit difficult, so I had to drop from the group to make sure the instructions got out.  All in all, it seemed to have worked out just fine, and it served as a good test for a SDR later in the month when I have to travel for work.

Ok, enough discussion about my connection isssues and work-arounds.  On to the class!  Like normal, we got out of the gate at a 1.5 w/kg pace. Due to some last minute changes, I did not have a beacon over my avatar, and that made for some difficulty in keeping the group together and not hammering. Some of our newer riders did not understand that SDR is not a race, but with the help of a few regulars, we were able to keep the group more or less intact. After a few minutes of warm-up and working in the draft, we got down to business.

Today was all about pacing and efficiency.  Now, I don’t mean pacing from a standpoint of holding the same effort for a long time, as is commonly thought for triathletes.  In this case, I wanted riders to take a look at how well they were able to pick a target effort and stay within 10-15 Watts of that effort over a two-minute period.  Often times, I see riders take off, whether it be for a bridge, an attack, or merely a hard interval, only to see a quick spike in power followed by a continuous reduction in power over time.  Sure, the initial surge may open or close a gap to some degree, but the resulting decline in power means that the gap never fully closes, or the escape never comes to fruition.  We approached the problem by picking efforts well below threshold effort and attempting to keep a very small range of deviation.  Let me tell you, it is not easy to do!  At threshold, every small change is noticed because the change in effort is perceived as exponentially harder or easier.

To help focus the efforts, we added a small change as we moved up in power output.  At first, I directed riders to chose one of their legs and put special emphasis on that leg to ensure that it moved through the pedal stroke smoothly with consistent power applied to the pedal.  After that two-minute interval, we changed legs and repeated the drill.  Continuing the focus on a smooth stroke, we did a third iteration at the same power before moving up in intensity.  During the third iteration, I asked riders to drop the cadence into the high 70s to remove bouncing and jerkiness from the stroke.

As we continued, the intensity moved up and the interval time increased.  All the while I continued to push the riders to focus on being smooth.  Many of the riders commented that putting the emphasis on the pedal stroke made the effort seem more difficult but actually made it easier to maintain a constant power output.  I tried to explain that the task of keeping the stroke smooth can be a mentally arduous one, but the efficiency meant less wasted energy, which led to the ability to hold harder efforts for longer periods of time.  The smoother pedal stroke helps with maintaining a consistent power output, which, in turn, means fewer surges in power. Fewer surges in power mean more matches remaining for late attacks or that finish line sprint.

During our longest interval of five minutes at threshhold power, the vast majority of the group was able to hold the effort in the designated range.  I am not going to say that it was easy, and I am not advocating that anyone focus on pedal stroke during a race. However, like any other technique-focused drill, regular practice will help with pedal efficiency. Think of it as a little bit of pedaling meditation during your warm-up. Just keep in mind that every time you surge past threshhold power, you are burning a match. Smoothing out that power profile is one way to save that little extra bit of energy for when you need it most.

That’s it from the Castelli SkillZ and DrillZ Ride for the week. I want to thank Castelli for sponsoring the ride and providing some swag to one lucky rider who completed the event. I will be back on the bike for the next session, so  the beloved beacon will be back over my head. Ride on!

What to do now to prepare for races later (Advice from Coaches)

Editor’s note: this is the first in a series of articles focused on training advice for Zwifters. Each post will feature a single question answered by coaches who use Zwift with their clients. Here’s our first question:

It’s early January. If you could give every racer on Zwift just one piece of advice to help them meet their racing goals this year, what would it be?

Paulo Stroud-Baranda,  BIKEDNA 

If I gave only one piece of advice to all Zwifters this January, it would be to know precisely what it is that you wish to accomplish this year. Put your plan into action! Decide all races or events now. Using Zwift is a fantastic way to achieve cycling fitness as it allows you to work with smart data and in a consistent way no matter what the weather – which is so important to achieve success in cycling! Start training specifically for your goals and focus your training around that event. Is your goal to finish the race or do you have a time goal for that race? That means no more junk miles! Every ride should serve a purpose.

Of course, a coach could take your training to the next level and help you develop a solid plan, provide motivation when you need it and get you past any injuries that might occur during the year. If you have never used a cycling coach, now is a perfect time to give one a try – take the guesswork out of the equation!”

David Lipscomb, CIS Training Systems 

My advice to those looking to meet their 2017 racing goals would be to ensure that the training you are doing mimics the racing that you are looking to compete in.

Threshold workouts are great, but there are other skills needed to ensure that you come to the table with all the tools you need. One of the skills needed would be cadence development from 50 to 125+ RPM to cover all demands of racing.

Rob Manning, Tailwind Coaching

Remember that racing isn’t always about who is the strongest or has the highest FTP.  Winning a race is about being the most cunning and the most efficient.  If you have matches left to burn at the end of a race, you’ll be much more likely to win than the guy who’s been burning matches on the front all race.

If you want to be more efficient, work on the neuromuscular link between your brain and your muscles.  Working on high cadence drills (think 130 RPM and over) and low cadence drills (70 RPM and below) while staying smooth and supple will help you build neuromuscular conditioning.

The better your neuromuscular conditioning, the more efficient you’ll be.
The more efficient you are, the more energy you have left at the end of a race.
The more you have left at the end of a race, the better chance you can win.

Don’t ignore those cadence drills and the pedal stroke work.  It might be the difference between crossing the line with your arms aloft and crossing with your head hanging.

Troy Delfs, Momentum Cycling

First of all, prioritize your races.  Unless your name is Eddy Merckx, you can’t win them all.  Look at the race calendar for 2017 and determine what you top priority or A Races are.  There should only be 2 or 3 of these per season and these are the races that you base your whole Annual Training Plan around and taper for.  Next come the B Races, which you hope to do well in, may have a short taper for but are still secondary to your A Races.  3rd are the C Races which quite simply are used to build race fitness, practice you skills, strategies and tactics and to test our your bike and equipment.  Although you shouldn’t expect great results in C Races they are still very important to help you prepare for the A and B Races.

I belive that the numerous races offered on Zwift provide a multitude of opportunities to build fitness and fine tune your tactics, pacing and to help you push your limits.  My suggestion is to use the Zwift races as your C Level Races.  In the off-season, I would not suggest doing more than one race (Zwift or real world) every week or two as they can be very fatiguing and should only be done if they would compliment the current phase of your training plan (i.e. don’t race during a recovery week).  Consider doing a Zwift race as an alternative to a hard FTP or interval session.  You may wish to simply compete in the first third or half of the race, to get in the high intensity, threshold work and then change course and spend the rest of your ride working on base endurance. A few great things about Zwift races is that they are free to enter, readily available and nobody really ever notices if you just happen to turn off course after you have reached your limit.

Noel Bonk, Bonk Werx

If your goal includes racing outdoors in the spring, my advice would be to use Zwift as a way to either add to or supplement longer structured training rides. The weather this time of the year in many parts of the US is cold, wet and snowy so this can prohibit getting in those longer rides outside. On the other hand, the idea of spending 2-3+ hours sitting in one spot on the trainer for many athletes is pretty daunting, so Zwift is an especially great way to balance that and combat the boredom.

By using Zwift as a training tool, racers can get in that saddle time when needed either through one of the many regularly scheduled rides, through the workout builder or just riding along. Based on the fact that it’s January and most road races are months away, consider targeting those longer rides in zones that build aerobic endurance, aerobic power or functional threshold power first. Add these Zwift rides/workouts to your training schedule so it becomes part of your weekly routine. Just remember since fitness is not created in a silo, don’t be afraid of challenging yourself on occasion!