Chris Myers, Coach, Peaks Coaching
Group; USAC Level 2 Coach; Sports Nutritionist; CISSN
Chris joined the cycling team at the
United States Military Academy as a sophomore in 2002. He started as a men’s
Croad racer, and by his senior year in 2004, he became a men’s Aroad racer and team cocaptain. Upon
graduation and two deployments to Iraq, Chris began racing on the military and
German professional road and mountain bike circuits with many podium finishes.
Chris
is a doctoral candidate in exercise physiology at Florida State University and
is a researcher at the Navy Experimental Dive Unit in Panama City Beach, FL.
COACHING PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT
training is not all about numbers. They are a good indicator of
your training performance, but you must look at every other aspect of your
program, including your schedules, stress, nutrition, sleep, and most
importantly, family. A good coach recognizes this and helps you balance all
these factors. I learned these lessons the hard way. I want to pass on my
knowledge of training, racing tactics, preparation, and all other aspects of being a
holistic athlete in order to assist you in reaching your goals and getting to
the next level. Your training program is yours; it is not mine. I firmly believe
I am simply a tool to help you improve and achieve your objectives. I will listen
and work hard to assist you to achieve your goals.
PC: Talk about your definition of the preseason
CM: It is the training period
before competition. More cyclists have an “event," an “A” race that they
want to peak for. It could be the national/state road race, a sportif, or competitive
club even; part of it depends on when they occur during the year and how many
events they want to do within their "competition” season. Preseason is
also when some base training would normally occur from November or December through March or April, depending
on where you live. But this is driven by when the peak event occurs. I have clients in
the Middle East where it is so hot in the summer, that the period between May
and July is their preseason.
PC: Let's assume there is a recovery
period right after the season. The
next step is base training to higher
intensity. How does all that work?
CM: It all depends on
duration and intensity, but there are two approaches to base training. The old
school of thought is that you do a low, slow distance and keep it at moderate
intensity. I am a proponent of the new way of thinking, which we use at Peaks
Coaching. It is often refered to as "sweet spot base." The athlete
does 20% high intensity and 80% sub-thresholdtype/ endurance training. The time
duration is not as long as the old school thought. However, you increase the
intensity a little bit while still working in the upper aerobic intensities.
This method works well with those who have time constraints and do not have the
ability to ride 20 hours a week. A lot of research produced by Dr. Andrew
Coggan has substantiated the validity of this type of training. If you have the time, we have a period
called “pre-competition,” where you still play on the two variables of duration
and intensity. You do more work at threshold with high intensity and maybe some
moderate Zone 6 work. As you move from base to pre-competition if you do the periodization correctly—the intensity increases
and the duration shortens a bit. This is the period you can start to focus on
higher intensity areas such as supra-threshold efforts and speed. Yet, the typical main focus is usually
threshold and some Zone 5/VO2 Max work. Remember, the client’s strengths, weaknesses, limiters,
and goals determine the focus. I tend to make client’s limiters the primary
focus followed by a secondary focus that will drive training towards the client’s
goal. For example, I may have great sprint abilities with a high 10 second
output, but my 20 minute output is not so good. The goal is to do well in a road
race, so I must work on my 20 minute power output to increase my time at
threshold. Knowing your client’s strengths, limitations, and weakness helps the
coach to determine the type of work that needs to be performed during the
competition build and this is why it is so important to know your client.
PC: Are there tests you do to measure
these parameters?
CM: Ronald Reagan said, “Trust,
but verify.” The same holds true with data. In the context, we are talking
about power. One still needs to consider heart rate, but it is a little
different. Hopefully you have some past power data on the client to create a
profile to analyze. You can build the power profile, but you also need to test
it. I start from ground zero with testing. Most coaches(including me) have a
systematic approach. I test 4 areas that can be broken down to aerobic and
anaerobic realms. Anaerobically, we test the 10 second and 1 minute power with a
couple of sprint protocols. On the aerobic side, we do the 5 minute and
20 minute power. The 20 minute power is especially important because it measures
FTP, which determines the 6 different training zones that we use to design a
program. Andy Coggan’s research reinforces the 20 minute test as being the most valid. Take the normalized
power, multiply by 95% to get FTP, and from there we calculate the 6 different
training zones. The entire test is 70 minutes in length with warm-up and
recovery. The warm-up consists of 20 minutes with some spin efforts. The first
portion is the 1 minute test. This can be done on a trainer or a flat piece of
road with a 13% gradient. From a rolling start, they go as hard as they can for
1 minute, recover for 510 minutes, and do it again. They recover for 1015
minutes and then go into the 10 second sprint efforts. This can also be done on a trainer or the flat
surface that the 1 minute test was done on. They do 3 x 10 second sprint efforts. They go
hard for 10 seconds, relax, recover to around Zone 2 for 4 minutes and repeat
twice again. The aerobic 5 and 20 minute tests are done at a different training session. We
start with a 20 minute warm-up And do the 5 minute test to determine VO2 max. Recover for 10-15 minutes then go into the 20 minute test.
In exercise physiology, you do the all out efforts first. You can do it in more
than 2 sessions for the new athlete, but we try to get it done in two. We then
retest after a training block as part of a periodization model.
PC: How do you consider the 5minute test
a VO2 test?
CM: This test equates to the
Zone 5 power in the short term. There is a correlation of doing these efforts
in a lab setting. An athlete’s VO2 Max can only be truly test in a lab setting with a metabolic
cart.
PC: What do you consider to be a
successful preseason when?
CM: This is a subjective
question; look at performance measures. In the annual training plan, work
backwards from the “A” race to establish performance marks. For example, you
set a goal of increasing your FTP by 2% or being able to hold and SST interval for
30 min. Another goal could be an increase of 35% in FTP by the end of the first
competition build or holding FTP intervals for upwards to 20 minutes. During
the preseason/base training , we know we are increasing the aerobic capacity,
but we are also working on muscular endurance with the sub-threshold efforts. I
consider a successful preseason/base training to be success if the client can hold a 2x20 min SST effort by the end of the base
training block. However, it is not uncommon to see slight increases in FTP
(such as a 12% increase in FTP) during the base training block. Another thing
to examine is how the athlete performs in group rides or competitive settings.
Do they hang on or excel? Its not all about the numbers; performance is the
best measure of success I want to emphasize that every coach has their own
approach. Most of us follow the same periodized theory, but there are different
ways to train. I may work traditionally with one athlete, but train another a
completely different manner. Sometimes you take an “outside-the-box” approach,
so testing and knowing the client is crucial.
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Article Re-posted with Permission
