John setting course record at Boston-Montreal-Boston.
John has ridden seven 1200 kms:
Paris-Brest-Paris ’79, ’87, ’91, ’95, ’99,
B-M-B ’92, & the Rocky Mountain ’04.

Programs

I work with cyclists ranging from beginning endurance cyclists to ultra cyclists. I coach men and women, age 40s to 70s, training for brevets, 1200 km randonnées, centuries and double centuries, 12-hour events, road and MTB racing, and qualifiers for the Race Across AMerica (RAAM). I coach cyclists in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America.

I offer three different coaching programs:

• Weekly Includes initial ssessment, macro-cycle design, and weekly coaching. I interact once a week with the athlete. Cost is $300 for the assessment and macro-cycle and then $175 / month for the coaching.
• Monthly Includes initial assessment, macro-cycle design, and monthly coaching. I interact once a month with the athlete. Cost is $300 for the assessment and macro-cycle and then $115 / month for the coaching.
• Multi-Month Includes initial assessment, macro-cycle design, and a 3 to 5 month training schedule for the athlete to follow. The training schedule may be divided into several multi-month blocks. I interact with the client only once per block of months. Cost is $300 for the assessment and macro-cycle and $50 per month for the monthly training schedule. The cost of $50 per month is payable when I complete each block of months and there is no other monthly fee.

Assessment
For the weekly, monthly and multi-month programs I start by assessing each athlete, which includes:

• reviewing the person’s medical and training history
• testing current aerobic fitness, anaerobic threshold, strength and flexibility
• discussing his/her goals for the season and the planned events
• talking about strengths and weaknesses
• identifying any significant time constraints

Macrocycle
For each of the three coaching programs I then develop the macro-cycle (big picture month by month plan) leading up to the key event, e.g., a brevet, a double century, longer brevets, 1200K, multi-day tour, etc. The macro-cycle is usually divided into phases, for example:

• off-season preparation
• base training
• intensity
• peaking
• taper
• key event(s)

For each phase we determine the goals, any key events, the duration and the training volume (total hours for the phase and average hours per week). I also provide strength training exercises and a daily stretching program.

Cost of the assessment and macro-cycle is $300.

Weekly/Monthly
Once the macro-cycle is finished then I either work with the athlete on a weekly or a monthly basis.

If I’m coaching weekly, I review the athlete’s workouts every week, answer questions, and then write new workouts. I.e., I interact once a week with the client.

If I’m coaching monthly, I review monthly reports, answer questions, and write four weeks of workouts. I.e., I interact once a month with the client.

The workouts are based on the macro cycle and the athlete’s current fitness. Each plan specifies for each day:

• purpose of the training
• modality (road bike, mountain bike, cross-training, weights, etc.)
• duration (hours and minutes)
• the workout (endurance ride, hill climbs, intervals, etc.)
• the intensity (measured by perceived exertion, heart rate or power)

The workouts are sent each week/month by e-mail.

The athlete keeps a training log and sends weekly/monthly copies to me by e-mail. I review each log before writing the next workouts. We also chat by e-mail weekly or monthly about the athlete’s progress.

The cost for the weekly coaching is $175 / month. The cost for the monthly coaching is $115 / month.

Multi-Month Training Schedule
For the multi-month training plan, in addition to the assessment and macro-cycle, I write weekly workouts for each month along with notes on how to vary it week by week. I also provide a strength training and daily stretching program. For example, in base training the program might be:

• one 3 - 5 hour endurance ride in training zones 1 - 3
  • the training zones will be defined in terms of perceived exertion, heart rate or power depending on the client’s needs.
• two 1.5 to 2.5 hour rides in training zones 2 & 3
• three 30 minute weight lifting sessions (I’ll specify the exercises)
• four 30 minute sessions of stretching, abs, and back core exercises (I’ll specify the exercises)
• total: 9:30 - 13:30 hours

The athlete then determines the actual weekly workouts based on your work schedule and on the plan. I’ll give you the building blocks for each month.

All of the information is in a Word document with complete instructions and an Excel spreadsheet with the actual workouts and space to track workouts.

The athlete provides training reports to me at the end of each multi-month block and we interact at the end of each block. The cost is $300 for the macro-cycle and assessment, payable at the start of working together. As I submit the workouts for each phase the cost is $50 / month for the workouts in that phase.