The Coach(ed) Corner: A Christmas wish list

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By Jason Sumner

With serious training on the back burner for a few weeks (and ski season in full effect) I decided to use today’s column as a letter to Santa of sorts. Not sure if the red-faced, plump one is a VeloNews reader, but hopefully he’ll get wind of my little Christmas list. Here goes:

Lance and Alberto stage a LeMond-vs-Hinault-like battle at this year’s Tour de France
No matter how much all-for-one-and-one-for-all talk we hear emanating from the Astana super squad, I have a hard time believing that the former Best Bike Racer on the Planet (and newly expecting father) will gracefully step aside for his anointed successor come the 2009 Tour. Instead, expect an all-out intra-squad battle with Lance playing the role of Bernie Hinault circa 1986, and Contador channeling his inner LeMond. Figure Lance’s bankroll buys off most of the team — and Bruyneel. But based on sheer (current) talent, give Contador the top step of the Paris podium.

Watching the ’09 Tour from the seat of a mountain bike
I’ve done the press room thing and unless you like secondhand smoke and staying in 21 hotel rooms in 21 days, it’s not nearly as glamorous as it sounds. Instead, I’m hoping the white-bearded one nabs me a spot on Big Mountain Bike Adventures’ Swiss Cloudraker trip, which this year includes catching two Tour stages when the race passes through the Swiss Alps. The rest of the nine-day guided fat-tire trek takes riders from the shadow of Mont Blanc, into Italy for a day, and then to spectacular Zermatt beneath the mighty Matterhorn. Now that is the way to watch a bike race.

Tom Boonen gets his shit together
Everybody has the right to experiment, and almost anyone who went to college (present company included) can relate to the little phase Tornado Tom went through in 2008. Let’s just hope it was only a phase, and not Boonen’s first step toward induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Unless your name is Scott Weiland, coke is best served cold and caffeinated, not on top of a toilet in a barroom bathroom.

The Tour de Georgia returns in 2010
So what if there are only of handful of guys who can actually race up Brasstown Bald. This was a great event and U.S. cycling is worse for its loss. If past history is any indication, taking a year off means sayonara for good. But hopefully the Medalist crew can buck the trend and bring it back. I’m already missing my annual Waffle House trip.

Stefan Schumacher goes away
I can only guess that some retainer-grubbing lawyer has brainwashed Schummy into thinking he has a case to keep racing. But seriously, does this guy really want us to believe he magically morphed from solid upper-tier racer into the second coming of Big Mig? Please take a page out of the Millar/Kohl book and just go away. Nobody wants you around right now.

Big George has a clean Roubaix run
I honestly don’t care if Hincapie actually wins the Queen of the Classics, I’d just like to see him get to the finish without any broken wheels, steerer tubes or other mechanical issues. If he goes home with the cobblestone trophy, great. If not, at least we’ll know it was bad legs not bad luck.

The Breck Epic and Brian Head thrive
It’s about time the U.S. had a mountain bike stage race to call its own, and now — assuming no unforeseen calamities — it has two. Brian Head’s American Mountain Classic is back for year No. 2 (August 20-23 in south central Utah), while Colorado’s inaugural Breck Epic has dates (July 5-10) and a website. I’m a huge fan of these multi-day, fat-tire suffer fests, so the prospect of living driving distance from two of them is…epic.

Rock Racing lives to fight another day
Say what you will about Michael Ball and his black-clad banditos, but you’ve got to admit they make U.S. bike racing interesting — and that’s saying something. Show me someone who’s excited about a Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast-v-Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home showdown, and I’ll show you someone who knits. Cycling is a better place with Tyler and the Rock Racers around. Let’s just hope the sky-is-falling financial crisis wont stop people from dropping a car payment on a pair of blue jeans.

Vande Velde lives up to the Tour pressure/hype
I say it’s pressure; argyle haters will call it hype. Whatever the case, it’d be an amazing story if the former USPS/CSC bottle fetcher really makes a run at the 2009 Tour title. I know he was in the mix last year, but let’s be honest, that was a JV game. This year is gonna be the real McCoy.

Dave Z has drama free season
I’ll admit it, I’m a Dave Z fan. In a sport replete with two-dimensional, cliché blabbering robot racers, dude is straight up interesting. (He raced Paris-Tours in a skinsuit and named his first son Waylon for blank’s sake). Sure, he’s a little odd at times, but I’ll take odd over ordinary any day. That said, let’s hope Zabriskie can avoid wayward SUVs, railroad tracks and whatever caused that crash at the 2005 Tour, and win a bunch of races in ’09.

Track racing takes off in Boulder
Colorado’s cycling Mecca — and my home — just welcomed a velodrome to the community with the opening of Boulder Indoor Cycling. I haven’t been there yet, but the venue’s website touts lots of open training time and racing leagues. It’ll be like beer-league softball for cyclists, except a little more dangerous.

Boston beats LA
Going off topic here, wishing my beloved Celtics (and reigning NBA champions) bust open the proverbial whoop-ass can on the Lakers in their Christmas Day showdown. Either way, the C’s are off to their best start ever and I smell another Larry O’Brien trophy presentation at the (New) Garden.

I win a race in ’09
By writing this, I’ve undoubtedly doomed myself to a year of bad legs, bad luck or both. But just once — once — I’d like to throw my arms up in the air for something besides dejection or disgust.

That’s all I’ve got. Hope your Christmas wishes come true. See ya next year.

Just a couple questions this go round. If you would like to ask Coach Neal Henderson a question please send e-mail to CoachNealQandA@gmail.com. Remember to include your name and hometown. Questions may be edited for content and clarity.

