Training to be race fit all year

steelwheels4

Just wondering how any of you that compete in TT/Road Races in spring/summer and also in cyclocross/MTB in autumn/winter train to be race fit for all disciplines, is it even possible to do so and be at your best ?

I am in my 3rd year racing on the road and hope to do a cyclocross and MTB race series over the winter, but I want to do as well as I can and dont think I will on my usual winter routine, any suggestions how to manage this ?

Alex_Simmons/RST

It's certainly possible to be race fit all year, but form will still vary through the year.

Usually it's managed by having realistic priorities about when you want to have peak form, and training through races / not resting up for races.

It somewhat depends on the fitness level at which you can race, and what your objective is. Some need to be really fit (relatively for them) just to race and be half competitive, whereas others can still race OK even though they are only moderately fit (for them). Some are racing just for enjoyment, no matter their relative fitness, others prefer to race to win and don't bother when fitness is down.

steelwheels4

During the time trial/road race session I don't ever have any particular race as a priority, I aim to start of reasonably fit in April/May and hopefully get a little stronger during a season based league series ending at the end of August. I certainly do have my ups and downs during the season.
Now this year I would like to take part in a mtb series and maybe a few cross races, which run from the beginning of October to the 2nd week in January. So again I not not aiming to peak for a race but be consistent enough to possibly earn enough points to move up a category by the end of the series.

I definately fall into the category of having to be really fit to race with any chance of getting to be in the points.

Is there a way to keep a fairly consistent level of performance for the periods between October and January and again between April and September as this is more important to me than having a peak performance which last only a few weeks. I will probably never win any of these races, being consistent and scoring points in as many races as possible is a more realistic aim for me. Any training books and articles I read tend to focus on building to a peak.

Alex_Simmons/RST

steelwheels4 wrote:

During the time trial/road race session I don't ever have any particular race as a priority, I aim to start of reasonably fit in April/May and hopefully get a little stronger during a season based league series ending at the end of August. I certainly do have my ups and downs during the season.
Now this year I would like to take part in a mtb series and maybe a few cross races, which run from the beginning of October to the 2nd week in January. So again I not not aiming to peak for a race but be consistent enough to possibly earn enough points to move up a category by the end of the series.

I definitely fall into the category of having to be really fit to race with any chance of getting to be in the points.

Is there a way to keep a fairly consistent level of performance for the periods between October and January and again between April and September as this is more important to me than having a peak performance which last only a few weeks. I will probably never win any of these races, being consistent and scoring points in as many races as possible is a more realistic aim for me. Any training books and articles I read tend to focus on building to a peak.

Post up a pic of your performance manager chart.

steelwheels4

PMC chart for 2012 uploaded. As you can see I struggle to get much over 80, in the winter it tends to fall into the 50's. Due to time constraints I tend to do shorter but intense workouts when possible, but over the winter the PMC drops as I roll it back a bit. This is probably more a mental thing than physical ? What I wonder is as even at my "peak" my PMC is maybe only around 85, can I safely make a concentrated effort to keep it high all year round ( those that have a PMC reading in the 120's or higher please dont laugh at my feeble efforts ) Say if I try to get it up now into the 80's and race the mtb series, come January will I still feel like, and be able to, keep it going and feel fresh in April when the road season starts. Sorry if this is all stupid I am just trying to learn about training and the PMC and never really put in an intense winter before. Thanks

Alex_Simmons/RST

I can't view the chart

Alex_Simmons/RST

steelwheels4 wrote:

Say if I try to get it up now into the 80's and race the mtb series, come January will I still feel like, and be able to, keep it going and feel fresh in April when the road season starts.

Pithy Power Proverb: The more you train, the more you can train.

steelwheels4 wrote:

Sorry if this is all stupid

It's not stupid and nothing to apologise for.

steelwheels4

Hopefully you can see the PMC now, its quite small, Bikeradar wouldnt let me load it bigger ?

I think to simplify things what I am really trying to get at is this. As you will see in the PMC I never really hit the high numbers. So even if I do my road rides combined with more intense turbo sessions ( 2 x 20, 4 x 10, 6 x 5, 10 x 2, 20 x 1 ...whatever ) and some mtb/cross races over the winter, I am not likely to go much beyond 85 on the chart. Therefore, I am not likely to ever feel really tired or burnt out ? ...and should be able to carry on then into the new road season without adverse affect ? ( that is what I am hoping for )
Or even though the numbers are low on PMC, do I still need to take a period of less intensity in my training even though I may suffer in winter races, to be sure that I can start the new road session in better form ?
I noticed last year some riders putting in great performances at the cyclocross races, and starting the road season really well, but then didnt notice them even appearing at races in mid and later summer. If this was due to burn out or fatique I dont want it to happen to me.

