<html> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" leftmargin=0 topmargin=0 link="#333399" vlink="#993399" alink="#FF0000"> <head> <html 4.0 transitional> <title>Ultracycling: Speed the Spontaneous Way</title> <meta name ="description" content="Hard training on the bicycle for ultra cyclists without riding formal intervals.> <meta name="keywords" content ="cycling, bicycle, ultra, training, racing, RAAM, speed, intensity, century "> </head> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#FF0000"> <tr> <td align=left valign=top>

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<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#0000FF" width=121> <tr> <td align=left valign=top> <a href="../about/join.html"> <img src="../images/join.gif" alt="Join the UMCA!" border=0> </a> </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td width=20>   </td> <td align=left valign=top> <a name=top> <a href="../about/aboutmag.html"> <img src="../images/reprint.gif" alt="Read about UltraCycling Magazine" border=0 align=right> </a> Speed the Spontaneous Way "During 25 years in cycling, the number of formal interval workouts I've done can still be counted on my fingers and toes. The reason is simple: I love to ride; interval training makes me want to do anything but." by Ed Pavelka Ed Pavelka, the former editor of VeloNews and Bicycling, is a veteran of Team RAAM and Paris-Brest-Paris. Pavelka is Director of Internet Content for Performance Bicycle, Inc.and is writing "The Complete Book of Long Distance Cycling" with physiologist Ed Burke, Ph.D. <center><img src="../images/line.gif"></center> Interval training works, there's no doubt about that. Road racers have been doing it for decades, and there's plenty of proof that it benefits ultra riders, too. Maybe the most convincing evidence dates back to the mid 1980s when Pete Penseyres was training for RAAM. He was doing 400-mile weekend rides as the í86 race approached, but he also was getting a serious serving of speed. It came from Tuesday and Thursday 35-mile training races and 7-mile team time trials on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. He also frequently jacked his heart rate past his lactate threshold on the hills of his legendary 60-mile round-trip commute. In short, Pete was doing lots of interval-type training. The key, though, is that it was less onerous than conventional intervals because it wasn't governed by a strict schedule and stopwatch. The result was impressive: a reduction of three hours in his 400-mile time. That's more than a 10% improvement. It boosted his basic cruising speed by 1-2 mph ñ without an increase in perceived effort. This paid off big in RAAM when Pete completed 1986's 3,107-mile course in first place and set an average speed record of 15.4 mph ñ a mark that still has never been seriously threatened. He was 43 at the time. Ten years later, Pete was at it again, training for RAAM this time as a member of the senior 50-plus team that included Fred Matheny, Skip Hamilton and myself. A decade of training advances resulted in a computer-generated eight-month program from coach Tom Ehrhard. Each of us had slightly different schedules because our time for training varied, but in one way all four plans were the identical: They called for intervals and plenty of them. Each day's workout was precisely ordered by time and heart rate. Our strategy for Team RAAM was to ride 30-minute shifts, so we needed the power to turn big gears at time-trial speed. But endurance also was essential. We would be hammering out 725 miles apiece in less than six days (we hoped). Pete, an engineer who dotes on numbers, bought into the Ehrhard program like a day trader jumping on an IPO. He knew the value of intensity training. He soon began e-mailing us about significant improvements in lactate threshold and power output. Despite living near balmy San Diego, he dutifully sat in his garage all winter, pounding out precise workouts on his CompuTrainer. Fred, in snowy Colorado, did the same during the winter and spring. Skip, another Coloradan, also did lots of indoor intensity, though he escaped some days for workouts on cross-country skis. As for me, I looked at the very first workout on the long, long schedule and said there's no way. During 25 years in cycling, the number of formal interval workouts I'd done could still be counted on my fingers and toes. The reason is simple: I love to ride; interval training makes me want to do anything but. That's not a good thing. Besides, the Ehrhard program called for such precision (heart rate zones, duration of effort and recovery, hours and minutes per week, etc.) that it simply wasn't possible on my hilly terrain in Pennsylvania. I did use my CompuTrainer on winter days when the roads were icy, but unlike Pete I could not make myself grind away indoors if it was possible to get out. At this point, perhaps you can imagine the anxiety I was feeling. My three teammates were getting fast and strong by dutifully following a training program that I was ignoring. How could I get as fit for Team RAAM as they were going to be? Sure, my fitness was OK. Even in winter I was doing about 200 commuting miles each week with a six-hour ride on the weekend, but this didn't include any intervals. Or did it? As I thought about it, I realized I was interval training every single day. Another word for it is climbing. Each day's commuting gave me about 2,500 vertical feet, all in lumps that pushed