Training peaks and coach

[johnpembo73]

Hi,

I have been cycling since April last year to challenge myself. I did everything I aimed to do and more; so I was very pleased with myself. Since day one I have recorded every ride, weight and fitness strength workout I did on Training peaks. Its a great piece of software but on the free membership you can only do so much. I wouldn't mind getting the premium membership but feel I would only get 50% from the software. What I need is a coach to help me reach my goals for 2013 and use training peaks correctly. I live in Cheshire so could any one recommend a coach to help me?

Cheers

John

 

[David Criswell]

Hi John,

We have a coach matching service if that is something you are interested in. Details are here: http://home.trainingpeaks.com/coach-matching.aspx.
Thanks for being a TrainingPeaks customer!

Cheers,
Dave from TrainingPeaks

 

[johnpembo73]

cheers Dave i'll take a look.

 

[Rob3rt]

What are your aim's/goals? Do you really need a coach?

 

[johnpembo73]

That Rob I am not to sure yet.
At the age of 39 I don't want to waste the years I have left so I want to make the most of them while I can. I wish to increase my power out put this year along with my average speed. I know its quite vague but I have figures in my mind I want to achieve and would like to know if its possible. I would also like to see if my training I have in mind will do this and be guided in the correct way if not.

 

[Rob3rt]

Will you be racing? Do you have a power meter?

I would say, spend your money on club membership!

What are your current (moving) average speeds?

 

[johnpembo73]

Hi Rob,

I have not counted out racing, I think it would be a good challenge.
I do not have a power meter. I only work with a Garmin 800 with HR with cadence sensor and try and calculate the power out put the best I can. Strava helps here.

My current avg speeds over different distance are:-
16miles = 20.6mph My best time
25miles = 19.5mph
30miles+ = 16-19mph depending routes.
Pretty average really.

Right now I am trying to increase my base training and cadence an example of which is here:-
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/EHNO7PDVDN2QEM7VFBGEBGXZJU

This is done indoors on a trainer.

I have not thought about on a local club,
thanks for looking and helping me.
Cheers
John

 

[black'n'yellow]

not sure if you have understood what is meant by 'base training' - but that link above certainly is NOT it.

 

[johnpembo73]

So can you point me in the right direction?

 

[black'n'yellow]

So can you point me in the right direction?

There are loads of definitions of base training, but from my point of view it involves 3-4 hour steady rides two or three times per week. Use the turbo for shorter, high intensity work. Difficult to be specific, as your goals seem a little undefined...

 

[johnpembo73]

I agree on the time issue but when time is an issue an you can not get out on the road the turbo is handy. The time as I understand it is between 2-4 hours depending on what you are training for. The understanding I have is to train at the AeT for a period of time and not see much of a difference between the 1st half of the ride against the 2nd part of the ride, say 5%. You need to look at another unit whilst looking at these numbers. Until then there is not much point in to looking at other parts of the training. My longer rides will come when I have time but in the mean time I thought I would get a head start on the trainer.

The high intensity work is great and I have done this in the past weeks and will do again in the coming weeks. But at present I see my time in training my body to burn my energy efficiently and effectively so when the high intensity rides and training sessions come along they should be still hurting but only to be a little faster whilst hurting

Have I understood this wrongly? If so I am open to ideas and learning more.

Cheers

John

 

[black'n'yellow]

that kinda makes sense - my only observation is that sitting on the turbo riding slowly at a low effort level for an hour is a waste of time and is doing very little, if anything, to enhance your base conditioning.

 

[Rob3rt]

Whilst some long rides are very much preferable (both physically and mentally), if you work on training stress scores then you can build base fitness riding at a slightly higher intensity for a shorter period, i.e. on the turbo, provided that you are not doing all out efforts at this time of year, and can increase training stress score week on week (with a rest week every few weeks) either through increasing volume or intensity (without ending up doing all out efforts).

Training stress score can be calculated a number of ways, either HR, power or RPE based. Please refer to Chris Carmichael or Joe Friel's text's for this. Training peaks probably has this function built in (unless it is a plug in or premium feature?). Alternativelly you can use SportTracks and the relevant plug in's.

 

[MattHB]

Do whatever motivates you. We're all different. And as I've said here and on other forums time and time again. You DON'T have to have a PM to use training peaks.

 

[Rob3rt]

Do whatever motivates you. We're all different. And as I've said here and on other forums time and time again. You DON'T have to have a PM to use training peaks.

You need a power meter or a turbo trainer with a known power curve if you want to quantify gains in power output though.

Further there may not be a "right" way to train, but there is most certainly a wrong way, especially if you have a particular date or time scale in mind for achieving a specific goal. For example, if you plan on racing during the main season, then you will most certainly be compromising your performance if you are doing your hard interval training now, as you will peak WAY to early. No point peaking for March if the racing season is only just starting in March for example.