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6 min read<\/p>\n6 min read<\/p>\n
How does one coach help athletes on the track, road, and mountain bike secure Olympic medals? Gary Sutton, USA Cycling\u2019s women\u2019s endurance track program<\/a> lead, clearly has the answers.<\/p>\n Sutton worked with the gold-medal-winning women\u2019s track pursuit team, which included Lily Williams, Jennifer Valente, Chloe Dygert (who also won bronze in the time trial), and Kristen Faulkner<\/a> (who also won gold medal<\/a> on the road). He also trained mountain biker Haley Batten<\/a>, who took silver in the cross-country event in Paris\u2014the best ever finish by Team USA.<\/p>\n While these epic performances come down to genetics and talent, Sutton says there\u2019s more to it than that. Drive, belief, and frankly, some brutal VO2 max intervals<\/a>, play a role in getting faster<\/a> on any surface.<\/p>\n We sat down with Sutton for his last interview as track coach with USA Cycling before he headed home to Australia to find out how to you can use his secrets for building speed.<\/p>\n Find the Right Training Ground <\/p>\n Having an optimal training environment where you can push as hard as you possibly can in intervals<\/a> without fear of traffic, errant dog walkers, potholes, et cetera is key, says Sutton.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why even mountain biker Batten joined the endurance track team for a pre-Paris Games training camp<\/a>. The track affords riders the ability to be completely focused on the bike and pushing more watts, not stressing about if a car is coming up behind them.<\/p>\n \u201cTraining in the velodrome is great because it\u2019s a safe area where you can develop explosive power<\/a>,\u201d says Sutton.<\/p>\n You may not have a velodrome handy to train in, but if you really want to increase your speed, find a safe environment where you can push hard and ride fast. This could be an annoying out-and-back dead-end road that rarely sees car traffic, or even doing some of your riding on the indoor trainer<\/a> to really focus on the pedaling<\/a>, not the roads, especially if you live in a high-traffic area. For mountain bikers<\/a>, this could look like doing some interval efforts on gravel roads rather than twisty, technical singletrack.<\/p>\n Zero in on the VO2 Max Zone<\/p>\n Sutton is a big fan of VO2 max efforts<\/a> when it comes to racing any cycling discipline. Two-time gold medalist Faulkner used her training on the track to work on her VO2 max, which translated to the road\u2014and her gold medal in the Olympic road race.<\/p>\n \u201cI did a lot of four-minute VO2 max efforts, which were perfect for the course,\u201d Faulkner says. \u201cI did very few longer, 20-minute efforts. But I was confident that these VO2 efforts on the track would help me on the road since I already had a good base<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Sutton adds that VO2 max\u2014also known as zone 5<\/a>\u2014is a secret weapon because it helps not only with top-end speed, but it also boosts the aerobic engine<\/a>, which translates to helping with long races or rides like a century<\/a>, not just short intense efforts.<\/p>\n VO2 max is probably the most challenging zone to train in, considering the intervals in this zone<\/a> are both hard and long, typically lasting between two and six minutes. Often, athletes skip training in this power zone, opting to ride over it in zones 6 or 7 by doing shorter, more intense intervals, or under it during longer sessions<\/a>, rather than honing in on and staying in zone 5.<\/p>\n One caveat: Don\u2019t overdo it on VO2 max intervals. Once a week is plenty for most riders, and twice a week should be the max that you\u2019re hitting hard intervals (mentally and physically).<\/p>\n Go Big on Your Gearing<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you do track work [in a velodrome], you can generate big power,\u201d says Sutton. \u201cYou can do some big gear stuff that helps build speed<\/a>, whether it be for mountain biking or road.\u201d Working in a bigger gear can especially help you build top-end speed, he adds.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t have a track near you, you can still focus on doing some of your hard efforts in a bigger gear. To do that, warm up and cool down in your normal gearing, spinning comfortably. But then, for your actual interval set, shift into a big gear and stay there for the duration of the workout, including the easy spins between hard efforts. The big gear shouldn\u2019t feel super difficult to turn over\u2014that\u2019s too hard. It should feel more muscular to turn, and you\u2019ll notice that your cadence<\/a>, especially as you start an interval and get up to speed, will be lower than your average.