Sometimes finding the time to train can be a struggle. Balancing work, family and a social life with serious training can often leave you feeling like you just aren’t doing enough to make any real gains. Having a structured training plan is a way to achieve those gains you’re looking for by maximizing the time you have available to train. Whether it’s 6-8 hours a week or 10-15 there is a plan that can help you achieve your fitness goals. With limited time available to train it’s important that the body is sufficiently stressed by the effort in order to make improvements in fitness. The most efficient way to do that is through structured interval training. Simply going out and doing hill repeats week in and week out will help you improve but only up to a certain point. Once your body adapts to the demands of the work, the gains start to become minimal and eventually plateau. Periodized training enables the body to go through periods of intense effort but also periods of recovery in order to make the adaptations necessary for improvement and then build on those gains. We offer a variety of coaching options from personalized static plans to fully customized 1 on 1 coaching packages. Do you have Training Questions? Send us an email and we’ll try to get it answered at our upcoming lecture on Structured Training (May 29^th).

ucy, Lance, Jeff and JT
of the Rose City Tri Club[/caption] Continuing our Harden The BRICK Up! series we met up with a group of athletes from the Rose City Tri Club this past weekend to work on pacing. Following the workout, the main focus of the discussion was on how much mental state can effect performance. Often an athletes will push themselves harder when they’re chasing someone down but once they catch or pass that person, their pace drops off. Or on an out and back course they find they can push a little harder on the return because they know the end is in sight and aren’t worried about blowing up too soon. By practicing at race pace over the same distances you will encounter in your event you can familiarize yourself with what those efforts feel like and have a better understanding of what your body is capable of. More often than not, you will find you’re a lot stronger than you                                                                      gave yourself credit for. 

 Next month’s brick will be in Thomasville. Saturday, April 19th at 9am. (Here are the maps for Bike and Run)

Many times as athletes we spend our seasons in a continual effort to become faster runners, stronger cyclists, more aerodynamic or a bit little more lean.  With this continual effort there is a constant stress and strain placed on the body.  These stressors can be both mental and physical and either way we are continually digging holes and very infrequently do we take the opportunity to fill those holes back in. Just like a race car has a chassis designed to handle the stresses that the motor can place on it but also the courses that it will race on so too we must prepare our bodies for the training and racing that we intend to do.  Now is the time to improve the platform that the rest of this year will be based on and we feel that there are three places you can begin.  In the coming weeks we will focus on filling the holes including stretching, structural maintenance and strengthening.    

Whether you are a seasoned athlete, a weekend warrior or a first time endurance athlete there is continual room for improvement. Some improvements might be small and some are large but now is the optimal time to monopolize on one or many of these areas to improve. We break these areas down into three key aspects of your training. Planning your future, Intensity vs. Volume and Increasing the accuracy of your training. Building a strong foundation – Just like a house your training has a strong foundation.  Most athletes have a beginning, typically where you are right now, and a finish, which most would view as their big event(s).  Much like a house has a blue print your training has a plan.  Houses and buildings tend to start with the architect that designs the structure to be beautiful and what the final result will or shall be.  

Once the spires and ornate fixtures are designed and drafted then the engineers step in and figure out how this beautiful new building will be able to survive the stresses and loads that will be placed upon it.  Much like the architect, you design you design what you want your year to look like and then the structure is added to help you stand when event day arrives.  Don’t be the building that collapses due to poor design, instead plan now for what your event will be. H.I.T. for fit – We often read articles about winter is the time for volume and hear myths of training in the winter or cold weather will “burst capillaries,” however, we recommend you think about the reality of this.  Nordic skiers are the first example that comes to mind.  These athletes perform in the coldest conditions possible yet have the highest VO2 max values recorded and prove all the crazy rumors wrong!  So rethink your winter training, are you going to do your standard low intensity training in high volume amounts or is it more realistic for you to try High Intensity Training to push your limits and challenge yourself for this winter season? Analyze and realize – Clearly by now you know that the science of training is important 

to us, heck it is in our name!  Not only do we consider the “science” to be based on the body’s physiologic response to training but we also care greatly about the importance of training devices in your training.  We do not make them mandatory for our athletes but we do feel that they offer a great benefit to the accuracy of your training.  Whether you use perceived exertion, heart rate, pace or power the key is understanding what it’s strengths are and what the pitfalls of your desired training device are.  A greater understanding of these devices and how they relate to you results in one thing…greater accuracy in your training which means greater results! Whether you think you are lacking in one of these areas or all three remember that you must start somewhere.  Take time to analyze what you have done previously, see what those actions resulted in and then evaluate how you should handle the future.  If you don’t feel confident in this contact us at [email protected] and remember that often the best coaches have someone else coach them.  Over years of experience we know that often we are biased, over analyze ourselves and that most importantly someone who has a different point of view can be very beneficial to furthering athletic success!

