Happy New Year 2018

If you're looking to get in shape for 2018..make sure you set a goal (or have a plan) and that it's measurable. i.e. lose 20 lbs. in 8 weeks.  Increase my FTP by 25 watts by April, etc. Also, make sure you have the discipline, willing to sacrifice, and have the motivation to stick with your goal/plan.  Otherwise, it aint goin' to happen.  Wishin' (or dreaming) you get in shape will never happen on it's own.  You have to want it and you have to do it.  Just do it.  Good Luck!  Power ON!  Coach Rob

Happy New Year everyone.  Looking forward to a healthy & happy 2018.

Pedal Stroke Explained

I don't think most people think about their pedal stroke when they ride their bike and I suppose unless you're racing or logging a lot of miles as a recreational rider- who cares.  I can't tell you how many times I ride behind recreational riders and notice they're bouncing in their seat because the seat is too high or their knees are pointed outwards like they're riding a beach cruiser at the shore wearing flip flops.  I don't even want to mention their pedal stroke..because it's all over the place.  But, if you're racing or you're a recreational rider that logs some pretty long miles you'll not only want to be fitted properly to your bike, you want to ensure you're pedal stroke is as efficient as it can be.  By the way, if/when you buy a bike, you should have the bike fitted to you, not the other way around.

The best way to explain the most efficient pedal stroke is through this clock diagram (below).  I'll start with 12 o'clock.  At the top of the pedal stroke your foot should be at the same position as it is at 6 & 9 o'clock.  That is, the heel should be slightly elevated from the toe.  Your hip extensors or glutes are ready to kick in and drive the foot forward at the top.  At this position you'll feel the toes hitting the fronts of your shoes.  At 1 o'clock, your knee extensors, or quads, are ready to kick in and supplement the glutes.   The 2 o'clock position is the position of max power applied to the pedal because your glutes and quads (the biggest muscles) are both fully engaged. Your heel will drop down from its elevated position so that your foot is horizontal to the ground.  At the 3 o'clock position your foot will be horizontal and your heel may drop slightly below the toe level depending on the grade and/or how hard you're pedaling.  At the 4 o'clock position your glutes will acquiesce and let the quads takeover.  At 5 o'clock, or bottom of the stroke, your calves kick-in and takeover for the quads.  At 6-7 o'clock, your ankle dorsiflexor or shin muscles kick-in.  At this point you should feel like you're scraping mud from the bottoms of your shoes.  The hamstrings do all the work from 8-9 o'clock.  At this point you're actually pulling up slightly on the pedal (a lot if you're climbing).  You may not feel it but you are.  At 10 o'clock through 12 o'clock it's all hip flexor.  Again, you're pulling up slightly on the pedal.
Notice the foot position on the pedal is just about the same at the 6, 9 and 12 o'clock position.  Also, notice when pedaling correctly you're utilizing ALL of your leg muscles- front and back including the glutes.  You want good balance.  i.e. you don't want strong quads and weak hamstrings or glutes.  You want everything strong.

The Winter months are the months you want to work on pedaling efficiency.  One leg pedaling drills are probably a good idea to inject into your winter training plan/workouts.  You'll know if you have a good pedal stroke if it isn't jerky or erratic.  If it is, work on being smooth throughout the entire clock.

Check out the photo of Bradley Wiggins below.  Notice the foot position at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock.  i.e. heel slightly elevated.  That's what I'm talking about.

Power ON!  Coach Rob

New Year, New You

It's that time of year again, the New Year, where resolutions are made only to see resolutions being broken/ignored.  Here are the top 5 New Years resolutions:

I agree, everyone could benefit or improve their lives from the Top 5 list.  But it's also a known fact 92% of  all New Years resolutions fail.

Why is that?  Why do 92% of all New Years resolutions fail?  The primary reason why resolutions are broken (or fail) is because either a) the goals were unrealistic or not specific enough to begin with.  i.e. goals need to be measurable, or b) there was no motivation or self-control to keep/maintain the goal or c) both a and b. 

