It is expressed as litres (ml) of oxygen / weight Kg / per min.

Some of the top athletes have recorded figures as high as 95 ml / KG/ Min

• Greg Lemond had a recorded 92.5 ml / KG / Min
• Miguel Indurain had a recorded 88 ml/ KG / Mind
• According to his coach, Coyle, Lance Armstrong had a VO2 Max level of 85 L/KG/Min. Though in this article, Jamie Pringle, suggests it would have been closer to 93  mls / KG / Min (Cycling Weekly – how powerful are the pros)

To put it into perspective, the average untrained male, will have a VO2 max of around 36-50 ml/ KG / Min.

What Determines Max VO2?

There are many genetic factors which determine VO2 Max. Size of lungs, cardiac output, efficiency of blood and capilliary system. It is also determined by age, gender and general fitness.

Importance of Max VO2

VO2 Max is very important in determining aerobic capacity and is very important for endurance sports. Someone with a low VO2 max will not be able to be competitive with someone with a much higher VO2. However, VO2 isn’t everything.

Other things which are important:

• Tolerance to lactic acid
• Efficiency of using oxygen generated.
• Tolerance to pain and determination.
• Efficiency of cycling action.

VO2 and Threshold Level

VO2 is above your threshold level. Your VO2 Max will be roughly 105-120% of your threshold power. Studies suggest training VO2 max, can improve your threshold capacity at the same time. High Intensity intervals (90-95% HR max) increase VO2 Max more than threshold training (link) Intervals and Threshold power (link pdf)

VO2 Max and Heart Rate

It is possible to estimate your exercise intensity as a percentage of VO2max from your training heart rate. A study by David Swain et al. (1994) [1] using statistical procedures examined the relationship between %MHR and %VO2max. Their results led to the following regression equation:

• %MHR = 0.64 × %VO2max + 37

Examples

• 90% Max heart rate = 82% Max VO2
• 95% Max hear rate = 90% Max VO2
• Though using heart rate has limitations because of the delay in heart rate responding to effort levels. Also, as you get close to 100% of VO2 max, it suggests a heart rate of above 100% which doesn’t make sense.
• It is more accurate to find VO2 max in terms of your power.

Finding VO2 Max Rate

• The Astrand test uses a cycle ergometer and 6 minutes of riding at a heart rate of 130-160 bpm. Requires assistant to measure results.
• Metabolic Tests to find Vo2 Max

 Vo2 Intervals

To ride at your VO2 max is a high intensity interval. It requires substantial effort and determination to keep your effort at this maximal level. It is not a sprint interval, but it is difficult to maintain for a period of 5 minutes. VO2 Intervals could involve

• 3* 3 mins, with 5 minute rest in between
• 4 intervals of 4 minutes. With a 5 minute gap between first two. And then a long rest between the 3rd and 4th interval.

• or 10*30 seconds.

Non Scientific VO2 Intervals.

As part of my training, I’m often doing hill intervals. Often the target is to ride up the hill as quick as I can, but not be utterly spent. These hills may be 4 or 5 minutes long. On a ride I will warm up for 30-40 minutes, then make a measured effort up the hill. I don’t collapse at the end, but I’m pretty to close to my racing limit.

Then I will take quite a decent rest, as I ride to another hill, and then try and repeat the interval.

On the second interval, I’m usually about 15% slower because of the lactic acid and tiredness of the muscles. Therefore, you can’t quite get to the same power output as the first interval. After that, the 3rd, 4th and 5th intervals can be as quick as the second.

If I do shorter hills of say 2 minutes, I try to keep a similar effort level throughout the interval repetitions. To keep this constant effort requires to hold off slightly and resist the temptation to sprint like a hill climb. The benefit of holding back just a little, is that you can then have several intervals at this same high intensity. The intervals get harder and harder.

Quality over Quantity

The amount of intervals you can do at your VO2 threshold will be quite low in the beginning. The important thing is to push yourself into the right level of effort. Through the season, you can slowly increase the quantity of intervals. But, usually, you will know when you’re fatigued and just can’t get anywhere near the level. Needless to say, you need to be reasonably fit before progressing on to this VO2 max intervals.

