Spring Racing at Peak Cycles
Daylight savings time is here! That means longer days and more ride time. Before you know it, the Spring racing season will be off!
Are you ready?
Like many, the winter weather has many off on the sidelines but there are ways to get in shape just in time for Spring riding.
The trick is efficiency. With your goals that is. If you aren’t clear on what you are trying to accomplish, chances are, your training will fall short. The post, Using the “Power of 3” to Reach your Goals, shares 3 important questions related to positioning your Spring training and racing: What We Want to Do, What We Can Do, What We Did Do. It illustrates the point that as you go about setting and obtaining your cycling goals, attacking them from 3 different angles will greatly increase your chances for success.
Starting with what you want to do – it’s important to Make Proper Goal Setting a Priority for Your 2014 Cycling Season. What do you want to accomplish? When? How do you know you’ve reached your goals? Making SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound) goals not only boosts your chances of attaining your goals, but you also become a better cyclist in the process. Clearly define your goals for early season riding and racing so that they are realistic yet goal worthy.
Moving on to what you can do – you can begin now to monitor your efforts and begin incorporating Zone 3 Efforts. What does that mean? According to the post, Improve Cycling Endurance Using Zone 3, it means, “For cyclists entering into their late base training phases, increasing muscular endurance and strength on the bike needs to become a greater focus. The greater your muscle endurance, the less fatigue you will experience towards the end of a long race and the more intensity you can handle while training.” Use a power meter, heart rate monitor, and other valid bio feedback tools to optimize your workouts. Make your time on the bike matter.
Finally, evaluate what you did do. Did you stick with your training plan? Did you complete your strength training? Have you registered for your upcoming races? Reflect back on what you said you were going to do and objectively answer – did you do it? Note where you fell short and why. You can beat yourself up and feel guilty for missing training. Or, you can learn from your mishaps and restructure your training plan to accommodate things you have control over.
The post, Missing training – Adjusting the plan, reminds us, “ It’s easy to beat yourself up over missed training, but if you have been steady with training, give yourself a break. Gaining fitness doesn’t happen in one or two days and losing fitness doesn’t happen in one or two days. It takes months of steady training to gain good fitness. A few days missed or logging a fewer less hours than planned for a week is a small blip on the radar.”
The key here – start pedaling. Longer days means more sunshine and time to ride. Now’s the time to dial it all in – your goals, your training, your bike parts, and your races for Spring 2014!
Posted by staffwriter8 
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