Over the last 8 years, I've written hundreds, if not thousands of training plans for the athletes whom I coach in a variety of sports. One of the recurring themes that seems to happen most years here in the Northeast, is that an athletes season is greatly affected by the spring season- specifically the weather.
Now, don't go getting your Tubular Tires all glued on backwards and think I've lost my marbles because I said spring can be good or bad. Really, it DOES have a significant impact on how exactly the athlete will set the tone for the season.
Surprisingly enough, it's not the workouts that make the BIGGEST difference, but rather it's the consistency of the rides that so oft seems to be the culprit. For those of you who live in the northeast, I think you already know (consciously or unconsciously) the problems.
1. When there are nice days, and the roads are clear, your group rides turn into hammerfests.
This isn't necessarily outside the norm for many group rides, but the spring time (and during the Tour de France in July, when everyone is amped up) seem to be the WORST. In the spring most folks are fresh off the trainer, with little to no handling skills practice, and want to test their strength/fitness.
The combination of trainer fever, and low bike handling skills, often leads to rides that have a much higher variability index (Power meter Marker for stochasticity), as well as a little more dangerous environment to ride in- especially when you take into consideration drivers aren't accustomed to seeing riders on the road quite yet.
2. When the weather turns foul again, you just CAN'T bring yourself to get back on the trainer.
While this seems quite innocent, there have been quite a few years in which the weather forecast showed just a day or two of foul weather, but it turned into a full 7-10 day spell....which meant for a surprising amount of the riders I coached, NO RIDING AT ALL!
When I spoke to them on the phone, in person, or via Skype, they tell me they're just waiting for the weather to break, or they just cannot get on the trainer AGAIN... or a number of other things, that while they are honest, and mean well, often lead to a rider losing 4-5 days of riding. This is extremely detrimental to the progress of the rider, and their fitness!
3. Their favorite route is still a mess, or has some work being done on it, or it now has potholes, or is being oil and chipped....
We all have our Go-to Routes. The routes that remind us of exactly WHY we love riding the bike (for me it's "Potato Garden Road to Imperial, PA"). But for whatever reason, perhaps the thoughts of how incredible last seasons rides were, and how amazing the roads were "back then", we sometimes avoid those routes due to safety or road condition concerns, and that leads us to losing even more motivation to ride.
So what can we do to make sure our fitness stays on track?
It's actually quite elementary:
Be Consistent.
Ride your bike for 20-90 minutes, 4-6 days a week, no matter what.
If your Time only allow for 3 days a week, then be SURE to ride those 3 days- no excuses!
If you cannot bear the thought of getting onto the trainer again, then perhaps picking up a pair of Rollers should be on your list.
Personally, and professionally, I LOVE the rollers. They allow one to work on Bike handling (be it in a straight line), and engage the nervous system and brain far more than sitting on a trainer. While some of you will google "Rollers for Cycling" and look at the $700 pairs and think about how many other things you can buy with hat amount of money, KEEP IT SIMPLE.
I own a simple pair of rollers from Nashbar- Yes, the ones that cost $99. They work.
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| My Bike Nashbar Rollers: Best $ spent for indoor training! |
Nothing fancy about them, and yes, if I want to do efforts I DO have to get on the Trainer for anything over Tempo, but hey, they do the job....And I personally prefer to do my warmup on the rollers, stop for 2 minutes to pop the bike on the trainer for the harder efforts (Trainer area is already set up as per the HVTraining Youtube video), and then jump back on the rollers for an extra 30-60 minutes at endurance.
No matter what your goals are for this season, Make sure to stay consistent with the days per week you are riding, from now (March 1) until the end of May. This in and of itself can have a huge impact on your form come the beginning of the season.
Form= Fitness+ Freshness
If you want to be Fit, you need to ride consistently.
If you want to be Fresh, you need to ride intelligently.
Riding as little as 20-30 minutes at an easy pace @ cadence for an extra 2 days a week can have a significant impact on your fitness, and form, for a number of reasons: It allows you to ride more consistently. If done properly it can help you recover from harder sessions/efforts. And it helps keep your body in the rhythm of riding.
Now, get out there (or on there) and keep those legs moving!
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