Alpine Cols

Coaching for road cycling; training camps in the French Alps. Official coaching & training partner to the Marmotte & Tour du Mont Blanc. Posts by Marvin Faure.

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@dwrowland @RightofWayGuru Exactly. We do the same thing in cycling, where power is the best metric, followed by HR.

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@Alan_Couzens I’ve been practicing Foundation Training for two years now. Outstanding. It’s hugely beneficial, perhaps especially for the pure cyclists.

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@Alan_Couzens Looking forward to it!

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@DJ_Lipman @dwrowland I agree. I have no formal research to back this up but my coaching experience has convinced me the keys to effective pacing are largely psychological and experience-based. And yes, men are more likely than women to start too fast…

[Alan Couzens @Alan_Couzens]

My entire philosophy of training 👇

1. Above and beyond performance level/performance goals, first and foremost, movement is medicine.
It needs to be taken over the lifespan and is most important in the latter years. If you don't 'take your medicine' regularly, at some point you're going to experience significant pain. As such, our #1 responsibility & first priority, as coaches, should always be to facilitate a healthy, long-term relationship with physical activity & "do no harm".

2. A serious commitment to endurance sports training provides an outlet (and some societal legitimacy) for us, as adults in the modern, 'developed' (non paleolithic) world, to move the amount necessary to preserve health and function over time &, beyond that, the amount that we (as humans) are designed to!

3. As in medicine, when prescribed the right 'dose' at the right time, ALL healthy athletes will get better (though at different rates). As in medicine, when the wrong dose is prescribed, ALL athletes will fail to respond to 'treatment' & eventually get sick. As in medicine, when no organized 'treatment plan' is prescribed, the athlete will progressively deteriorate over time. In other words, plan first and foremost for *consistency* & #TakeYourMedicine

4. It follows that, a large part of 'good coaching' comes down to prescribing the right dose of the right medicine for a given athlete at the right time (In my opinion, not quantifying the dosages that you're prescribing amounts to irresponsible medicine & bad coaching).

5. The 'right dosage' that amounts to an athlete getting better, not sick, overtrained or injured, varies greatly among individual athletes (according to training background, gender, age and genetics) . The 'right dose' is also very strongly related to other (non-training) stressors in their life. Therefore, good coaches (& athletes) monitor non-training stressors & adjust the training accordingly.

6. Athletes who can handle truly competitive 'big doses' tend to be generally 'robust' - strong, supple, muscularly balanced with good general health and constitution, i.e. they lay a foundation of moving well in a variety of ways, at a variety of speeds, with a variety of loads. Even then, big doses can only be sustained for short periods of time and by going out of their way to facilitate recovery (sleep, nutrition etc). This includes actively minimizing/managing other sources of stress, i.e. they eat nutritious foods and live a simple, stable, low-stress life.

7. When it comes to the 'medicine of choice', intensity is no substitute for aerobic volume. The effects don't last and high intensity training has significant negative 'side effects'. If the goal is continued athletic development over the long term, there is simply no substitute for a strong aerobic base.

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@MVAitor Good luck Aitor!

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@AndyHab @dwrowland A very useful research study. Thanks for sharing.

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@dwrowland @Alan_Couzens Using this approach I’ve hit target numbers within 2-3W, most importantly on the final climb where many people fall apart (as I used to). The key is to ignore other people overtaking on the 1st climb. Either they’re stronger anyway, or I’ll catch them later. 2/2

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@dwrowland There’s better data availability in cycling. My usual recommendation is to quote @Alan_Couzens “race pace is based on evidence not hope”, and look through recent performance data (avg W, avg HR, VAM) on comparable climbs, then use judgment to set event targets 1/2

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@dwrowland Agreed. Exactly the same reasoning applies to Gran Fondo type events in cycling, which often include several long climbs. The most common error is riding the first climb too fast.

[Howard Luks MD @hjluks]

Most people overestimate the value of a great workout every now and then... far too many also overestimate the effects of supplements and peptides... and, far too few appreciate the value of five+ years of doing the same easy stuff--- consistently.

Far too many seem to focus on how to squeeze out the last 1-5%. They're missing the forest for the trees...

Because... The biggest longevity/healthspan gains come from going from zero to something.

After that, the longevity gains diminish. The key variable after you start doing something is simpler... and it's true for lifespan, muscle, and aerobic fitness. The largest improvement in health comes from becoming consistently active-- year after year.

Trying to eke out every additional gain costs a little more effort for a little less return. And for master athletes, pushing close to the terminal end of our margin increases the risk of injury.

That doesn't mean you should stop pushing yourself. Intensity has an important place, even as we get older. But it means you should protect your ability to keep showing up.

"Consistency wins the day... every day."

Aging biology rewards the 'doing the same easy shit' mindset.

One heroic workout won't change your life. One injury that sidelines you for three months just might.

Train hard enough to improve. Train wisely enough to come back tomorrow.

[Ross Tucker @Scienceofsport]

This is untrue. Think about this claim: "Lose 2%, and physical performance drops 10%". Elite marathon runners finish marathons at 2-4% body weight loss. You're now saying they could run 1h50 if they replaced ALL sweat losses? Nope. We are quite happy dehydrated while exercising

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@Alan_Couzens We see the same behaviour all the time in Gran Fondo road races. I see it as a combination of adrenaline, testosterone and ego (disliking being overtaken). As you once said, “pace should be based on evidence, not hope”

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@Alan_Couzens B

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@hjluks @hubermanlab I think it's important that patients are open and ask permission to record a conversation that is both very important and private. A refusal would not be a good sign (speaking as a patient, I'm not a health-care professional)

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@undefinedKi Hi, thanks! Maybe dumb Q: what does Obsidian bring compared to the set-up within Claude.md? I have built a profile of my voice, background, tools, methods etc.; and created project folders for each significant project. This seems to work well. What is better w/ Obsidian? Thanks!

[Alan Couzens @Alan_Couzens]

This is such a common story (it was mine) and such an important lesson.

Honestly, it is so unintuitive that if I never had the opportunity to experience how the best in the world were actually training, I never would've arrived at this important conclusion.

For those who aren't fortunate enough to have the ability to learn this first-hand from the top coaches in the world, I'll just spell out what I learned...

If you really want to improve, slow down!

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@dwrowland No Daniel, because I’ve been using this approach for some time now! It’s just helpful confirmation to show the skeptics.

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

Great to have research confirmation of a training method that’s deeply counterintuitive (until you try it for long enough to see it really works)

[Alan Couzens @Alan_Couzens]

Interesting paper on "how low can you go" when it comes to training intensity...

Researchers compared 6 weeks of training at VT1 versus ~12% below VT1, with total volume matched.

Result?

Both groups improved endurance performance by essentially the same amount:

• Critical Speed ↑ similarly
• 3600m performance ↑ similarly
• Jump performance ↑ similarly
• D′ (anaerobic capacity) ↓ similarly

The only real difference was that the VT1 group reported:

• Higher RPE 🥵
• More fatigue 😫
• Higher training strain 💔

In other words, running ~10-15% slower than VT1 produced the same fitness gains with less overall training stress.

A useful reminder that just because it feels harder, doesn't mean it's more productive...

Sometimes, slower really is smarter!

[Alpine Cols @AlpineCols]

@Alan_Couzens A truly amazing guy and one of life’s real gentlemen. Huge respect for Emil Zatopek.