my heart rate to my LT for brief periods, then eased it down on the descents. On weekends, my long, steady distance rides included more of the same. I was actually doing quite a bit of intensity, though not with any structure or precision. It was random, sporadic, spontaneous ñ sort of like Pete in the old days. Even so, I knew I needed something more. So I looked for other ways to get what intensity gives. I continued doing at least one long ride each week for endurance and confidence. I kept my effort up by setting a goal or two, such as trying to pass the century mark in less than five hours or achieving a negative split. In addition, other rides included a number of speed- and power-building techniques that could best be described as random intervals. If you're like me and find formal interval training distasteful, give these a try. Your head may find them easier, but your body won't. Ride hills on purpose. I have no choice, but you might. Instead of sticking to the flats, choose certain days to "go climbing". Make it a game to bag every significant hill you can. Ascend some by spinning lower gears, and others by pushing bigger ones (in effect doing leg presses on the bike). Alternate sitting and standing. By mixing techniques you mix the types of intensity. Your legs will get a more complete workout while your heart rate soars. Ride in fast pacelines. This is what Pete was doing in those team time trials. Each time you take the front at speed, your heart rate goes right to LT or even higher. Fifteen seconds later, you're backing off and sliding into the draft to recover. Over and over. As a side benefit, this type of riding accustoms you to being in a low, streamlined position while close to other riders at speed. This is helpful in mass-start ultra events ñ everything from centuries to 12- and 24-hour time trials. Ride in club races. You don't need a USCF license to get the benefits of competition. Just join in local training races or group rides that get feisty in the last hour. Think about all the jumping, sprinting, attacking, chasing and hill jamming that occurs in such rides. Your head doesn't consider it interval training, but your body gets major results. Ride as if your life depends on it. You probably know the feeling. A thunderstorm is bearing down but you're still eight miles from home. Or, you realize there's barely 20 minutes of daylight left but you're 25 minutes from where you're going. Or, you hear a truck way behind and see a narrow bridge way ahead. Can you make it across before you're overtaken? Each of these scenarios invites an adrenaline rush that fuels an interval-type effort. (One time in Florida a lightning bolt passed so close overhead that I could hear the air sizzle. The remaining 15 miles were just a blur, literally.) <table border=0 bordercolor="#0000FF" width=200 align=right cellspacing="10"> <tr> <td bgcolor="#99CCFF" > More Information    UltraCycling Magazine Authoritative information for endurance cyclists. Each issue contains articles by experts on: <ul> <li>training <li>nutrition <li>equipment <li>event preparation <li>rider profiles <li>race results </ul> <a href="../about/join.html">Join the UMCA</a> and receive six issues a year. </td> </tr> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <a href="../about/join.html"> <img src="../images/join.gif" width=130 alt="Join the UMCA!" border=0></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="about/backorder.html"> <img src="../images/backissues.gif" alt="Ultracycling: training!" border=0></a> <a href="../about/backorder.html">Order back issues</a> </td> </tr> </table> Ride the wind. Don't have hills for automatic intervals? You certainly have wind. Using headwind sections for power training is a technique as old as lactic acid, but don't think wind has to be an obstacle to be beneficial. When you've got it behind you, do some natural "motorpacing". Shift up and muscle your 53x12 past 30 mph, then lock onto that speed for five, ten or more minutes. Oh yeah, we're having fun now! Someday, when the clock is ticking toward the end of a 12-hour time trial, recapture this feeling and get your PR. Ride and play. Runners often talk about fartlek or "speedplay" workouts. Well, cyclists can fartlek as well as anyone. This simple concept encourages you to alternately push hard or ease up as the spirit moves you. It's probably the purest form of random intervals, sort of like doing a group ride with yourself. For instance, you might decide to stay in the big ring and jam over several rollers; time trial to the silo whenever you spot a farm in the distance; sprint for 30 seconds whenever you pass a white mailbox; or chase down any rider you see up ahead. Use your creativity. Your heart won't care if your intervals come like this rather than prescribed by a watch. Team RAAM, as it turned out, was the ultimate in intensity training - and by far the most fun way to do intervals I can imagine. In the í96 race, each of us rode approximately 70 half-hour shifts as we lowered the senior 50-plus record to 5 days, 11 hours, 21 minutes. For several weeks afterward, we were so buffed that we broke personal records we'd set years earlier. <center><img src="../images/line.gif"></center> <center> [ To Top of Page | Home | Calendar | Current Results | Standings | Year-Rounder | Records | Training | Equipment | Nutrition | About the UMCA | Site Index ] </center> </td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>