It’s early February. If you are in New England, it’s like Ben Coleman says: “I’m ready sort of for Winter to walk away”. But, we love Nordic, Backcountry, and our many resorts so we put up with it. But if you want to enter the bike or triathlon season with some measure of skills, you need to be doing some work in these cold months specific to the sport.
That being said, as an endurance athlete, go back to the first paragraph and remember the Nordic part. I absolutely love XC skiing. If I could live on Trapp Hill Rd and ski out the back of the house every day I would. A little non specific endurance activity goes a long way. Especially when it is a sport that uses every single part of the body. If you run and bike a lot, the sideways skating motion strengthens your hips and opens up the stride like nothing else. Skiing once or twice a week makes a huge difference for me.
But, you are still going to be riding bikes in the spring. So, sport specific activity is key starting in February to be ready for spring. There are a few avenues you can take. But each start with one basic tenet: you don’t have to do everything, just do something.
First option: get on a trainer or some rollers and ride at least an hour, at least four times a week. This can be before breakfast early or when you get home from work. I find it’s best early because no one in my house is up and therefore no one is needing my time. It’s mine. After work, you have activities and meals to make and people may be counting on you. Ride easy at first and then add some intensity but don’t hammer all the time.
Second option: get a smart trainer and ride at least an hour, at least four times a week, and ride with the pack. Do some events, maybe pick a few workouts out of the Zwift workout list. Try a few things but mostly it’s about being aerobic and getting the legs moving. As a bonus, pick a weekend day, or another day that works and ride 90-120 minutes. As a goal, check your weight at the start of the commitment to ride and work to see it come down reliably little by little every few weeks. Note: there is a wide spectrum of Zwift users. I love the Zwift! I see it as a great tool for riding undulating terrain, and doing workouts where power levels can be held constant. One of my favorites is when you are set to ride X watts, and you start to daydream or lose focus, and your cadence drops...it ratchets up the resistance and maintains constant power even at a lower cadence. It does that by increasing the load. You quickly refocus and get back on the horse! For performance testing, it is also the measure of consistency that is key.
Third option: get some professional guidance. With a smart trainer or rollers and a power meter, look up a coach and either get some personalized coaching or an online plan from a coach. This will be comprised of efforts that are well tailored to being ready for spring. You will get help analyzing key power metrics which will then guide you through early season development on a path to success.
While some of these options may be a little bit more than you are ready to commit to, remember the key idea: do something and do it regularly. Commit to ride 4x a week for two weeks and make it a habit. It doesn’t have to start with a lot of volume, you just need to do something rather than wring your hands about what you may be missing.
Aerobic activity will prepare you for the upcoming season and required race efforts. The aerobic efforts will burn calories and get you toward race weight. Make it simple, or jump in with both feet. You decide.
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