Today’s stage began with a very low key start to the day with Cousin, Lobato, Boom, Flecha and Lemoine off the front early the peloton was at ease to allow them to set the tone for the day. With 45km remaining in the stage, the five man break was all but done with only 90 seconds of a gap between the break and peloton.  Within the next 5km the fate was sealed as Saxo-Tinkoff headed to the front and began to push the pace.  Quickly to move their GC riders into safety BMC and team Sky moved to the front to take part in the pace setting. With just over 20km remaining the sprinters teams took over the helm and Omega Pharma, Orica-GreenEdge and Lotto Belisol went to work positioning their sprinters.

In the closing kilometers word came to the peloton that some moron stuck his giant Eurobus underneath the start finish line and that the finish would be shortened to the 3km mark.  Within seconds the carnage began when a toouch of wheels ended up with Hesjedal meeting the pavement.  He and another athlete gave chase as the Cannondale team kept the pace blistering for Sagan. To add more chaos to the mix, the bus was moved and the finish was relocated back to the original finish line.  A bonehead move at best, that resulted in even more catastrophe and carnage.  With so many on the pavement an unlikely win came from German sprinter, Marcel Kittel, who took his first Tour de France win ever and first leaders jersey.   

Involved in the carnage include the likes of Alberto Contador, Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan. A rough start to 21 days of racing and we can hope for tomorrow to bring some sanity and peace to such a large race.  

For so many individuals the Holidays are a time of amazing spreads of food that tend to lead to temptation above and beyond our daily routine, over indulgence and lower levels of activity due to busy schedules.  Due to the plethora of food that is available and the holiday hustle many people decrease their training and  gain weight during the holidays SoS is here to help!  Take advantage of our Off-Season Eliminator coaching packages and have a SoS coach help you stave off the dreaded holiday weight gain, make the most of your training with your limited schedule and become more fit while you are working your way through the holidays.  Pass the rolls to the next person and let us help you get rid of some rolls of your own! Our coaching programs start as low as $175/month and are just the step you need in the right direction to kick start your holiday season and get an early jump on 2013!

Race season is drawing to a close for many and the cold winter months are quickly approaching.  This is the time of the year when training typically begins to slack, however, the off season is where you can make large improvements in your fitness.  Make a commitment to turn next year into your best season ever by having a Science of Speed coach help you use the “off season” to build your fitness, stave off weight gain and start your next season at a new peak!  Don’t give your competitors the upper hand by taking months off of training, contact athlete help today to have an experienced coach help you meet your goals.

• Sign up today for a 12 month contract and receive one month FREE
• Sign up today for a 6 month contract and receive one month half off

To learn more about our coaching packages and find the perfect fit for your training needs go here.Offer Ends November 15th, 2012

This morning as I was standing at the local gas station, filling up my car, I heard the gentleman standing on the other side of the pump mumble “These things are so slow!”  I chuckled and agreed with him since they were pumping at about half the rate of the majority of fuel pumps.  After no more than a minute he ripped the nozzle out of his car, jammed it back into the holder, jumped into his truck and slammed the door behind him speeding off out of the parking lot. As I stood there in amazement of the fact that we as a society have got to the point where we are in such a hurry that we are unable to relax while something that saves us so much time in our daily lives (your vehicle) gets the fuel it needs to do it’s job.  More importantly than that I looked back to my annual goals that I spoke about in New Years Resolution? Not for Me! and reassessed goal number 5 of “Stay Positive.”  While this gentleman chose to get frustrated he missed out on SO many things around him.  The weather was amazing this morning at below 60degrees, the sun felt really warm on my bare arms and standing there not have to think about anything or do anything for those few minutes was relaxing in itself. Now, I am by no means optimistic 100% of the time which is why that was one of my goals for 2012 but I have noticed not only a difference in the way I feel day in and day out by surrounding myself with more optimistic thoughts and people.  Most importantly for many of you though I have felt a difference in my athletic performance.  It is widely known from research that an individual’s outlook on their overall ability can drastically increase their performance and help athlete’s to cope more successfully with the stress that can come with an event.  So, next time you get in a situation that is less that what you would hope for don’t act like the frustrated guy pumping gas, instead step back, take a look at the situation  and realize the affect of it in the grand scheme of things.