A look at the trainSharp training strategy for James Gullen (Pedal Heaven RT) who is the fastest ever British rider in a domestic 10 mile time trial
‘What’s Today’s Plan James Gullen?
Team Sky have recently gone public on how they are using the online coaching tool called ‘Today’s Plan’ that allows coaches to deliver their training plans to their athletes as well as allowing riders to upload their rides so their coaches can analyse the data.
trainSharp however have been using these tools for a while now and the platform provided by Today’s Plan helps them provide world class coaching across their various training packages so athletes at all levels can benefit from them. trainSharp in fact, have and still do, work closely with the developers of ‘Today’s Plan’ to help bring about new ideas for tools and analytics on the site.
‘Today’s Plan’ gives the coaches at trainSharp a huge insight as to how their rider is performing during training and racing and allows them to tailor training programmes to suit individual athletes and ensure their needs when it comes to training, racing and resting.
One rider who has been using the system provided to him by trainSharp, is the fastest British rider in a domestic 10 mile time trial, James Gullen of Pedal Heaven. trainSharp coached Gullen recently did a 17.09 for 10 miles – that’s 394 watts average for a 68kg rider!
[pullquote]The plan from the start was to ensure James was in good form in the early season races and manage his fitness through out the year.[/pullquote]
James’ peak power from the ‘10’ was 953 watts (note this type of course lends itself to a fast start that trainSharp would maybe advise against in a ‘normal’ 10 mile time trial). His peak five minutes was 409W and peak 10 mins was 398W (nice and smooth throughout the race!)
During the season, James has also won a stage of the tough Irish RAS showing that he is far from a one speed athlete and can road race and time trial at the highest level.
James training in numbers
592: hours of training
334: rides
161,845: metres of climbing
18,117: kilometres
His coaches at trainSharp say that consistency has been a key part of James’s season and his success was earnt with lots of hard work throughout the winter prior to racing. Since trainSharp started working with James (and the Pedal Heaven team) in December, he clocked a total of 182 hours between then and his first race of the season in February.
The UK race scene is extending year on year and the requirements from riders to race early on has ever increased. Regular uploads each day from the rider helps provide the necessary feedback to the coach and is an integral part of the coach/rider relationship says trainSharp.
In 2016, James hasn’t missed a beat with his training, hitting scheduled targets and completing almost every session to the letter or on this case, Watt. Logging a very respectable 592 rider hours of riding his bike since trainSharp started working with him, James has clocked up some very serious mileage, both in training and racing.
The plan from the start was to ensure James was in good form in the early season races and manage his fitness through out the year. For major events, like the RideLondonClassic and the 10 championships, trainSharp have made sure James was not over training so he was fresh for specific events.
James had a number of target goals for the year, which trainSharp planned his training around. Whilst this didn’t totally discount every other race he did, the priority, taper, periodisation etc was focussed around these key peaks:
· British National Time Trial Championships (finished 2nd)
· Isle of Man GP (finished 8th)
· An Post Ras (Stage win, 9th overall)
One question many may have though is because the Time Trial effort and Road Race effort can vary, was the training for James developed around giving him the ability to ride at one speed or both time trials and road races?
trainSharp reply “we have found with a lot of our road riders that they will benefit from time trial type efforts. James was an ‘ideal client’ in that he already had a keen interest in time trailing and something he relished to improve on.”
“This doesn’t always work the other way around (although some road specific efforts do benefit time trialist’s) – and therefore once the National Road series came to a conclusion in July, the attention changed to focus onto time trials and aiming to break the comp record which he did!
Balancing such a training load which comes with fatigue is a fine art and Today’s Plan provides the tools for trainSharp to produce an effective training programme for an athlete using state of the art data presentation and analysis.
Even if the athlete doesn’t at first understand the science, the coaches at trainSharp can put it into plain English so each day, a rider knows what ‘Today’s Plan’ is for them.
