Tuesday, December 21, 2010

SETTING SOME GOALS

Let's talk about setting some goals for your upcoming cycling season. Setting goals is a very important step in not only setting up a training plan, but helping you keep the fire and motivation as the season progresses. I wrote a bit about goal setting this time last year, and it can be read here. I would like to expand on that a bit this year, maybe help a bit more as you try and determine your season goals, as well as give some additional info on what to do, or how to help achieve those goals.

So, first things first. What do you hope to accomplish this season? Are you new to racing and just want to improve some skills, get comfortable in the peloton, and maybe finish a stage race for the first time? Or, perhaps you've been doing this racing thing a while, and it's time to step it up and battle with the big boys, upgrade to CAT 2 and have a realistic shot at placing high some races. No matter what the goal, first and foremost it MUST be important to YOU. It doesn't really matter what other people want or expect from you, when the going gets tough, the training gets hard, and the distractions are everywhere, what you're going after MUST be important to you. Bike racing is hard. It doesn't matter if you're a CAT 5 just starting out, or CAT 2 capable of winning state or regional races, it's just plain hard. If you want to be successful, you have to be willing to work. If you don't really know why you're doing this or what you hope to accomplish, it is way to easy to just throw in the towel and go back to playing golf or whatever else you can do that doesn't require as much physical and mental preparation (and pain!) to be successful. So, the goal has got to be important, and YOU gotta want it, and want it BAD.

Another thing to consider is that the season goals have to be realistic. I used the Tour as an example of a dream in my other goal setting post. It's great to dream and think that someday you could be riding in the Tour de France, but for the vast majority of people, that is a dream, not really a goal. It's great to dream, and I think it is even good to have a dream goal. A dream goal is something that is most likely out of your reach, but something you really, really want and if everything happened just perfectly and you got really lucky, who knows, it could happen. Example might be to someday get noticed and signed by a pro team, or win a national championship. For some people, those are realistic season goals, for others, they are dream goals. A dream goal is something you can use to help motivate you when times get tough. You gotta keep working, you don't want to give up on your dream, right? So, it's great to dream, but your season goals are most important. They must stretch you, make you work hard and maintain focus, but they must be something that could realistically happen for you THIS season.

OK, the season goal(s) must be important and realistic. To me, these are the most significant qualities to have in a goal. If you have something that is important to you, and realistically possible, you will be willing to do what it takes to accomplish them. They also have to be something you can control. A goal of "winning the Tour de Bozeman" might be something that is realistic and important to you, but if Alberto Contador and his tainted beef show up, you're probably not going to reach your goal. I'd rather see the goal worded as "have the ride of my life at Tour de Bozeman". That way, it's possible to accomplish your goal and feel like you had a successful season, even if you don't get the win. It's ok, and even good to have more than one season goal, but try and keep it down to three or four, otherwise you are giving yourself to many different things to focus on as you move through the season.

Once you come up with some goals, you have to think of what it will take to accomplish them. These will be the things you need to focus your training on as you move through the season. Back to the Tour de Bozeman example, if that is your goal event you will probably need to improve your climbing ability, considering the nature of the course. You may need to work on training consistency, improving the structure of your training, improve TT position, drop a few pounds to reach a desired racing weight, or hire a coach to guide you on your journey. You will also want to come up with some short term goals to help you along the way. Some example of short term goals might be to cut one minute of your best climbing time up your local hill, achieve racing weight by April 1st, improve functional threshold power to xxx watts by a certain date, attend a week long training camp early in the spring, etc.

Once you have put some thought into this process, the next thing you NEED to do is write down your goals and tell people about them. I have a goal setting worksheet that I have my clients fill out. They have to write down there dream goal, season goals, what it will take to achieve them, and some short term goals that will help them reach the season goals. I not only have them fill out the worksheet, but ask them to write there goals down in other places, as well, For example, one of my goals this season is to drop a few pounds to get back to a leaner racing weight, so my goals are posted on the refrigerator. Every time I reach for a snack, I see my goals and it helps me decide whether I really need to eat now, or not. In the film "A Ride with George Hincapie" George talks about how he has his goals written down and hung in his closet, so every day when he dresses for his training rides he looks at them and it helps him focus his training. Write these things down everywhere you can, and tell as many people as will listen what your trying to accomplish. Once the people around you know how important your goals are, not only will they possibly be more understanding and do what they can to help, but it helps hold you accountable. All these people now know your trying to accomplish a certain goal, you don't want to let them down, so maybe you'll get that ride in today instead of skipping, even though you really feel like going to bed. See what I mean? It may seem like a bunch of mental mumbo jumbo, but trust me, it all helps.

