Driven 5 Update: Project Amy Woodward 2009

Last month Amy was fortunate enough to leave the extremely cold temperatures we experienced in Calgary for the ideal climes of Tuscon Arizona. Over the past 10 years Tuscon has grown to become a winter training destination for cyclists and triathletes due to the favorable weather they can enjoy during our winter months. In fact, one of my other athletes has been living the cyclist’s life down there for 6 weeks honing his fitness which simply can not be done in Canada let alone Calgary. A few others have also made the trip for training and racing. Sadly I have yet to go but vow to one day get down there.

As previously posted, this was a mini training camp (but let’s not forget vacation) in which Amy could focus on building her cycling fitness by logging many kilometers over varied terrain and to escape mentally from day to day life. The bonus for me as a coach is that Amy is using a PowerTap power meter which logs every second of her ride which can be broken down and analyzed afterwards. So what does “focused” training time primarily riding over 10 days net you?

A total of 25.9 hours of saddle time or 647.2km.

A Training Stress Score (TSS)* of 1502.2.

A total of 12687 kJ (Kilo Joules of Work) or close to 14000 kcal burned.

*Training Stress Score (TSS) was a training metric developed by Dr. Andy Coggan to quantify and compare your different workouts, even when they are considerably different in time (length) and power (intensity). TSS is designed to give you a numeric value for each ride that tells you how much training load was on your body for that day’s ride. A TSS of 100 equals an hour at an IF of 1.0. TSS also quantifies how tired you can expect to be after a workout and how long the residual fatigue might last. For further information on this and many more topics visit http://home.trainingpeaks.com/power411.aspx.

So what does this really tell me as Amy’s coach?? Well several things after having gone through her power files. Several key points are as follows;

1. Amy stuck to our objectives of base building versus hammering everyday. This is reflected in her average intensity factor of 0.75 or 75% of her functional threshold power (FTP) or 1 hour sustainable power which is 214 Watts.

2. Amy’s sustainability on the long climbs up Mount Lemmon and Kitt Peak showed she can hold her FTP (200-215W) for upwards of 71minutes! This is a great indication that her FTP is rising which we hope to see in several weeks post mini camp.

3. So long as Amy ate, hydrated, slept and rested well after each ride, she could easily get up the next day and do another big ride. In fact with Amy gradually increasing her volume per ride, we saw her getting stronger as she posted her biggest wattages in the final 4 days of her Tuscon trip.

Now a few points of caution for those who are planning a trip to do a mini camp next week. These training periods are stressful even if done solely as base building due to the rapid increase in training load which in some cases equals twice the regular training volume. As such it is advisable to begin increasing your training load in the weeks prior to a camp so as not to shock the system too dramatically. Eat, hydrate and sleep well as you increase your training load to help you adapt to the training stress and look to alternative methods for recovery such as massage, chiropractic care, supplements etc.

When Amy arrived home, life overwhelmed her as she had to do laundry, groceries, go back to work etc. As such she started to feel the fatigue catching up to her and after chatting with her I gave her 2 weeks of reduced training. In the weeks leading up to Tuscon she did 9.0, 11.1, 13.0, 12.5, 9.7, 12.3 hours of training respectively. Post Tuscon she was prescribed 7.8, 8.2, 10.6 and 10.8 hours of training. Amy did a FTP test 1.5 weeks post mini camp to check her recovery status. Needless to say she was still a bit tired BUT she was very close (205W) to her pre-Tuscon (214W) test values.

Rest and recovery after BIG training days and weeks are mandatory and are actually considered “training days” to a degree given their importance to the athlete’s overall progress. As I wrote in my personal blog regarding the Five Traits of Successful Athletes (http://jackvandyk.blogspot.com), consistency in training is a key trait in order to continually show improvement. My approach with Amy now will be to continue building upon her fitness gains from Tuscon after her recovery weeks as we move towards achieving new levels of performance.

With the favorable weather teasing us this week, we should all be able to put in some quality kilometers this week and weekend out on the roads.

JVD