From my training diary, I see I often did 3 * 3minute efforts in early years of racing. On the 4th, I couldn’t do anything close to VO2 max. I remember thinking – ‘only 9 minutes of training! But, over the years, your tolerance improves. Last year, I found I could maintain the same intensity for a higher number up to 10* 2 minute intervals at close to VO2 max. But, every training session is different, when you’re pogged, you might as well go back recover and try another day. It is important to listen to your body and get to feel what you body can cope with.

Related

• Tips for intervals
• Threshold Training
• Training for 10 mile time trial

Further Reading

• Killer intervals for VO2
• VO2 Max intervals to improve your climbing

It's all downhill from here

Recent training

• Sat 14th – 70 miles – 4 hours – 17.5mph –  Long ride to Lambourn and White horse.
• Sun 15th – 27 miles – 1.50.00 – av 15.0 mph – Slow recovery ride
• Mon – rest day.
• Tues 17th – 42 miles – 2.05.00 – av 20.0 mph – Fast ride, with about 1 hour at threshold level or just below. For this section was averaging 23 mph. Fastest ride of season. Felt good. But, temperature was cold. I’m glad it wasn’t any longer.
• Wed – off day
• Thurs 19th – 40 miles – 2.07.00 – av 18.8 mph. First hour and and a half steady ride to Buckland. Last half an hour included 20 minutes at threshold level. With strong tailwind, I was averaging over 25 mph, which felt great fun.
• Fri -20th – 30 miles – 2.05.00 – av. 14.5 mph. Very steady recovery ride. Usually, I find this kind of ride quite boring. But, I really enjoyed this recovery ride to Oakley. I think I enjoyed it because my  mind was quite quiet and I enjoyed the quiet you often get on January days, when no-one else is out on the roads.
• Sat – 21st – 85 miles – 5.00.00. Av 16.9 mph. I did think about doing a 100 miles, but the first 40 miles was all into a strong westerly headwind, ad it felt tough going. At Stow on the Wold, I turned round and enjoyed the tailwind on the way back. It was 4pm by the time I got back and starting to get dark, so I was glad I didn’t go any further. It may have been only 85 miles, but at this time of year, with winter training tyres and strong wind it felt like 100 miles! It was still the longest ride I’ve done for over 8 months. I can’t believe how many energy bars I got through on the ride. Perhaps 9-10. For a two hour ride, I might have 1. But, on this 5 hour ride, I was really burning a lot of calories.
• Weekly total = 220 (+42 commuting miles) = 260 miles. I’m definitely motivated by national 100 mile Time trial hence the effort to do more miles at this time of the year.

In addition, every day, I have a 6 mile commute to Oxford and back. I usually start the day in a coffee shop and do some work and blogging. Those first 6 miles are good to see how legs feel. I work in the morning because after cycle ride, I don’t feel like working!

I have been mostly keeping up my New Year’s resolution to stretch for 10 minutes at the end of every day. Definitely starting to feel a little more flexible, easier to touch the old toes.

Related

• Training for longer distances

Threshold training involves riding at an intensity which can be maintained for an hour without creating excess burning  in your legs (lactic acid creation). Your threshold is the level which makes full use of your aerobic capacity (oxygen) but doesn’t tip over into anaerobic exercise (which creates lactic acid).

Threshold training essentially involves a level which might be described as ‘comfortably hard’. It is not race pace, but it requires focus and determination to keep at that threshold level. If you go slightly harder than your threshold level you will fatigue much more quickly.

Your threshold level will be important for any endurance event. Increasing your threshold capacity enables improved performance for distance events.

Other Terms for Threshold Training

Note: There are quite a few terms relating to threshold training. They can mean slightly different things. Also, I wouldn’t get too concerned about being at exactly ‘right’ level, in practise there is no clear line. Some other terms:

• Anaerobic Threshold (AT) The maximum level before you start using anaerobic parts of energy creation. Also referred to as blood lactate accumulation (OBLA)
• Lactate Threshold - the maximum level before you start creating lactic acid faster than you can remove it. Same principle as Anaerobic threshold.

• Functional Threshold Power (FTP)- the maximum power you could sustain for an hour.

Relation to VO2 Max

Heart Rate Zone for Threshold Training.

• For cyclists, threshold training may be between 85% – 90% of max heart rate.
• For runners, threshold training tends to be higher 90-93% of max heart rate.

