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What would Lance do?
The Lance Armstrong Performance Program: Lance Armstrong and Chris Carmichael.
Rodale, 2000. 240 pages paperback, £12.99. ISBN 1-57954-270-0
It's perfectly understandable that Lance Armstrong should have become an
industry, and one of the good guys – I mean, he could have gone into tobacco,
but there he is, raising money for cancer victims, worrying about the
environment. Even the millions of pages he's been directly or indirectly
responsible for come on recycled paper.
This book is based on Chris Carmichael's Training Systems Inc. Ten years ago it
would have been a sensation, but we've seen a fair number of good down-to-earth
handbooks in that time. Nevertheless, this one is as good of its kind as you're
likely to find. It's more of your standard training manual than, say, Chris
Boardman's book, which has its own attractions, but is more idiosyncratic. The
Armstrong program follows the pattern we've become familiar with: the
endurance base, a bit on equipment, clothing, nutrition, maintenance, and
position, the rest on training. Stretches and weights are illlustrated with
photos.
Carmichael's speciality is a 7-Week Plan to Success. There's every reason why
it should work, if (and this is a big if) you don't follow it slavishly but
adapt it to suit your needs and abilities. Carmichael's approach to the
periodisation of training is to train particular skills in four-week blocks,
instead of doing a little bit all the time, like most of us do – a bit of this,
a bit of that. He claims it's more effective his way. Intensity is based on the
US Five-Zone system. There's a very useful table which puts proper emphasis on
recovery (a hard 25-mile TT should be followed by up to 48 hours recovery, for
instance). It's a list of numbers that every rider and coach should have by
heart.
Special points are made in boxes headed 'Listen to the Coach' and 'What would
Lance do?' This is where the big man earns his money: if I train for
time-trials like Lance, then the sky's the limit. Some of these focus points
are obvious enough: if you're a poor climber, start the hill at the front;
others are specific, like Lance's heart-rates, which will be different from
yours; but all the suggestions are sound.
Naturally there's plenty of material to use as case studies. The account of the
stage to Sestriere is particularly instructive.
Everything about road-racing is covered. There's plenty here for beginners, and
even the very experienced can pick up the odd tip here and there. It's clear,
useful, value for money, and it has a good index.
And good news for everyone: in his first pro race, the San Sebastian GP,
Armstrong finished 117th and last at 30 minutes. I could do that.
Ramin Minovi
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