Training for Racing

During our ride on Saturday, a few of us got to chat about training for racing and some of the ideas out there and how training has really significantly changed over the past 20 years or so. This is, in my opinion, the reasons for the big increases in speed that have occurred in not only the pro peloton (if you discount the PEDs) but also in the amateur fields all the way down to the Category 4 and Category 5 levels. Two mindsets that perpetuated early racing all the way through the early 1980s, and exist even in the minds of some racers today is that you can “race yourself into shape” by racing every weekend in the early season waiting for your fitness “to come around”…and Eddy Merckx’s mantra of “Ride lots”.

In the mid 1970s Eastern Bloc athletes began using training based around a scheduled approach called periodization to great success, and even more so when the sport involved both strength and endurance conditioning (like cycling, cross country skiing and rowing). This type of training has continued to be very successful and is used by nearly every world class endurance athlete out there. It goes well beyond putting in base miles in the beginning of the season. The concept is that you begin with a broad base of endurance, working to only increase that endurance so that not only do you have the endurance for the races months away, but you also have the endurance and cardiovascular shape to complete the workouts which become increasingly difficult as the season progresses toward the races you hope to peak for. This endurance phase also serves the dual purpose of leaning out the rider, hopefully getting rid of much of the off season weight gain. As the season progresses, the rider begins to have more specialized workouts to build overall speed, accelerations, sprinting, climbing, etc. Unfortunately as has been proven time and time again by those who train in the old school methods versus those who do not…the old ways are self limiting. Sure, they may be fast in January and February from riding that hard tempo year round, but they quickly reach a plateau and continue to ride the same speeds and never see the gains of the periodization racers who go very easy on easy days so that they can go very hard on the hard days…which is where that increase to 25-30 mph sustained speed comes from.

I highly recommend Joe Friel’s book “The Cyclist’s Training Bible (4th Edition)” for those looking to get faster in all aspects of cycling, and not only for the racers of the club. It has more information that you will ever be able to use, from nutrition to power to peaking/tapering for races to racing tactics and ideas. The book is relatively inexpensive ($25 for full price, though you can find it much cheaper online). I’ve also added a few resources below which are free internet sites which can give you a better understanding and perhaps some ideas to incorporate into your training.

Pez Cycling’s ToolBox, training tips, ideas and theorieswww.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=toolbox

Pez Cycling’s Group Ride Rules – great rules that we have all broken at some point.
www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=6731

Joe Friel’s Blog – Joe is both a runner and a cyclist so the training tips are 50/50
www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/blog.html

Peaks Coaching Group – free internet articles about all aspects of training and racing. My coach is a part of this group which also includes Hunter Allen and Andy Coggan, the definitive authorities on training with a power meter.
www.peakscoachinggroup.com/ASPX/articles/articles.aspx

I really want you guys to have success and respect in the competitive community, that’s the way to having a growing club that people want to join and companies want to sponsor (be that the local bakery or your international cycling component companies). I also hope that you guys have individual successes at the races and will always be willing to lend some insight if you need someone to bounce training or racing ideas off of.

Mark Stover