Threshold Sessions

You could do threshold sessions for 30 minutes, 1 hour or longer in a continuous training zone. Alternatively you could split them up into ‘intervals’ of 20 minutes or if you like variety, 4*10 minute or other combination.

Personally, I prefer to do in continuous sessions, I don’t feel need to split up into intervals.

I’ve found over the years that with improved general fitness and a bigger accumulation of miles a greater ability to train at this threshold level. Everyone will have a different capacity, but to start off with 10% of your training at threshold level is good.

Just Below Threshold

Riding at the upper end of your aerobic capacity is also a good training session. For example, at 80% of your heart rate.

Increasing Threshold Power

Before, working on threshold power, it is good to have a reasonable base of cycling in the legs. You need to be comfortable with the distance before moving onto harder session.

During November and December, I have not done any intervals, and most riding is at a steady or moderate intensity. In the early season (January onwards), I like doing threshold sessions because it is a good way to get back into the grove of riding at higher intensity.  In January, I start adding some threshold sessions in, to acclimatise body for early season races and later harder efforts.

• I will do one or two sessions per week, with a duration of 20 mins to 1 hour. As the year progresses, I will increase time and frequency of these threshold power sessions.
• When doing these threshold sessions, I am fully concentrated on the training. I concentrate on a breathing exercise and am concentrating on every aspect of cycling – such as maintaining a smooth cadence. It requires a persistent effort to keep at this intensity.
• I like to choose a flat smooth road, I also like having a tailwind, this gets you used to riding at 25mph + which is good for later time trials. (plus it feels great to be riding at that speed after plodding around at 16mph all winter)
• After a threshold sessions I will have a rest day or recovery ride.

The advantage of threshold training is that:

• It’s a very nice tempo to be training at. It feels fast, but it doesn’t completely knock you out.
• You definitely will get a buzz from training at this level, you feel all the right chemicals released from exercise, but not as painful as higher end sessions.

Increasing Threshold Power Through Harder Intervals

High intensity interval sessions (close to VO2 max), are intervals above your anaerobic threshold. Here you are riding at above the pace of a 10 mile time trial. You are definitely using anaerobic capacity, and you will feel the accumulation of lactic acid. However, by training at above your threshold power in a higher hear rate,  you will also see an increase in your threshold power.

Research suggest high intensity intervals are an excellent way of also increasing aerobic capacity.

• High Intensity intervals (90-95% HR max) increase VO2 Max more than threshold training (link) Intervals and Threshold power (link pdf)

For well trained athletes, it’s even more important to use higher end intervals to increase aerobic capacity. However, these higher end intervals are harder are place more stress on the body. Therefore, these threshold sessions definitely have their place in improving overall fitness.

Related

• Tips for Cycling Fitness
• Tips for Interval Sessions

Over the past few years, my training has evolved from a general ride the bike, to more specific targeted training sessions. Specific training aims to target and improve those areas which will be most beneficial for your goals and type of races.

Both Eddy Merckx and Fausto Coppi gave pretty much the same advice for would be cyclists

- ‘ride a bike’.

For simplicity you can’t beat that advice. It’s a good quote to remind you of the fundamentals. Eddy Merckx himself was quite a mile muncher, upto 30,000Km per year. It was classic old school. Train 5-6 hours a day in the winter, then race unto 170 days a year in the summer. It didn’t do him any harm…

Riding a bike, will definitely get you fitter. If you are just starting, whatever kind of riding you do – you will see huge gains in performance just because the body is adapting to cycling. In the beginning, just riding the bike will make a big improvement.

However, at a certain level of fitness, just riding a bike isn’t enough to maximise your potential, this is when you need to be more specific and target certain areas of improvement. The good thing about specific training is that you can also maximise your limited training time. Even if you have a full time job, you can see yourself competing at a high level.

Principles of Specific Training

Clear Target

Is your target to complete a 100 mile sportive, to do a faster 1 hour time trial or to get a 2nd cat road license? If it is a sportive, the main target is to be comfortable with the distance and have practise on the training. For 10 mile and 25 mile time trials, the endurance aspect is much less important. There are only so many goals you can have at once.

Each Training Session has a Specific Focus.

If it is a recovery ride, you need to make sure you actually recover. For example, keep your legs spinning, use a heart rate monitor to prevent yourself going too hard. These recovery rides can require quite a lot of patience. The temptation is to cycle fast because you enjoy it, but then you never fully recover. If you don’t recover, you won’t be able to train as hard on the rides where you need to stretch yourself.

