Outdoor Training Sessions starting May 1st!

Check Out Our Spring 2012 Outdoor Cycling Training program

Monday
6:00PM sprint interval training session all levels at TTW with Carlos (Longshore) 

Tuesday
9:00AM group ride blue/green at TTW with Carlos/Eduardo

Wednesday
9:30AM beginner tri class green TTW (Sherwood) with Chris 

Thursday
9:00AM interval session TTW all levels with Matt or Chris (Southport) 
5:45PM interval/duathlon session all levels TTW with Carlos (Sherwood) 

Friday
9:30AM beginner tri class (Green level) at TTW (Sherwood) with Chris

Saturday 
7:30am TTW Black group ride with Eneas or Matt (2hrs)
7:45am TTW Blue with Eneas/Carlos 
8:00am TTW Green with Chris 

Sunday
Member + Club events and rides
Group coached sessions

 Please Note:  Classes will be held indoors if weather is inclement

More outdoor Classes starting June 1st:
Tuesday and Thursday 5:45am classes will be going outdoors beginning June 1st.

May is the Month of the 5K!

High Spring is upon us, and traditionally May is the month of the Spring season when the fastest times are posted.  At TARGETRAINING we will be focusing on the 5K, with workouts designed to culminate in peak performance and a personal best over 5000 meters.  Those wishing to conduct a 20 minute run field test will have the option of time trialing a 5K outdoors, (road or track,) while being paced by the Tim Milenkevich, head of the run program.  Take advantage of this limited offer and kill two birds with one stone:  Obtain your training zone levels while being shepherded to a personal best!  

Tests available out of TTG and TTW.

To schedule an outdoor time trial contact timothy@ttwestport.com

A Trip to the Edge - by Eneas Freyre

Arrival

As the warm humid air hit me upon exiting the cabin of the puddle jumper, a refreshing wave of rejuvenation hit me. I had left the spring of the northeast, still somewhat clad in mild winter browns and grays, and greeted by the sweet smell of spring in full bloom in Birmingham, Alabama.

With rental car secured I headed out for my “home stay” that the race directors were kind enough to arrange from me. The rainbow of colors and lush green foliage of Birmingham was a sight for tired eyes.

I had arrived two days early to compete in the Elite Duathlon National Championships which was organized by Team Magic at a local state park.  Concurrently, the park was hosting its annual Power Man race, a duathlon event that is a hybrid of Olympic and long course distances, not for the faint of heart and certainly an event that is lacking on the US race calendar. But Nationals was the standard 10k run, 40k non draft bike, and 5k run, still a challenge for any athlete.

As is my standard practice I took the time to recon the race course and was surprised by how subtly challenging it was. The bike leg had zero flat stretches, all big rollers up and down, while the run course was more of the same including an almost 1mile twisty trail run every 5k. This was going to be one tough race, and that run course was going to shatter the field in short order.

Race Day

It was an early start on race day as breakfast was had before sunrise, but most of my mornings are like this and it was relaxing sharing a coffee with my roommate and fellow competitor, Michael Russell. He happened to win Elite Duathlon Nationals last year and is a full time multi-sport athlete so it was interesting hearing his war stories and the life of travel and training that is a pro. Laughing inside as he replayed his epic training regime, it was almost embarrassing how little time I actually afford to my training in comparison with a true full time athlete. I hoped that my precision and passion would be the equalizer. 

5-4-3-2-1; the gun went off and we were at 5min pace, running up hill in a blink of an eye. After mile 1, I was still in the front group but knew the pace was way too fast for me to hold. After 5k, I was still in solid position but burning matches too fast. It wasn’t by choice but I had to dial the speed back and when I hit transition 1 to begin the bike leg I was already down 3min to the lead group of 4. It had been a long time since I had raced a hard 10k and I was reeling from having lost so much time even after running a 34+min 10k on a hard and technical course with single track.  Elite duathlon is about running fast, very fast, and most of my competitors are accomplished collegiate runners that eat 15min 5k’s for breakfast.

Not to worry- the bike leg is my  strength; I’ll make up the time. At the halfway point, I realized that the first run had done a number on me and my legs. I was making up ground and going fast on the bike, but not like I was used to. The rolling terrain was taking its toll on the entire field, but yet again the front group was holding their own and I couldn’t get enough time back.

I hit transition 2 having made up only a couple of spots on the bike and was in 5th place, the last podium and money spot. My legs were trashed and by mile 1, I was caught by a gazelle.  Whoops, no, he was human, but it certainly didn’t look like his running was taking the extreme effort mine was.  I lost a further couple minutes on him and settled for 6^th place.

Post Race

It’s not often that I get the chance to be at an event with time on my hands. Usually I am chasing after one of my boys or meeting up with clients at TARGETRAINING , all in balancing being a parent and a professional, but today I had more time than I wanted to reflect on my 6^th place finish. Today I had found my limits and felt the crushing sense of being ordinary. Nothing special, no podium placing or post race news media. Worst of all no family or teammates to distract me from simply failing in my goal of achieving a podium spot at an elite national event. Sometimes being human is a lonely endeavor and often it makes you call into question your goals and aspirations in life.

