LEARN FROM GREG

During his 20-year racing career, Greg LeMond worked with some of the sport’s most knowedgeable coaches, physiologists and trainers. He integrated their expertise with his own experiences gained from winning three Tours de France and two world professional championships. On this page, he shares some of his insights into training, fitness and race strategy.

Be sure to bookmark this page and print out these tips for your own use, as we’ll be updating them regularly.

Definition of Training Intensities
In training you need to know and understand the following levels of intensity:

1. Maximum effort (sprints): This effort lasts 10 to 25 seconds.
   
   • It is similar to a 200 meter sprint.
     
   • It calls for 100 percent of your maximum heartbeat.
     
   • Your body is anaerobic, producing energy without the use of oxygen.
     
   • Your body feeds only on adrenotriphosphate (ATP), and
     phosphocreatine, two high-energy chemicals stored in the body tissue.
     
     
2. Submaximum effort (pure anaerobic interval): This effort lasts 25
   seconds to two minutes.
   
   • It is similar to a one-kilometer time trial on the track.
     
   • Your body is operating at very nearly 100 percent of your maximum heartbeat.
     
   • It is considered the purely anaerobic interval.
     
   • Your body is anaerobic at submaximum intensity.
     
   • Although you are at the maximum heart rate, this intensity of
     exercise is differentiated by its duration and the different kind of
     energy your body feeds on.
     
   • Your body feeds on anaerobic glycogen, sugar stored in the body
     tissue and used in periods of highly intense exercise.
     
     
3. High intensity (long interval): This is usually a high-intensity
   effort of from two to four minutes.
   
   • It is similar to a 3,000 meter pursuit.
     
   • Your heart rate will reach its maximum point during this period of exercise.
     
   • The body is on the border between the aerobic and anaerobic states.
     In the last portion of this exercise the body is in a completely
     anaerobic state.
     
   • Energy is gotten through anaerobic glycogen and aerobic glycogen.
     
     
4. Average intensity (anaerobic threshold): This exercise lasts from
   four to 30 minutes.
   
   • It is similar to a five to 20 kilometer individual time trial.
     
   • Your heart rate is between 90 and 100 percent of its maximum.
     
   • In this exercise the body uses aerobic oxidation (oxygen provided
     through the bloodstream) because it is not in an anaerobic state.
     
   • This intensity and the lighter intensity is where you will do a
     great deal of your training, and you will get the most benefit from
     your training at these intensities.
     
   • Anaerobic threshold training -- which means riding at the border
     between the aerobic and anaerobic states -- is done to a large degree at this and the light intensity.
     
     
5. Light intensity (intense aerobic): This exercise lasts 30 minutes or more.
   
   • This exercise is similar to a 25 mile time trial up to a
     long-distance but intense effort.
     
   • Your heart rate is at 80 to 90 percent of its maximum during this exercise.
     
   • Your body is in an exclusively aerobic state.
     
   • Your body will first burn the glycogen it has stored. After that
     you will be running off fatty acids. This is the bonks (complete
     exhaustion).
     
     
6. Low intensity (endurance): This exercise can last indefinitely as
   long as you can ride. For example, in the Race Across America riders
   stay on their bikes nearly 24 hours a day for nine days or more.
   
   • Your heart rate is between 65 and 87 percent of its maximum
     
   • Your minimum intensity for getting a fitness benefit is 65 percent
     of your maximum heart rate.
     
   • At this intensity you are in a completely aerobic state
     
   • The energy the body uses is stored in the fatty acids.

A complete program for cycling training combines all these
intensities in a specific mix to achieve the optimal performance
level. If you are cycling for fitness but are not interested in
racing, you will not need to do the higher-intensity exercises. You
will only have to concentrate as high as the average intensity of
exercise. For the most part, however, tourist and recreational
cyclists need to train only at the light and low intensities of
exercise.
One of the most important steps you can make in training for cycling
is to ask yourself what kind of cycling you want to do. If you really
have your heart set on racing, then you will have to make a
commitment to training in a systematic way. If you don't train
systematically, sooner or later your racing will suffer.

For past tips, click on the links below.

Tip #1- Intervals
Tip #2- The Macro Cycle
Tip #3- Weekly Schedule
Tip #4- Knowing Your Body

You'll find all these great tips and many more in Greg LeMond's Complete Book of Cycling.

QUICK RELEASES

LEMOND FITNESS
Under Greg's leadership, LeMond Fitness offers you high quality indoor training bikes - including the LeMond RevMaster recumbent and upright g-force exercise bikes.

LEMOND RACING CYCLES
There's a world of innovation in the latest LeMond racing cycles - new frames, new styles, and new materials.

2007 TOUR DE CURE CHAIRPERSON
Greg joins the American Diabetes Association as the Honorary Chairperson for Tour de Cure - the nationwide cycling event which raises money to find a cure for diabetes.