Training a 37 yo L. Armstrong

Not so different from a 34 year old one really:
With Armstrong being 37 years-old, will Carmichael be monitoring any new or different parameters this time around? "It is basically the same thing as with any athlete, the most objective marker is power," said Carmichael. "Right now, it is just trying to see if we can get power to keep going up which we anticipate to happen. We also want to see that he is getting more efficient so his kilojoules will keep going down for similar types of workouts. "Now he is starting to get more specific with his training moving out of the foundation phase and doing a little more specific work for the bike; a little more threshold work; a little more speed work. He goes to the Astana camp in December then we are planning a camp right after that where he will get behind the motor a little bit and up the volume from basically doing 24-25 hours a week up to 28-30 hours a week of training. That's a big jump on just energy expenditure so everything just has to start simplifying," said Carmichael, who once served as the US National Coaching Director.

So that's:

1. Measure power (ie engine output)
   
2. Watch it go up (and do something if it doesn't)
   
3. Move from foundation to specifics (ie start long and slow and build workouts on top)
   
4. Become more efficient (ie run as far and as fast but on less)
   

Simple, really.

One day I'll fold all of my bike sites into one location

Yes, one day. Maybe tomorrow.

Anyway, for those new to addicted2wheels.com here's a summary guide.....

Where you are now is my main focus - bikes, bike racing and physiological stuff. However you could click away madly and find....

• Bike racing for almost anyone, which is helpfully easy to understand and full of pics
• Dopage du Jour, my almost chronologically obsessive documentation of doping stuff
• Bike racing - the penultimate guide, for a homestyle pudding of info on my way of training and racing
• and my old, old stuff at gtveloce.com, including the gallery and my extensive collection of essays on racing and training.

Cheers for now, Rob.

Me ride 299km? What, in a week?

Even that's doubtful these days. In my heyday I rode Sydney (ie Surry Hills) to the Blue Mountains (ie Katoomba) and back (that's 200km) for fun and 200km races for the jolly experience of it all, but 299 in a day? No, not ever. So to finish - let alone win - the Melbourne to Warrnambool (the 'Warnie') is simply miraculous, and these guys pulled off exactly that miracle.

I do wonder about the physiology of it all. I found that doing 500-700km a week gave me great endurance but knocked my pace down a notch. Which is to say I suffered in crits something fierce. But 200-300km a week was just perfect for club A-grade crits and my sprint came back. Occasionally I'd do 500, but anything above 200km was a bonus.

And come the track season the big winter road miles (Aussies do their road racing in winter) had built my strength up, so it was a case of simply dropping the miles back and sharpening up.OTOH if I'd had a slack road season I needed 400km a week and maybe some weights to get up to speed.

Even when doing those almost-slack 200km weeks I could still jump on the bike and ride Sydney to the Central Coast and back in a day (200km) with my time each way almost exactly the same. I had 'endurance memory' locked into my legs, I guess. But I seem to have lost it in the last 7 years or so. Back then I was knocking over 100km in 3 hours or less on my own, now I'm cramping after 50 and crawling home. Could it be my age? Nahhh. I've just slacked off the miles, haven't I?