With the holidays fast approaching, here are a couple of books you might want to add to your gift list. Bloomsbury Sport publishes both titles, and they are available on Amazon.
- High-Performance Cyclist: The Complete Training Manual, by Joe Friel
- The Cycling Chef, Plant-Powered Performance, Vegan Recipes to Fuel Your Ride, by Alan Murchison
Learn How to Take Your Cycling Training to the Next Level
Being a high-performance cyclist is tough, but it doesn’t have to be complex. By focusing on you and your personal goals, this guide takes into account your training history, lifestyle, and current physical and mental state to assess your readiness for a journey to peak performance. I appreciate that in Mr. Friel’s book, he acknowledges that we aren’t all professional racers and have families, work obligations, and other life responsibilities.
With Mr. Friel as your coach, you can develop a personalized plan to achieve your high-performance goals and track your progress along the way. Along with the latest advice on nutrition, sports psychology, bike ergonomics, and more, Joe and his High-Performance team will help you to:
- Build aerobic endurance, muscular power, and a tenacious mindset – whatever your goal.
- Demystify intensity, set your training zones, and create your personalized workout routine.
- Understand how rest and recovery are critical to your success. YES!! Mr. Friel believes in rest, which isn’t always emphasized or built into training programs.
In each chapter, there’s a “Key Takeaways” section that summarizes the main points in easy-to-understand bullet points. For example, on page 19, I couldn’t agree more with these Key Takeaways.
- Your race success depends, in large part, on your support team.
- Share your goals with those closest to you – your family and friends.
- Your cycling team or training partners can help you achieve your goal; include them in your support team.
- A team of experts will make your goal much more achievable.
- All your team members must be happy, positive, and successful people who never doubt or mock you or your goal.
NOTE: You will need a power meter and a heart rate monitor (HRM) to follow Mr. Friel’s training guide.
About Joe Friel
The author holds a Master’s degree in exercise science and has trained endurance athletes, from novices to national champions and Olympians. As an age-group competitor, Joe has been a Colorado State Masters Triathlon champion and a perennial USA Triathlon All-American duathlete. He is the co-founder of TrainingPeaks.com and TrainingBible Coaching.
High-Performance Cyclist is available for $20.61 on Amazon. This engaging and motivating book is the ultimate guide for maximizing your training and cycling performance.
Delicious Plant-Based Recipes to Increase Energy and Performance
Eating vegan doesn’t mean tasteless salads or uninspired recipes. In Alan Murchison’s new book, The Cycling Chef: Plant-Powered Performance: Vegan Recipes to Fuel Your Ride, the Michelin-starred chef and leading sports nutritionist proves it.
Last year, I reviewed the author’s book, The Cycling Chef on the Go, and was drawn to this book because I’m primarily vegetarian (not vegan). However, I am always on the lookout for tasty recipes that are high in protein to fuel my rides.
Cycling and food are Murchison’s twin passions, and he believes that food should serve both pleasure and performance. Therefore, Alan has developed a variety of tasty recipes to support plant-powered cyclists or those looking to reduce their meat consumption.
A plant-based diet should not reduce performance and can even enhance it with the right balance of nutrients, vitamins, carbs, and protein. From energizing breakfasts to recovery-boosting main meals, each recipe is protein-rich and designed to keep you fueled for every mile.
Recipes include:
- Double Espresso Granola
- Real Deal Red Lentil Lasagne
- Blueberry Blondie bars
- Cashew Tiramisu
About the Author
Alan Murchison is a Michelin-starred chef with over 25 years of experience working in some of the world’s top restaurants. He is also a multiple world and European age-group duathlon champion, a national-level master’s cyclist, and a former international endurance runner. Murchison was previously a consultant for British Cycling and is now the performance chef for Specialized Factory Racing.
The Cycling Chef: Plant-Powered Performance: Vegan Recipes to Fuel Your Ride is available on Amazon for $23.22.
Sheri Rosenbaum regularly contributes articles and reviews products for RBR. She’s an avid recreational roadie who lives in the Chicago area and a major advocate for women’s cycling, serving on the board of directors and volunteering with the Dare2tri Paratriathlon Club. Click to read Sheri’s full bio or visit her web site sunflowersandpedals.com.