Tuesday, March 31, 2009

New Run Workouts Help Runners and Triathletes Unlock Speed

VeloPress has published Run Workouts for Runners and Triathletes, a book of running workouts and training plans by world-class running and triathlon coach, Bobby McGee. Five free sample workouts are available here (pdf). The book is available now online and will be available next week in bookstores and in bike, triathlon, and running shops.

All too often, runners reach a plateau in fitness because they do the same type of training, week after week. To see improvements in fitness, athletes need to vary the kinds of workouts they do. For runners, this means mixing up endurance runs with hill repeats, intervals, and track workouts.

Run Workouts for Runners and Triathletes is the perfect tool for self-coached athletes who want variety in their training. Olympic running and triathlon coach Bobby McGee has teamed up with world champion marathoner Mark Plaatjes to give runners of all levels a complete collection of workouts and training plans.

Run Workouts for Runners and Triathletes features 21 training plans for all the most popular race distances; 5km, 10km, half-marathon, marathon, Olympic-distance triathlon, half-Ironman, and Ironman. Each plan offers three performance levels, and McGee explains precisely how runners can determine their training paces and balance hard days with easy days.

McGee offers new takes on the workouts all runners and triathletes should practice and master. Each training plan incorporates 80 fresh and challenging workouts including endurance runs, intervals, hills, Yassos, and a variety of tests and bricks. Runners and triathletes can pepper these workouts into their own training plans.

With its compact size and sweatproof pages, this is the ideal book to take to the track or trailhead. Forewords by Timothy Noakes, MD, author of the best-selling Lore of Running, and pro triathlete Samantha McGlone.

Run Workouts for Runners and Triathletes
By Bobby McGee with Marathon Plans by Mark Plaatjes
Forewords by Timothy Noakes and Samantha McGlone
Spiral-bound with sweatproof pages. 2-color interior.
5" x 7", 200 pp. | VP-WBRW, $29.95 | 978-1-934030-33-2

  • 16 million Americans ran on 100 or more days per year in 2007. (Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association)
  • There were 15,500 running events in 2007 including 630 half-marathons and 425 marathons. (Running USA)
  • Sweatproof paper and compact size make this a practical, portable training tool for runners and triathletes

Bobby McGee is an internationally certified track and field coach whose athletes have produced world records, won world championships, and been consistently ranked amongst the best in their events. He coaches runners and triathletes, and has worked with USA Triathlon preparing athletes for the 2004 and 2008 Olympic games.

Mark Plaatjes is the 1993 Marathon Gold medal winner at the World Track and Field championships. In addition to being a world champion, Mark's running record includes a win at the 1991 Los Angeles Marathon and a 6th place finish in the 1993 Boston marathon. Mark owns a private physical therapy practice and specializes in treating runners and athletes. He currently lives in Boulder, Colorado, and coaches recreational and elite runners.

VeloPress is an endurance sports and fitness publisher with books on cycling, triathlon, running, swimming, yoga, nutrition, and the histories and personalities of our sports. VeloPress is the book publishing division of Competitor Group, Inc., publisher of VeloNews, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, and Competitor magazines and producer of Elite Racing's Rock 'N' Roll marathons and half-marathons and the Muddy Buddy adventure series.

Media review copies, sample workouts, author interviews and events:
Dave Trendler, Marketing and Publicity Manager, (303) 245-2138, dtrendler@competitorgroup.com

Distributors and specialty retailers please order through:
Jen Soulé, Sales Manager, (800) 811-4210 x169, wholesale@competitorgroup.com

Friday, March 6, 2009

Joe Friel Updates the Bestselling Training Book for Serious Cyclists

The Cyclist's Training Bible Includes the Latest Advances in Training

Boulder, CO, USA - March 6, 2009 - Internationally recognized cycling coach Joe Friel has updated The Cyclist's Training Bible, the bestselling and most comprehensive training book for serious cyclists. New in this fourth edition are updates on all the latest advances in cycling training including training with a power meter, smarter approaches to recovery and fatigue management, a new approach to strength training, and updates to body composition and nutrition. All the charts, tables, and illustrations are now in a two-color format, making The Cyclist's Training Bible even easier to use. The book is now available in bookstores, bike shops, and online.
The Cyclist's Training Bible has equipped thousands of cyclists for success in the sport. Using Friel's Training Bible methodology, cyclists create a comprehensive, self-coached training plan that is both scientifically proven and shaped around their personal goals.

The Cyclist's Training Bible speaks to cyclists of all ability levels, whatever their experience. Friel empowers athletes with every detail they need to consider when planning a season, lining up a week of workouts, or preparing to race. The fourth edition includes extensive revisions on the specifics of how to train and what to eat. Friel explains how cyclists can best gauge intensity with power meters and other new training technology to maximize form and fitness and reduce fatigue, more knowledgeably and accurately make changes to their annual training plan over the course of a season, dramatically build muscular endurance with strength training, and improve body composition and recovery with smarter nutrition.

