Training

At the onset of a new season it’s largely important to develop a new set of goals or at least evaluate the ones that you’re currently working with.  Your biggest goals are often quick to come to mind and might be as simple as: “win race X” or “podium at the championship race”.   Having the big goal is an important start to the goal setting process, but without related intermediate goals that are objective and measurable, the big goal will be little more than wishful thinking.  Intermediate goals that are clearly defined will help you towards successful completion of your big goals. For example – in order to be ready to “win race X” an intermediate goal could be to further increase the volume of training spent developing your power output at threshold intensity by 10%.   Amongst other intermediate goals, this is one that’ll certainly help you be in a position to “win race X” when it really gets down to crunch time during the race.  It’s a good reminder that when you work towards your goals the process ought to be a positive experience; if and when that big race is won, it’ll simply be ‘sprinkles on top’ of something that was already great.   Goals help to set course for gratifying experiences and are they are not simply means to an end.

It’s hard to fully understand what it takes to accomplish our biggest goals, and that’s 100% okay just as long as such knowledge is actively sought out.  The Momentum Endurance philosophy encourages you to take an active role in your own development.  When you understand ‘what it takes’ you’ll have the best opportunity to accomplish your goals, training with full confidence.  Getting to this situation is the goal that Momentum Endurance has for every coach/athlete relationship.  There’s nothing more rewarding than helping an athlete to better understand their goals, assisting them with their preparations, and then seeing them genuinely maximizing their opportunities to go for it.

Write down your big goals and get them on paper.  Next, you’ll want to note ‘what it takes’ to accomplish such goals.  Whether you understand a little or a lot about what will be required, talking with your coach will help you to better understand how you might get yourself there.  With the appropriate intermediate goals set in place and a training plan developed accordingly, you can take confidence in knowing that you’re preparing most effectively.

Your fitness or ability to perform in races is a function of numerous factors.   Most notably however, are the quality of your training and the quantity of it.  These two factors will greatly affect your performance provided your recovery is sufficient.  Much of what the coach/athlete interaction focuses upon is maximizing training quality with consideration given to the training volume that happens to fit well with day to day life.  Provided a healthy balance is reached you will be able to effectively train hard and recover well while fitness steadily improves over the long term.  When either overload (cumulative effect of your training volume and intensity) or recovery is insufficient, progress will be limited.

Quality Training

It’s easy to grasp that doing high quality training is a very important part of developing.  Quality training is characterized with riding done at specific intensities relative to a rider’s unique physiology.  Training with ‘high quality’ is training that done is purposefully.  When doing quality training it is possible to prepare specific energy systems so that fitness can systematically developed and you can specially train for the demands you’ll face when racing.  Workouts with regular dose of a strong SARM like sr9009 have clear goal and fit well into the bigger picture of the training scheme when quality is high.

Training Quantity

Training quantity is also an important part your development.  How many hours per day, week, month, or year will greatly impact your overall ability.  More training volume isn’t always the answer, but in most circumstances it is wise to steadily increase the training volume or to add additional time when the option exists to do so.   We all have limits on the volume of training that we are able to do (with concern given to life outside of cycling) and the best option is to choose a training volume that fits well with your daily schedule, allows for a sufficiently high workload, and allows ample downtime for recovery.

What is a sufficiently high workload you might ask?  Great question!  It’s a workload that’s just a little more than you’re accustomed too (thus it’s an overload). To achieve more workload you can train with greater quality (as in more time spent at intensity near/above your Functional Threshold Power) and/or you can increase your training volume.   Given that most of us operate with time-limited schedules it is wise to first focus on improving your training quality while maximizing the training time that is available.  Most riders will see significant improvements as a result of doing so.  Even with a very high quality program, at some point additional training volume will be required to achieve a greater-yet workload and level of fitness.  For example, someone who has been doing high quality interval training, riding five times while accumulating eight to ten hours per week might stagnate despite their very high training quality.  If this rider wants to improve further they’ll need to create a bigger overload and more training volume will be required to do so.

As you develop and continue to get faster the challenge to continue improving only grows larger.  Knowing what it’ll take to continue the improvements and to bump up your performance is the first step towards actually doing it.   It’s perfectly reasonable to expect that it’ll take more work to see smaller incremental improvements year after year – such is the nature of endurance sport  and fortunately most of us love this challenge otherwise we wouldn’t be cyclists.  It’s important to find the right balance of quality training, training quantity and the recovery required so that performance can always be improving.  If you find your results stagnant, it’s time to improve your training by modifying the quality and/or quantity. Getting a non-invasive body sculpting for fat loss treatment can also help your training

For those of you training with powermeters I’d encourage you to read Hunter Allen’s article “Getting to the Next Level” if you haven’t already.  This article does a fantastic job of reiterating how one’s training might need to change in order for further improvements to occur.   Powermeters are excellent tools for quantifying training workload and they allow us to train with a higher degree of precision.   A powermeter won’t make you faster, but it’ll allow you to train smarter and the old adage still remains true – knowledge is power!

