Jennie Reed Clinics and Interview

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Jennie Reed is perhaps the Velodrome’s most accomplished racer and competitor.  Most recently a Silver Medalist in the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Team Pursuit, riding for Team USA, Jennie brings with her a whole metric ton of experience and passion for track cycling.  To all our benefit, Kirkland local Jennie is spending a lot of her time giving back (check out the Junior focused Jennie Reed Foundation!!).  She’ll also be at  two of our upcoming clinics!  Check out the story and get registered for our excellent upcoming clinics with one of the best from the Northwest!

Jennie will be able to help work with our clinics on two dates coming up REALLY soon!  The first, the Sprint Clinic on June 21st, focuses on preparation for the most high powered event on the track, something that Jennie has years of experience racing at the national and international level.  The second clinic, the Team Pursuit Clinic on June 29th, focuses on Jennie’s Olympic medal event!  Come learn from the best in the world what it takes to get around the track faster than your opposition, and how to get it done in as a team.

Want to register?  Click the links and get started.

Don’t know much about Jennie Reed?  The MVA was fortunate enough to get this great interview with the Olympic champ.  Check it out!

1. Using your experience and knowledge, how does one get from a great local racer to National/World level?

It’s not talking about what you want; it’s doing what it takes to get there. The first thing is for local/regional athletes to know what that means to compete at both a National and an International level by looking at the times riders are doing at those levels. After you know what time standard is required, it takes 100% commitment to doing everything necessary to achieve those standards. That means 100% focusing on a given event/discipline, and that means often giving up a dynamic training and race schedule. At the highest level, you don’t have riders doing a little of this and a little of that. Every session needs to have a purpose and should be done to help achieve your goal. Often riders tell me that they don’t know if they want to commit everything because they don’t know if they’ll make it to the level they want to be at. I always tell them that nothing is guaranteed in life, but I do know for certain that if you don’t commit 100%, I know for sure you won’t make it”.  

At the highest level, you don’t have riders doing a little of this and a little of that. Every session needs to have a purpose and should be done to help achieve your goal.

2. What advice do you have to people on how to determine if they are a sprinter or endurance racer?

My philosophy is that every young rider should start training as a sprinter. Training for sprint disciplines gives riders a huge strength foundation along with teaching fundamentals for track cycling (strength/power/intensity/agility/awareness). In general, if a rider can’t hit 60kph after committing to and training for sprint they aren’t going to succeed at an international level in any track cycling discipline, so it’s best to see how fast you can get first to determine is you have a shot at the World-level. If not, it is certainly ok to focus on being the best national level or regional level rider you can be and then you can select which ever discipline you enjoy racing the most.  

Going from a sprinter to team pursuiter was difficult physically and mentally, but it’s much easier when you already have the strength and speed and you are only needing to build capacity.

 a) what if i’m a junior and my goal is to go to the olympics, when should i start specializing?

I think 15-16 years old is a good age to start specializing.

3. You went from pursuiter to sprinter to team pursuiter. How difficult were these transitions?  

I focused on the 2km as a junior, really because that is what the local coaches/riders enjoyed themselves at the time and they had the knowledge to pass it on. Sprinting was more of an anomaly and there weren’t the resources or knowledge to train for sprint at the time at our track. That being said, I started focusing on sprint when I was 18yrs old and continued until 2 years prior to the 2012 Olympics. Going from a sprinter to team pursuiter was difficult physically and mentally, but it’s much easier when you already have the strength and speed and you are only needing to build capacity. It’s much more doable than going from a road racer to a team pursuiter. It takes a lot longer to build the strength and power that is required to get off the line quickly in a 102” gear than to have the ablilty to stay at 57-58kph for 3 or 4km’s. 

a) What key differences did you make to your training?  

My training was completely different from sprint training. In sprinting, I was doing a lot of Olympic lifts and efforts no longer than 1km, but in training for team pursuit, I completely went out of the weight room for time periods and worked on efforts that were just shy of max. And on the road, I worked a lot on high-end aerobic, which you do very little of in sprinting.  

b) How can road racing work into a track racers program?  

At a world-class level it is very rare to have athletes incorporate any road racing into their track training program. An endurance track athlete can use road racing to increase their capacity and in general it can help with fitness and your ability to recover between efforts when you are on the track and from session to session. What is more common is using the track training to improve your road racing. The track is such a power based sport because there are no gears to shift to when you get tired, making it significantly different than anything you encounter on the road but increased strength can really help on the road.  

4. Marymoor is one of the most active velodromes in the USA as to number of racers. What can the MVA do to help develop our existing racers to increase the number of those who make it to the top of national/world level?  

For athletes to get to a National or World-level, they have to specialize and that can often make them feel like they are going against the grain so-to-speak. I think there has to be races for them to work toward in front of their home track. Because the World-level races such as sprints & pursuits often aren’t included in Friday Night racing because either they can be time consuming or are perceived as not as much “fun” to watch, I think having a few exhibition races would motivate riders. I know that when I was training at Marymoor for instance, the Friday Night Racing consisted of mass start races and since that wasn’t my specialty I wouldn’t necessarily be inclined to race. BUT if there was a flying 200m exhibition to kick off Friday Night where I could showcase all of my hard work in front of a local crowd, that would be exciting.

I think something that could help would be to devote some time for ‘elite training’ for those that are focused on competing at the Nationals. It would give those riders an identity and a time to be with other 100% focused athletes. Also, having the motor paced sessions is going to help tremendously. It’s ok to train on a 400m track if you’re racing on a 400m track, but if you train on a 400m track and race on a 250m track, you have to get in some velocity behind the bike as well as get on a 250m track. Marymoor can be used to springboard for riders to get to a higher level, but once they show promise to reach a world-class level, you have to train on the boards of a 250M track for extended periods of time.

5. With the name, Keirin, do you dream of your daughter to follow in your footsteps?

Haha. If she’s anything like me, she’ll ‘paddle her own canoe’ and do what she wants! Actually, I I named my daughter Keirin because my husband Brandon came up with it and I thought it was a great name and it would be fun to have a great story behind her name.

6. You have created a foundation. Tell us about it and what your goals are.

After the 2012 Olympics, I came back to the Seattle area and I wanted to do something to support & grow track cycling. For so many years, I focused my energy on training and performing and wasn’t one of those athletes that was good at being able to do anything more than that. Since being retired, I now have the time and energy to give back. I started the Jennie Reed Foundation to create the awareness of track cycling and to introduce kids to the sport. I go to schools, YMCA’s & Boy’s & Girls’ Clubs and talk about my Olympic experiences and share my medal with them. It’s incredible to see the excitement in their eyes where they feel like they want to see if they can do it too! 

 I started the Jennie Reed Foundation to create the awareness of track cycling and to introduce kids to the sport.

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