January 3rd - Today I Wrote

The start of the year, actually the start of the month really...is always a fun time to be a coach. Today I had the great pleasure of working on a couple of programs that are well and truly OUT THERE..

Cape Epic - you've heard of it, an 8-day torture fest in Africa. Well, I've got an athlete racing in it and we're putting the final touches on his training plan. It's a pretty good challenge since pretty much every day after the prologue is over 100 kilometers on the mountain bike! Big names come to the race - Absalon, Brentjens, Chiotti, etc...but I think it's the guys who have real jobs and responsibilities that make it a truly EPIC (dear gawd, feel free to kick me) event. Just look at the stage profiles:

What most people ride on a typical MTB ride...

70 Miles of fun!

Knife Edge Looking Thing, eh!?

 Totally my bad...this one's only 88K!

Needless to say we're gonna need a pretty well thought out plan to get this one right. Fortunately, he's done it before so we have a bit of background...but no real template! I'll keep you updated on the progress. Here is the course:


Next up we have the World Duathlon Long Course Championships in Zofingen Switzerland...this one is pretty big too - 10K Opening Run, 150K Bike Leg and a final 30K run! North of 8 hours! Here is my guys bike file from last time:

5 Hours at 0.87 IF!!

Thing I was most proud of? His ability to stay focused for that long...5 hours at 0.87, possibly the longest "Sweet Spot" Interval ever...and we were pretty darn close on his FTP. He finished 4th and we're aiming higher this time around!

Here is a video done by a pro guy:


I didn't ride today...carpet cleaning took the focus away, but I'm hoping to make up for it tomorrow with a long long one before the Early Bird Series kicks off...