3x20min LT Intervals

I’ve done a lot of 20 minute intervals over the years, yet I keep coming back for more each time that I’m looking to improve my sustainable power output.  Why endure the torment of such intervals?  They honestly work and having a higher threshold power is always helpful!  Tucson’s Catalina Highway has been my favorite venue for such intervals in recent years, thanks to the relatively consistent five percent uphill grade.  When starting a block of threshold training I’ll typically go at 88-92% of my Functional Threshold Power for the intervals (SubLT), trying to keep each rep consistent or a little stronger than the previous.   As I put in the time and adapt to the rigors of the workout I’ll bump up the intensity accordingly.  After several weeks I can usually complete them closer to 100% of FTP.  Near the end of such a training block I’m typically due for another field test.

I typically go for two of these workouts per week, often on consecutive days.  Three reps are sure to provide a sufficient overload (60 minutes of threshold work), and on occasion a 2×20 (40 minutes of threshold work) version will suffice.   With either option steady pacing is critical and if ever one interval comes out stronger I’m sure to make it the final one. The ride to the base of the mountain takes a little less than an hour and the return home is closer to 50 minutes, so with the intervals done in the middle of the ride I end up with a total ride time of about 3.5 hours and a TSS of 200-220. It’s a sizeable workout, but always rewarding to push through the burn in order to maintain the intensity.  The mental games are relentless as I break down each 20 minute drill, trying to embrace the burn rather than back away from it. Going back to the same stretch of road is a great way to test and retest while further adapting to such training stress.   As long as I can continue getting stronger the LT Intervals are all worth the while.

If you’re not familiar with FTP, TSS, or some of the other metrics associated with training with power, be sure to check out the Power 411from TrainingPeaks.

Download your 2010 Post Season Review spreadsheet here:  postseasonreview2010

2010 example

Article also published on MTBRaceNews.com: here

At the close of a long race season it is important to take a break that offers you a chance to decompress.   A transition phase lasting a couple weeks will allow your body and mind a break from the demands of an intense season of training and racing.  With the reduced workload and extra down time during this transition phase it’s a natural opportunity to reflect upon the season in attempt to better understand why things went the way they did.   Fall singletrack rides are a great opportunity for such reflection, but I suggest taking your post season review one step further by putting pen to the paper (or fingers to the keyboard).  There is certainly value in producing a tangible record of the year, something that you can use for future review.   Making an honest assessment of what went well and what could have gone better is an excellent way to close out your season.

Completing a post season review will help you figure out more precisely ‘what it takes’ to achieve your goals.   Considering the following factors in your post season review will help you to better make sense of how your season played out over the long term.   Keep in mind that your performance on the bike is the chronic, cumulative effect of a myriad of factors – all of which affect your race results, training quality, and motivation.

Race Results

Considering your race results is perhaps the most obvious way to recap how well you were performing throughout the season.  When during the year were you achieving your strongest results?   Was there a period where your results seemed to exceed or perhaps fall short of your expectations?  After taking note of your results, see if any trends might exist for early season, mid season, or late season.   A strong result doesn’t necessarily mean a high placing alone, so be sure to consider the competition and greater context of your finishes.  Reviewing your training log can help remind you of how well you were placing at various phases during the season.

Training Quality

It’s also important to consider the quality of your training throughout the year.   Athletes will naturally have phases with high and low quality training.   To a large degree it’s the consistency of your riding that affects its overall effectiveness.  Training quality is high when you’re consistently doing strong rides, recovering well from them, and not skipping workouts on a regular basis.  Trends here do not necessarily need to correlate with those found in your racing results; however high training quality will generally correlate with stronger race results.  This can be especially true when you’re building towards a specific goal event.  High quality training done over the long term ought to lead to steadily improving results in a positive feedback loop of sorts.

Motivation

Noting the extent of your motivation across the season will add a higher degree of value to your post season review.  Prerequisite to mountain bike racing is a willingness to suffer and at various phases during the season our motivation will be varied.  Considering when and why motivation was high or low will help you to better understand the trends found in your racing results and training quality.   It is completely normal to have phases of low motivation during the season and recalling when those phases were will help you to identify the potential causes.   Considering your degree of motivation can help you better understand why your race results or training quality was what it was, when it was.  When were you highly motivated to train and really pumped up to race?  Likewise, when was it tough to get through your workouts and what races could you have done without?  Sometimes low motivation can help to explain lackluster results following periods of high training quality.

Making Sense of it All

Considering your race results, training quality and level of motivation over the timeline of a race season is an excellent way to complete a post season review.  Chances are good that you’ll pick up on some new clues in regards to ‘what it takes’ while being reminded of several old clues too.  Whenever you make plans for next season, referring to your post-season review will be a very helpful part of the process.  Taking the time now will help next season’s plan to be smarter than any previous.  Consider what got you the results, what had you training the most consistently, and what kept you motivated and willing to go for it.  Riders who have ‘what it takes’ on race day are those who can best correlate their motivation, training quality, and ultimately their results with the races that mean the most to them.  Every season of training and racing experience stands to be valuable, but only to the degree in which we apply what we’ve learned.

Undoubtedly the start of a XC mountain bike race is the single most important factor affecting how the race will end up.  The first 10 minutes is sure to be intense; getting through in good position and being ready for the remainder of the race is vital to having a strong finish.  Today I had a chance to discuss this with an update over at www.MTBRaceNews.com.  If you’re curious to read more, be sure to check it out.  If you have further questions, feel free to send them my way.  Thanks,