Train at levels which you need.

If you are wanting to go faster in a 40Km time trial, you need to train at the kind of intensities that you will be racing at. Long hours in the saddle, can give a certain base endurance capacity. But, the key training sessions will be those focused on stretching your capacity for one hour efforst. For a 25 mile time trial, you need to increase your threshold power you can maintain at that level and time.  I would do several 5 minute intervals at just above race pace. This is stretching your capacity. Also, I would see doing a 25 mile time trial as training for the next race. It is quite a common mistake to do a lot of riding, but not very much at what you will actually be doing in a race.

Focus During Training and Racing.

As well as having specific training sessions, it is also very important to be fully focused during the actual training session. If you have a training session where you train at just above your threshold, you have to be very committed and focused on keeping that level. You can’t allow your mind to start wander and give up half way through because it starts to rain. For example, concentrating on a breathing technique can make sure you remain fully in the present moment of the training session.

Adaptability

With targeted training, you have a clear goal and clear training sessions. But, you still need room for adaptability. If you are over-tired, an interval session may do more harm than good. The goal is always to get the most out of yourself. But, this may require a juggling of training sessions. Specific training doesn’t mean you become overly rigid.

Issues in Specific Training

To do your specific training it may require a willingness to train alone. With a group you may end up going too fast for recovery or too slow for high end improvement. But, on the other hand, it is important to maintain enthusiasm and the joy of cycling. If you find it very boring on your own, try to find a small group of similar riders. Some people tell me they can only stretch themselves when riding with other people. So there is no hard and fast rule about what works for you. But, in my case I tend to end up training a lot on my own.

Training Periods.

Breaking the year up into different training blocks helps to peak for the right time of the year. See more on training blocks

Questions to Ask yourself to help focus your training

• What do I hope to get from cycling?
• What are goals for this year?
• What do I need to do well at that distance / type of race?
• What is purpose of each training ride that you do?

Related

• Interval Training tips
• Training cycle sportives

In Graeme Obree’s training manual, he devotes a chapter to his own breathing technique he developed. If it had been anyone else, it would have been tempting to brush it off. But, given Obree’s success, I was motivated to give it a go and see how it affects my performance / cycling.

We tend to think that, if there’s one thing we know it’s how to breathe. But, sometimes, the easiest and most important things to improve are the most obvious.

During December, my riding was fairly unstructured, so I tried breathing off and on. But, on January 4th I felt inspired to do a proper, very focused training session. Rather than ambling around at 16mph, I would do a two hour training ride at a fast, focused pace. The aim was to ride at about 80-85% % max heart rate to improve aerobic capacity close to threshold. With a focused training session, it made sense to try the breathing technique for the whole two hours.

Obree Breathing Technique

Tongue

1. When breathing in, keep tongue at top of mouth (this helps warm incoming air)
2. When breathing out, keep tongue at bottom of mouth.

Mouth / Nose

1. When breathing in, breathe in through both nose and mouth
2. When breathing out, breathe out only through mouth.

Nostrils.

1. When breathing in, allow your nostrils to expand outwards to get maximum airflow.

Diaphragm

1. When breathing in, don’t just use your chest, but use the lower diaphragm to get maximum airflow.
2. When breathing out, also make use of the diaphragm.

Rhythm of Breathing

1. On first count, breathe in a full breath, and exhale fully
2. The second incoming breath should be half the length of the first breath.
3. The third breath should be quite short on inhalation and exhalation.
4. Start the rhythm again with a long inhalation.

(Note: This is just my rough overview of the breathing technique. For a full comprehensive guide, I would advise consulting the book.)

Observations

• There are quite a few things to think about when breathing. It takes a bit of practise to get used to it. This practise can be done anywhere.
• On slow recovery rides, I tended to stop doing it after a while.

On the first training ride of the year, I decided I would do technique for the whole ride.

