For months and months, I'd always walk funny after a day of squats. Today was no difference - I went up to 350 lbs while squatting and that's the highest I've ever squatted.
I knew I'd be super sore afterwards especially around my hip and groin areas. What happened afterwards was really not something I expected - I was just hoping for maybe 20%-30% of what I'd experience today.
I got the Skins Recovery pants in the mail few days and It kinda felt funny wearing it under the pants. Anyway, I decided today would be first day I'd wear it.
Oh...my....god....
It kept my lower body warm all day and kept my legs a bit compressed so when I sit down, it wouldn't cut off the blood going into my legs.
Don't get me wrong. It's not like I am all jumpy. I still feel a little of soreness but it's just so unlike anything I have had in the past.
No, I didn't get it from them for free and they're not a sponsor.
The first time I heard it was during Larry Nolan's presentation to the USA Deaf Cycling Team for the World Deaf Cycling Championships at San Francisco, CA in 2006.
Did it register to me immediately? Yes and No. I understood it but I didn't understand the depth of that statement.
Let me give you a bit of history about Larry Nolan then we'll get to the point.
Larry has won 7 UCI world titles (all masters track) and 34 USAC national titles (1 masters crit, 33 masters track).
His 1 km and 3km pursuit time are much quicker than when he was 35 years old. He's 50 now.
Sure, he's naturally gifted but his commitment to the training plan is amazing AND he does it mostly through the means of commuting.
Here's what Larry had to say few months ago:
Yes, I get a majority of my miles through commuting (year-round) and I love that fact for a variety of reasons: - I live in silicon valley where traffic is horrible. In some ways I save time commuting, espcially when its raining - why be in a car when you can be outside - I live in California where the weather is pretty darned great. - Gas prices are not going down - we have a shower at work - My 34km commute that takes me over the bay and through some good winds too - 34km is an ideal distance for me. (1 to 1-1/2 hours) - BUT, I can always add more miles by joining a morning group (2-1/2 hours)- I suspect your athlete will need to do the same to get the intensity in!
optimizing the commute- somedays are easy (ah, Monday's), somedays are hard (honey, get home!) but most days are just moderate with some intent. I don't call them "junk" because I head out for every ride with a plan (recovery, endurance, speed, power, starts, bike handling, aero position, double days to up my metabolism and more)
Okay- I must confess that my commuting mentors are my teammates Kevin Metcalfe (was doing 20 each way 5 x a week) and Kent Bostick for whom I have learned a lot!
The point: Be Different
Once when I understood what Larry Nolan was trying to say, I made a decision to push myself in all areas of my life up to the limit and push it upwards every 3-6 months.
How do I do that?
I'd document my goals in the following areas: (Work, Personal and Training). Simplifying your goals and documenting them may make you more focused. Write it down and put it up on your refrigerator, office wall and by the bed.
Looking back to the last 2-3 years of my life, I'm very proud of what I have accomplished in terms of work, personal life and more. Now I want to push myself even more and be even prouder.
I've written some goals such as hosting several camps per year, establish an interpreting company, training and more. I'm starting to see some things I want to improve on. That would have never happened to me if I had never pushed myself to the limits.
Write down goals that will make you be proud of yourself. Learn from them and push yourself again.
Steve Hill's my coach. He's the 2006 and 2007 Elite Kilo Champion. I've gone from maybe 1,100 watts (max) / 900 ish (5 seconds) to 1,611 watts (max) / 1515 (5 seconds power) with his training program. I still have to work on other areas - such as high rpm cadence and acquiring long term power up to 1 minute with high RPM. I know he's the right man to learn from especially when it comes to track racing.
Anyway, he's one of the hardest men I've ever met. Add some quick wit and sarcasm to the mix and you've got a guy who's going to keep everybody entertained everyday.
Truthfully, he's one of the nicest person I've ever met. He'll go out of his way to help anybody in the sport of cycling.
Below is the top 10 favorite Stephen Hill-isms from mine. Some of them were from IM's conversations I had have in the past with Steve. Some of them were pulled from fixedgearfever.com.
1) Cyclist: I’ve got strained muscle/pinched nerve in the back. I don’t know if I can lift weights or not.