Send your results as well as club, team & event news here
Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)
- Features, Reports, Results
- Crit Result: Crystal Palace Crits 4
- News: British UCI Teams in Women’s Tour of Britain
- Youth Result: East & Central Youth Circuit Series (Scotland)
- TT Result: Mid Devon CC 10m TT
- Crit Result: Portsmouth Evening Circuits 6
- TT Result: Ferryhill Wheelers 20m TT
- Youth Result: IOM RL360 Youth League 6
- British Road Championships 2024 – The Courses
- Crit Result: Full Gas Summer Series #6
- Youth Result: White Rose Youth League
- TLI Cycling Result: Cheshire Series Week 2
- Crit Result: Lotus Cars Cycle Race League 2
- RR Result: Bec CC Road Race
- Crit Result: Crystal Palace Crits 3
- TT Result: VC Venta 10m TT
- Youth Result: Spring in the Park #2 (Cyclopark)
- TT Result: VC Bristol 10m TT
- TT Result: Leo 30 mile TT
- TT Result: Velo Club Cumbria 10m TT
- TT Result: Anerley BC 10m TT
- TT Result: WCTTCA 10m TT
- TT Result: Mid Shropshire Wheelers 50m TT
- TT Result: Dukinfield CC 50m TT
- TT Result: Newbury RC 25m TT
- TT Result: Team Milton Keynes 20m TT
- Crit Result: West Thames Circuit Race League 5
- Crit Result: Salt Ayre Tuesday Series 5
- Crit Result: Ride Flux Spring Crit series #6
- Crit Result: Tameside Circuit Races (Rd 5)
- Startlist: Proper Northern RR Series 3 (Aughton)
- Crit Result: Some Enchanted Evenings 4
- Crit Result: Castle Combe Summer Series 2
- Crit Result: Hull Thursday RC Circuit Races
- Crit Result: King&Queen of the Bowl Series #3
- Crit Result: Spatzwear Friday Night Crit Series #1 | YBC
- Crit Result: West Lothian Grand Prix
- Entry List: BUCS Road Race Championships 2024
- Crit Result: Full Gas Spring Cup Series 4
- RR Result: Halesowen A&CC Road Race
- RR Result: Sloan Trophy Road Race
Other News on VeloUK
- News: British UCI Teams in Women’s Tour of Britain
- British Road Championships 2024 – The Courses
- Startlist: Proper Northern RR Series 3 (Aughton)
- Entry List: BUCS Road Race Championships 2024
- News: Stage 4 Route for Womens Tour of Britain
- Women’s Tour of Britain: Stage 3 Route
- STARTLIST: BEC CC National B (May 12)
- TT Result: New Forest CC 33m TT
- Events: BikeStow 3-day returns in 2024
- News: Tour of Britain (Women)
- News: Luke Rowe to Retire end of season
- STARTLIST: Sloan Trophy Road Race 2024
- Startlist: Yorkshire Under 23 Classic
- STARTLIST: Timmy James Memorial & Witham Hall Grand Prix RRs
- News: Pedal Club Lunch (April)
- STARTLIST: Youth & Junior Isle of Man Tour
- Startlists: Lincoln Grand Prix
- Startlists: Southend Wheelers Road Races
- Startlist: Tiverton Junior Nat Series Road Races
- Startlist: Harrogate Nova Spring Road Races
- Startlist: PNE National B RR
- STARTLIST: BUCS 10 TT (University Championships)
- Events: 18th Rutland-Melton CiCLE Classic Route
- Events: Nigel Harrop Memorial Road Race
- This weekend: 18th CiCLE Classic UCI 1.2
- Events: SSSCCRRL Road Race League
- Ribble Collective: Ride More in ’24
- Startlist: The Drummond Trophy
- EVENTS: Proper Northern Road Races – Round 2 Oakenclough
- Events: Dave Peck Memorial
- News: Women’s Tour of Britain
- Startlist: PB Performance Espoirs Road Race
- East Cleveland Classic: Saint Piran Team
- News: New kit for Ribble Rebellion Riders
- Events: Halesowen Friday Track Nights
- Team News: Ribble Rebellion off to the USA
- News: Pedal Club Lunch (March)
- Rider News: Winning start for Billy Ladle
- News: CiCLE Classic 2024
- Startlist: Stars of the SW Men’s U23 RR