1. Having a breathing technique to focus on, reminded me it was a serious focused training session, and not just an amble along the roads. It felt quite a contrast to the previous two months of riding around. This was definitely good. It helped me get into the mode of focused training. This psychological aide helped keep focus on keeping close to threshold level I wanted to aim at.
2. It was marvellous at clearing the mind. The second observation is that by focusing on this breathing technique, you were really in the moment of cycling and breathing. When you amble along, all kinds of thoughts come into your mind. But, when you’re training and breathing in this focused way, there’s really no room for anything else. I really enjoyed this ride, and kept a focus almost to end.
3. It came to feel quite natural. When you read all the things you have to do with tongue, nostrils and diaphragm, it feels hard to conceptualise. But, once mastered it comes quite easily.
4. Later in the week, I was commuting into town, just breathing normally, but for some reason I got inspired to race up a gradual incline (almost instinctively, I found myself doing this breathing technique on the previous training session. I didn’t consciously try to to do, but as I was getting short of breathe, I started flipping my tongue, using whole diaphragm and squeezing out the nostrils
5. If nothing else, I’ve learnt how to spell rhythm and diaphragm when writing this post. Now, if that isn’t a reason to learn a whole new breathing technique , I don’t know what is.

Does it Make You Go Faster?

There’s no way you can say after one proper ride. It will always be very difficult to measure how much benefit you get from it because there are so many variables. Obree mentioned 8% gain amongst his friends. This would be quite something for just a different method of breathing.  I shall see how it works out throughout the year. I’ll let you know how it works out after a few races – whether I keep it up or drop it.

I remember in my first season of racing, I made tremendous progress. There was one patch where every time I raced, I seemed to set a personal best. I imagined this upward trend continuing and at this rate, I reckoned I would be in the Tour de France by about 2008. Well, of course, I’m still here racing domestic time trials. Progress is never as simple as we would like!

Often after a great first season, we will find that our performance stagnates or even appears to go backwards. This can be demotivating and it is important to work out how to deal with this.

Tips for Dealing with Stagnant Performance

1. Firstly It is quite natural. Everybody will have this experience at some stage. We cannot expect consistent progress in a straightl ine. To make progress part of that is the plateau’s. Even the best athletes face this at some time in their career. If you see it as part of the experience, you won’t feel so motivated. However, although it is natural to have plateau’s we need to also have the confidence and determination to strive for a higher peak.

Also, one other note: be wary of measuring your progress by times produced in time trials. Your time can vary enormously depending on weather conditions / position e.t.c. Power is a better guide.

2. Don’t be demotivated Don’t be demotivated by the feeling ythat ou are going backwards. Don’t dwell on a disappointing set of results, it is important to move on and think of the next race. These set backs are just as important to our progress as the times when we do better than expected. It is natural to be disappointed, but just think about next race, next training session.

• If you can remain cheerful whatever the result, you will retain the enthusiasm and energy to progress.

3. Re-evaluate your Training schedules. Don’t always stick with the same training routine. Consider doing something quite different. Either vary distance, duration or intensity. Or perhaps you need a complete break. Try stepping back  and evaluating your training.

• Do you allow proper recovery rides, where you really recover? (try using a hear rate monitor and keep below 65% max heart rate on recovery rides)
• Do you really push yourself when doing intervals training? (VO2 Max intervals)
• Are all your rides pretty much at same effort level and speed?
• is your training targeted to what you are achieving? e.g. if riding a 10 mile time trial, are you training at that kind of intensity?

4. Are You Overtraining? As we train more, it becomes just as important to rest and allow sufficient recovery. Sometimes stagnant performance may be due to overtraining. Taking a short break may actually help us to regain our progress. See: Tips to avoid overtraining.

5. Don’t be Too Goal Oriented. It is good to have goals. But, we shouldn’t get too dismayed if we don’t achieve our ambitious targets. Keep persevering, just because we don’t achieve things at once, means we need to have more patience.

6. Train with Others – Take help from a coach. If we are the only ones to monitor our performance and training schedule, we can become too introspective, losing sight of the bigger picture. Talking to others may help put our performance in perspective and remind ourselves we can do better in the future.

7. Break Season into Periods

After racing season ends in October, I take a break from intervals and concentrate on endurance. This is as much as psychological as physiological rest. By January, I start to feel motivated to do some threshold training. By February I feel the hunger to do some Vo2 intervals. I like this approach as after taking a break, I feel from listening to the body, when I want to come back to hard training. Also, there is no harm in taking a break in the middle of the racing season.

