Thursday, November 26, 2009

Reading myself into fitness


When mum arrived last week she was weighed down with a lot of gifts from the family and also some books that I had ordered for myself. One of these is the Chris Carmichael's Time Crunched Cyclist that I have been devouring almost as enthusiastically as I have done the chocolates that we ate last night.

Chris Carmichael is Lance Armstrong's personal coach (a fact that is pointed out to us on almost every page of the book) and has made a lot of money from his training business and many books that he has published. This is the first of his that I have read and so far I think it is pretty good. Instead of taking the training plans and techniques that work for professionals and those with about 15 hours a week to train and reducing the volume to a lower level, he has build a new system based on the principal that you only train 6-8 hours a week. This seems to be a really good idea and given that he accepts that there are drawbacks, I am optimistic that it will actually work.

You train in 11-12 week cycles with 4-6 weeks rest between them meaning that if I start next week, I should be able to improve my performance during the winter mountain bike races, have a breather for a month or so and then get into good shape again for the road racing season in April. In fact it is even better than that because I will be able to take another break in July when the races stop for a holiday month and then go again for the second half of the season through August and September.

Now all I have to do is the training.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:13 pm

    Sounds too good to be true.
    Is there a system where you can train for 1/2 hour every other day, between meals?

    Flight was 50 min delayed due to technical problems.
    I started reading "White Tiger" during the wait & was half way through it by the time I got home.
    Brilliant!

    Missed G at the gate & walked/ struggled to the car park & found the car, no G. Met eventually.
    g

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  2. Anonymous4:14 pm

    Home - flight delay of 50 min due to technical problems.
    Many thanks for a great week.
    g

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  3. Anonymous7:34 pm

    Walked straight past me when my back was turned for 2 mins! The £1 15min drop-off cost £7 because of the delay!!!
    BTW £ now = Euro for cash exchange.
    Best rate seems to be 1.07 of thereabouts. slippery slope now until we get a new Government! G

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  4. Anonymous12:23 am

    What types of training does he recommend, do you cross train ...?

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  5. No cross training, mostly short, very high intensity sessions.

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  6. Anonymous8:50 am

    No, as far as I could tell, he was very good humoured after training - something to do with adrenalin levels apparently.

    I can't wait for the gaeneral election!
    m

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