There are just some things you never imagine for yourself. Can you think of what that something is for you?

For me, it was the cycling program at the Aspen Club. I would walk by the ’spinners’ looking strong and then look away wondering what on earth they were killing themselves for. I wouldn’t even allow myself to consider the program, even though I was secretly curious.

Mark Alderdice, from the Aspen Club Cycling program, allowed me to change all that and see myself in a whole new way. He invited me to learn more about cycling, participate in the interval training class and really improve my confidence and skills related to cycling, a key component in my tri-athalon goal.

A mechanism attached to your own bike measures cadence and power allows me to improve my skills, while setting goals based on the previous classes results. (see below for an example)

The Work out:
5 x 2 min Power Intervals (pi)
w/ 2 min recovery
8 min fast pedal
5 x 1 min pi’s
w/ 1 min recovery
The focus of this class was to work on high end power, but w/ shorter recoveries. We pushed hard then only recovered for a short time. This will make our system learn to recovery and prepare faster for the next effort.
I only broke down the work out by the last 3- 2 min efforts and the last 2-1 min efforts. These should reflect the power after we warm up our body and how it deals w/ recovery.
Kim: Here is the break down of the class. Let me try to explain what your looking at w/ these numbers. I can break down the Intervals we do and get info from that break down. I took the last 3 efforts in the 2 min efforts and the last 2 efforts in the one minute efforts and the entire work out. In each break down you will have the following info:
Duration=time in the effort
work= the energy your body expended during that interval then the power(in watts) and cadence (in rpm’s) will show 3 numbers…they are the lowest number(min), the highest number(max) and then the average
(Avg) for that time.
We usually will look at the avg power and cadence to analyze the data.
For example if you look at the first effort below (pi 3) it shows me that you put out an average of 117 watts at 93 rpm’s. Then I can compare the next few efforts to see how you are performing. You were able to increase in the last two for the 2 min intervals. I can also see that you were able to pick up the power for the one minute intervals which is good since they were shorter.
Good work today. we will work on the power and cadence for a few more classes then we’ll get you some numbers to work by, but start keeping track in your mind the numbers you can hold for these 2 or 1 minute intervals.
Please let me know at any time if you have questions.
2 minute intervals

pi 3:

Duration: 2:01

Work: 13 kJ

Min Max Avg

Power: 83 137 117 watts

Cadence: 81 100 93 rpm

pi 4:

Duration: 1:53

Work: 15 kJ

Min Max Avg

Power: 121 194 145 watt

Cadence: 85 96 90 rpm

pi 5:

Duration: 2:00

Work: 16 kJ

Min Max Avg

Power: 114 178 140 watts

Cadence: 80 99 90 rpm

1 minute intervals

pi 4:

Duration: 1:00

Work: 8 kJ

Min Max Avg

Power: 27 195 159 watts

Heart Rate: 137 156 149 bpm

Cadence: 42 94 86 rpm

pi 5:

Duration: 0:53

Work: 9 kJ

Min Max Avg

Power: 48 234 181 watts

Cadence: 75 96 85 rpm

Entire workout (74 watts):

Duration: 1:06:22

Work: 282 kJ

Min Max Avg

Power: 0 265 74 watts

Cadence: 42 114 81 rpm

I am going on week 3 and can’t believe how much stronger I feel on the road when I am riding!

If you want to change your life for the better - DO SOMETHING YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU COULD DO. I GUARANTEE YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID!

For more information or to sign up, contact:

Mark Alderdice
malderdice@aspenclub.com
Operations Manager / Expert level coach
Aspen Club Performance Center
1450 Crystal Lake Road
Aspen CO 81611
(970) 920 5837

Entry Filed under: Health, Fitness, Aspen, Cycling, Aspen Life Post, Aspen Club & Spa, United Post

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