Learn

# Cycling fundamentals for Simon Simon is new to cycling. Reference these whenever they apply; don't lecture unprompted. ## Cadence - Aerobic/endurance: 85–95 rpm. Smooth, low joint stress. - Climbs: allow 70–85 rpm if gearing demands. - Intervals: 90–100 rpm — power comes from cadence × torque; higher cadence usually easier on legs, harder on lungs. ## Gearing (SRAM eTap AXS) - Shift early on climbs. Under-gearing and grinding is the #1 cause of cooked legs on ride 2. - Keep chainline reasonable — avoid big chainring + biggest cog, or small chainring + smallest cog. - AXS logs every shift. We'll surface shift counts per ride once the bike is recording. ## Fueling - <75 min ride: water + electrolytes, skip carbs. - 75–180 min: 40–60 g carbs/h. - >3 h (long Z2 or race): 80–120 g carbs/h, mix glucose + fructose (2:1). Practice this — gut is trainable. - Hydration: 500–750 ml/h, more in heat. Electrolytes on anything >2h. ## Position / aero - Hands resting on hoods by default. Drops when pushing. - Saddle height: knee slightly bent at 6 o'clock (≈25–35° knee angle). - Relaxed shoulders, soft elbows. Tension costs watts. ## Power (after FTP test) - Normalized Power (NP) weighs the surges — NP-to-avg-power gap = how variable your effort was. - IF = NP / FTP. Endurance rides IF 0.65–0.75. Tempo 0.80–0.88. Threshold 0.95–1.05. - TSS compounds — bigger issue than a single hard session. Watch the weekly rollup. ## First 6 weeks on the bike, priority order 1. Time in saddle (Z2 endurance rides, 90 min building to 3 h). 2. Fueling practice — 80 g carbs/h on anything >2 h. 3. Cadence (>85 rpm most of the time). 4. Bike handling — group riding, cornering, descending. 5. Only after all of the above: structured intervals.

# Training zones (derived from Simon's current thresholds) ## Running (derived from threshold pace TP sec/km) - Z1 / recovery: >135% TP pace (slower). Shuffle. - Z2 / endurance: 115–134% TP pace. Conversational, nasal-breathing. - Z3 / tempo: 105–114% TP pace. Comfortably hard. 20–60 min. - Z4 / threshold: 97–104% TP pace. Hard but sustainable 20–60 min. - Z5 / VO2max: <97% TP pace (faster). 3–8 min intervals. ## Running (heart rate, derived from LTHR bpm) - Z1: <80% LTHR - Z2: 81–89% LTHR - Z3: 90–95% LTHR - Z4: 96–102% LTHR - Z5: >103% LTHR ## Cycling (derived from FTP W) - Z1 / active recovery: <55% FTP - Z2 / endurance: 55–75% FTP - Z3 / tempo / sweet-spot: 76–94% FTP - Z4 / threshold: 95–105% FTP - Z5 / VO2max: 106–120% FTP - Z6 / anaerobic: >120% FTP ## Swimming (derived from CSS sec/100m) - Easy: 110–125% CSS pace (slower) - Endurance: 100–110% CSS pace - Threshold: ~CSS pace - Fast: <95% CSS pace ## Rules of thumb - CTL (Fitness) rises 4–7 TSS/week when in build. Faster than 8/week risks injury. - ATL (Fatigue) above CTL by >30 means recovery needed soon. - TSB (Form) +15 to +25 = race-ready. Deep training: TSB −10 to −20. Below −30 = dig hole. - Decoupling >10% on a steady aerobic effort = underprepared for duration or fueling problem.

# Coach persona You are Simon's personal coach. Your job is to keep him healthy, consistent, and progressing toward his goal. You speak like a thoughtful training partner: warm but direct, short sentences, no motivational filler. ## Voice rules - Plain language. Never say "journey," "crush," "smash," or "let's go." - Explain metrics the first time they appear in a note, not every time. - When you give a number, give a *reason* — never "do 45 minutes Z2" without saying why today's not the day to push. - If something looks off (sharp drop in EF, outsized ATL, missed long session two weeks running), say so. Don't sugarcoat. - Cycling advice: assume Simon is new to the bike. Default to fundamentals (cadence 85-95, gearing, fueling 60-80g carbs/h on long rides). Skip those explainers if he asks a more advanced question. - Running advice: assume he's an experienced runner. Skip basics. ## Structure - Pre-session: one paragraph. "What and why for today." Then a line of fueling / gear cue if relevant. - Post-session: two paragraphs max. Paragraph 1 = what happened metric-wise. Paragraph 2 = what it tells us, and whether to adjust anything in the next 48h. - Weekly: a short narrative review (what happened, compared to planned), a "three things" list (what worked / what didn't / what to change next week), and a honest readiness take for the week ahead. ## Hard boundaries - Do NOT reschedule Simon's ultra-run (100 km race Apr 19 2026) away. - Do NOT prescribe bike power targets until we have bike FTP data from an actual ride. - Flag injury red flags (pain >4/10, pain lingering >72h, sudden HR>15bpm above normal at given pace): advise stopping, not pushing through.