Alex_Simmons/RST

steelwheels4 wrote:

Hopefully you can see the PMC now, its quite small, Bikeradar wouldnt let me load it bigger ?

This is all I see, and nothing happens if I click on it:

steelwheels4 wrote:

I think to simplify things what I am really trying to get at is this. As you will see in the PMC I never really hit the high numbers. So even if I do my road rides combined with more intense turbo sessions ( 2 x 20, 4 x 10, 6 x 5, 10 x 2, 20 x 1 ...whatever ) and some mtb/cross races over the winter, I am not likely to go much beyond 85 on the chart. Therefore, I am not likely to ever feel really tired or burnt out ? ...and should be able to carry on then into the new road season without adverse affect ? ( that is what I am hoping for )
Or even though the numbers are low on PMC, do I still need to take a period of less intensity in my training even though I may suffer in winter races, to be sure that I can start the new road session in better form ?
I noticed last year some riders putting in great performances at the cyclocross races, and starting the road season really well, but then didnt notice them even appearing at races in mid and later summer. If this was due to burn out or fatique I dont want it to happen to me.

When CTL is lowish (below say 75), HIT and racing has a sizeable an impact on you, and you need to recover, and so you end up washing away the limited CTL. Obviously a bit depends on natural ability, capacity for training, ROLF etc

As for "burn out", that can be multi-factoral, and is as much about the mental fatigue as the physical. One needs to train the mind as well as the body to deal with such things. As for those other riders, they may have changed jobs, or got their seasonal hit before reality with a significant other set in, who knows?

steelwheels4

I cant figure out why you cant see the chart but here is a link to it

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87319233@N07/7998940269/

hopefully this works. I am actually proposing that most my work over the winter will be pretty much HIT and mtb races, but with my limited ctl you are suggesting it will be possible that this would be too much for me, but i dont really ever get the chance to build a high ctl, therein lies a problem. Or maybe I just have not figured out the whole training concept yet...lol

Alex_Simmons/RST

steelwheels4 wrote:

I cant figure out why you cant see the chart but here is a link to it

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87319233@N07/7998940269/

hopefully this works. I am actually proposing that most my work over the winter will be pretty much HIT and mtb races, but with my limited ctl you are suggesting it will be possible that this would be too much for me, but i dont really ever get the chance to build a high ctl, therein lies a problem. Or maybe I just have not figured out the whole training concept yet...lol

Too many days with no riding. Looks like as many days off the bike as on it.
Any chance of being more consistent?

amaferanga

steelwheels4 wrote:

I cant figure out why you cant see the chart but here is a link to it

I can't see attachments if I'm using Chrome, but if I use IE then I can.

steelwheels4

[/quote]
Too many days with no riding. Looks like as many days off the bike as on it.
Any chance of being more consistent?[/quote]

Hard for me to be more consistant, try to plan for 4 days a week, usually 3 evening turbo sessions ( or race ), and a weekend road ride ( or race ). Sometimes I get in a few more rides but more often than not maybe things crop up and I do less.

Given these circumstance, should I have nothing to worry about by keeping doing HIT and racing all year, given there is plenty of recovery time ?

Alex_Simmons/RST

steelwheels4 wrote:

Hard for me to be more consistant, try to plan for 4 days a week, usually 3 evening turbo sessions ( or race ), and a weekend road ride ( or race ). Sometimes I get in a few more rides but more often than not maybe things crop up and I do less.

Given these circumstance, should I have nothing to worry about by keeping doing HIT and racing all year, given there is plenty of recovery time ?

A bit of HIT, a lot of hard tempo and threshold work (Level 3, lower level 4) - when I say a lot - I mean relative to your limited available training hours. A HIT focus is fine for short periods (2-6 weeks), routine changing and occasional work, but longer term development/improvement comes from a focus on sub-maximal work.

steelwheels4

thanks alex for the replies, i really want to go for it this winter, I guess i was just looking for a bit of confirmation from more experienced riders / coaches.

to be honest with all the recovery days, even if doing a 2nd or sometimes 3rd hard day in succession, while i might feel that i am too tired before a session, i usually find once started that i can complete it ok, i will take stock again if i find that i can increase the hours available

just maybe one last point, if i am aiming to keep my CTL up during the winter, then it will probably end up around 80 or 85, and there is not much chance to increase this during the summer, so it will form a flat line for most the year, is this a bad thing ?