Training for improved climbing is one thing. Training for the Dirty Dozen is another. Given the fact that probably less than 1% of the hills one normally climb are as steep as those of the Dirty Dozen, it doesn’t make sense to train for this level of power requirement. That is, unless you actually want to survive the 5 plus hours in November as you climb more steep ascents in one day than you normally do in an entire season. Throw in the fact that I …

Yes, I do love indoor training when it is done right, but the weather has finally turned consistently warmer (at least in PA), and it’s time to get outside and soak up some of that beautiful sunshine. Especially if you have been training for a big outdoor charity ride, like one of the MS 150s or even a 30 or 50 mile Epic ride of sorts, it’s time to log some outdoor miles.

Well, it’s midway through February, and there’s good news and bad news – the good news is that we are almost half way through the winter, the bad news is that if you haven’t started your Winter Training yet, you better get started or you will miss the best “Base Building” time of the year. if you haven’t started preparing for the Spring season, it’s not too late. There is plenty of crappy winter weather left (if you don’t enjoy winter sports that is), and so Indoor training …

In a previous post (Formulas Don’t Work), I bemoaned the continual use of “220-age” as the basis for CVT (Cardio Vascular Training).  In a first here at the Fanatics blog, I’ve invited the real expert to “splain” it to us – why this thing just doesn’t work.  You can also download the original white paper by Sally Edwards from her website, complete with detailed scientific references if you want to share it with others that need to know.  Here is the body of that paper:

Nothing frustrates me more than small thinking.  In fact, if I can point to one factor that has compelled me to virtually every entrepreneurial endeavor I’ve ever done (of which there are many) it would be small thinking.  Small thinking is what makes a great idea fizzle and die.  Small thinking takes opportunity and handicaps it.  Small thinking is fueled by fear and a lack of confidence.  Small thinking is expert at discovering all the reasons why something won’t work, and is blind to all the reasons something will work.  …

This is Erika Smith.  She understands that if you can measure something, you can improve it.  She  built a device to prove it.  Doesn’t she look wonderfully geeky?

We Americans really like our quick fixes – fast food, miracle diet pills, get rich schemes, drive through funeral parlors, and more recently I’ve even heard about a drive through polititian in my home state of PA (Yikes!  Just when you think government couldn’t get more screwed up).  So, it’s no wonder that the MAX heart rate formula of 220 minus your age has hung around exercise junkies and fitness facilities since the flawed formula was first offered up.

You can probably figure out what the Training and Taper stands for, but Temptation… that one you will have to wait on till the end of the blog. Actually, I’m not sure either what the “temptation” is for, but it seemed like it would make the title more sexy – what can I say, the competition for readers in the blogger world is fierce, I’ve got to do something ☺!