Weeks 1-4 Of The EPC Trainer Series In The Books

This week we completed week number 4 in the annual 12-week long EPC Stationary Trainer Training Series. This year we have the largest class to date with 18 athletes participating in the Series. We meet Tuesdays and Thursdays for 90-minute training sessions that develop all aspects of cycling fitness. The focus of the first 4 weeks has been developing leg strength and pedaling skills with lots of ILT's (isolated leg training) and building aerobic endurance by standing in a big gear building up to 30 minutes in length.

Here is a shot of some of the class during our warm-up. Steve, back row far left, looks especially happy to be there that session as can be seen by the large smile on his face. Gotta love the positive mentality!

Here's Ed demonstrating nice ILT form. This guy is going to crush the 35-39 year-old Xterra races this year.

Here's Shannon concentrating on her cadence in the aerobars for her big-gear strength ILT's. Look at that concentration!

With 8 more weeks of quality training ahead everyone in the class has already improved their pedaling stokes and power outputs in the first 4 weeks. Over the next 4 weeks we begin to do more work near threshold by adding in 15 second surges within our 30 minute tempo climb and by adding in some 9 minute progressive gear threshold intervals. Oh the fun!

Look for more updates on the trainer series in the coming weeks.

CW