Off-Season Transition for Cyclists: Ending Another Season
As the competition season draws to a close you need to start thinking about what you are going to do in the off-season to build a strong foundation for next year. By following a few simple steps you will be able to end your season on a positive note and set the stage for a great off-season program.
To start with, you need to assess your season-ending fitness and take a close look at how things went on the bike. I provide my riders with a comprehensive workbook for this task. This exercise will help you measure the effectiveness of your training plan and give you clues about what adjustments need to be made.
The measure of your strength as an endurance rider is your Maximal Aerobic Capacity (MAC), a.k.a. maximum sustainable power output at lactate or ventilatory threshold under various riding conditions. MAC testing can be done on either a cycle ergometer like CompuTrainer or with specialized field-testing using a portable power meter like SRM or PowerTap. This testing will help you measure the effectiveness of your training and the gains you have achieved during the season.
Next, it is time to sit down and examine your season and assess how things went on the bike. Did you reach all your goals? Was your racing satisfactory? Did you complete all the things you set out to do? Did you have fun? Was all your time training and racing as rewarding as it was supposed to be? All these things should be written down in detail and compared to the goals you had at the start of the season. Be thorough and honest.
Post-season fitness and conditioning are important to the success of your off-season program. Between your last race and the time you begin your strength training program you will want to spend as much time as possible strengthening your aerobic and endurance conditioning. This means lots of miles at moderate to low intensities. Centuries and long training rides are great for this kind of conditioning. Leave the continued anaerobic training to the less disciplined riders and spend a few weeks just riding with your friends and putting in the miles. It is very important to take this mental and physical break before you tackle your off-season training program.
All cyclists of all abilities and from all disciplines benefit from strength training in the off-season. Strength training gives cyclists a change to address weakness and strengthen muscles groups that do not get specific attention on the bike. Hard riding is an effective and sports specific form of resistance training but once you stop pushing hard on the pedals you need to replace that activity with something that will build and maintain strength on your legs. A specific strength phase, lasting 8-10 weeks, with a few weeks of transition before and adaptation after will help you build strength and maintain fitness in the off-season.
During this transition time it is important that you give your mind a body a break from the stresses and demands for racing your bike. The time for regular hard riding has past and it is now time to shift focus to building on the strength you already have. Ally yourself with the riders who understand the value of endurance training and enjoy some quality social time on the bike. Different seasons require a shift in the focus of your training. Take a break from the hard work and look back on your season and make your plan for moving forward. Once you have your strength and cross training phase started, stick with it. The winter months will zoom by if you have a good plan to follow.