bikeseattle.org

As you may recall, I recently visited the HSP to hear Tyler Farrar give a talk. I was intrigued by what they did and they agreed to sit down for an interview.

HSP is the culmination of a vision that Todd Herriott has had in his head for about five years. Todd was racing professionally for Team Colavita and had a strength training and coaching business in New York City. He came out to visit Seattle in December of 2005. HSP opened it’s doors in October of last year.

In talking with Todd you can tell he’s passionate about what he’s doing. Their motto says it all “Strength and Conditioning for the Human Race”. Throughout our time together, he kept reiterating the goals he is striving for.

Personal Service. Client Interaction. Quality.

HSP currently consists of Todd and Russell Cree. Russell is co-owner and works as a cycling coach, exercise physiologist, and Physical Therapist. Between the two of them they provide a full mix of race experience and scientific “know-how”. To further augment this, they have partnered with the Institute of New Medicine which provides two physicians who integrate the strengths of Eastern and Western medicine. So what you have is a one stop shop for all aspects of performance athletics.

I asked what they would do for someone coming in looking to upgrade (and on a personal note someone who has ridden for awhile and perhaps looking to race). For both questions they had the same answer. It all depends on the person. All programs are custom suited for each individual (they say they’re going to cap out at around 40 clients so they can still provide high quality service).

The first thing they would do would be a bike fit, making sure that your position on the bike is correct. From there they’d look at your pedal efficiency (which is called a Pedal stroke analysis) looking for dead spots.

Generally people will do what is called “pedaling in squares”, which is to just push down from the 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock position. Once you get into riding more, you learn to pedal in circles which conceptually means to apply force throughout the whole pedal stroke. That latter bit being pedal stroke nirvana, which is something not easy to attain. Another thing is to look at your breathing patterns to see if there was any improvement that could be made there.

Once those basics are recorded you can move into VO2 tests, Power tests, and Lactate analysis, all of which give you an indication of how your engine is running. HSP focuses on power-based training and will create personalized training schedule with that as a core, including on the bike and off the bike exercises. They will even schedule time to go out on rides with you to see how you’re coming along.

If you want more information about coaching plans, be sure to visit their services page.

Thanks again to Todd and Russell for taking time out of their day to meet up, good luck guys