FLCC> VO2 etc. numbers

[Karen]

I like tennis. But I love riding my bike. Glen makes very good points. I spent a year researching and talking to coaches, racers, team directors (think CSC, Jelly Belly, and Rock Racing). I have goals in mind and my coach knows the time I have to dedicate to a program, she knows I am training for a marathon in February and that I want to become a much smarter racer. I have the numbers, power, efficiency, watts and strength, what I lack is a structured training program that works for me and my goals. No I am not ever going to be a pro racer (too old), but I know that I have the strength and endurance to hang with the best and that is good enough for me!! And I have a blast doing it...and that is the point, have fun doing what you love :)

----- Original Message ----
From: Jack Rueckheim <Jrueckheim at frontiernet.net>
To: Glenn Swan <gs37 at cornell.edu>; flcc at icycle.org
Sent: Thursday, November 1, 2007 9:07:51 PM
Subject: Re: FLCC> VO2 etc. numbers


What's wrong with tennis?

J.

-----Original Message-----
From: flcc-bounces at icycle.org [mailto:flcc-bounces at icycle.org] On
 Behalf Of
Glenn Swan
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 3:29 PM
To: Karen; flcc at icycle.org
Subject: FLCC> VO2 etc. numbers

At 12:11 PM 11/1/2007, Karen wrote:
>FYI- This pricing is a steal. I just had mine done this morning and it
 
>cost me $175. Great numbers BTW, not sure what I am supposed to do
 with 
>them so I hired a coach!!


Very interesting and relevant observation. What good are the numbers
 for 
most of us ? There are some local racers and local sports physiologists
 who 
will hopefully turn this into an interesting and informative thread, as
 
they use these numbers to tailor a training program to your physical 
limits/abilities and help you to reach your possible limits most 
efficiently and effectively. There is a lot of technical training using
 
heart rate monitors and power meters and knowledge of physiology to 
"optimize" training. As the one who wears the hat of "Coach" of the
 FLCC I 
am certainly aware of much of this equipment and body of knowledge.
 Heck, I 
SELL the equipment, so I should be pushing you to get into all of this
stuff...

BUT....

Most of us only find the numbers to be "interesting" or "confirmation"
 of 
what we already suspected, or maybe reason to be hopeful that we have
 the 
potential to be better than we thought. (read:Trevor Connor) Two
 important 
observations about these numbers: 1) VO2 etc. tend to indicate your 
potential, but don't guarantee success (or lack thereof), so although
 it is 
fun to know your numbers, they don't tell you much that is practical
 and 
useful.  2) To do something practical and useful with your numbers, you
 
will probably need to hook up with a good coach and plan to be very 
dedicated to a technical training program. If your coach is good and
 you 
are very dedicated, you will reach very near your maximum physical 
potential on the bike. Will you become a successful racer ? Will you
 enjoy 
riding your bike while working solely toward achieving maximum physical
 
potential ? Maybe yes, and maybe no. A bad coach will burn you out and
 help 
you to discover the joys of playing tennis.  A training program that 
focuses only on physical training and ignores the many other aspects of
 
riding and racing won't make you able to beat really smart and
 determined 
racers like Ernie Bayles or other perennial top-dogs.

SO.....

By all means, go and get your numbers if it sounds interesting to you.
 Get 
a coach and develop a training program with him/her, if you have big
 goals 
to reach for.  Just remember to ride your bike and have fun doing it.

Glenn  


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