Monday, August 10, 2015

A Case for Training Scientifically

As a coach, I am usually the person, or type of person, that someone comes to when they decide they want to start training more seriously. So I see a lot of people who are considering taking the step deeper into the world of cycling and all the factors that go into that choice. I’ve seen people decide to train seriously, and I’ve seen people who’ve decided that the serious training just isn’t for them. Obviously as a coach I believe that the best way to train is scientifically, but I also see the challenges. What I’d like to do in this piece is to make my case for scientific training, in the way that an academic might. What is the difference between training seriously and scientifically? What are the benefits of training scientifically, what are the problems and how do you deal with them? What role does the coach play and what role does the athlete play? Why a person might chose to train scientifically, and why might someone choose to avoid it?