Here’s a list of things that you’ll appreciate, including bug fixes and new features (build 3.0.9202):

• Bulk download of device-files
• Sharing in Twitter or Facebook now uses a short URL like: http://tpks.ws/T34J . We chose tpks.ws as it loosly stands for “TrainingPeaks Web Service”
• The QuickView now has proper tab-order
• Rounding of certain planned or actual durations no longer occasionally adds or loses a second
• Deleting workouts with pending data no longer causes oops error
• Food quantities no longer change when changing the quantity and meal time
• Calories are calculated & displayed properly when manually entering a workout duration
• Average speeds/pace now match between Stats pod and Graph pod
• Improved compatibility for Suunto T6 and T6c
• Download device files directly from the QuickView
• Fixed issue with Calories pod not showing consumed calories properly
• Added better error messaging to Professional Edition when adding a client
• Fixed lap names from certain devices that said “null”, now says Lap 1, Lap 2 etc.
• Changed name of “Demo Strength Library” to “Basic Strength Library” (more appropriate)

We’ve had tremendous success launching programs recently with Runner’s World and the ING New York Marathon, please don’t hesitate to contact us with a feature requests or bug reports. If you find any bugs or have any feature requests, submit a ticket to us at http://www.trainingpeaks.com/support

Thanks to the thousands of new users and of course to our long-time customers!

Visit TrainingPeaks.com every day and watch live SRM power meter data feeds during each stage from Team Columbia-HTC and Team Saxo Bank racers. Watch pre and post race video interviews with Team Saxo Bank coaches and riders. View complete power files after the stage and read expert analysis by two of the cycling world’s most respected coaches and power experts, Hunter Allen and Dirk Friel. Bookmark this link, because there will be new content every day for the next three weeks - http://home.trainingpeaks.com/races/2009-tour-de-france-files.aspx

TrainingPeaks would like to wish everyone riding in this year’s Tour de France the best of luck, but especially the riders who have been training for this epic race by using TrainingPeaks, including two-time second place finisher Cadel Evans and many of the riders on Team Saxo Bank and Team Columbia. The race this year should be a very exciting event indeed, starting right away with the time trial in Monaco on July 4th, with a large field of very strong riders in contention for overall leadership as well as stage wins, including Armstrong, Leipheimer, Contador, the Schleck brothers, Cavendish, and many more.

July is the month when many non-professionals get inspired and make an effort to improve their own fitness through cycling. If you are planning to ride your own mini-Tour de France this month you’ll most certainly need to work on your climbing ability. Who better to get some climbing tips from than Joe Friel, founder of both TrainingPeaks and Training Bible Coaching, and author of the “Cyclists’s Training Bible“. Now here is Joe Friel’s article:

Climbing Like a Tour Rider

© 2009 by Joe Friel

There are two kind of stages that will more than likely determine the general classification of this year’s Tour de France—hills and time trials. Let’s take a look at hills and what you can do to climb better.

Getting Your Mass Over the Pass

Hills determine the outcome of a road race than any other course or weather element. Wind is a big challenge also, but a smart rider can hide from it. Corners may also produce the winning break, but, again, smarts combined with handling skills keeps the best riders near the front.

But you can’t fake it on a hill. Either you can climb or you’re dropped. That’s it. Bottom line.

We all weren’t meant to be climbers, however. Some of us are “gravitationally challenged” – too much mass to get our ass over the pass fast.

Too Much Mass?

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, “mass is the physical volume or bulk of a solid body.” This bulk is what holds you back when you ride uphill. Historically, the best hill climbers at the highest levels in the sport typically have had a small mass as they were shorter and lighter than the average for the peloton. Comparing height to weight is one way to express mass in a human. This can be done by dividing body weight in pounds by height in inches.

I’ve found that those with a mass of 2.0 pounds per inch of height tend to have the best potential for climbing, but they don’t do well on windy, flat courses or, usually, in flat time trials. For these types of events it is better to be big since gravity plays a small role on a flat course. On the other end of the scale are the high-mass riders with a 2.5-weight-to-height ratio or greater. These riders usually are better in the wind, flat courses, time trials, and sprints. They generally avoid hills, and with good reason.

The reason they are better off avoiding hills has to do with power output per pound at lactate threshold. Let’s use an example to understand this. Say we have two, Category 3 riders. Rider A weighs 140 pounds and is 70 inches tall, so he has a mass of 2.0 pounds per inch. His power output at lactate threshold is 300 watts or 2.1 watts per pound. Rider B is 74 inches tall and weighs 185 pounds for a mass of 2.5. His power at lactate threshold is 360 watts – about 1.9 watts per pound.

