Planning your training
07/07/08 14:51 Filed In:Coaching
Now that the summer is here customers start asking
similar questions to me about training. Many times
these come from riders who have a few seasons of
experience but who have some new problems that
shouldn't be happening in their minds. So let's look
at what happens this time of year.
People ride more because the weather improves and
there is more daylight to ride.
The extra riding leads to tiredness, joint pain,muscle soreness and a decrease in fun if you do it too fast. Exactly the opposite of what people want from riding their bikes. Planning your time on the bike makes for fewer of these problems and quicker solutions when they do occur. So here are a few points that you should understand
1. Gradually increase time on the bike. Don't go from zero to 25 mile rides and then expect to have no soreness.
2. Base increases on recent performances. It does not matter what happened riding wise last summer. The last few weeks is a better base line. The body will change back to what ever your recent activities have been so those long rides last summer that you felt good on may hurt you now.
3. If you have ignored 1 and 2 from above then back off to a level that you can handle. Once the problems clear up get back to making progress by following the steps.
The extra riding leads to tiredness, joint pain,muscle soreness and a decrease in fun if you do it too fast. Exactly the opposite of what people want from riding their bikes. Planning your time on the bike makes for fewer of these problems and quicker solutions when they do occur. So here are a few points that you should understand
1. Gradually increase time on the bike. Don't go from zero to 25 mile rides and then expect to have no soreness.
2. Base increases on recent performances. It does not matter what happened riding wise last summer. The last few weeks is a better base line. The body will change back to what ever your recent activities have been so those long rides last summer that you felt good on may hurt you now.
3. If you have ignored 1 and 2 from above then back off to a level that you can handle. Once the problems clear up get back to making progress by following the steps.
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