As a great testament to the Athletic Mentors Directed, Priority Health Development Program, most of the pro’s to emerge from Michigan in the last decade, raced early in their career with AM & Team Priority Health. This includes the new US Champion, Tom Zirbel and second place, Brent Bookwalter. Not only are these guys top talent, but if you ever have the honor to meet and come to know them, you will find them some of the kindest and most giving characters on a bike. No rider could be more deserving of such success! Other TPH grad’s in the top ten include Ben Jacqes-Maynes (8th), Scott Zwizanski (9th) and David Williams ( 6th). Congratulations to all of them! Read the Full story on cylingnews.com by clicking here.

If you know of someone pursuing a career in bike racing that is under the age of 23, that would like to apply for the Priority Health Program, they can click here to apply. We just might be able to help them achieve their full potential in cycling.

“Sweat equity: Knowing this could be a special season, Gull Lake players put in extra effort during the offseason. The Blue Devils trained with Mark Olson, out of Athletic Mentors, three to four days per week. “It started at the end of November and we would all train for 18 weeks – almost the whole, entire team plus some of the people on JV,” senior co-captain Carley Rice said. “Just getting ready, lifting weights, conditioning, stuff like that. And you can see it (in the team’s results) – like our endurance. Sometimes that wins us games.”"

Click here to READ THE FULL STORY.

Click here for more information about our SUMMER SOCCER PROGRAM.

Here is a great opportunity to step up your game and improve race results.  If you are not using a training plan designed for your fitness level, age and ability, attend this half day clinic and leave with a training plan tailored to YOU.  You’ll have an online account to log and track your progress.   Only 2 spots left in this class !   Click here for more info.

We call this workout the “BELCO 500″

Warm Up: 200 swim, 100 kick, 150 pull

Drills:  200 of drills of your choice

Main Set:  Do this set once for a beginner, 2-3 if intermediate and 4-6 for advanced triathletes.

Swim 500 broken down as follows:

1. Swim 100 where the 4th 25 is a sprint
2. Swim 100 where the 3rd 25 is a sprint
3. Swim 100 where the 2nd 25 is a sprint
4. Swim 100 where the 1st 25 is a sprint
5. Swim all out,  100 yards

Rest 30 seconds before starting the next set of 500

10X25 All out kick w/15s rest

Cool Down: 200 swim easy

MORE INFO:

1.       When:  Saturday, February 16th from 9-11am.   Where:  Huron Meadows Park near Brighton.

2.      For beginners/new: Dress in something like running clothes with a really warm layer on top to get warmed-up, then peel.  Bring gloves, medium weight socks, dry clothes for afterward!

3.       Tell us via email ( yes or no so  can adjust the number of trainers/coaches (this is casual, don’t worry).  Email jonsandymorgan@gmail.com

4.       $5 / car for park entry

5.       $5 per skier for Buck’s Run manmade snow course

6.       Rentals are about $15 for new, nice equipment.

7.       THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR THE CLINIC, of course!

8.       Send this email to anyone you can think of that may be interested.

GETTING THERE:

Google it or Mapquest.Huron Meadows is just south of Brighton, Mi.about 1.5 hours from Grand Rapids, 20 from Ann Arbor.

Building a plan can be easy but it takes time and some understanding of periodization, which I will discuss in a minute. First here are a few things to keep in mind when thinking about planning:

1) Best to work backwards from your first “A”(Important) race.  Then work back to the next big race, and so on.

2) The longer you have been training and the more advanced of an athlete you are, the more important the plan. If you are a beginner, any plan will work to some degree as long as you do not over train.

3) Recovery is EXTREMELY important!  In general you should build in recovery days every week and recovery weeks every 3-5 weeks. If you are a beginner I recommend at least 1-2 recovery days per week and a recovery week every 3-4 weeks. If you are advanced there are better ways to plan your recovery. I will discuss this in depth in another blog.

4) Have a plan and follow it!   BUT, all plans need to be flexible to account for LIFE. The plan will change throughout the season.

5) Build your plan with some structure. Any plan is better than no plan, but with some structure your plan can take you a lot further. This “structure” is Periodization!

What the hell is Periodization? The word is used a lot and I’m sure many of you have read something, somewhere about it. It ends up meaning slightly different things to different people. Here are some concepts that I feel Periodization encompasses:

1) A systematic approach to training

2) Training with varied volumes and intensities

3) Training in blocks of time, with each block having specific purpose

4) Training with a purpose to arrive at your “A” race in the best possible condition to reach your race goals

I think number 4 is the best summarization.

Check out Joe Friel’s training bible books for help building the details of your plan or better yet, sign up for the Athletic Mentors Build Your Own Training Plan CLINIC.  This is a very cost effective way to get some coaching help while putting your plan together.

In my next blog I’ll talk about some different approaches to developing periodized training plans and give you some ideas on what to put into those training weeks to come.

According to a recent study titled, Heat Acclimation Improves Exercise Performance², it appears that physiologic heat adaptations can be used to improve performance.  In this study, the effects of heat acclimatization on performance in both hot and cool environments were determined.  There were two groups: twelve highly trained endurance cyclists receiving a heat acclimation protocol and eight highly trained cyclists not receiving a heat acclimation protocol.  Measures of performance – maximal oxygen uptake (VO_2max), time trial, and lactate threshold – were determined in both groups prior to and after heat acclimation protocol during both cool (13°C) and hot conditions (38°C). The heat acclimation protocol involved 90 minutes of daily cycling at low to medium intensity while exposed to a temperature of 40°C, for a total of ten days.  Control participants partook in the exercise over the course of the ten days, but were not exposed to the heat stress.

What did they find?  They demonstrated that 10 days of heat acclimatization increased VO_2max (5% and 8%)_, time trial performance (6% and 8%), and power output at lactate threshold (5% and %5) in both cool and hot conditions.  Whereas, the non-heat acclimatized group showed no changes in VO_2max, time trial performance or lactate threshold in either cool or hot conditions.  Mechanistically, the improvements in performance appear to be the result of a heat induced increase in plasma volume.  An increase in plasma volume tends to increase cardiac output leading to an increase VO_2max, ultimately improving time trial performance and lactate threshold values.

It appears that incorporating bouts of heat stress (sauna, hot tub, trainer by the furnace, etc) into your training routine may improve performance in hot as well as cool conditions.  The bottom line, if you are looking for a quick and easy way to improve your performance, it might be wise to consider living in a sauna somewhere high in the mountains and taking a daily jaunt down to sea-level for training.  However, it might be best to run this idea by your significant other first!

References

1          Levine, B. D. & Stray-Gundersen, J. “Living high-training low”: effect of moderate-altitude acclimatization with low-altitude training on performance. Journal of Applied Physiology 83, 102-112 (1997).

2          Lorenzo, S., Halliwill, J. R., Sawka, M. N. & Minson, C. T. Heat acclimation improves exercise performance. Journal of Applied Physiology 109, 1140-1147, doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00495.2010 (2010).