Dear readers,
I hope you are all well and ready for an exciting 2013!
In December 2012, I asked my email subscribers to tell me what holds them back from becoming better riders. More than 700 people answered that question, and I wrote back to each of these helpful people. There were so many different answers, but I began to see a picture after reading through all emails.
Even though everyone’s situation is a little different, some everyday things explain why general advice like you see it on my blog and in my e-books makes perfect sense.
The fact is you are not alone.
If you believe you are the only one who is limited in performance due to a stressful job, taking care of kids and family, and lots of travelling on your calendar. You’re mistaken.
Most of us are struggling to find enough time for our favourite sport.
There are so many options waiting for you. Remember that changing habits might be much easier than you think. January 1st is a great time to start changing any bad habits. But there is no perfect timing. You can always change your practices. Here is a secret: It’s your responsibility. Nobody is going to take the first step for you.
Give yourself a tangible goal. If there is nothing specific goal in your mind, losing focus is easier. For example, select a race where you want to be in optimum shape and keep this race in mind when you train. Having a goal helps you be more proactive in your approach to training. When you know there is an overall goal with your training, and you will be more likely to take the necessary steps to succeed.
Instead of being surprised by the weather situation ending up cancelling training due to heavy rain, you might plan alternative indoor cycling, join a spinning class, spice up your workout with a brutal cycling video, or train harder the day before.
Having a sharp deadline helps you to stay focused. Remember how many situations short deadlines have helped you do what’s necessary (purchasing Christmas presents, reaching flights in time, etc.)
If possible, your goal shouldn’t be too far away. It’s easier to follow shorter training plans (less than three months), and the success rate is much higher.
Most professional cyclists who train for the Tour de France as their primary season goal also have sub-goals before the Tour de France. Having short-term goals (e.g., performing well in races like Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico or Liege-Bastogne-Liege, etc. ) helps them stay focused while preparing for their long-term plan. Only very few riders can use a single race as their single goal for a season.
Breaking the season up into smaller parts using races as part of their training towards their season goal makes sense.
Back in 2006, when I launched Training4cyclists.com, there were only a few readers, and I was able to help each rider personally. Since then, I have moved from a medical student with a small blog to a medical doctor working full time with my wife and three children while having a rapidly growing blog with more than 10.000 subscribers.
During 2012 I received many emails from cyclists and triathletes who wanted me to coach them personally. Most of them were willing to pay me for an individual training program, and others were hoping for a free training program.
Even though I would love to help every single rider, it is just not humanly possible to do so. And I feel terrible when I decline these requests. But these decisions have been necessary.
But I have written a winter training program that offers straightforward advice for riders ready to rock. And if you are struggling to find enough time for training, you’ll enjoy reading my e-book about Time Effective Cycling Training. I hope these e-books will do a passive, cheap alternative to expensive one-to-one coaching.
In 2013 want to spend time with my lovely family, become a highly skilled medical doctor in clinical physiology and nuclear medicine and work part-time blogging about cycling training. So I’m entirely aware that I need to be time-effective.
If you have any suggestions or comments, they are all welcome.
Happy New Year!
Jesper Bondo Medhus
PS. Thanks to everyone who took the time to write stories, testimonials, comments, and suggestions in 2012. It is highly appreciated! Reader comments have always been a cornerstone for me in developing better articles and training programs.
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Happy New Year to you Jesper!
I'm excited to follow your blog and book projects in 2013!
Thank you, Kenn. Good luck with your IM training.
Jesper
First off, thank you for your very well written e-mails, blogs and both e-books I've purchased---Time Effective and Winter training. I've followed/am following both religously and am enjoying motivating gains. Thank you sincerely.
I'm in the product development business and would like to share some feedback that you may/may not find useful.
Here is my current process I've used when following both your programs. Picture this if you like:
Please refer to page 46 of your current 12-week Winter e-book with "Training Intensities" on the top of the page. Currently I am writing in my FTP test results at the top of this page. In this case 30 minutes at 251 from SRAM power meter cranks via training peaks data. 251 W at the top of the page.
Under the "Recovery" heading and then next to "Power:" I calculate what 55% of 251 is. In this case a pwr value of 138 watts. I then write a slightly lower value (in this case 130) and use this as my target Recovery power number allowing for up and down variations.
