Dan Martin interview

This is a good read and once again it shows what a great racer and chap he is.
http://www.pelotonmagazine.com/Wilcocks ... Dan-Martin
I would bring to your attention this part:
It’s an instinct inside me. I’m an actual bike racer. A lot of guys, like Team Sky have been doing, ride looking at their power meters. I never look at power, I never train by power. I check my heart rate…but I race by instinct and feeling.
Ok?
Good.
I will be quoting it again and again when the mis-informed people try and counter my claims about Dan.
Quite funny now reading some of the comments in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=40002&t=12946902
http://www.pelotonmagazine.com/Wilcocks ... Dan-Martin
I would bring to your attention this part:
It’s an instinct inside me. I’m an actual bike racer. A lot of guys, like Team Sky have been doing, ride looking at their power meters. I never look at power, I never train by power. I check my heart rate…but I race by instinct and feeling.
Ok?
Good.
I will be quoting it again and again when the mis-informed people try and counter my claims about Dan.
Quite funny now reading some of the comments in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=40002&t=12946902
Contador is the Greatest
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Posts
And all these cylists really can be trusted with what comes out of their gobs. Seriously 'never looked - never trained - never checked' - Yep pull the other one Dan it's got EPO in it.
Dan's Twitter re Peleton interview
Dan Martin @DanMartin86 15 Nov
@Andy_OHara @pelotonmagazine quite a few misquotes and mistakes if im honest
Dan Martin @DanMartin86 16 Nov
@Andy_OHara @pelotonmagazine oh the general sentiment is there. Just facts not straight, plus starting sentences with 'and'? Poor grammar
And 'quite a few misquotes and mistakes if I'm honest'..?
And???????????
I did think it was a little odd that he had an SRM on his bike..
Just because he has an srm on his bike doesnt mean he is looking at or training/racing by power.
It's a bloody expensive crankset to have if you're not training or racing to power...
I can quite understand why you wouldn't want to race to power (and as has been mentioned in other threads some pros tape over the power display bit of their SRM head-units) but not training to power just seems perverse. Why handicap yourself to 1980s training methods?
... and similarly "just because" he says he races on feel doesn't mean he does!
If someone wishes to train and race on feel alone then I would suggest they're missing an opportunity to fully understand what they have done, post ride and be able to replicate or amend, when they "felt" good or "felt" bad..
I can however understand why folks don't want to use them and free the mind. Different strokes for different folks..
Ever since Luke Skywalker turned off his targeting computer and used 'the force' instead to blow up the Death Star, luddites everywhere have staked out the moral high ground on the basis of some romantic spiritualism.
Look it was a lucky shot and if it wasn't for the non-force adherent Han Solo bailing him out with his technologically superior ship, he would have been shot by his dad.
Exactly. Its like the little computer on my bike, it simply shows me how slowly I am going, It cant help me go any faster. If you are a pro, and have a coach, not training with a power meter is plain stupid. How can the coach tell if a coaching program is for you, or if you are improving without training data to analise.
As well as being a sport pro cycling is a job, any team that has no idea how there riders are performing in training is going to have problems putting a roster together for a specific race, and is letting there sponsors down badly.
Strava - Alex Taylor (sportstest.co.uk)
ABCC Cycling Coach
Brilliance
A truer word has never been spoken. In fact, I wish to nominate Rich's considered words for "Post of the Year"!
DD.
IMAGINE HOW GOOD MARTIN COULD BE IF HE ACTUALLY TRAINED PROPERLY AND USED THE COACHES AVAILABLE TO HIM.
Martin obviously wouldn't have won what he'd already won if that wasn't the case.
What I am saying is if he has won what he has so far, how good would he be if he had detailed analysis of his training etc.
When the non Sky riders do win they are lucky or it's because Sky's computers went down and their riders do not know what to do
Without endorsing rayjay's pish in any way, I think there might be one luxury that Sky's finances affords Froome that is not available to other riders: 100% focus on a single event (with a run-up) for yourself and your team. If you know that you can take the next 6 months off, maybe you're prepared to trash your mind and body more than others who have classics in their legs (Quintana) or a home World Champs (Nibali).
It will be interesting to see Nibali's 2014 schedule and if Sky repeat 2013 by preparing their classics squad for high altitude performance.
I have it on reliable authority* that Stan's new contract includes a 'no buggering up and down Mt Teide' clause
*I made it up
I think the Classics squad will still do high altitude training, but they'll be doing less of it - shorter/less camps and more racing. Reading from what G and EBH have been saying in interviews...
Anyway, back to Dan Martin...
Spot on. Training and racing now is very specific. To get the absolute best out of your body and mind a single peak season works best for most, sometimes a double peak with rest and specific recovery/training to build for the second peak. The racing "windows" in a double peak year are much shorter than in a single.
The sepia tinted years of simply riding X number of kilometers to render a Winter body race fit are long gone.
The difference between the top guys is minimal, so not using any legal method or device to get the best out of your training is simply not professional.
SRM meters help to train and prepare for races but in the races, those numbers don’t mean anything,” Nibali told VeloNews. “They are useful when you ride like Sky does — when a team puts five riders on the front, going at their maximum, one following the other and following his SRM.”
<snip>
“SRMs give you a lot of data for the future,” Nibali added. “In races, though, you don’t need those numbers. You must have the capacity to read the race.”
Is reachable from here.
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