On a very long hill with both climbing at their lactate thresholds, which is common, Rider A steadily pulls away from Rider B since A’s power per pound is greater. Power-to-weight ratio is the major determiner of climbing success. But on a flat course in which gravity is not a significant factor, and the wind is, the advantage will go to Rider B. The major determiner of success in the wind, especially in a time trial, is power-to-frontal area ratio. And since there is only a small difference in frontal area between small and big riders who are both aero, raw power wins – 360 watts beats 300 watts every time.

Read more about how to climb like a Tour de France rider in the full article.

This question cuts to the heart of the greatest limitation of the prefabricated training plans that I have created in such abundance.  Whereas my training plans treat individual peak races in isolation, in the real world most competitive runners take a seasonal approach to the sport, giving more or less equal importance to several races taking place between spring and fall. There’s nothing wrong with this approach. In fact, it is the racing approach that most elite runners (except marathon specialists) practice too. The question is, how does one practice a seasonal approach to racing most effectively? Simple: Heed the following three simple guidelines.

1. Maintain a high level of general running fitness at all times

Prefabricated training plans are more or less obligated to assume that the runners using them are beginning at a relatively low fitness level relative to their own individual peak levels. Essentially, these plans assume you’re coming off a nice off-season break and are just beginning the process of establishing a fresh fitness base. This assumption makes the plans more inclusive than they might otherwise be. A plan that assumed you already had a solid foundation of general running fitness would not work for you if you lacked that foundation, even if the peak training load prescribed in the final pre-taper weeks was appropriate for you given adequate time, because you’d be in over your head from the very start.

Every runner needs a nice off-season break, and every runner needs to take time to build a fresh fitness base after that off-season break. But if you want to successfully execute a seasonal approach to racing that allows you to race at peak level several times between spring and fall, you need to maintain a fairly high fitness level at all other times. Doing so will enable you to return to peak form fairly quickly after each important race.

It’s important that you avoid training too hard for too long, however. If you try to sustain truly peak training loads throughout the racing season you will get injured or burn out. Except during the short periods when you are actively working to stimulate a fitness peak for an important race, your training should be “manageably hard”. In other words, the volume and intensity of training should be close to—but one solid step below—the maximum that you could sustain indefinitely without getting injured or burning out.

Give yourself a full week to relax and recuperate after major races, of course, but after that, get back after it. The exception, again, is marathons. After each marathon you need to treat yourself to a true off-season.

Read more about the other two guidelines for training seasonally in the full article.

New York Road Runners is now offering a training program powered by TrainingPeaks with training plans designed by Andrew Kastor to help runners achieve their race day goals.

TrainingPeaks has been selected by New York Road Runners as the official training software of the ING New York City Marathon, providing all marathon participants with an exercise diary and interactive marathon training plans designed by Andrew Kastor. Runners can now follow a training plan that will provide them with the expert training advice necessary to arrive on race day well-prepared and to finish their event eager to return next year.

The training plans will be loaded into an interactive training log that will allow participants to map their runs, create routes, keep a food diary, record workout data such as heart rate, pace, elevation gain and much more either manually, or by uploading data from one of more than 80 popular training devices including Garmin, Polar, Timex, iPhone and others.

“The ING New York City Marathon is the most prestigious marathon in the world, and TrainingPeaks is proud to have been selected by the New York Road Runners as the official online training software for this event,” said Donavon Guyot, CEO of Peaksware, the development company of TrainingPeaks. “We’re excited to provide the tools that runners will be able to utilize together with their training plan to better achieve their goals.”

A choice of three 18-week online programs designed by coach Andrew Kastor are available for either the Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced runner on the ING New York City Marathon website. Participants will receive daily email workout reminders or be able to access the programs from any computer or mobile device at any time to view their day’s planned workout, log their training or map their routes.

“New York Road Runners is honored to announce a partnership with Andrew Kastor, USATF certified coach and husband of Olympic medalist Deena Kastor, and TrainingPeaks” says Mary Wittenberg, President and CEO of New York Road Runners. “This partnership with Kastor and TrainingPeaks enables us to provide runners with an additional training resource for their ING New York City Marathon race this year.”

The Official ING New York City Marathon training plans are available not only to race participants, but can also be purchased in the TrainingPeaks Store by anyone who wants to improve their fitness through training like a New York City Marathon runner.

