Looking for a book to give some training guidance to 15 yo daughter who mainly races xc. Want something fairly simple and don’t want to take the fun out of riding. Had a glance at obrees book which seemed to be easy to read – & also had bits on positive attitude which she can lack (and knows it!). But aware that friels is the standard recommendation. Any thoughts/experience?

Friel’s is good. Not read Obree’s.

Obree book Is old school nonsense. Friel book is superb. I do have both.

I don’t think I’m going to take Obree’s advice on positive mental attitude.

IMO you’ve got to be slightly unhinged to be able to work the Obree way. Therefore his pre race motivational psychology works fine for me :D.

It’s all about jam sandwiches, unbuilding your Turbo and knowing you’re the winner.

Friel is much more scientifically specific.

I think there is plenty of good stuff in the Obree book, not a complete training guide, but I found it well worth reading.

The Friel book is not exactly fun or simple, there must be better books out there???

If it doesn’t stay fun she won’t do it & will stop cycling which would be an own goal! Seen that happen to a few others We’re both scientists but she won’t read some dry text. I liked some of the snippets I obrees book – you wouldn’t put up with a stiff bottom bracket so why have stiff body. Not rocket science but might be sort of stuff she will take on board. Just don’t want to feed her stuff which is plain wrong

Friel for conventional, practical training advice. Obree for some inspiring left field alternative thinking, but not so practical for most of us (the chapter on his multi-phase breathing technique is a cracker…). I found Obree’s book interesting, but without some training experience I think it might be difficult to know which bits to take with a pinch of salt.

It might be more effective to hook up with a good local club that offers appropriate coaching, instead of reading a manual. At your daughter’s age I think it should be about keeping things interesting and trying to include a few key training principals, rather than trying to follow a systematic programme too closely. A good coach can help pick out the most useful stuff from a Friel-type programme without trying to apply the whole lot. Your daughter might also benefit from being in a team with her peers, which will also be more interesting than racing solo.

I think what you can learn from Obree is to only do the stuff that works for you, and to be continually thinking how to improve it.

Cheers for thos comments.
kcr – she is in a club & does a fair bit of training wit them. The big attraction to her is being in a crowd of like minded youths – all boys, but maybe that is the attraction…… I don’t think a very structured programme would work – it would become a chore like school. She enjoys ridig and want to keep it that way. Was just interested to get a few pointers to reinforce the training.

I think the main message from Obree’s book is that you have to train and it should be reproducible – hence his obsession with calibrating a turbo. Not a lot there to be honest.

i couldn’t even finish Obree’s book….utter drivel 🙁

Anyone want to buy a largely unused copy of Friel’s book?

I’ve got Friel and haven’t managed to get far enough into it to devise any meaningful plans.
It is dull.
If she has a logical mind then there’s plenty of far lighter-hearted info available online for her to devise her own plan.
I still maintain that at amateur level, eating healthily, drinking enough, and then riding lots gets you 90% there. Another % or two can be achieved by resting adequately within your schedule. Another couple of % can be added by doing some high intensity and interval work and only then do you need to worry about training with a HRM, power meter or coach.

Other views may vary 🙂

For me the main point of Friel’s book is that you need to periodise your training. The key thing being to choose which events are going to be your main goals. Assess your weak areas, then build a programme to work through phases which build towards the peak/s for the season. There is lots of great stuff in there but it’s easy to get bogged down in the minutiae. But the basic structure of preparation, base, build, peak, race is quite simple – chapter 7 outlines this well. Then just pick and choose some specific workouts to fit into those phases to focus on weaknesses and build strengths.

I’me enjoying Obree’s book but he’s clearly a bit ‘out there.’ I haven’t deconstructed any turbos but most of it is of use to me. breathing technique is hard though!

Depending on money, how about getting a session from someone like Adrian Timmis or Dan Fleeman, I’m sure they’d be able to point her in the right direction better than any books could!

Friels book is information overload for your average cyclist.Training4cyclists.com is far better IMO for people in the real world…

Cheers – don’t think she is going too far wrong then.

epo-aholic – Member
i couldn’t even finish Obree’s book….utter drivel

Im thinking the same. Id hoped for a structured set of drills for say tt training but its all a bit bonkers. Glad I didnt pay £30 for the hardback!

I find the turbo butchering nonsense. There’s so many variables involved. Tyre wear, pressure air temp etc. Its all a bit too OCD, and Ive got OCD!

To be fair he outlines you might only take some pointers from his musings but I really had hoped for something succinct, its all a bit round the houses.