Psycling Wisdom - The Power of Why

The typical approach one adopts when training for a cycling event is to try break it down into smaller chunks and make sure your body is ready for all the individual pieces and then try stitch it together. For example, if you are preparing for a non stop 100km ride with 3 steep 5 min climbs in between, you should be able to:

1. Ride non stop for 100 km - with a plan on how you would handle hydration and nutrition while on the bike
2. Ability to handle 3 steep 5 min climbs

You develop these capabilities individually and then progressively combine the two by the event date.

When you are climbing on a bike, you would be required to put out a lot more power to keep moving both forward and up, than when you are riding on flat terrain. These efforts are typically classified as VO2 Max efforts.

What are VO2 Max efforts, you ask?

VO2 Max refers to the maximum amount of oxygen you can utilise during exercise. These typically happen at higher heart rates, in my case between ~172-180 bpm. In order to improve your power output in the VO2 Max, you do multiple intervals of 3-4 minutes each putting out efforts where your heart rate is in this range (172-180bpm). After the first 2 intervals, your legs will be burning, lungs screaming, and your head goes light! If you have undigested food in your tummy it might even say hello to the outside world!

In 2017, while training with my coach Bikey Venky, my goals were not very clear in my own head. The broad agreement I had with Venky was that he would tailor my training plan to help me prepare for the local races. 

There was a 136km road race in July 2017. I wasn’t sure what I wanted out of this race for myself. Whether it was to finish in the peloton, finish with a target time, or just finish. Venky tailored the plan to have me finish in the peloton.

In order to finish in the peloton, Venky had me doing 4-6 sets of VO2 intervals on Tuesdays in the weeks leading up to the race. These were to help me stay with peloton on the climbs on the return leg. He also threw in a few anaerobic effort intervals so that I could keep up with the surges in the peloton. The first Tuesday I was to do 4 sets of VO2 intervals, I gave up after the 3rd one. The next Tuesday I was to do 5 sets and again gave up after the 3rd one. The third week I didn’t even bother trying.

This was really demotivating! It was as if I had lost my fitness. All that training and I couldn’t do what I used to do 7 months back. In Dec 2016 I was doing 6 sets of VO2 Max intervals and following it with 60 minutes at an easy pace.

It took me some time to get over the defeated feeling and start looking at things objectively again.

I started comparing Dec 2016 with Jun 2017, looking at hard data and softer aspects. The data showed that I had not lost fitness, in fact I was probably in better shape in Jun 2017 than Dec 2016.

So then what was the difference?

I had a very clear goal in Dec 2016 - To complete the 7 day Tour of Nilgiris. I especially wanted to complete Stage 3 strongly - a 120km ride followed by 13km climb up Kalahatty (Beast of a climb - probably the hardest climb in this part of India). I was willing to do whatever it took to complete it. When Venky dished out VO2 intervals I lapped it up knowing why I was doing them! Whereas in June 2017, I wasn’t really sure why I was doing them!

Learnings

1. When you do anything you should be clear in your head as to why you are doing it. That clarity and focus helps get over the hard stuff that you will encounter on the way. Something like VO2 intervals are bl**dy hard. They take a lot out of you physically and mentally. And if you are not clear in your head as to WHY you are doing them, good luck to you :-)
2. It is important to share the “WHY” with relevant stakeholders so that everybody is aligned and working in the same direction. In July 2017, if I’d had a chat with Venky, and talked about my goals, or lack of it, and aligned the training plan with it, maybe things would have been different.

Same thing is applicable to life as well right?

When you are clear on the goal, it is easier to find the resolve to make the required sacrifices and make those difficult decision. And when everyone is working towards a shared goal things work like a symphony!