Lets start with a). unrealistic or non-specific goals.  And, we'll use resolution #4 (as an example) which seems to be the number 1 New Years resolution on most peoples list.  Lose weight.  How much weight?  By what date?  How are you going to lose the weight?  Starve?  Exercise?  Eating Healthy?  Combination of eating healthy & exercising?  Ok, so you need to make a measurable goal.  How about losing 1 lb. per week for 20 weeks.  Or, I want to lose 10 lbs. by my wedding.  That's good, that's definable/measurable.  How are you going to do it?  By eating healthy and exercising.  Good.  Now, what's your motivation for meeting that goal?  You want to be healthy?  You want to look good?  Ok, good.  Now, the biggest impediment to meeting that goal is- what's your motivation?  Do you have a wedding?  Do you have a special event?  Is that enough motivation?  Do you have enough self-control throughout the dieting and exercising period to stay on track to meet the goal?  Do you have a support group?  That is why 92% of New Years resolutions fail.  People have the "desire" but they don't have the "motivation" or "self-control".  If you don't have the desire AND the motivation and self-control, it's never going to happen. 

I saw a great movie last night (true story), that I've seen probably a half-dozen times before, with Robert DeNiro and Cuba Gooding Jr. called, "Men of Honor".  In the movie, Cuba Gooding Jr. wants to become the first Black Master Diver in the US Navy.  That's his goal, his desire in life.  Robert DeNiro, who was the Master Chief running the Master Diver program for the US Navy asked Cuba Gooding Jr., "why do you want to be a Master Diver so much Cookie?".  (Cookies are newbie divers.)  Cuba Gooding Jr. responded, "I always wanted to be a Master Diver sir...and because they said I couldn't do it".  So, Cuba Gooding Jr. had the desire and he had the motivation..and guess what?  He became a master diver despite being black and having his leg amputated.  

So, before you make your New Years resolutions for 2018, don't think so much about the resolution goal, think more about how you're going to have enough desire, motivation and self-control to stay the course and meet that goal.

Good Luck in 2018 and Happy New Year.  Power ON!  Coach Rob

Fitness, Freshness & Form

Just wanted to highlight a BEFORE and AFTER Fitness, Freshness & Form chart from a ride on Zwift this morning.  This was the first time in a long time, my Form was actually a positive number.  (If you want more info on Form, search my blog).  Therefore, I should have been strong on my ride today.  I really didn't feel any stronger because I did nothing but eat/drink the last few days.  I know for a fact that I don't have good workouts after drinking copious amounts of beer like I did over Christmas.

BEFORE:

You can see that AFTER my ride, my Fitness increased by 1 point (supposedly it made me stronger, when in reality workouts make you weaker because of the micro-tears and muscle inflammation), my Fatigue increased by 9 points (which makes sense since I'm tired) and my Freshness decreased by 7 points (which also makes sense since I'm not fresh anymore).  My ride was a 45 minute virtual reality training ride on Zwift.  My average power for the 45 minutes was 190w.

AFTER:

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone from our family to yours.

Looking like a White Christmas at my Pocono Home!

Fat America

For those that don't know me, or for those that haven't seen me in a while..I've lost 35 lbs. since last year this same time.  Last year, on Christmas Day, I weighed 195 lbs.  This year, I weigh 160 lbs.  That weight loss was due to me "getting back in shape". i.e. eating clean/healthy and exercising regularly by cycling 3-4x per week.  Although I don't look great (according to friends & family), I feel great.  Friends and family say I look sick and they're asking my wife if "I'm ok".  Yes, "I'm ok".  It's not like I haven't been here before.  When I was 50 yrs. old (I'm 58 now), I dropped from 220 lbs. to 195 lbs. then from 195 lbs. down to 175 lbs.  I stayed at 175 lbs. for 5-6 yrs. until I let it slip back up to 195 lbs. last year.  The reason?  For those years that I let my weight gain from 175 to 195 were the years I stopped riding my bike.  Not sure why I stopped..well I do somewhat.  I used to race my bike when I weighed 175 lbs. and then I crashed at a big race (that I trained over a year for) and wasn't able to finish.  I thought to myself, why am I doing this..training so hard and eating so clean only to crash in a race I prepared so hard for...for who..for what?  So, I gave up riding and racing altogether (and ate/drank whatever I wanted) which was pretty stupid because I lost all my fitness I worked so hard to obtain.  I just didn't care anymore.  I don't expect to race again anytime soon (although I did hear that USA Cycling may open up a 60+ Masters Category that has me thinking about it), I do expect to ride recreationaly in the future- this time for good.  I always want to continue to ride my bike- God willing.  There's just something about it..the free/liberating feeling of riding.  I still remember my first bike, at Christmas, almost 50 yrs. ago today.  It wasn't much of a bike.  It was a single speed stingray design from Sears second hand store called Cozi's. It had a banana seat, sissy bar, high handlebars, etc.  It wasn't even close to being as nice as my friends 5 speed Schwinn Orange Crush but it was mine.  When I rode it, I got that free liberating feeling.  I get the same feeling these days when I ride..whether it's my bicycle or my motorcycle.  Later, when I was 13, I received my first Schwinn 3 speed Varsity road bike on Christmas.  I was so proud of that bike.  I rode it every day even throughout the Winter.  So, for me, riding a bike has been a part of my life since I was 8.  Tricycles don't count- ha.

