Triathlon and Froome’s Tour de France 2015

We have posted several articles regarding Froome’s cycling and we are glad he followed our advice.  I will post the entire article we discussed with our athletes on August 2013 before the Mexican Triathlon Nationals.

26 août 2013

Chris Froome Coaching and Triathlon Coaching

Before a race in Veracruz this past weekend, we had the regular chat with the team before the race and an exercise to boost our athletes’ egos.  I am careful not to inspire cynicism in our competitors when we do this exercise because of the “excess of ego.” But unfortunately, that is a risk we take when giving information without full background.  In this case we discuss the graph of Froome during the time trial in La Vuelta a España (2011), http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/Z3JDD63H2UVGP77YSXNITPULAE 

 And the question was: “How would you help Froome to be better cyclist if you were the coach?” What they discover was that Froome has room to improve from what we saw; but during the triathlon race, they did not do their best effort to do things right, not even what they discover reading the graph.  The study of the graph and how they perform has nothing in common; they were in automatic mode from the life they have known at home and school.  Whatever they learned from the graph was remotely related to their performance.  This is a problem we constantly encounter in our population, what they learn is not considered useful and is out of mind when performing (it happened in this competition).  We have seen that unless specific learning is generalized after years by team members, it does not belong to them.

The selection from the graph below is when Froome is going downhill and his heart rate increases.  Nine pulses as an average compared to his going uphill.  Increasing three pedals per minutes does not explain the increased heart rate, unless Froome is not trained to go higher than 100 rpm (something that I do not believe).  Froome is a climber and it appears that going downhill is not what to practice as a climber.  Normally, the pulse increases even when we keep the same rpm over time.

Selection
0:42:48 - 0:56:32

Total Time: 0:13:44

Distance: 13.18 km

Energy: 330 kJ

TSS: 20 (0.96)

NP: 412

VI: 1.02

Pw:HR 1%

EF: 2.69

Gain: 12 m

Loss: - 121 m

Grade:-0.8 %

VAM:52

W/Kg:5.9

	Min	Avg	Max
Power (Watts):	0	402	766
Speed (km/h):	35.7	57.6	71.4
Pace (min/km):	01:41	01:02	00:50
HR (bpm):	138	153	167
Cadence (rpm):	22	95	110
Elev (m):	832	861	953
Temp (C):	<29	30	31

First Half: 414w
0:00:01 - 0:29:16

Total Time: 0:29:15

Distance: 22.98 km

Energy: 726 kJ

TSS: 45 (0.97)

NP: 415

VI: 1.00

Pw:HR 5.6%

EF: 2.88

Gain: 210 m

Loss: - 36 m

Grade:0.8 %

VAM:431

W/Kg:6.1

	Min	Avg	Max
Power (Watts):	0	413	598
Speed (km/h):	31.5	47.1	73.6
Pace (min/km):	01:54	01:16	00:49
HR (bpm):	91	144	149
Cadence (rpm):	26	93	114
Elev (m):	835	934	1031
Temp (C):	<28	30	35

What would be our recommendations?

1)   Practice downhill speed.

2)   Practice cadence above 100.

We have studied the numbers given by Team Sky regarding Froome’s climbing when he practically won the tour de France.

Chris Froome’s performance data from Stage 10 [Tarbes to La Pierre-Saint- Martin]

Analysis of final 15.3km of the stage

(It is difficult to identify the exact start point of the climb as there is no clear landmark defining the start)

Time: 41min 28sec

Average power: 414 watts

VAM: 1602

Chris’s weight: 67.5kg

Corrected power/weight for the whole climb - 5.78w/kg

When used in conjunction with osymetric chainrings, power meters over-report power by approximately 6%. The above figure of 5.78 w/kg is corrected to take this into account. Without making this correction, the power/weight would be 6.13w/kg. All other power values stated here are the actual reported power values - i.e. not corrected.

Gearing:​ 52-38/11-28

Average Cadence:​ 97rpm

Average heart rate: 158

Froome improved his cadence 5 rpm since the Vuelta a España 2011.  His power output is quite similar from 2011 with the difference that he pedaled after a long ride before hitting the mountain where the power output was 366 watts:

Froome’s 60-minute power figure, which includes the flat kilometres before the climb, was 366 watts.

This is, by the way, the wattage produced in an Olympic Distance World Series Triathlon, measured by Vidal and Frodeno.

Triathlon Education V

I use the number V to stress the fact that this education is sophisticated.  I remembered an athlete who told me about teammates that were not communicating with her: “They do not even know how to write.”  It was right, misspelling and no accents were common in their writings when communicating in Spanish.  We have mentioned in the blog that education is the most important ingredient to be a champion.  We quoted Albert Einstein:  “My education is what limits my learning.”  Something very simple as writing says very much about the person who writes.  One does not want to follow rules; or simply, one does not want to learn rules.  Pope Francisco says that being educated to say thanks, and appreciative for what others do to us to make us better human beings is half way to holiness.  This is why I tell athletes that being a “real champion” is close to being a saint.  Real champions have what Francisco says regarding being a saint.  Real champions “learned to feel” the three expressions that Francisco mentions.  Learning belongs to feelings not to words, and learning technique while swimming, biking or running needs an athlete capable of knowing “what he/she feels:”

The family - 14. The three expressions

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!

Today’s catechesis will serve as a doorway to a series of reflections on family life and what it’s really like to live in a family, day in and day out. Imagine three expressions written above the doorway; expressions I’ve already mentioned here in St Peter’s Square several times before. The expressions are: “may I?”, “thank you”, and “pardon me”. Indeed, these expressions open up the way to living well in your family, to living in peace. They are simple expressions, but not so simple to put into practice! They hold much power: the power to keep home life intact even when tested with a thousand problems. But if they are absent, little holes can start to crack open and the whole thing may even collapse… “good manners are already half the way to holiness”.

But be careful: history has shown that good manners also can become a kind of formalism that masks a dryness of soul and indifference toward the other person. It is often said, “behind a lot of good manners lurk a lot of bad habits”. Not even religion is immune from the risk of having formal observance sink into spiritual worldliness. The Devil, tempting Jesus, boasts of good manners. Indeed, he presents himself as a gentleman, a knight in shining armor. He even presents himself as a theologian by quoting Holy Scripture. He appears to have everything right and neat on the outside, but his intent is always to lead others astray from the truth of God’s love. We, however, mean “good manners” only in the most authentic way, according to which the habit of cultivating good relations is firmly rooted in a love for the good and a respect for the other person. The family lives according to this refined sense of loving.

https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2015/documents/papa-francesco_20150513_udienza-generale.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiw4Ez4VlnU

I appreciate Francisco because he is able to humanize holiness by presenting it as a learning process.  It is just like seeing the creation of a champion as a learning process.  Nothing out of the ordinary, it is just a lot of work.