Finding Form

For cyclists who live in true 4-season climates, cycling is not a year round sport. Fall comes, the snow flies and the bike is traded for skis. As a competitive ski mountaineering racer, my training focus shifts to skiing as soon as it starts getting cold and the white stuff appears on the high peaks. The roller skis get some use and I start looking forward to the first race in December. What this means is that the high level of cycling fitness obtained during the season is essentially abandoned for other things until the focus is renewed in the spring. At that point, the long journey begins again.

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Back to Base(ics)

A couple of days ago I came across a post on Mountain Athlete's website where a reader was asking Rob Shaul advice regarding training for endurance sports. Although Rob would never claim to be a true endurance athlete, he does dabble in longer efforts in the mountains and is surrounded by athletes he trains who are true competitive endurance types.

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Sticks and Stones...

Race a bicycle long enough and you're bound to hit the pavement.  Actually, you don't even have to be a racer, just someone who trains long enough for the odds to catch up.  I got my first road bike in 1985 and have lots of scars to show for it. Some of them self-induced, sliding out hauling ass around corners thinking I'm Eddie Mercx or someone.  Other episodes involved other riders knocking me down or putting me in situations where crashing was unavoidable.  Whichever the cause, the resulting grief usually entailed only frequent dressing changes and sticky sheets for a week or two.

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Commitment and Reward

Winning solo in a bicycle road race is the ultimate prize in the sport.  It demonstrates all the values that define an admirable road racer - courage, daring, commitment, belief in one's ability and a plain willingness to just "give it a go". Every cyclist fantasizes about such a moment in his or her career but few realize the glory.  Luck plays a big part in the successful solo bid.  The right combination of circumstances need to conspire in one's favor for the soloist to be blessed with success.  I have never tasted this sweet but rare fruit.  The opportunity has presented itself a time or two but the proximity of approaching teammates has always coaxed me to hesitate and wait for the help.  So much for courage and daring.

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Off-Season Rando Training

I received an email from a reader with whom I have had a discussion regarding training for ski mountaineering racing.  I thought it would make a nice jumping off point for summer training for a winter sport.

Brian,

Hope your season went well, and the spring is moving along.  

I had another rando training question for you.  After a good strong first season, following your training advice from the fall, I am ready to start a new year now, to be ready for next year.  I will continue to do Long Slow Distance primarily for my cardio, lots of walking up the mountain with ski poles, but am curious to know what I should be doing for strength training.  My understanding is that I should use spring as a time to build muscle, the early summer to work with max strength, and late summer/early fall power, with a bit of endurance through the whole summer.  I am lost for what kind of exercises or training regimes to do.  I do know that core work is really important, but how I design my routines I am not quite certain.  Any thoughts on this? - Alex

The first thing to note here is that Alex is a single sport athlete right now, at least that is what I'm getting from his email.  This allows him the luxury of periodizing his preparation for next season.  Since I bike race in the summer, my approach is different by necessity.  I continue to strength train during the summer but my time in the gym is short and aimed at holding on to my form and some of my strength so that next fall is not so painful.

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