From Coach John Hughes
Winter has arrived in the mountains of Colorado. This is the view from my living room window. Last week I was riding my bike around. This time cross-country he waxes his skis, pumps up his trainer tires and takes out his dumbbells.
What should I do during the off-season? Avoid the following mistakes.
#1. Lack of consistency.
When I was in my 20s, I stopped riding my bike around Halloween. He was scheduled to begin training for his then-scheduled Davis double century on Super Bowl Sunday. He took three months off the bike and it didn’t really affect him. From around your 30s, your physical strength starts to decline more quickly, and consistency becomes even more important. As a rule of thumb, exercising 3-4 days a week is sufficient. Cycling If you wear out a lot of his shorts, 3 days is enough. If you are relatively new to the sport, 4 days may be a better option.
#2. Don’t lose your strength.
It’s okay if you feel weak in winter. Even professionals take breaks. They don’t just sleep on the beach. They remain active but do no special training. After the break they start riding, but with less volume than in the spring. You need to be consistent, but don’t try to ride as much as you did earlier in the year. It would be good for him to take a week off the bike from now on and another week off the bike in a few months. More details can be found here:
#3. Too much.
Every year, Ray, Sam, Gary, and I rode the Davis Double to go faster. Our goal was to finish inside the top 100 next year so he could be seeded at the front in May and jump into the fast pace line. We followed Eddy Merckx’s advice: To get better, ride more. So we started training more. I lived in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains in California. Climbing in the rain wasn’t too difficult, but descending wasn’t. So I came up with the relatively flat Century route and started riding it at the beginning of the year. You guessed it. I was very fast in Primavera Century in April, but burned out in Davis DC a month later.
If you keep getting out of bed, groaning and delaying your training, you’ve done too much.
#4 Insufficient recovery.
Experienced roadies should have at least two recovery days per week, and three is better. On those days, active recovery is fine. If you are new to the sport, allow a 3-day recovery period. A full recovery day is better than an active recovery day for new roadies.
#5 Mindless Trainer Workout.
A well-designed trainer workout can improve your cycling, but a reckless workout will undermine your motivation and have little effect. A good trainer’s workouts have a specific purpose. Read this column for more information.
#6. The strength is too high.
Strength is like a prescription drug. The wrong type, wrong dose, or wrong frequency may make your symptoms worse rather than better. Strength training several times a week is fine as long as you have at least a two-day recovery period between each ride. See the next column for more information.
#7. The intensity is wrong.
Spinning classes and smart trainer workouts are great for motivating you, but they often end up making you ride too hard. Effective strength training is a pyramid. You need to start by working on the sweet spot for a long time. After about a month, you can increase the intensity with shorter efforts. See the next column for more information.
#8. Counting the miles.
Your cycling computer or smart trainer may tell you that you’ve covered X miles. But he knows from experience that running 40 miles on a so-called trainer is much harder, both physically and mentally, than running 40 miles on a summer day. Instead of counting miles, which doesn’t mean much, record how many days and hours you ride each week.
#9. There is no diversity.
It’s fun to ride for hours on a sunny day. Running outdoors in winter weather for hours on end while indoors in trainers isn’t fun. Here are 10 ways you can cross-train for aerobic fitness.
Weight-bearing activities are important for strong bones. His 8 methods of cross-training support your skeleton.
#Ten. There is no strength training or resistance training.
Incorporating strength training will improve your cycling for spring. Luckily, you don’t need to join a gym or buy a set of dumbbells.
#11. Wrong weekly program/insufficient recovery.
Above, we explained that you should only do high-intensity training twice a week, with at least two recovery days in between. You decide to add a few days of cross-training. The cycling club has winter rides that include a coffee break or lunch break, so join us on Saturday. Five days of aerobic exercise is enough, and since we know the importance of strength training, we will include strength training on the second recovery day. But it’s not a day of recovery. On your cross-training days, do strength training or go for a moderate (not intense) ride. In this column, we’ll discuss the benefits of combining both cardio and strength training, and how to combine them into your exercise program.
#12. Ignore activities other than cycling.
Flexibility and balance become more important as we age. These activities will help you during your recovery period.
When it’s warm and sunny, it’s easy to feel motivated to exercise. It’s not so easy when it’s dark. Here are some helpful columns.
resource
my e-book Productive off-season training for health and recreational riders Learn more about what you can do to become a better rider this winter. This book includes:
- a 12 week off-season exercise program To stay healthy during winter.
- a 12 week more intensive off-season program Perfect for recreational riders to build endurance, power, speed, and prepare for basic training.
28 pages productive offseason It’s only $4.99.
If you’re in your 50s, 60s, 70s (like me) and beyond, read my e-book. Offseason conditioning after age 50 Includes recommendations for outdoor and indoor cycling, cross-training, circuit strength training, flexibility and core strengthening. Here’s a sample of his 12 week program that incorporates all of this. Learn how to tailor the program to your interests, whether you’re a health or recreational rider, club rider, or endurance rider. You can also adjust the program if you have limited training time or are a novice cyclist. 26 pages Offseason conditioning after age 50 It’s only $4.99.
my 3 articles off season bundle Includes:
- productive offseason training and:
- A 12-week off-season exercise program to keep you healthy during the winter.
- A more intensive 12-week off-season program for recreational riders that builds endurance, power and speed in preparation for basic training.
- Gain a mental edge: Use sports psychology to improve your cyclingMost cyclists will make greater gains by spending a certain amount of time each week practicing mental skills than by spending the same amount of time training. Here’s how.
- Cycling all year round: How to extend your cycling seasonHere are six things you can do to ride comfortably all year round, along with detailed information on all of them. 1) Goal setting and planning. 2) Training. 3) Clothing and equipment. 4) Nutrition; 5) Technique. 6) Motivation.
60 pages off season bundle It’s $13.50, If you purchase all three articles individually, you’ll save $3.50 off the list price.
Coach John Hughes has earned coaching certifications from USA Cycling and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. John’s cycling career includes course records in the Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200 km Randonnée and the Race Across the Americas (RAAM) Qualifying Furness in his Creek 508. He has solo ridden RAAM twice and completed his 1200 km of Paris-Brest-Paris his fifth time. He has written over 40 e-books and e-articles about his training and nutrition for cycling, coaching him, and is available at his RBR e-book store at John Hughes. Click here to read John’s bio.
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