TP In-Depth is an article outlining how you can leverage the resources within the TrainingPeaks.com system to your athletic advantage. This month's installment covers using the "Time Spent in Zone" chart to track your progress in the early season.

If all went according to plan, you had a solid season last year. Now that you have had some rest, it's time to get back into the swing of training. If you're like the majority of your peers, running is your first choice activity. It's easy to do, you feel like you got a good workout, and all you need are shoes and some good layers to run in almost any weather. What are you waiting for?

Well, for starters, running is also the easiest sport to over-train. It's easy to get caught up tracking your miles and time totals, and before you know it you haven't take an easy week for over two months. The real culprit, however, is the fact that we still have the peak fitness mindset from last year. Instead of running at an appropriate endurance / Zone Two effort, most people default to the speed from the previous year.

GET BASE MILES
While you'll feel great – and fast – in February, this speed work will do very little to help you peak later in the year. Instead of trying to impress everyone else, focus on recalibrating your endurance speed. The goal of this focus is to increase efficiency and economy while focusing on a sitting at the top of Zone Two. This focus will allow you to run faster at the same HR and for the same effort.

The premise is simple enough...almost too simple...until you actually see the powerful results. The basic test is a thirty-minute time trial effort at the top of Zone Two. Choose a relatively flat course where you can run uninterrupted for the entire duration of the test. You will warm up first, raising your HR to the top of Zone Two. Then you start your stopwatch and run for 30 minutes, making sure to keep your HR constant. When your thirty minutes are up, note the distance you covered.

You will repeat this test every two weeks on the same course. As you progress, you'll notice incremental improvements every two weeks, building from maybe 50 to 100 additional feet all the way up to a ¼ mile. And the best part is, you aren't working any harder – just smarter. You'll know your running recalibration is complete when you do not note progress on three consecutive tests. Once you have reached that point, you can begin to integrate intensity back into your training program.

ANALYZE YOUR PROGRESS
As you move through the early weeks of your training, you will want to judiciously increase the time you spend each week running in Zone Two. After completely entering your run data for the prior week, go to Reports / Training Graphs. From there choose the "Time in HR Zone" graph, specify the number of weeks you have been "recalibrating" your run, check the run box only, and click the view graph button. The output will look similar to the image at the top of the article.

As you analyze your progress, you are looking for an incremental growth of time in Zone Two on your build weeks, and a subsequent drop in your recovery week. I can't emphasize enough how important this functionality is in terms of your continued progress. Even the most methodical early season athletes will have bumps along the way...don't just follow a cookie-cutter plan to bump the miles up each week.

When it's all said and done, it's not uncommon for runners to find themselves holding a Zone Three pace from the previous year...only now they are in Zone Two. Do not underestimate the impact that this type of improvement can have on your long-distance training and racing performance. There's no doubt that early season run training is one of the most challenging aspects of endurance fitness. Make sure you are on the right track by using the functionality of Training Peaks to your athletic advantage.

Patrick McCrann is the founder of Performance Training Systems (PTS), a Boston-based endurance coaching group of world-class professionals. Since 2001, hundreds of coached and training plan athletes have followed Coach Patrick's protocols to achieve their athletic goals. This year PTS has revolutionized the online coaching paradigm with the launch of The Program, a subscription-based training model that gives athletes personalized coaching support from leading professionals without breaking the bank. Learn more on the PTS website. Coach Patrick and his staff have proudly used Training Peaks software since 2002.

USA Cycling Youth Talent Search powered by Racermate

USA Cycling, Racermate and Training Peaks have begun a search for the future stars of cycling. Announced in October 2006, the program is now fully underway, with a closing date of May 7th to submit a 20k time trial performance. The top performers from the Talent Search Powered by Racermate will be given a free entry to a USA Cycling Regional Development Camp in his/her region. National team coaches will also reserve the right to invite selected riders to a national road camp in Colorado Springs, CO in August.

All coaches with a certified USA Cycling license are eligible to have an athlete under their supervision perform the 20k time trial test through a regional CompuTrainer center. All tests are conducted on Velotron indoor ergometers. Read the orginal press release at USA Cycling.

2007 Tour of California Recap

Dirk Friel spent the entire week with the Predictor-Lotto professional cycling team at the recent Tour of California. We have posted actual racing data files from Mario Aerts and Josep Jufre Po that you can download and checkout for yourself. Also take a look at our photo galleries and interviews from the week.

Congratulations to Levi Leipheimer for a sensational win!

Here's an example of Freddie Rodriguez's Prologue Ride from inside the team car