Steve Hill: Well, I don't have any ideas on what you may have done, but I would saythat it doesn't sound serious. Skip the next leg workout, take someadvil, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation, and see how it is on Monday.Given that I've worked through a ruptured disc, you're not going to get much mercy out of me... ;)
2) Steve Hill: Regarding the whole "going for maximal weight will slow you down" thing, here are my thoughts: Not exactly. To some extent, you are correct - if all you ever do is go into the gym and do maximal weight, it will, after a certain point, slow you down. If that is all you ever do. However, since speed work is done at a % of what you can lift maximally, if you do not work to improve your maximal strength, you will never go beyond a certain point in doing speed work (with weights) either, so it's give-and-take. You must do both. Secondly, for speed work, we also have these nifty devices known as bicycles, some with fixed gears, upon which we can also do speed work. So, if all you ever do is squats at maximum, yes, you will be slow. But that does not mean that one should not always strive to increase their PB at squats, or any other lift.
3) Cyclist: I know I've been bitching a lot about not having races here in South Florida despite the fantastic winter weather we have (80 degrees today Nov 29!) but it seems that after twisting a few arms the park has reluctantly agreed to put together a 4 week series on saturdays at 12 noon during the following dates:
January 21 and 28 February 4 and 11
We the cyclists, are hoping the lights are fixed soon so that we may hold weekday racing. If you are down in our neighborhood at around these dates, consider yourself invited to race with us!
Steve Hill: Fantastic Winter Weather? I was there almost 2 years ago for World Cup Quals, and it never got over 60! You guys must not have paid the heating bill that month...
4) Steve Hill: I tried mental training, but after all those reps, my brain hurt.
5) Cyclist: would love to become an elite athlete, however I am lazy. Is there some way around this?
Steve Hill: Electroshock therapy?
6) Fieldsprinter: Every kilo rider eventually goes nuts, so I avoid them like the plague.
Steve Hill: What do you guys mean? I enjoy doing the kilo.
7) Steve Hill: I think the best way to kill nerves is to do the kilo as often as possible. I swear I have fewer brain cells each time....
8) Steve Hill: Come to Atlanta and I’ll turn you into a Charles Atlas, jr
9) Steve Hill: Don't half-wheel the coach!
10) Steve Hill: I showed Eddy B (the legendary coach) my training plan and he told me I was crazy for doing this. This was after I did 10.5 at Colorado Springs......
American Velodrome Challenge returns to Hellyer Park Velodrome at San Jose during the June 20 - 21, 2008 weekend.
American Velodrome Challenge
The picture on the right shows how tough it was. In this keirin heat, we had Giovanni Rey who is a very strong local keirin rider, Adam Duvendeck (Elite Keirin Champion), Matt Barlee (Canadian Champion), and Stephen Hill (Elite Kilo Champion).
In a star-studded field the National Racing Calendar (NRC) points leader Ben Jacques-Maynes (Team Priority Health) had one goal of the weekend and it was to win the John Peckham Memorial Race. During the race, Ben Jacques-Maynes had John Peckham, who was killed by a drunk driver only a year ago, on his mind. Jacques-Maynes accomplished his goal, finishing with 40 points, while Kenny Williams (Cody Racing) took second place and Matthew Johnson (5 Star Finish) finished third.
I expect this year's AVC to be much bigger, and faster. We'll also be including the Beat the Clock Time Trial Series the next day to raise funds for Lance Armstrong Foundation with. Patt Baenen-Tapscott will be the promoter for that event.
Training:
Cold is finally going away. Still stuck with trainer workouts. Velodrome is still closed to the wetness. Am hoping to get over there at least 3 times before I head down to Los Angeles for the World Cup races.
Got my 48 (Sugino Zen) and will ride it to make it a 81 inches gear. I'm thinking - going smaller I will definitely see new PB's with watts but I will also see higher cadence as well. However, my goal is to stay up close to 150 rpm and STAY there as long as I can.
Looks like I may have found a training partner - Jesse Wilson. He's moving into town mid Jan and we'll go from there....crossing fingers.
Misc
ASL Bridge - ASL Bridge provides sign language interpreting services for the deaf and hard of hearing communities. Its innovative and simple request process, streamlined pricing, and attention to quality bridges the gap between the general public and the sign language-using communities. www.aslbridge.com A friend of mine, Sam Hawk and I are the co-founders of this company and we'll focus on Bay Area first.
