IT’S NOT ABOUT THE NUMBERS

As the season is getting near, it’s time to think about how you’re going to make the necessary changes to reach your goals. For many endurance athletes this means it’s time to get out of the comfort zone and leave the chit-chat behind. The problem with this phase of training is that most people associate this transition to a time where the only acceptable companions to include are Mr. Power Meter (PM) & Mrs. Heart Rate (HR) Monitor. While, I enjoy their company at times, I’m going to challenge you to consider using the following philosophy this season:

Rely less on the numbers and more on the feeling of training to achieve your goals.

This may appear that I’m steering you backwards and might be counter-intuitive for those that have relied on the gadgets from previous seasons. However, races often result in the physically stronger racer being beat to the finish line by a mentally stronger opponent. Don’t get me wrong, I do encourage my athletes to get to know themselves by using heart rate and power data during the early stages of training with field testing, but I rarely tell them to invite along Mrs. Heart Rate and Mr. Power Meter come race day.

Take Lance Armstrong during his recent comeback in the fall of 2008 as an example. He was time trialing and watching his power output closely during the race and saw that his numbers seemed really low (the computer was off and reading approximately 100 watts below his actual output). Instead of going by how he felt during the first 5 minutes of his 33 minute time-trial, he pushed himself harder than normal to match the numbers that were expected from his training efforts. This led to a disaster as he watched his goal time slip away in the latter miles and his average power fall below what he should’ve been able to maintain. Had he relied on his perceived rate of exertion and not what the numbers were telling him, he would have paced himself much better.

Here’s some take home pointers to assure you don’t get too wrapped up in the numbers game:

1) After doing initial field tests to identify your training zones with power and heart rate monitors, try to assign each zone a numerical rating of perceived exertion or RPE.

a. I prefer to use the modified Borg 1 -10 scale as defined by the American College of Sports Medicine. This is much like a grading scale used by most teachers where 0 is no work at all and 10 is as hard as you can go!

2) Use the “talk test” or as I prefer the “sing test” to determine how hard of an effort you’re giving during your training sessions.

a.As your body shifts from aerobic (plenty of oxygen available) to anaerobic (less oxygen available) intensity, your breathing increases to meet the demands of exercise. You can associate the different breathing rates to certain HR & power zones by attempting to form a sentence. As your intensity increases, the sentences get shorter until eventually you reach a point where only grunting is possible (max effort).

3) Play the guessing game during your interval workouts. After covering up your HR and power meter screen, begin gradually increasing pace and moving through your calculated training zones. Now assign a number to your efforts (1-10) every couple minutes and check to see how close you are to the proposed training zone.