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In: Coaching and Cueing, Free Articles
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Do instructors need to chill? Izabela asks that question after recognizing that some of her riders have very different reasons for coming to her class, ones that she personally may never have considered. At first, acknowledging this went against her instincts as an instructor, but it made her wonder if she had it all wrong. This realization made her much more empathetic to her riders. Read more…

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In: Class Profiles
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In this profile you will set the stage with four intervals that reach into the VO2 max range. The final three intervals will be selected through audience interaction and a cruel twist of fate, what I call the “Matrix choice.” Be ready to ask your riders to make the choice of remaining in the blissful ignorance of illusion or embracing the painful truth of reality.Read more…

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In: Ask the Expert
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Bill Pierce’s challenging profile “Strong Start or Fast Finish” is a series of intervals that either start off “very hard” and slightly back off to “hard,” or start off “hard” and build to “very hard.” We got a great question asking whether this was too much time spent in Zone 5. This article should clarify how much time a rider should be able to spend above threshold. Hint: The answer is it depends!Read more…

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In: Class Profiles, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE
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Here are three more sample warm-ups for five more profiles. Two of the warm-ups can be used for challenging high-intensity VO2 max or anaerobic capacity training sessions. One is an example of how you might design your warm-up for a loop profile consisting of repeated laps of the same terrain. Read more…