One of his favorite aspects of the sport are the great people who are involved, although he admits that it is primarily the competition with himself that drives him. “There are many aspects that keep me involved in the sport, most notably the people. However, the biggest factor that keeps me hitting the pavement day after day is an internal drive to be the absolute best I can be. To push myself to the breaking point and see what happens. I am taking a break from my medical career while I am young to see where my true potential in the sport lives. After all, I can practice medicine for my years to come, yet I am only young once and don’t want to miss the opportunity to race and push myself mentally and physically with the best in the world.”

Alex is taking his training very seriously during his time off from his medical career. “Depending on the time of year I training anywhere from 20-30hrs a week and usually train solo for much of it. Because of my schedule it is often hard to coordinate with other athletes and even more difficult to synchronize the specific goal or purpose of the workouts and every workout does have a purpose. While training along I will sometimes listen to music, especially during challenging work sets or tempo intervals, however, I often like to be out training with just my thoughts and the natural world around me.”

In addition to training hard, Alex is training smart, taking the time to carefully analyze all of the data from his workouts. “I ride 5-6 days a week, 99% of the time solo, ranging anywhere from a 60min easy spin to a 6hr Ironman pace ride. However, I never ride without my Power Tap, it helps to keep me honest and consistent in my efforts. Additionally, I upload every power file to WKO as well as Training Peaks so that I have a perfect quantitative and qualitative record of my training as well as historical data to look back on. Using these tools helps Kurt Perham, my coach, and I to specifically design and track my training and fitness over the specific cycles throughout the year as well as over a season. I now have over 3 years of data that I can look back at and that is a very valuable resource.”

Not only does he track his cycling data, but Alex also uploads his running workouts. “I run 5-6 days a week, again mostly solo, as well and feel that frequency is very important when it comes to running. Again the workouts range from a 20min transition run to a 2:45 long run. I will often include pace or tempo work within a middle to long distance run. I never run without my Timex BodyLink, which is a combined, Heart Rate and GPS unit. Using this tool I can track my heart rate, as well as speed and distance, and, again, upload all the data, including a map of where I ran, to Training Peaks. A very valuable tool to say the least!”

Alex uses TrainingPeaks both for his own training and for coaching other athletes. “TrainingPeaks is an incredible tool. As an athlete I first began using it about 3 years ago and shortly there after began using it as a coach. My own coaching introduced me to the program when I first started working with him and I found it incredibly helpful to plan and keep track of the time, distance and type of training I was performing. However, and possibly more importantly, TrainingPeaks works as a communication tool between my coach and I. As and athlete and coach I use TrainingPeaks daily and find myself recommending it to everyone I know.”

This season is going pretty well so far for Alex. “With the help of TrainingPeaks, I know that I am certainly stronger, faster and leaner than last year. I began the season at California 70.3 in April and had a pretty good race - the incredibly competitive field made it a challenge, but I was happy with my execution and my fitness at that point in the season. I then did a few half Ironmen in May and things did not go exactly as planned, a flat tire, a poor swim and some other tactical mistakes yielded results which I was less than pleased with and I know that I did not race as well as I could have, however, I learned from each mistake. Although it may seem no different than racing as an age-grouper, the pro race is certainly different and requires a lot more tactical and calculated race day decisions. As an up and coming pro I am certainly still learning how best to utilize my every growing fitness on race day. I am an Ironman distance specialist and I enjoy the 70.3 distance, however, I am looking forward to really testing myself at Ironman Lake Placid in July.”

Alex enjoys the combination of his passion as an athlete with his career choice as a doctor. “As an MD and a professional athlete I have found the perfect intersection of my two passions. My education allows me to understand the details of exercise physiology, sports medicine and the human body in profound ways both as a athlete and coach. Conversely, my experience as an athlete helps me to better understand the human body as a physician. I am very fortunate to have the ability for my two unique perspectives to compliment one another so perfectly. I truly enjoying pushing myself and the athletes I coach to become the best they can be in a enjoyable and efficient manner.”

Alex M. McDonald, MD is a professional triathlete, coach and a member of the Timex Multisport Team. His interests lie in coaching endurance athletes, sports medicine and exercise physiology. He obtained his MD degree from the University of Vermont. Prior to medical school, Alex graduated from Connecticut College in 2003 with an emphasis on both the biological and social sciences. He currently lives and trains in Durham, NC.