8. Check Non-Bike Aspects.

Nutrition can play a key role. When you are training hard, your body is more sensitive to the food you take on. Make sure, you are eating good quality food, that gives sufficient energy and aids recovery. See: Food and nutrition.

9. Cycling Efficiency.

One thing, you can try and do is to improve your cycling efficiency.

10. Cycling Buddy

Even if you don’t have a coach, it is good to have someone to bounce ideas off. If you speak to your average club member, they will all have experienced similar levels of progress in their training.

Related

Winter Training

At the end of the hill climb season, I was quite motivated to keep cycling. Instead of short intervals, I went out for longer steady rides. In November I did 800 miles (including 200 miles commuting). I really enjoyed the cycling, there was no real structure to the training apart from to enjoy getting some miles in. Towards the end of November I got a cold, so took a week off. A bit like the UK double-dip recession, it re-appeared after a brief respite. Anyway, as a result, I’ve not done much in the past few weeks. But, I guess this is the ideal time of the year to get a cold. In fact, there must be a bit of psychology at work. During the racing season, I’m almost saying to myself, I don’t want a cold now. Wait until end of racing season! So the gods of colds duly obliged.

That’s my philosophy for a winter break. – You’re always going to lose a week or two to colds, and then another week to bad weather. I’m glad I didn’t stop on November 1st. There would have been more to catch up in the new year.

The weather forecast is pretty grim for next few weeks, so it will be a case of going out when weather permits. Nothing too adventurous or demanding, but just keep ticking over ready for start of new year, and perhaps a more structured training plan. Mind you, at this time of the year, when you are riding into a strong Arctic headwind, even a 35 mile training ride, can feel pretty heroic. It’s not ideal, when you plan your ride in the direction of least likely to experience snow.

I hope your winter cycling is going well.

Related

• Winter Cycling Training

Hot Pads for Cold Feet – pack of 40 for £21

Hand Warmers – pack of 10 for £12

Personally, I find these hotpads are an essential extra at this time of the year. They keep feet and hands warm, whatever the weather.

I have poor circulation in both hands and feet. I feel the cold more in the feet because the toes are mostly immobile whilst cycling. When the temperature drops below 7 degrees, my feet can’t survive for more than an hour without extra  heat. – (no matter what combination of socks and overshoes I try)

I have had electric socks, but last year they broke and so stick to these hot pads. (at Amazon.co.uk)

Basically, when you take them out of a plastic wrapping some chemical reaction creates heat which lasts for seven hours. I put them in my cycling shoes just above a pair of socks. They are great for long rides.

They can be expensive if bought individually, you can pay up to £2 for a pair. But, buying them in bulk means I can get them for 50p a pair. They are disposable, so its a little extravagant, but before I found these  I really used to suffer. I used to wear about three pairs of socks and overshoes and go from cafe to cafe warming up my icey feet (which actually puts you at risk of chilblains)

Also, when you’re feet get very cold, the temptation is to wear several layers of socks, but when you squeeze into your cycling shoes, the socks can actually constrict your blood flow, a key factor in making you cold.

Review of Hotpads

They really do work. It’s not a gimmick. They are 100% reliable. Even after 5 hours, you can still feel the heat.  I always use a thin layer of socks, then put the hotpad and then a thicker layer of socks to keep the heat. This particular brand is good because the pads are quite small, but provide just the right amount of heat to avoid feeling scorched, but also to provide a heat source.

Also, useful if you get a puncture in freezing weather and have to take off your gloves to mend a puncture.

Alternatives to Hotpads.

I have tried the re-usuable hotpads. You can re-energise them in hotwater or microwave – depending on the model. However, these tend to be bigger, and much more difficult to get into a pair of cycling shoes. Also, I find they may only last for one or two hours.

My philosophy is that winter cycling is tough enough. I always try to do anything to make the ride more comfortable, enjoyable. Hot pads are my saviour for winter riding. If you have very good blood circulation, you may not need them unless it goes below freezing. But, if you do suffer from cold hands and cold feet, definitely give these a try, buy a box – forget about the cost. And then you have one less excuse for not going out in winter!

