Sprints for Triathlon?

Sprints for Triathlon? I received an email from one of my triathletes about the purpose of some recent cycling workouts. In particular, I have been prescribing 30 second all out sprints with generous, 3:30-4:30 minute recovery (most everyone would argue with the generous part).  Many of my athletes got a huge dose of these that eventually moved into Billat style intervals of 30 secs one/30 secs off. For the most part everyone who has been doing these I have transitioned them into something a bit more traditional/specific to the sport. I’ve found these types of workouts really do help jump start the engine and build fitness quickly. It is, however, pretty critical to pay attention to the fatigue levels since the intensity is generally way higher than most triathletes are used to. The email is cut and pasted below: Athlete Question: I’m just curious from a coaching perspective what these are intended to accomplish (aside from them pushing me to the brink)?  I would assume anaerobic threshold and thus FTP threshold, but not sure. Answer: Really, I just like torturing people and making them ride with a bucket beside their bike. Basically, I structure everything from least specific to most specific with regards to training load. 30 sec sprints and 30/30 intervals are pretty bike racing specific but not very tri race specific. However, they work really well to jump start the engine. Plus it is just something that most multisport athletes lack. Being able to cope with those short bouts comes in handy if you run into a steep hill on course and just need to get over it. Here is some research on it: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/12966624_Effects_of_different_interval-training_programs_on_cycling_time-trial_performance The 30/30 intervals are attributed Veronique Billat and are often call Billat intervals. Very similar to Tabata intervals: http://coachsci.sdsu.edu/csa/vol71/billat3.htm Longer intervals work as well, but I generally save the […]

The Making of AeroCamp

The Making of AeroCamp There is much that has been written, and many questions answered about what went on at AeroCamp, but nothing has really been said about how it came to be. I think that it is important story to tell given that what most people see is only two days of testing and and final results of all that testing.  There is so much more than that, and in fact, AeroCamp was close to a year in the making. Success doesn’t happen overnight it only happens with lots of work and planning. The Beginning: Almost exactly one year ago, Andy Froncioni of Alphamantis (the brains and software behind the TrackAero system) reached out to me on Facebook. He simply said that he noticed some of my posts and that, in his words, “you really seem to get it and unlike a lot of people, put some real thought into your answers.” He then inquired if I would be interested in working with Alphamantis to help try to bring this technology to the market. This was just after their first partner Jim Manton, of ERO-Sports had just gotten a ton of press for the aero testing at the VeloSports center in Carson, CA. Needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity. Andy and I started a regular dialogue and to be honest I’ve lost track of how many Skype calls we’ve had since the initial one.  Much of our initial discussion centered on a product that’s not quite ready for prime time. I can only tell you that when it is available it will revolutionise the way people think and ride their bikes. I’ve been bugging Andy incessantly since I first got wind of this tech, […]