Physiological changes occur as we train and race in the heat and some considerations should be made. Many Durata athletes’ have been bringing this up with their coaches here in the first real week of hot Texas weather and if you’re not in TX don’t worry it’ll be hot where you are or are racing soon enough, so read up

Fatigue has been shown to develop in an athlete once a core temperature of ~40deg Celsius is reached. Interestingly it does not matter how well trained the athlete is, what there acclimatization is like, body size, starting temperature or relative intensity. The only thing that these variables may influence is the amount of time it takes to reach the 40deg mark. For example someone that is acclimatized to TX summers or has better fitness may be able to go longer at a relative workload before reaching 40deg core temperature than someone that is not acclimatized. Unfortunately the larger the athlete the more heat seems to negatively affect their performance. The good and bad news is that heat affects everyone, so if you have properly prepared for it and can tolerate it more effectively then you will triumph over your competition.

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To plan a training camp altitude or not? To drop the money on an altitude tent or not? To even bother racing at altitude or not? As coaches and physiologists we get these kind of questions more often than not and considering that Durata Training is moving its headquarters to Salida, CO this summer for it’s own camps. We thought it was the right time to post some of the science behind altitude training and what it really has to offer.

There are a lot of variables that need to be considered when weighing the benefits of an altitude tent or training at altitude. Most notably is whether you are a responder to altitude or not, this simply means that an athlete gets a robust response in red blood cells which means they can carry more oxygen and increase their endurance performance. Some research has suggested that only about 1/3 of the population is a robust responder to altitude. This appears to be due to a genetic expression but has not been fully elucidated.

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“Step Into My Office!”

A Casual Ride with Pat McCarty, click to contact Pat for details.

March/April Dates:
Monday, March 22nd – 9:30am at Progress Coffee Shop
Monday, April 5th – 6pm, Meeting on Shoal Creek at Greenlawn.

McCarty at the Giro

As part of my continuing work with all the nine-to-five’ers, weekend warriors and passionate cyclists out there trying to learn from the best, I will be periodically hosting an easy ride that is open to anyone.  The whole idea is to get out on a ride with me and pick my brain.  We can talk about the race weekend we just had, the one coming up, your personal goals and aspirations, my personal experience, training tips and even the latest cinema “must see” Pat McCarty picks.  It’s a completely open forum, on two wheels.

One very important thing to note is that these rides will be departing from central Austin, no longer than 90 minutes and easy.  You won’t have to worry about keeping my pace or slogging up some terrible hill off 360 wondering if I’ve left you for dead.  It will be at a comfortable pace that you’ll be able to ask questions and process answers, guaranteed.  I’m only scheduling two dates now but, I’ll be adding new dates as the season progresses so stay tuned.  If there is a day that appears weather permitting, check the website as I’ll keep everyone informed of the ride’s status.

Alright, I expect to see yall out there!

I was driving back from a race with a couple of friends recently and the conversation turned to what the difference was between success in an event and disappointment. In the context of this conversation we acknowledged that success can take on many forms. For some success is as black or white as a win, for others it’s improving upon a personal best, beating an age group rival or simply making it to the finish line. And while many conversations I have about success in endurance sports has to do with fundamental training and physiological principles, this chat quickly graduated to the intangibles. How some athletes seem to embrace the heat of battle, can suffer innumerable small defeats in a race while continuing to subject themselves to pain comparable to a non-anesthetized root canal, and, even more these are the athletes that find themselves successful more often than not. What’s going on in the head of these athletes that drives them to suffer an extra 4 seconds to bridge that gap or hold that wheel, stave off a charging sprint or fight tooth and nail for every last second over the last few kilometers of a run? What is it they are channeling and what can we all learn from them?
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What good is a watt? What is actual work done? Should you be training with a power meter? Read on for Training with Power and how it can be used to maximize your training and your success.

There was a time when the only way to know what the actual work done on your bike was, called for the athlete to be tested in a laboratory setting at a university or sports performance facility on a cycle ergometer. This gave the athlete an idea of where their physiological parameters such as VO2 max and lactate threshold were, but how was the athlete to implement this data into their workouts and training?

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It’s that time of year! Colder weather, dark mornings and some dark late afternoons. Depending upon where you live, the reasons can be lack of daylight, cold temperatures or simply convenience that force you to take to the so-called ‘dreadmill’. But, listen here, it does not have to be boring and monotonous! With a little bit of creativity, some good music to keep you going and a focused workout, you’ll find that you may even prefer (*gasp!*) the treadmill for certain workouts. So, push aside your loathing of the old treadmill and listen up on how you can use it to help improve your running.

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If you’ve spent any time around the Durata Training coaches chatting about training and racing I really hope (for your sake) that you did not talk about doing “base training”. Because if you did you probably saw us pull out a soap box from the nearest stand of scrub brush and enthusiastically articulate all the reasons you were wasting your time. This time of year cyclists, runners and triathletes start talking about doing base work. How they need to go out and spend significant amounts of time at very low intensities. When pressed about why they need to do this the responses range from “I need to build my aerobic engine and build mitochondria on long easy rides” to “If you go too hard early in the season you may burst blood vessels in your eyes” (I really did hear this once).  Read More