coaches corner

This page will provide a forum for the staff of the US Military Cycling Team to post articles and insights about what we are telling our riders and what we are appying to our training and racing.  We hope you enjoy and feel free to send feedback via out contact us link.

mid season training

 17 Jul 2010

As the summer rolls on, it is time to readdress training programs and what is the right type of workout for this period.  As the racing season across the country ebbs and flows, there is invariably a slow-down in late June or July in every region.  Maybe everyone is tired from a long spring of racing, or maybe the call to watch the Tour de France is just too strong.  Whatever the case, unless you purposefully planned a late start to your base period to target late-summer or fall races, you are most likely 5-6 months into your season.  Racers will often notice their legs feel tired this time of year and their motivation is flat.  We've noticed a new twist to this feeling due to Elite Nationals being moved to its new place on the calendar in June.

     So what to do?  We're recommending to our riders that they reconnect with their base training programs.  After some early season peaks, most riders are in need of a mental and physical break.  While this plan is not new, what we are emphasizing to riders is to include strength training and a lot of core work during this period.  Most competitive cyclists do a reasonable to good job getting strength training done consistently in the off-season and base period.  As racing really gets going in March through early June, many riders let the strength training and core work fall out of their programs as the associated workload often produces deep muscle fatigue and tightness.  This summer pause is a greattime to get out of the heat, and into the weight room or yoga studio and put some emphasis on strength and flexibility.  We encourage our riders to concentrate on core strength as their fitness is solid by this time of year, but the challenges of a fall schedule can be faced and overcome if your core is fatiguing later than the competition.  All of this doesn't preclude the need to get out and do some moderate base miles and

 a little speed work, but the time spent inside, if focused, will be well worth it.  This period is not long and can provide an opportunity to return some balance to your trianing.  TeVO the Tour and hit the mat!

EARLY SEASON INTERVALS

4 Mar 2011

We are often asked what type of training is most important this time of year.    We divide the season into: pre-base, base, pre-season, early mid, and late season racing.  Oh yeah, and Cross season.  In this article we’ll focus on pre-season.
   As far as timing of the transition between phases, we encourage our riders to focus on their annual target events and base their timing around these .  We have riders in Florida, whose season starts insanely early and fast, and riders in the Northeast who have to battle weather – both wet and cold – until well into March or April.  While the riders from colder areas will have a tough time in spring races, Florida riders are often burned out by July.  So the bottom line, it depends.
    One critical task we encourage riders to accomplish very early in the season is to lay out an annual training plan,  beginning to work on specific skill sets (as opposed to the base period), and making any large gear or positional changes early.  We’ll cover how to set up an annual training plan in a later article, but for now, 14 weeks prior to your first target event is a good time to transition from a base period to pre-season. 
     What’s the difference between base and pre-season you ask?  In the base period, focus can be on building endurance and oxygen/fuel carrying systems.  Rides can be longer and cross training can add some variety to the mix.  We are huge advocates of weight training, yoga, and lots of stretching in this period.  As the season gets closer, the need arises to train the “high end” anaerobic and above lactate threshold systems.  Road cycling is not triathlon and if you are strictly a time-trialist, stop reading here. For everyone that wants to be competitive in road or endurance track events, your body needs to be able to go through a variety of stress types, recovering as fully and quickly as possible when the pace/incline/stress is low.  There is a training theory that says “put 1,000 miles in your legs and go race.”  We are proponents of this Euro theory as there is no better way to put your fuel, oxygen delivery, and system cleansing (as well as your mental toughness) under duress than than to race at a challenging level.  This brings us to why it is important to begin factoring high-intensity efforts into your pre-season workouts:  if you get blown out the back the first time somebody raises the tempo, you will miss out on all of the training opportunities later in the race or group ride.  Not to mention the mental hurdle you are creating for yourself be getting whooped.  Add some high-octane suffering early in your training regimen and you’ll get more out of each workout as the season approaches.  
     What are the most common pre-season training errors?  Bar none, the most common and worst pre-season training error is to crash and injure yourself.  An overuse injury, a strain from a hard jump or weight lifting, or the soreness from making too big a jump in volume all pale in comparison to the training detriment due to crashing.  There is a time and a place to work on your technical skills – cornering, descending, riding super close in an echelon, finding your way to the front in a sprint.  Generally, the risk-benefit analysis of working on these skills during sketchy early season group rides or on varying early season road conditions doesn’t favor being overly aggressive.  These skills need to be trained at some point, but consciously weigh the risk and the timing.  At this time of year, an extra six inches of clearance between you and the next bike makes your workout better AND will keep you off the pavement.
     The next most common pre-season training error is an early start to the long, slow death of your off-season weight training and stretching programs.  As the roads become more accessible, the high-intensity demands increase, and the first race on the calendar looms ever nearer, it is easy to ride more hours and leave these two critical aspects of your training program behind.  Your ability to go fast later in the season will be a direct reflection of your discipline and commitment to this.  Hour for hour, weight training and stretching become MORE valuable as the season continues because it becomes harder and harder for you to stress your body with volume.
               Good luck to all this spring and feel free to send comments to bill@usmilitarycycling.com and we’ll continue to build the body of knowledge available to all military cyclists.