Racing season less than 3 months away
Start of the 2009 racing season will soon be upon us once the festive season is over so what should you be looking at in terms of your fitness with Pre season routines about to start ?…. Is it Improving, Developing, Building or Sustaining gains made to date ?
All of the above depends on what GOALS you have set?
Have you set any GOALS for 2009?
Have you measured where you fitness level is at?
These questions may pop through your head from time to time but do you ever do anything about them?
MTS have some simple solutions… do a quick evaluation of where you are at presently by completing the following.
Performance indicators
Lance Armstrong gauged his form and fitness for the Tour De France by climbing a 10k mountain and working out his power to weight.
On a weekly basis its important to gauge fitness, you could use a loop or hill that you train on regularly and see is time and Heart rates coming down or watts going up for a given time.
I recommend testing yourself every 3 weeks on a 10k loop at TT pace and also on a hill that is 3-5k long that way you get a really good picture of your fitness.
Performance profile
Top athletes performance profile themselves on a regular basis with their coaches so its equally important that you do the same.
Make out an Action plan by Picking from the list below and working on 3 or 4 areas for a 4-6 weeks at a time.
Performance Profile short version
Physical areas (5 S’s)
S-tamina
S-trength
S-peed
S-kill
S-uppleness
Mental areas (4C’s)
C-oncentration
C-ommitment
C-ontrol
C-onfidence
Tactical
Bunch riding
Watching competitors
Evaluating the course, competitors, conditions etc
Technical
Pedalling style
Position
Riding Skills (Bunch, descending, bike)
Lifestyle
Diet
Sleep
Recovery
Social scene
Personal Development
Learning
Courses
People skills
Confidence in doing things
There are a lot more areas but these will get you started, you have to be the innovator making your own cycling performances better.
Make a Priority list e.g.
Work on strength, use hills or drags
Vo2 efforts, 3-5 mins long, high rpm(100+) HR up to 95%
Explosive efforts from 10-30 sec long up
Threshold (88%) or Tempo ( 80%) efforts from 10-90mins long respectively
Improve pedalling technique
Improve riding position, by being more aerodynamic
Improve diet.
By Taking action you will address the problem areas and be ready and fit for purpose come March.
MARREY TRAINING SYSTEMS
stand out from the crowd