What's next? Inspirational figure - Patt Baenen-Tapscott interview coming up. She's the promoter of the Beat the Clock Series.
Adam Duvendeck - one of the nicest guys I've ever met and Momentum Cycling Team (Josiah Ng, Travis Smith and Jennie Reed).
Video clips of workouts I usually do.
How to follow the LA World Cup weekend with live coverage.
Stephen Hill-isms. You don't want to miss this one.
On annual basis, there's a surfing tournament in Half Moon Bay which generates a tremendous amount of interest from spectators and participants. This area generates up to 100 foot waves but not during the tournament.
Today, I went to Pillar Point, about 4 miles north of Half Moon Bay where I could see waves down in the horizon exploding like crazy.
60-80 foot waves.
Mac, a surfer, chuckled to me and nodded in agreement when I asked him if the waves were in that range.
Those surfers are serious about this. They may look your happy go lucky and laid back California dudes. They work hard at it, honing their equipment and keeping themselves in shape year around so they can surf insane waves when it hits out of blue.
I will never be a surfer but I appreciate people who constantly challenge and push themselves to different limits.
Be different.
Be different from other people and push yourselves to new limits and challenge yourselves to something new everyday.
Training:
Still somewhat sick. Doing the trainer workouts as usual. Going to go down 1.69 inch to 48x16 instead of 49x16 and spin much faster.
- Track Camp with Steve Hill - 6 spots filled up. 4 to go. Amazing. Steve's going to have every camper read "Gates of Fire". I will say this: you will leave this camp ready to create hell after reading the book and listening to Steve Hill.
- "...Burning desire on daily basis to achieve your goal..."
This is so true. If you are very committed to your goal, everything should revolve around that goal and everything else should become "secondary" except for your spouse and work.
By making everything else secondary, you may be less emotionally attached to them as well and making it easier to deal with on daily basis.
- Solvang Camp with Hunter - 8 campers. 12 spots to go. This one is going to be tons of fun. Last year we had gorgeous snow capped mountains around Solvang and yet it was still warm enough to cycle.
- How do I keep myself motivated about the program on daily/weekly basis?
This can be a little tough but one of the reasons why I like short and intense efforts is the ability to measure them. For instance, squats - I can measure them on 2.5 or 5 lbs improvement on weekly basis. Eventually I will hit a plateau though.
At the track, I can measure my improvement in couple of areas:
1. Watts
2. Cadence
3. Stopwatch/Timer for (kilos, 1.5 laps, 1 lap, half lap, 200's and 100's). I'd record them as much as I can. I'd also use it for standing starts (1/2 lap and 3/4 laps then maybe full lap).
Focusing on little and mini goals on weekly basis and see gradual improvement keeps me focused and motivated in working towards the bigger goal.
Training program
- Am sick right now. Am hitting the trainer instead of the road workouts. Bay Area is going to get slammed with 3 straight storms over the weekend and I have zero interest in going outside and shiver while having sore throat/colds. It's counter productive. However, getting on the trainer - you can get all sweaty. Plus you get to do the track intervals with minimal amount of recovery time in between. That's nice.
- Looking for a training partner right now. Having a training partner allows me to do couple of things:
1. Push myself up in the gym while being reminded of my technique, etc. I have a friend who I can do that with at the gym.
2. Open up the velodrome together. Hellyer doesn't permit me to train there by myself - safety reasons.... Hell, I have a better chance of getting hurt on the road rather than at the velodrome. But...
Also, We'd push each other to be faster. Sometimes it's better to chase someone than doing it by myself.
Anybody?
Statistics....
- 1410 watts (max power) 1338 (5 seconds peak) - Trying to push it up to my road watts level (1611/1515)
- Average 5 seconds cadence: 140 for 5 seconds with a 49x16. Trying to push it up to 145 then to 150 within few months.
Story of the day....
- You definitely know it's just right after New Year's day when you show up at the gym and it's nearly full.
There's a skinny guy on the bench press trying to lift 135 lbs and his arms are all wobbly. It's just painful watching him do that. I wanted to run over there and pull the bar up and tell him to take it easy.
I feel sorry for them. They're going to get hurt.
Misc:
- Thresholdpower camps - I'll be adding 2 powertap wheels to our program on rental basis. You can now rent them instead of buying them.
Stephen Hill
