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Joe Friel

Helping endurance athletes stay current on the science and art of training

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Joe Friel

My Clinics, Camps, and Talks

October 29, 2012

I’m often asked where I’ll be doing clinics and camps. Here’s my current schedule for the next few months. Some are subject to change. Click on the event link to find more details. Moab, Utah - Nov … [Read more...] about My Clinics, Camps, and Talks

Filed Under: Training

How Can I Do a Faster Ironman?

October 25, 2012

Question Hi, I thought I would contact you via email since you are unable to answer on your blog page. I have a couple questions and am hoping you can help me with your expertise. I have to share I … [Read more...] about How Can I Do a Faster Ironman?

Filed Under: Training

Question: Is Testing Reliable?

October 18, 2012

Question Hello Joe, I am a 58 year old male cyclist and recently took part in a Vo2 max testing, my question is how reliable are these test? My question to you is, does the test differ from type of … [Read more...] about Question: Is Testing Reliable?

Filed Under: Training

A Sample from My Newest Book

September 9, 2012

I've got a new book out – The Power Meter Handbook. I wrote it this past spring and it just hit the shelves. Here is a sample from it. This is Chapter 3 along with the Table of Contents and the … [Read more...] about A Sample from My Newest Book

Filed Under: Books, Training

The Aging Athlete – The Key Question

September 7, 2012

The readers of this blog always manage to get to the heart of the issue. I received this question by email a few days ago. It’s a good one which many aging athletes ponder, I'm sure. The … [Read more...] about The Aging Athlete – The Key Question

Filed Under: Aging, Training

The Aging Athlete – More About Me

September 4, 2012

For the last 30-some years of the 68 I've been on the planet my training has been pretty consistent. There have been the usual breaks of a week or two due to illness or other normal lifestyle … [Read more...] about The Aging Athlete – More About Me

Filed Under: Aging, Training

The Aging Athlete – Getting Older, Getting Faster

August 14, 2012

(The following first appeared in my interview with Performance Conditioning for Cycling Newsletter.) Old athletes are old for many diverse reasons. But the primary one is due to their relatively slow … [Read more...] about The Aging Athlete – Getting Older, Getting Faster

Filed Under: Aging, Training

The Aging Athlete – My First 68 Years

August 9, 2012

Defining the “aging athlete” is difficult, especially in the conventional way with a number representing age. But more importantly, this is a highly personal matter--when am I going to be an old … [Read more...] about The Aging Athlete – My First 68 Years

Filed Under: Aging, Training

Mental Toughness

July 24, 2012

I was recently asked how it is that athletes can drag themselves through unrelenting physical and mental suffering in events such as the mountain stages in the Tour de France. This topic came up when … [Read more...] about Mental Toughness

Filed Under: Training

Research on Bike Cadence and Run Pace in Triathlon

July 19, 2012

In my last blog post I offered the observation that all of the experienced triathletes I've coached over the years typically had lower cadences in Ironman-distance than in Olympic-distance … [Read more...] about Research on Bike Cadence and Run Pace in Triathlon

Filed Under: Training

Bike Cadence and Triathlon Race Distance

July 16, 2012

The two accompanying charts are the cadence distributions for a pro triathlete I once coached (click to enlarge). As labelled, one is from an Ironman and the other from an Olympic-distance race. … [Read more...] about Bike Cadence and Triathlon Race Distance

Filed Under: Training

How Hard Is the Tour de France?

June 30, 2012

The Tour de France is just starting. I’m often asked how hard this race is. One way to answer that question is by examining the workload (intensity, duration, and frequency) of the riders. Heart rate … [Read more...] about How Hard Is the Tour de France?

Filed Under: Aging, Training

Misconceptions About Altitude

June 26, 2012

My recent post on altitude resulted in several questions. The common theme of many of these questions had to do with how to prepare for a race at high altitude when you live at a low altitude. There … [Read more...] about Misconceptions About Altitude

Filed Under: Training

Questions About Altitude. Answer: It hurts!

June 16, 2012

A while back I was asked in an interview for a magazine about how to prepare for an event at a high altitude if the athlete is from a much lower location. Good question. I experience this myself every … [Read more...] about Questions About Altitude. Answer: It hurts!

Filed Under: Training

More on Recovery on Demand

June 5, 2012

As you have more than likely figured out by now, I’m quite focused on recovery this past few days. My last three posts have been on this topic. It’s the one area that I have found athletes understand … [Read more...] about More on Recovery on Demand

Filed Under: Training

Recovery Week Design

June 4, 2012

In the last few days I posted a couple of tweets about the recovery week and got some good questions back. One of them was about how a recovery week should be designed. I'll get to that shortly, … [Read more...] about Recovery Week Design

Filed Under: Training

Recovery and Overtraining

June 1, 2012

It's that time of year when the risk of overtraining increases for many athletes due to the warmer weather and the rapidly approaching race season. This is not something to be taken lightly. … [Read more...] about Recovery and Overtraining

Filed Under: Training

Why Recovery Days?

May 26, 2012

I recently answered this question for a German magazine. It's an issue that is seldom discussed and often taken for granted--recovery. Question: Why are recovery days so essential? What happens to … [Read more...] about Why Recovery Days?

Filed Under: Training

Training and Racing in the Heat

May 23, 2012

On Sunday I returned from two weeks in Italy. The first week was a vacation and in the second I put on a training camp in Riccione on the Adriatic coast.  During the first week temperatures were … [Read more...] about Training and Racing in the Heat

Filed Under: Training

Chapter 1 from Your First Triathlon

April 21, 2012

I've recently revised my book, Your First Triathlon. The Intro and Chapter 1 are available here for you to read. Just click on the link. It's one of the book projects I mentioned below which … [Read more...] about Chapter 1 from Your First Triathlon

Filed Under: Books, Training

I’m still around

April 17, 2012

I've gotten a lot of emails asking if there's something wrong. It's been a long time since my last post. No, I'm not dead. Nor have I stopped blogging. I've been as busy as … [Read more...] about I’m still around

Filed Under: Training

How to Optimize Your Economy, Part 2

February 20, 2012

Once again I must apologize for the big gap between my posting of Part 1 and today’s Part 2. This is my busy time of year with lots of travel for clinics and camps so time is quite precious. It seems … [Read more...] about How to Optimize Your Economy, Part 2

Filed Under: Training

How to Optimize Your Economy, Part 1

February 14, 2012

I’ve written before about the three markers of endurance fitness: aerobic capacity (VO2max), anaerobic/lactate threshold (AT/LT), and economy. In my last blog on economy I noted that sport science … [Read more...] about How to Optimize Your Economy, Part 1

Filed Under: Training

More on Power Meters

February 2, 2012

The diagram here (click to enlarge)  illustrates what happens to heart rate, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), speed, and power while riding a bike steadily uphill, coasting downhill, and then … [Read more...] about More on Power Meters

Filed Under: Training

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