Under "Endurance" I write the next % of the 251 FTP--55%-80% or 138 -201 watts. I then subtract 138 from 201. (63) and then divide this by 2 (31). I then add 31 to the 138 (169) and use this 169 watt value as my power target for the Endurance Intensity.
This continues for Sub-T, Threshold, V02 max (using a 5 min value of 345) and Anaerobic based on 30 sec power values.
I then write these values down (130 W for Recovery, 169 W for Endurance....) on a piece of paper. Depending on the workout for the day as perscribed on pages 48-51 of your Winter program I will take the values of this piece of paper, write them on a piece of masking tape and tape this to Top tube of the bike for reference.
An example of this for Week 9 Thursday has my piece of tape look like this:
3 x (8 +4) 213, 130
This is how this customer uses your info. Each workout is done this way using whatever times, sets and intensities (in watts). This is my recipe.
What would be helpful FOR ME and perhaps others, perhaps not is some type of blank table that you could make copies of and fill in these values. Perhaps it could have several columns to reflect the growth of test results (including date at the top which reflects when the test was taken.
If we take it to another step perhaps FOR ME, this table could be used as a visual reference on the bike. How? I don't know.
Because I am the Lean Transformation Industry using the concepts of Japanese Lean business process improvement concepts first pioneered by Toyota, my training bases ALL decisions on this concept: "Does this change increase custoemr value". All decisions are based exactly on interaction with customer focus groups, marketing surveys, brainstorming sessions and plain old dialogue. This has proved well for me in my career.
My suggestion to you is to poll a varied group of your customers and listen closely to how they implement your training programs. What do they do? How do they use your info? Do they program into thier garmin display under the workout section (some of your workouts are too large to do this) or use a piece of tape or paper or other? I don't know. Is this a small, medium or large challenge for them or no big deal. Personally, I would love hearing examples of how some people implement your training and how they recall what values they work on in the heat of cranking target values and potentially high heart rate values when your focus is on pounding out power.
Perhaps this info is of value to you. I look forward to completing your winter program!
Cheers,
Eric
Hi Eric Meyer,
Thanks for sending your suggestions for improvements of the usability. It's always great to have feedback, but having feedback from lean expert is awesome.
You've got a point, that it might be a little difficult to calculate training intensities on one page and use these intensities on other places. It's clear that this causes some 'friction' but it is not much different from many other training programs.
I want to make my e-books better in the future and I believe there is room for improvement. If it was possible to simply fill in a form with 'test results' and then get a full customized training plan would be perfect. And lean.
Though, it's worth to remember that it is extremely important to keep a high quality on 'input' data (your test results). If you can't trust your test results for whatever reason then it doesn't matter how easy or difficult it is to calculate and implement your training intensities.
My training programs and e-books have been tested and read by riders and journalists, but I'm aware that I may include a broader range of test persons in future book projects. Also, I have already made a few usability tests on different parts of my website using video feedback from usertesting.com. And it was very, very helpful.
Thanks again,
Jesper
PS. Good luck with your winter training!
Thanks for your time and dedication. Have great and success 2013!! Personally I have to say that you have motivated me not only in cycling but in many other things.
Dear Jesper, happy 2013 and much success.
Do you have a channel on YouTube?
Have you thought about that?
Thank you for your help.
Mauricio from Brazil
Hi, I have a Mt cooth-tha climbing challenge in March. The ride is 80 km with a timed climb@8% for 2.3km. Can you suggest a DVD or a training program for climbing. I have broken my time every year, but I feel that I need to do much more this year to get close to my last years time. Time is very limited, I am happy to do wind trainer at home.
Regards
Simon
Hello Jesper
Recently i read about noseless bike seat, theoretically sounds good. If possible i want to know your professional opinion.
Thanks
@Susana. Thanks, wish you all the best.
@Mauricio - There are no videos. It's an idea that comes through my mind and inbox once in a while, but until now, I haven't had enough confidence to step out of my 'comfort zone'.
@Simon - If you are limited on time, I would recommend my e-book about Time Effective Cycling Training: https://www.training4cyclists.com/time-effective-cycling-training/
@Carlos - Sorry, I have no idea. Haven't heard about them.