This is a good thing! How boring we would all be if we just cruised through our days in simple bliss. What if we all got that ribbon and we all shared in a collective victory after every event we participated in. That socialist view of competition has never sat well with me. Testing your limits in life helps refine and sharpen our focus. The choices we make and how we proceed after disappointment or failure defines our character and often the greatest moments in history are responses to these challenges.

At TARGETRAINING we are fortunate to have athletes train with us that are passionate, driven, and disciplined. But we and they don’t always come out on top; it is the process of getting to the start line, and then the finish line that helps drive us and win, lose, or draw how we move forward after our events is what life is all about. We train, compete, and socially participate because we are passionate about a healthy and sustainable life style of endurance athletics.  Whether you’re jumping into your 1^st bike century in our TT Spring Classic, or trying to PR at the local triathlon, being a TARGETRAINING athlete is about excellence, but it is also about being human and finding a balance with the many balls we juggle in life.

Is it realistic for me to race at the highest level of the sport given the balancing act that I play every day? Probably not. Will I be a stronger athlete and person from having hit the limits of my physical capabilities given my constraints? Only time will tell.  But the process of preparation and how I respond to disappointment is what will certainly define me, while creating lasting memories that will carry me through future challenges.

I would like to thank my family and friends at TARGETRAINING for helping get to the start and finish line of yet another great event.

Be strong and passionate; it is the TARGETRAINING way.

The Importance of Indoor Training - by Eneas Freyre

With spring in full swing, we are all excited to hit the open roads and trails to test our winter fitness with the back drop of budding trees and colorful flowers.

If you are among those that have been training at TARGETRAINING in our indoor cycling and running program this past winter season, don’t be surprised if you find yourself fit and ready to roll. Perhaps your top end speed is not refined, or you don’t have the rhythm of being on opens roads in your legs yet, but there is no doubt that you are strong.

TARGETRAINING clients have proven time and time again that our indoor programming pays dividends when it comes to outdoor performance. So I cringe every time I hear someone say, “Thanks for the great indoor workouts; my fitness is fantastic, but I’m going to start training outdoors now.” Inevitably I’ll see these individuals again in short order, tan but slower. Don’t get me wrong, we all train indoors to be able to enjoy being outside and feel free as a bird, but the specificity of indoor training can and should be maintained to some extent during the spring and summer seasons.

We often recommend that if you can incorporate about 20-40% of all of your training sessions into an indoor setting, you can help keep your fitness strong all year long. For most of us this may be 2 or 3 sessions a week, a small commitment to be able to be at the front over the weekend with your friends.

Why does our program work? Very simple.  We keep you exercising consistently and targeting an average intensity of 80% which is a great way to improve endurance, and stimulate the ever important limiter of “metabolic threshold.”  To boil in down even further, we help you burn fat and more of it over time which is the key to going longer and stronger. Sure you could do this outside, but with the dynamics of inconsistent terrain, the draft effects of group training, and of course the time constraints that most of us have, you will be hard pressed to replicate a 1hr TARGETorque or Tread session outdoors.

One of the most successful international triathletes of 2011, Andy Potts, is known to perform as much as 80% of his training all indoors on the bike. This is an amazing testament to his focus and legitimizes the benefits of a highly controlled training setting. Check out this great interview with him here.

One of our long time TARGETRAINING clients, Brad Hardy, will train indoors all year long and has been doing specific indoor run sessions and bike sessions as an integral part of his training program as he prepares to compete in this year’s age group Duathlon National Championships at the end of April. Brad expands on this thought by saying "Indoor training during the summer months is an important part of my training because it allows me to include very specific high intensity sessions along with outdoor rides that offer more variation due to traffic and terrain."

Sometimes a picture says a thousand words so below you will find two graphs.

The 1^st graph was generated in one of our Wednesday indoor cycling hill classes which focused on steady zone 3 work with some light sitting and standing intervals. The session was only 1:10 min in length, but the time spent in zone 3 was almost 40min! That is quite efficient when you consider a warm up and cool down. The 2^nd graph was produced from our recent spring classic ride which included cycling to and from the event so for a whopping 5hr ride only about 60min was spent in the critical zone 3 area. Yes, the Classic was fun, but if I want to get an efficient workout in during the middle of the week, I’ll stick with a quick 1hr indoor ride that has specific zone distribution targets.

zone chart 1

zone chart 2

Up for a Challenge? Try the Vermont Challenge.

We are pleased to announce that TARGETRAINING will be the official training partner for the 2012 Vermont Challenge we are offering 3 customized Vermont Challenge training programs starting June 10th 2012:

1. An initial consultation with a coach, plus 3 coached group classes per week.
2. An initial consultation with a coach, weekly coaching with detailed workouts, plus 3 coached group classes per week.
3. For those participating in The Vermont Challenge who do not live in the CT/NY area, a remote plan that includes an initial consultation and detailed, personalized workouts emailed weekly.

The Vermont Challenge will offer 4-, 3- and 1-day cycling events through Southern and Central Vermont from August 15 - 19, 2012. Each day's events finish with food, fun and music in a festival atmosphere. The cycling routes provide riders with an opportunity to experience farm fields, river valleys, rolling hills with varying elevation gains, the people and products of Vermont at the aid stations and finish festival each day.

REGISTER FOR TRAINING PACKAGE >