It's Not too Early to Get a Start on Next Season!

So your racing season is ended, and you are looking for ways to keep fit and beat the snowy winter blues... It's never too early to think about next season. No, we don't mean hitting the roads and putting in hundreds of miles. This is a time to take a break from your normal training routine, and work on form. Or, get started with a strength training program. Time you spend strength training now will give your muscles extra power for the miles they will be putting in a month or two down the road.

Below are some suggestions for mid-winter reading that will help get through those long winter nights and help you have a great season in the year to come!

Off-Season Training for Cyclists- This book gives you a complete description of the types of strength training exercises that develop your cycling strength in the off-season. It also covers plyometric training, indoor training, and cross training for cyclists

You will learn the proper form, amount of weight, and number of reps you should be doing at each stage of training(Transition, Foundation, Basic Strength, and Power). It covers all the essential exercises to increase your cycling strength, including: Chest Press, Lat Pull, Seated Row, Leg Press, Leg extension, Ab Crunch, Bench Press, and many more. Best of all, it explains how to strengthen your core and legs for the miles ahead without getting muscle-bound (like Arnold). Just $14.95

Triathlon Swimming Made Easy- This winter, consider spending a little extra time in the pool to give yourself the advantage of swimming like a fish and knocking minutes off your time. This book by Terry Laughlin, founder and head coach of Total Immersion Swimming, teaches you how.

The Total Immersion way of swimming differentiates competitive, shorter distance (less than 200 m) lap swimming in a pool, which requires speed and power, with long distance triathlon swimming in open water. This book describes the perfect "balanced" form, and provides you with drills, workouts, and training plans to improve your swim times. Just $24.95

If you'd rather watch a DVD than read a book, we also have the companion DVD - Fishlike Freestyle. Considering a picture is worth a thousand words, this DVD makes it easy to visualize the proper technique of all the Total Immersion drills. Just $44.95.

Coach Benson's Secret Workouts- this book should really be named "Coach Benson's Secret Training Method for Runners" - as Roy puts his 39 years of coaching experience into this book. This book clearly describes the phases of training for distance running, which workouts are appropriate for each phase, and how to use your heart rate monitor to keep you performing those workouts at the perfect intensity. Coach Benson is an expert in effort-based training, having used heart rate monitors to coach runners for over 15 years.

The bonus of this book is it gives you detailed guidelines for setting up your next season, complete with worksheets and pace charts. A great companion to Coach Benson's Heart Rate Running Training Software, as that software is based on the training philosophy in this book. Coach Benson's book is just $16.95.