Related

• Cycling through Winter
• Best winter cycling gear

One thing I liked about reading the book is that I always felt Obree was just sat across the room talking about his training. It was like listening to an old club hand share his training secrets. But, in this case the old ‘club hand’ happens to have held the prestigious world hour record on two occasions and also is a former world champion. Obree’s pedigree definitely is important. If some of these training principles were explained by Tom, Dick or Harry you might be tempted to brush them off as being too obvious or too simple. But, if they worked for Obree, you give them much more importance.

Essential Aspects of the Obree Way.

Turbo Trainer To Obree, the turbo trainer is a key element of his training. It’s not something just to use when the weather turns icey, but even in the middle of summer. Obree wants to have the ability to very carefully monitor his progress and make sure a training session actually stretches his previous effort; the best way he feels is to use a simple turbo training carefully calibrated to measure exact performance. At this point, in the book I did think perhaps the same could have been achieved from power-meters. But, Obree’s way is largely to ignore computer data. (He says the only time he really uses a heart rate monitor is to make sure on a recovery ride, you stick to a recovery ride.)

Training Sessions

Obree doesn’t believe in intervals. To him the best training is to replicate the kind of race you will be doing.

“Specific training for specific events. Everything else is peripheral and less effective than the base truth of athletic performance enhancement.”

- G.Obree

If you are doing 10 mile time trials, a key training session is to do a 20 minute ride on the turbo as go as fast as you can. Later in the training cycle, after a sufficient time period to recover (could be several days). You have another go at this 20 minute ride, but aim to improve on your previous performance. The simple aim is every time you do one of these ‘key’ training sessions you push your limits and go faster than before. This is the simple training principle of ‘stress and recovery‘ You keep pushing your limits, give yourself chance to fully recover and then push your limits again.

It is beautifully simple. There you won’t find any  ’30 seconds at 95%, 1 min rest; 30 seconds at 95% type training sessions.‘

Another important training session for Obree, is the ‘glycogen ride’ This is a two hour ride, where you adapt the body to riding with low sugar levels to improve the body’s use of glycogen stores when racing. He says you should finish this training session really exhausted and ready to devour food (which you have prepared beforehand)

Obree also advocates incorporating a session of strength training. This involves pushing a huge gear on a gentle hill at a very low cadence.

Recovery

One of the most difficult things I found in book was the length of time Obree was willing to devote to recovery. He says some training sessions might take him 4-5 days to recover from. On these recovery days, you can go out and spin your legs. But, it is important to keep it at a recovery level. Obree mentions (without a trace of false modesty) that on one of these recovery rides, he was dropped by guys on mountain bikes. That takes something to be a world champion, but to have the inner confidence to get dropped by some overweight guy on an MTB doing 15mph. That is another element which comes through the book – A single minded determination. To Obree most of your training has to be done on your own, otherwise you won’t be doing the kind of training that you need to gain optimal performance.

Obree even suggests that to get to the peak of your form, you have to be willing to sacrifice a program of racing every weekend as this seven day  race cycle can interfere in your optimal training program. If you are always racing, you inevitably taper for race, and this prevents the training and sessions which really improve your performance.

Single-Minded Purpose

Whatever you think of Obree’s training methods, his thoughts on the mental approach to training are very illumining. You gain a very clear insight into the mentality and approach of a world champion. Obree makes the very astute observation that many people enter sport with the Corinthian ideal of giving it a good shot, and enjoying the social aspect. We may try very hard at times, but we hold back from giving it 100% because we can’t quite get into the mentality of striving to be our absolute best. As Obree says:

“Learn to challenge the option that says. “I have tried hard enough’ – there is always, regardless how small, some gas left in the tank.

To Obree, there is a strong correlation between our mental approach and thinking in the right way and also our physical performance. I found quite a few similarities with an article I wrote on pushing the limits.

Simplicity

One thing I like about this book is the simplicity and honesty. I’d read it in two days, partly because I found it very interesting, but also because it is short. From a commercial perspective, it might have made more sense to pad it out with a few usual things you find in most cycling books. But, you feel Obree only wanted to put in what worked for him. And if it wasn’t relevant – he wasn’t going to put in. There are quite a few personal anecdotes like several references to the benefits of mashed sardines and toast. (though no reference to the ubiquitous marmalade sandwiches which were often touted around world hour record) He doesn’t hold much truck with commercially packaged recovery drinks and food. Obree suggest ‘real food’ as he calls it, can’t be improved upon. He’s also quite honest about equipment making observation, you can spend a lot of money but only make a very minimal difference to your speed.