As an example, and to help hold myself accountable, I will post my season goals here. I know Jason and Tomas will see them, not sure if (or why?) anyone else still reads this....

Dream Goal- Master National Cyclocross Champ

Season Goals:
- Have the ride of my life at Masters CX Nats, leading to a top 10 finish
- I have a specific MT road season goal here, the people around me will know
it, I just don't want Herzig to know, so I'll not post it here
- Be strong enough to be a factor and help the team at Elkhorn

What will it take to achieve these goals?

- focused and consistent training
- determination
- improved climbing ability
- improved bike handling for CX
- improved power to weight ratio

Short term goals to focus on throughout the season:

- Be fit and in the mix for a personal or team win at Roubaix
- Achieve racing weight by mid April
- Improve functional threshold power to 350+ watts by June
- Stay with the lead group on the climb heavy Cow Country course
- Consistently finish on the podium at Montana CX races

There's all the goals, etc for my upcoming season. I can now use this as a blueprint for where to focus my energy during training. The training will all be geared towards accomplishing these goals. Posting them here really will help hold me accountable, and strive even harder to accomplish them. Doing something similar could help you, as well.

Pick important goals, tell people about them, write them down everywhere you can, and work your tail off to make sure they happen. Time is wasting, now is the time to decide what your going to do this season. Better get to it.....

Sunday, December 5, 2010

'TIS THE SEASON

Ah, December. Winter in Montana, and time to be doing almost anything but biking or training, right? Well, I guess that depends on your situation and upcoming season goals. Some hardy MT racers are still going hard, with sites set on Cyclocross Nationals next weekend in Bend, Or. I had hoped to be one of the hardcore racers still grunting out intervals in December to prepare for battle at Nats, but, as always seems to be the case, life got in the way and my cyclocross season came to an unplanned early end. Other racers out there have been taking it easy for a while, recovering and recharging the batteries after a long season. Even though it is the dead of winter, they are probably itching to get back on the bike, or a least back to some sorta training regimen.

Really, a training regimen in December when the first races aren't until early April? Well, like I said, that depends and situations are different for each individual racer. For me, I raced and trained pretty hard up 'til about a month ago. Once I realized 'cross season was over for me, I decided to take a bit of a break. I took three weeks totally off the bike. I didn't even think about cycling or racing at all. I just hung out, did some hiking and hunting, and took some time to do other things that get neglected while training, and enjoyed life. Being the cycling junkie that I am, after three weeks off the bike I was ready to ride and start thinking about next season. As a CAT 2 racer with some lofty goals, crazy strong competition, and a strong team to try and support, starting serious training in December is pretty much a necessity. Even though the training is serious, it's starts out fairly relaxed with some easy riding, a bit of weight training, and hopefully plenty of cross training in the form of running, skate skiing, and hiking to try and minimize the time spent on the trainer or rollers. That said, I still spend the vat majority of my available training time on the bike. All the other activities are great, and will help build endurance, but if I want to excel at bike racing, I gotta spend time on the bike, even if that means riding the rollers for a couple months.

I have been doing this for a few years now, and I know from experience that I am mentally strong enough to handle a training schedule like this. Others may not be able to, and if they start to early, they may lose motivation and fizzle out before the races even get here. When to start and how hard to train are very individualized situations. If you are an experienced cyclist with lofty goals like myself, time is a wasting and you had better start thinking about what those goals are and how you are going to achieve them NOW. It'll be time to toe the line again before you know it, be sure you are ready. Newer racers may want to wait a bit to get serious, but as I said that is dependant upon the individual. No matter what your situation there really is no off season. Even if you aren't training seriously yet, it's always good to remain as active as you can and enjoy unstructured aerobic activities to help maintain fitness throughout the year.

So, enjoy your winter. Whether it's climbing ice, hitting the slopes, skate skiing, or even riding the trainer in a basement like I will be doing, you gotta stay active and start thinking about next season now. The first thing you need to be doing is coming up with some goals for next season. More on that later. Until then, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Training Year. I hope it's a great one.