Friday, June 26, 2009

Mid-Season Break

Almost every cyclist that trains consistently can benefit from taking a mid-season break. As serious cyclist, the last thing we think can benefit us is a break. We hate to miss a single workout, thinking there will be dire consequences and we will never get caught back up. The concept of taking an extended break from the bike just doesn't seem right. Even if your training is a little less structured, a little break can help. It can give the body a chance to recover from all the hard training and racing you've done up to this point. More importantly, I think, is that it gives you time to focus on other aspects of your life, get away from "having" to do those intervals or miles, and just relax. This will help ensure that you don't get a serious case of burnout. Take a week away from the bike, and instead of dreading to go out and do your intervals, you'll be looking forward to it. A break will help you maintain your motivation to train through the end of the season, and not give up your focus before you had planned.

Over the last couple seasons, my training was a little unstructured once race season arrived. With the other aspects of life demanding time, often times workouts would be missed, or cut short to fit everything in. I didn't think I needed a break, because I didn't think I was training that hard to begin with. The truth is, even though my training was a little inconsistent, I did train hard when I could. Since I didn't schedule regular recovery periods into my training, or take a mid-season break, by the time July rolled around, I was pretty much cooked. I would race when there was a race, and try and train hard, but I just couldn't find the motivation to keep at it. So, this year I decided that a week away from the bike was in order, since I planned on being in top form and ready to rumble for Montana's biggest race, Tour de Bozeman in late July.

When should this break occur, and how long should it be? Well, as always, that depends, and it will be different for each individual racer. It should occur after a good period of racing and training, probably at the end of a cycle where you would be taking a recovery week anyway. When in the season depends upon your season goals, and how long the racing season is for you, and when you star to lack motivation. As for how long, most people can handle a week away from training without significant loss of fitness, and the increase of motivation and desire to go out and hit it hard again will more than make up for what fitness may have been lost.

My mid-season break was kinda forced on me, due to injuries from my lack of BMX skills. I took a couple hard falls at the BMX track over the last month. The first one resulted in a very sore back, which I'm still having a little trouble with, but supposedly no significant injuries. That is, until I got the bill from the emergency room visit. That is a pain won't go away for a long, long time, OUCH! I wasn't quit so lucky on the second crash. I went down pretty hard. I'm not even sure what happened, but I broke a couple ribs and my collarbone. So, I've pretty much been on forced break for the last month, and won't be able to ride hard again for a few more weeks. My road season is pretty much shot, and I won't be able to help the GAS/Intrinsik team dominate the Tour de Bozeman, but something tells me they'll be just fine without me. GO GAS! One thing is for sure, I am motivated as hell to train again. The break has definitely helped my mind, and once the body is ready to roll, I'll be back out there, focused, and ready to inflict some pain upon thyself. To bad the road racing season will be pretty much over by then, but there's always cyclocross. That's right, 'cross baby! So, as a way to turn my wasted road season into a future success, my cyclocross season starts now. I've been doing some easy rides over the last week, finally feeling a little stronger today. I'm going to give myself a little more time to heal by resting hard and riding easy. Then, I'm going to start to ramp up the training again. I will spend some time with some base training, then try to build up the functional threshold as high as I can, and finally doing some short hard 'cross specific work when I'm ready. The goal will be to be super fit and ready to fight for the covted top hay bale at Radley's Rolling Thunder in October. I consider myself a long shot to win, with all the heavy hitters that are sure to be at the greatest 'cross race this side of Belgium, but you gotta have a lofty goal if you're going to push yourself to the limit, and perhaps a little beyond. Which, is of course required in 'cross racing. I will try and document most of my training between now and then here on the blog, follow along and see how bad I can make it hurt.
Rolling Thunder '08
John Sieber Photography