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WON ANY TRAINING RIDES LATELY?
A fellow coach mentioned to me recently that she had heard some riders saying that another rider probably wasn't going to have a good race on an upcoming weekend because she was having trouble keeping up on the climbs on a team training ride. It happens that the "slow" rider was a Wenzel client following a training plan. This situation reminded me of a story told by my coaching mentor, Rene Wenzel.
Rene was coaching both Freddie Rodriguez and a very talented local elite rider whom I will call Dude so as not embarrass anyone. You may have heard of Freddie since he won a stage of the Giro D'Italia this year, has gotten top five finishes at the Tour de France stages and Spring classics, and just won the US Elite National Road Race Championships (sort of, he actually came fourth but was first American and so gets the stars and stripes jersey). You probably haven't heard of Dude unless you read the race results lists very carefully.
Dude called Rene one day to say that Freddie needed a talking to because he was so lazy. The evidence? Freddie was not keeping up with Dude in climbing the warm-up hill on their six-hour training ride. Rene's response (not an exact quote, especially since he doesn't say "dude" much). "So, Dude, were you in your heart rate zone? (no) Was Freddie in his? (yes) and who is going to compete in the Tour this summer and who will be watching it on TV?"
The "slow" Wenzel Client came third in her race this past weekend. The moral: Avoid competing on training rides. Stick your training plan and save your juice for the entry-fee races.
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