Originally Posted by
calamarichris
Thank you Matchka! But finishing the century comfortably isn't the problem. My goal is to undo bad habits and turn last-year's unfortunate downtime into a fresh start with even better form than before.
And thank you too, Fiberboy. How do
you maintain concentration on your form? I'll start a session with concrete intentions to focus strictly on form (even putting away headphones, heartrate monitor, computer and Giro D-Italia dvds), but invariably my mind wanders and my form erodes after 20 minutes.
When you say "Zone 2 work" do you mean heartrate?
And by "FastPedal" do you simply mean spinning at 115, or is this a DVD? (You capitalized it, making me think it's possibly a proper noun.) I fear focusing on cadence at this point will detract from my concentration on the fluidity I want--is this neurotic hypochondria?
Do you think it's wiser to begin slowly with a focus on form? OR to simply get going on base miles and let the body
figure out good form?
I've been getting back into it slowly and 3 or 4 times this year I've felt especially fluid--I want to duplicate that feeling at will, rather than resume my mindless hammering.
Thanks very much! Tonight I'll see if I can hold my heartrate in zone 2 at 115 rpm.
-Chris in C'bad
How to answer? "They say" that what separates the champions is that they concentrate on what they are doing the whole time. It's so funny to see people on aerobic equipment at the gym, reading magazines! My god people, if you can even think about another single thing, you aren't even beginning to go like you could. I'm no champion, but I just concentrate on every single pedal stroke. It's a form of meditation, which is actually concentration, mindfulness, not mindlessness. Here's a person who offers a relatively accessible entry into these subjects:
http://www.shambhala.org/teachers/pema/
You need your HR and cadence monitors to focus on form BTW. You need metrics as well as abstracts. Yes, I mean zone 2 heart rate (HR). This is usually understood to be 70-75% of max HR (MHR) and is really a recovery zone 2 HR.
By FastPedal, I mean yes, just spinning really fast at a low effort, steadily at 115-130 for long periods. I capitalized it because to me it's the name of a very particular workout used by Carmichael, Burke, and Lippert. No DVD.
Training at very high cadences builds fluidity. That's what it's for. It improves neuromuscular coordination. BTW, don't pedal so fast you bounce on the saddle. You should be able to pedal up to at least 150 without bouncing, if your coordination is good. So pedal as fast as you can while still being smooth in this drill. Keep your feet level and don't ankle. Relax your toes. Hell, relax your legs. Imagine a layer of air between the soles of your feet and your shoes. I usually do this in 42X23 or 42X21, so pretty low gears. Your legs should not feel like they are loading. If you can't pedal this fast and stay in zone 2, try a lower gear. If even in a very low gear you can't stay in zone, just pedal as fast as you can at that 75% HR. Your speed will increase with practice. This is a recovery ride. You shouldn't be tired from it the next day, hence the low HR. Work up to a continuous 45 minutes of FastPedal. No point in doing it for longer.
I think focusing on the fundamentals of form in the early season is the way to go. Try to pedal every stroke perfectly and see how many perfect strokes you can string together. Watch yourself in a mirror on the rollers and watch the shadow of your upper body on the road. Try not to move it, not at all. No wiggling the front wheel; the bike just steady like it wasn't even moving. Your body should be quiet at 100 cadence and just as quiet at 50.