<\/p>\n Going big on gears is a great way to do a VO2 max workout<\/a>. To do that:<\/p>\n Start with a warmup of easy spinningShift into that big gear for 4 x 4-minutes at your VO2 max, with 4 minutes easy riding betweenEnd with a cooldown of easy spinning<\/p>\n Remember, though, that this is a training stimulus<\/a>, not a permanent change to your pedaling: You don\u2019t need to start riding and racing only in the big ring!<\/p>\n Work Hard and Recover Harder<\/p>\n \u201cThese Olympic champions are champions of their work ethic. People should see just how hard they push and how deep they go in training to get where they are,\u201d Sutton says. \u201cYou can have all the ability and all the natural talent, but if you\u2019re not prepared to work hard, you\u2019ll only get so far.\u201d<\/p>\n But that also means that when the athletes are dealing with injuries<\/a>\u2014as was the case for Dygert in recent years\u2014the biggest part of Sutton\u2019s job is about helping them back off of their training in order to heal.<\/p>\n Getting athletes to back off and take real recovery time<\/a> after big workouts as a regular component of their training, whether they\u2019re injured or not, is also a priority for Sutton.<\/p>\n \u201cTraining is important, but the recovery side is just as key,\u201d he says. \u201cWith our athletes, we\u2019re getting feedback from the sports scientists and experts at the Olympic Training Center to help inform their training. But even without those experts looking at the data, you can do a bit of self-assessment and pay attention to how well-recovered you feel after workouts<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n To do this yourself, it\u2019s smart to try a wearable like a Whoop<\/a>, Oura Ring<\/a>, or even Fitbit<\/a>, all of which typically provide a readiness score when you wake up in the morning.<\/p>\n Sutton suggests you also go beyond what your wearable is telling you and actually take a moment to reflect on how you\u2019re feeling: Are you fatigued<\/a>, sore<\/a>, or just drained? You may need an extra day of easy or no riding to recover\u2014or at least, you may need to ease into your workout with a longer warmup<\/a> and a willingness to pull the plug if you\u2019re still feeling exhausted during your first set.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re feeling refreshed and ready to go, take note of that feeling and bring it with you into your workout.<\/p>\n Do a Daily Check-In<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not going to be at your best every day,\u201d Sutton explains. \u201cYou can have a program in place, and then have a terrible night of sleep<\/a>, or something going on in your life, and that can mean the program needs to change.\u201d<\/p>\n Again, that may mean you need an extra recovery day, or you may simply need to back off on the intervals and not go 100 percent on the first couple. On the flip side, if you do wake up feeling great, that can be a great day to really push the pace on those VO2 max efforts.<\/p>\n Listening to your body and adjusting accordingly is an important part of being able to perform at a high level without overtraining<\/a> or developing injuries, no matter what\u2019s on the training schedule for the day.<\/p>\n Believe in Yourself\u2014and Your Training Program <\/p>\n Sutton says the most important thing is that the athletes need to believe in themselves<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe women who took home medals in Paris worked so hard, they had so much drive, and they had so much belief in themselves and in the fact that they had done the work needed to put them in position to win a medal,\u201d Sutton says, and this made a huge difference.<\/p>\n Interestingly, Sutton also thinks that a big part of an athlete\u2019s success is based on how much they believe in their training program<\/a>. An athlete who doubts that the training they\u2019ve done is going to be right for the task at hand is unlikely to succeed.<\/p>\n Consider the task of competing for the win in an Olympic road race when you\u2019ve been focused on track training and short efforts, as was the case for Faulkner. Rather than see her short efforts as a problem, she planned to use the benefits of those punchy efforts to launch the winning attack\u2014and it paid off.<\/p>\n Molly writes about cycling, nutrition and training with an emphasis on bringing more women into sport. She’s the author of nine books including the Shred Girls series and is the founder of Strong Girl Publishing<\/a>. She co-hosts The Consummate Athlete Podcast<\/a> and spends most of her free time biking and running on trails, occasionally joined by her mini-dachshund.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"6 min read How does one coach help athletes on the track, road, and mountain bike secure Olympic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,12322,635,6747,82],"class_list":["post-834014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-core","tag-cycling","tag-service","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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