Hello Coach Neal,
I’m 39 and my goal this past season was to peak for an 11 mile hill climb that covered 3000 vertical feet on a rough dirt road near my home in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I rode and trained all winter, got sick in the beginning of May, and didn’t ride at all in May. When I got back on my bike I felt like I was starting at zero fitness. I trained for 11 weeks, raced three mountain bike races, and two road races in the master 35 open and cat. 2 categories. I did interval work every Tuesday, decreasing from 8 minutes to one. Once at the end of an interval I hit 182 BPM, so that is what I feel my max is. I could hold 163 and sometimes higher for hour-long climbs or in mountain bike races, so I figure my AT was around 163 BPM. In the hill climb race, I felt great, rode at 173BPM for nearly the entire race, and was third, 6 minutes behind the winner. If I am able to hold 173 BPM for over an hour, and my max is 182, it seems like my fitness was really good. So how can I improve my time next year? Do I have good lungs and fitness but lack strength and power?

Please help,
Rob
Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Rob,
First off, from a big picture perspective, performance on race day is a summary of factors: your fitness from effective training, how rested you are, how motivated you are, and your ability to follow through on pacing, nutrition, etc. Your intensities seem reasonable. Almost everyone can exceed threshold levels on race day, so don’t confuse the 173 in race as a new benchmark. Stick to the lower figure.

I don’t have enough info here to know where you have the greatest potential to improve, but you should consider going back through some of your better races and bad races to see what did and did not go well. Then look for patterns in relation to your preparation, level of fatigue, etc. A training log may also be helpful, so if you don’t have one this would be a good time to start. Also consider laying out as progression of training or even working with a coach.
Good luck,
Neal

Coach Neal,
I read Jason’s column and decided to take him up on the offer to write you for advice. I keep getting aches and numbness in my neck and shoulders, and then in my hands when riding my road bike. Oh and don’t forget about the toes. I usually attribute this to circulation. This usually begins about mile 30 and I can ride through it by wiggling my toes and fingers now and then. But the neck and shoulders nuisance is not so easy to forget. Do I need to get my local dealer take another look at my bike fit? Or do I need to incorporate some different exercises in my training regime?
Thanks,
Todd
New York, New York

Todd,
I definitely think a good starting place is to get a position evaluation. A good bike shop can get you properly positioned, but it may also be worth looking for someone with more advanced certifications. What you are mentioning here are serious medical concerns, so unless you’ve never been fit before, I personally wouldn’t go to a bike shop to deal with these types of conditions. Instead I’d look for a individual with a medical background first and cycling knowledge second. The bike shop could be an okay place to start if you’ve never been fit before, but you also may need some kind of physical therapy. Just remember that you can’t train yourself to not get numb. These are issues that need to be resolved.
Best,
Neal

Dear Coach,
I’m trying to come back after battling a severe case of West Nile virus that I got over three years ago. My first year of riding saw me able to do 15 mile rides if I was lucky. My symptoms were severe muscle fatigue, aching joints, headaches, dizziness and depression. The inability to ride the distances I took for granted (50-80 miles) compounded by all the symptoms resulted in dramatic weight gain.

In my racing days I was 180-185. I am 6-foot-4 and was comfortable at 205 pounds prior to West Nile. The second year was not much better and I ballooned to 245. This last year I started hitting the road in February when weather permitted and the symptoms were less severe. I had some good days, but more bad. Around the middle of May I was able to do the ride known as Fruit Loops here in Boulder. I damn near cried. I hadn’t seen those beloved roads for three years.

The warm weather has allowed rides up until the past few days and my fatigue is far less, I’m down to around 220 and want to achieve my pre-West Nile riding condition this spring/summer. What have you heard with regards to appropriate training for people such as myself who are sufferers of this neurological demon? Doctors have no clues but I have met a few local athletes who were bitten too and they struggle to achieve what they once took for granted.

FYI: I’m in the 40-something age group and have 25 years of serious racing/riding under my belt.
Thank you,
Drew

Drew,
Very sorry to hear about your struggles. This is a really tricky question. First, always remember that training is a balance between stress and rest. As for West Nile, there are known long-term cognitive and neurological impacts of disease, but because we haven’t known about it for very long we don’t know a lot. I do know that training intensity can re-trigger symptoms, so training too hard right now may be very different than what you were used to before the virus. The real key is balancing training efforts while being very cautious with training increases. I suggest trying to increase then stabilize, increase then stabilize, and then back off. It could also be worthwhile to see a West Nile specialist. It’s not uncommon to have symptoms of depression so working with a therapist could be beneficial. Bottom line: Be happy about the positive steps you’ve taken.
Good luck,
Neal

Editor’s Note: Jason Sumner is a 38-year-old, 170-pound freelance writer and Cat. 4 bike racer who in 2008 worked with a cycling coach — and trained with a Power Tap power meter — for the first time. Sumner underwent a full battery of lab tests at the beginning of the season, producing a 250-watt lactate threshold, a 3.2 watts per kilogram score and a VO2 max of 51.5. Sumner was retested in mid-November and produced a 275-watt LT, a 3.6 watts per kilogram, and a VO2 max of 59.6. His goal include improving on his usual mid-pack finishes, not getting dropped on the weekend group rides, and learning something along the way. He is documenting his experiences for VeloNews.com is this twice-monthly column.

His coach, Neal Henderson, is sports science manager at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and a well-regarded elite-level coach. Henderson’s clients include 2008 Olympian and Team Livestrong rider Taylor Phinney. Henderson is also the winter triathlon coach for the U.S. national triathlon team, and was named 2008 USA Cycling National Development Coach of the Year. Henderson is working with Jason Sumner on a pro bono basis.

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