With more case studies to draw from and multiple contingency plans for those times when training doesn't progress as planned, The Cyclist's Training Bible continues to be the definitive guide to optimal cycling performance.

The Cyclist's Training Bible, 4th Ed. by Joe Friel Paperback with 2-color interior. Illustrations, charts, and tables throughout. 8.5" x 11", 352 pp. | VP-BIB4, $24.95 | ISBN: 978-1-934030-20-2

Bicycling magazine has called Joe Friel "the most experienced personal cycling coach in the U.S.," and his Training Bible Coaching practice is one of the most respected and successful in the sport. Joe has been training endurance athletes since 1980, including national champions, world championship contenders, and Olympic athletes in road cycling, mountain biking, triathlon, and duathlon. Joe is an elite certified USA Triathlon and USA Cycling Coach and holds a master's degree in exercise science. He is a featured columnist for VeloNews and Inside Triathlon magazines and his articles and interviews appear in dozens of national and international magazines, newspapers, and websites. Joe conducts training and racing seminars around the world and online and provides consulting services for corporations in the fitness industry. He has also been active in business as the founder of Ultrafit, an association of coaching businesses, Training Peaks, a web-based software company, and Training Bible Coaching. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

VeloPress is an endurance sports and fitness publisher with books on cycling, triathlon, running, swimming, yoga, nutrition, and the histories and personalities of our sports. VeloPress is the book publishing division of Competitor Group, Inc., publisher of VeloNews, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, and Competitor magazines and producer of Elite Racing's Rock 'N' Roll marathons and half-marathons and the Muddy Buddy adventure series.

Media review copies, excerpts, author interviews and events:
Dave Trendler, Marketing and Publicity Manager, (303) 245-2138, dtrendler@competitorgroup.com

Distributors and specialty retailers please order through:
Jen Soulé, Sales Manager, (800) 811-4210 x169, wholesale@competitorgroup.com

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Train for Ironman with the New Edition of Going Long by Joe Friel and Gordo Byrn

Boulder, CO, USA - March 3, 2009 - VeloPress is pleased to announce the publication of Going Long: Training for Ironman-Distance Triathlons, 2nd Ed. Internationally recognized triathlon coach and best-selling author Joe Friel has teamed up with ultra-endurance guru Gordo Byrn to update their best-selling Ironman triathlon training book. This second edition of Going Long is now available in bookstores, bike shops, and online.

Going Long is the most comprehensive guide to racing Ironman-distance triathlons ever written. Combining science with personal experience, Friel and Byrn prepare every triathlete, from the working age-grouper to the podium contender, for success in triathlon's ultimate endurance event.

Since the publication of the first edition of Going Long, registration numbers for Ironman-distance races have soared. This new edition embraces this growing group of triathletes who are juggling training, family time and full-time jobs.

Sport-specific chapters outline training for each triathlon discipline and describe drills to improve form and efficiency. A newly expanded section on training the mind explores the all-important psychological aspects of racing, including goal-setting and visualization. A detailed appendix includes key training sessions, workout examples, and strength training progressions.

Going Long has long been the best-selling book on the subject of training for the Ironman. With expanded content and a new, two-color format, this second edition is once again the premier sourcebook for triathletes who are serious about succeeding in the Ironman-distance.

Going Long: Training for Ironman-Distance Triathlons, 2nd Ed.
by Joe Friel and Gordon Byrn

Paperback, 2-color charts and tables throughout.
7 3/8" x 9 1/4", 320 pp. | VP-FGL2, $21.95 | 978-1-934030-06-6

  • Triathlon is the fastest-growing endurance sport in the world with U.S. growth topping 22% per year.
  • The Ironman race format is extremely popular: over 50 million households watched NBC Sports and Versus televised coverage of the 2007 Ironman World Championship
  • There are now 21 Ironman triathlons and 32 half-Ironman triathlons

Joe Friel is one of the most recognized names in triathlon coaching and the best-selling author of The Triathlete's Training Bible, Your First Triathlon, and The Cyclist's Training Bible. His clients include professional and amateur triathletes, duathletes, road cyclists and mountain bikers. He is a certified USA Triathlon and USA Cycling Coach and holds a master's degree in exercise science.

Gordon Byrn is an elite long-course triathlete and coach certified by USA Triathlon, Triathlon Australia, and the American Swim Coaches Association. One of the best-known ultra-endurance athletes in the world, he has raced Ironman competitions in Hawaii, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

VeloPress is an endurance sports and fitness publisher. VeloPress is the book publishing division of Competitor Group, Inc., publisher of VeloNews, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, and Competitor magazines; and producer of Elite Racing marathons and half-marathons and the Muddy Buddy adventure series.

Media review copies, author interviews, and events:
Dave Trendler, Marketing and Publicity Manager, (303) 245-2138, dtrendler@competitorgroup.com

Distributors/specialty retailers, please order through:
Jen Soulé, Sales Manager, (800) 811-4210 x169, wholesale@competitorgroup.com

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