Generally, I like the shortness and simplicity. It helps to highlight the essentials. However, one area where I would have liked more details is the training chapter. After reading the chapter, I felt like wanting to ask more specific questions. An example of an actual monthly training diary would have been interesting.

Stretching

Obree makes a strong case for stretching everyday. He believes that stretching plays a key role in re-energising muscles and help a smooth pedalling action.

Pedalling Action

This is another area Obree believes is important, and Obree gives tips on developing a smooth pedalling action. Also, Obree says crank length is very important, (which made me feel a bit embarrassed for having no idea what crank lengths I ride. I can tell you how much my saddle weighs to the nearest gram, but not something important like my crank length.

Breathing

There is a whole chapter devoted to the ‘Obree breathing technique’. This is perhaps the most interesting part of the book. I’ve never come across the idea of trying to improving your breathing technique, which is perhaps surprising given that breathing must be pretty important in an aerobic sport like cycling. I will be trying this.

What will I take from this book?

• A commitment to do the four simple stretches he mentions every day.
• Some greater confidence to really rest and recover when necessary.
• New simple training sessions.
• Another look at small things about race to get maximum equipment. e.g. using a bigger front chain ring like 58 rather than 53 to get a better chain line.
• I will try the Obree breathing technique. More than anything I like the idea of concentrating on breathing during training and racing.
• I can’t see myself training on the turbo in the middle of summer.

Training on a turbo is one of those aspects of cycling that can really test our determination and enthusiasm. No-one took up cycling so they could spend hours pedalling in a static position – getting very bored and hot at the same time! Yet, on a wet / icey day, even the turbo can seem more appealing that going out on salty roads. Quite a few people recently asked me about turbo training, but I have to admit that where possible I try to avoid training on a turbo. However, I have been through phases (like very bad weather) where I’ve done quite a bit of training on the turbo – and, like many things, turned out to be not as bad as you feared.

Advantages of Turbo Training

1. Avoids getting wet and cold. A real boon when there is snow and ice or driving rain.
2. Avoids weather related accidents; it is much safer, especially when it is icey outside.
3. You can control the environment and makes very specific interval training much easier to regulate. (e.g. don’t have to worry about dodging cars, whilst also trying to race at 100% of max heart rate.
4. Protects your bike from salty and dirty roads.

The disadvantages  of training on a turbo are quite obvious for those who have ever spent an hour on an indoor turbo trainer – it is pretty boring.

Tips for Getting the Most out of Turbo Training

(or should that be tips for surviving turbo training)

1. Use music or even TV to give your mind something to occupy itself with. I did find a period of winter turbo training a good exercise for discovering all those lost tracks on your iPod.
2. Use a fan (or two) to create an artificial wind. This is almost essential to prevent overheating and excess sweating.
3. Wear at least one moisture wicking vest. You may get hot, but it is better to have at least one layer to prevent that windchill factor. (There have been times on an indoor turbo, when I have needed gloves and overshoes)
4. Give yourself realistic targets of 30 mins or one hour. Don’t use turbo to get your 5 hour base training in. No harm to taking a bit of rest in bad weather.
5.  se a speedometer / power-meter to give someway to measure your output. It can be rewarding to know how many theoretical miles you have done.
6. Even short training sessions can be a big help in preventing your fitness draining away. Just remember how much you will be glad you did a few interval training sessions.
7. Mix up the training. Even in winter you can do some higher intensity training or try riding at a higher cadence to get better at spinning.
8. Make sure the bike set up is exactly the same as your road bike. Any differences in set up, especially saddle height, can lead to injury.
9. Use something to catch the sweat and prevent it corroding a bike.
10. Keep well hydrated – you will lose a lot of water.
11. Invest in a specific turbo training tyre. I use this Continental turbo trainer tyre It doesn’t overheat, but more importantly it doesn’t wear away. If you use a turbo on an ordinary tyre, you will soon see how the tyre surface wears away making punctures more likely.

Using A Turbo Trainer Before a Race

Intervals on Turbo

• Turbo Trainers at Evans Cycles
• Indoor cycle Training

• Continental turbo training tyre
• Best Turbo Trainers

• Winter Cycling Training
• Winter Cycling Mileage

More Articles on Training

• Training for Time Trial
• Interval Training Tips