Training

Completing this look at what I consider the top 10 training mistakes of athletes is taking much longer than expected. Travel the past two weekends and holiday activities are taking their toll on my … [Read more...] about Top 10 Mistakes of Athletes (#1-3)

Here are 4 more mistakes I see athletes often make. I’m traveling this weekend but back in the office on Monday for a few days before my next trip (speaking in Saco, Maine on Dec 12). I’ll finish the … [Read more...] about Top 10 Mistakes of Athletes (#4-#7)

A couple of weeks ago I posted on my Twitter account (@jfriel) what I consider to be the 10 biggest mistakes self-coached athletes make in their training. @BeerMatt_96 suggested I collate them into a … [Read more...] about Top 10 Mistakes of Athletes (#8-#10)

I sometimes see confusion among athletes about the Base period of training. This is the time of year when you train to train, not train to race. That means in Base you are preparing the body for the … [Read more...] about Training in Base 2 and 3

There have been a lot of comments asking about the “force reps” workout described in my last post about Base 1 training. And since many readers receive my blog as an RSS feed they may not have seen my … [Read more...] about Force Reps

This series on Base 1 training is probably stretching out a bit too long. Some athletes may be well into Base 1 and others may be even be starting Base 2. The good news, however, is that Base 2 is … [Read more...] about Base 1 Training, Part 4

This is the third of a four-part series on how to train in the early part of your season which I call Base 1. You can read my previous posts on workout frequency and duration if you haven't seen … [Read more...] about Base 1 Training, Part 3

This is a continuation of the discussion on how I train endurance athletes in the Base 1 period. Actually, what you are reading here applies to Base 2 also, with only slight modifications. In Part 1 I … [Read more...] about Base 1 Training, Part 2

It’s the time of year when many northern hemisphere athletes are starting back into training after an end-of-season Transition period break from training. Most don’t have an A-priority race for 6 or … [Read more...] about Base 1 Training, Part 1

Next week I have a camp here in Scottsdale, Ariz which focuses on getting the athletes started on their Base training with a solid plan. I also do this for each of the athletes I coach. Part of the … [Read more...] about Fat Burners and Sugar Burners

This is the same chart as was used in Part 1 (click to expand). If you haven’t read that I’d suggest you do as it will help you to understand this chart which is pretty busy and confusing. In Part 1 I … [Read more...] about Lessons from the 2010 Season, Part 2

The accompanying chart illustrates the actual periodization of a road cyclist for the season just ending. The chart was created using WKO+ software and data from the rider’s power meter. If you are a … [Read more...] about Lessons from the 2010 Season, Part 1

Yesterday I did my last race of the 2010 season. And just like everyone else I had a bit of a nervous stomach as I woke up. My races always remind me of the advice I give to those I coach. The … [Read more...] about Starting Line Anxiety

In Part 3 and Part 4 of this series I made an argument for training aerobic capacity as you get older in order to maintain not only VO2 max but also lactate/anaerobic threshold and economy, the “Big … [Read more...] about Aging and Performance, Part 5

You can expect to slow down as you get older but perhaps at a faster rate if you only train long and slow. That’s the bottom line from Part 3 of this series on aging and performance. If you never … [Read more...] about Aging and Performance, Part 4

It's been a week since I last posted here. I returned late yesterday from several days in Bangkok where I spoke at the Asia Fitness Conference. It's always interesting to talk with athletes … [Read more...] about Aging and Performance, Part 3

In my last post on aging I pointed out that the rate of decline in endurance performance appears to accelerate after age 60. What is the cause of this decline and how can you train to moderate … [Read more...] about Aging and Performance, Part 2

Next week I’m doing a series of talks on training for endurance sport in Bangkok. One of the topics I’ll cover is the aging athlete. The following is an excerpt from that talk. We’re obviously all … [Read more...] about Aging and Performance

I’ve found that it’s not usually difficult at all to get serious athletes to train hard. In fact, most could probably train a bit easier and be more race-fit and faster as a result. At the extreme … [Read more...] about How to Recover

In my first post on estimating your FTP (Functional Threshold Power) I mentioned that altitude was a factor since FTP is a metric based on aerobic function. The bottom line of that portion of my blog … [Read more...] about Altitude and Aerobic Performance

A triathlete asked me some time ago what he should do on downhill portions of a bike course. Should he pedal hard, pedal easy or coast? That was a great question and one that also applies to cyclists … [Read more...] about Coast or Pedal on a Downhill?

This fall - October 22-29, 2010 - I'm presenting a triathlon camp in Scottsdale, Arizona where I spend my winters. This is not your standard swim-bike-run camp. It focuses on exactly what I do … [Read more...] about Off-Season Camp

A lot of readers took exception to my suggestion in a recent post that you could get a very rough gauge of your functional threshold power (FTP) based on several variables, the major one being your … [Read more...] about More on Estimating FTP

If you train with a power meter (highly recommended) then you probably know that setting up power training zones is best based on your Functional Threshold Power (FTP). That’s the average maximal … [Read more...] about Estimating Your FTP