Out of curiosity I looked into the Body Mass Index (BMI) chart to see if my height to weight ratio was in the normal, underweight or overweight category.  I knew I wasn't in the overweight category.  According to Wiki:

"In 1998, the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brought U.S. definitions in line with World Health Organization guidelines, lowering the normal/overweight cut-off from BMI 27.8 to BMI 25. This had the effect of redefining approximately 29 million Americans, previously healthy, to overweight.^[20]

So, if you're BMI is over 25 you're overweight, over 29 obese.  Did you know that over 35% of Americans are "obese"?  Fat America for sure.  That's why when people look at my svelte physique they ask, "Is Rob ok?  Is Rob sick?".  No, he's not sick, you're just so used to looking at fat/overweight/obese people which seems to be the norm these days.  Here's the BMI chart with recommended guidelines:

For me, since I'm 5'11" and I weigh 160 lbs, my BMI (according to the chart) is 22.  That is near the middle of the green band.  Actually, it's closer to the overweight band (yellow) than the underweight (blue) band.  So, according to the National Institute of Health (and CDC), I'm where I should be- in the healthy range.  Are you?

Power ON!  Coach Rob 

Power Meters and Triathlons

Saw a chart today from Alex Simmon's blog re: the usage of Power Meters at Kona's World Championship Ironman Triathlon.  Seems like the Triathlon people are slowly catching on to the benefits of a Power Meter.  At least the more experienced triathletes are. See chart below.

 So, why are they gaining in popularity?  Either these athletes have more disposable income these days or power meters are more affordable- or both.  I think it's more the latter.  Regardless, I think it's great.  When I was actively coaching both road cyclists and triathletes back in 2011, there were hardly any triathletes with power meters on their bikes.  Yes, I admit price was probably a deterrent since even in 2011 a decent power meter would set you back $700.  But, what I found more common was that they didn't know how to use them even when they were given one to demo.  That is why I joined Todd Wiley (TWiley Sports) for his annual Lake Placid Triathlon Camp in May.  I gave a presentation during the weekend camp on the benefits of power meters for triathletes.  One of the primary benefits to someone doing the Lake Placid Ironman is/was pacing themselves.  The Lake Placid course bike ride is 2 x 56 mile laps that are very hilly.  If you go out too hard on your first lap, you'll most likely cook yourself for the 2nd lap and more importantly wreak havoc on your marathon run.

Good stuff.  Glad to see it.  Power ON!  Coach Rob

London Calling

When it's raining outside and it's 40-50F degrees I'd rather be riding indoors- in my pain cave.  Today's Zwift virtual ride was in London.  I've been to London about a dozen times in my life and I must say, the Zwift game graphics is as the Brits would say, "spot on" to the real-life scenery.

Today I chose a 15 mile loop in Zwift called the Greater London Loop.  It's flat for the most part until you reach the 10 mile mark where there is an average 6-8% grade hill for approx 2.5 miles.  Then, it's as the Americans would say, "balls-to-the wall" to the finish line (it's an aviators expression from the old days).  I think I reached 50 mph on the descent to the Tower Bridge.  It was fun and I got a great 45 mile workout- and I didn't even get wet..ha.

Here's a close-up of the Hill Climb:

Here's a chart of the ride metrics:

The printouts (shown above) are from Golden Cheetah (open source) Software which I've grown to love after ditching Training Peaks software.  Golden Cheetah does everything Training Peaks software does and more.  The best part- it's FREE..unlike Training Peaks.  I definitely recommend downloading the program.

This is my last workout til Christmas.  Until then, everyone have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Power ON!  Coach Rob