|
|
OFF SEASON TRAINING SECRETS (OTHER THAN EATING TURKEY)
Brad Roe
November 26, 2009
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Ben Day charging toward the line.
(Photo: Isabelle Vachon)
We caught up with Ben Day this week to find out what the sucessful Fly V Australia racer was doing in the off-season and to see if he could pass along some of his wisdom to the RBA fold. Ben has a business coaching athletes of all levels (www.daybydaycyclecoaching.com) and has accumulated a wealth of training knowledge in his nine years of professional racing.
RBA: Ben, there are some people who believe November-Jan should be a time to rest, eat, sleep and forget about cycling, is that a good idea?
Ben Day: Well, maybe November-January is a little long to completely forget about cycling, but I think it is a very important period to take the stress out of having to be race fit and ready. Take some time off the bike to regain some life balance as well as to work on some general fitness (how many of you can leg press a huge weight but then struggle with only the bar on a bench press!).
It amazes me how so many people come off the boil towards the end of the season. A lot of the time, they weren’t patient during the pre-season, in letting their bodies recover from the previous year’s stresses and slowly building up for the ensuing year. I am a big advocate in walking away from the bike for up to a month, depending on what your year consisted of, in an attempt to re-emphasize to yourself how much you do love to ride your bike. You will resume training after that, raring to go and eager to get back down to business. Being burnt-out mentally and physically is a waste of time. So take 2-4 weeks off, ride your mountain bike, hike, hit the gym, run, swim - things that maintain a level of fitness and refreshes the mind and the soul.
 Ben Day chasing down Bradley Wiggins at the Sun Tour (Photo: Isabelle Vachon)
RBA: If the goal is to be fit, March through August, what should we be doing during the fall and early winter?
Ben: After a little hiatus, I think it is important to spend some quality time in the gym, but not necessarily on what you think are the main muscle groups. Your true core stability muscles are all the small muscles that maintain your structure from your spine, insignificant to the eye, but essential in creating a strong platform from which you perform every task. Think of it like the frame of your bicycle. The stiffer it is, the more efficient the power transfer. There are millions of living analogies of this throughout the world and in life, re-iterating to us the importance of a strong base and foundation. But make sure you save the big leg strength exercises for doing big gear efforts on your bike, which is the most specific way of strength training for a cyclist. Gym training also increases the neurological pathway activating your muscles into firing – the more fuel lines that you have going into the motor can only increase your performances. Hopefully this shows to you the benefits to be gained from a core stability program in the gym.
Asides from this, what is possible to do during the winter is specific to the person’s location and weather. In the cold winter states and countries, I believe it is important to maintain 3-4 bike rides a week (indoors if necessary) to maintain your body’s cycling specific muscle memory, but these sessions can be interspersed with other endurance, aerobic sports. Cross country skiing, hiking, skating, running and swimming are all great methods of cross training. New Mexico, Florida, Texas, California - you don’t really have an excuse but to get back out on your bike, building up your endurance for the next season and creating that solid foundation in which we need to stay healthy, and maintain form throughout the year. One of the major benefits of all of this aerobic training is an increase in the capillarization of your muscles - creation of more pathways for oxygen transfer to your muscles, boosting your metabolism, maintaining your weight, and boosting your stamina.
As you can see here, the words prevalent here are: base and foundation – take the time to build a solid base and your house won’t collapse later in the season.
RBA: We've heard that some pros pull out the fixed gear bikes about now and focus on smooth, spinning miles. Is that a myth?
Ben: Fixed gear riding is something that is certainly back in vogue again as it is now coming to light that pedaling at higher cadences is a more efficient way of producing power. Lance Armstrong was instrumental in breaking down traditional thinking of slower cadences was more powerful, as he was broadcast, winning, on top of the world’s most famous cycling climbs, pedaling in excess of 110rpm. Pedaling efficiently is something all cyclists should be striving on improving and riding a “fixie” doesn’t give you much choice but to learn how to pedal fluently. I know with my own performances, that as I build up my form for peak periods throughout the season, my cadence increases in suit, my muscle fatigue drops and I can ride harder and for longer periods.
RBA: There are many different training ideas for this time of year: Some say, stay in the little ring, low heart-rate and spin long miles. There are others who use this time for long rides in the big ring to gain strength through the fall/winter. What's your opinion?
Ben: There is a unique balance that each individual needs to find in their training. If, for example, someone has unlimited training time, I believe that long miles interspersed with medium intensity strength efforts on the bike, pave the way for a more consistent season. In saying that, some people have schedules dictated by outsides influences – such as work! These situations call for more efficient use of their training time by riding predominately in their aerobic zones and throwing in some higher intensity efforts. The trick here though is to ensure adequate recovery between the sessions to maintain the quality. Personally, I have tried a few different methods in my 9 years as a professional cyclist, and the best years that I have had, have been the ones where I spent more time to address my base foundation. Once again, patience proves to be a virtue.
RBA: Can you give us three secret training tips you have for this time of year?
Ben: Sure, here are three...
Lazy time – Give yourself some time off the bike, rest up on the structured training and de-stress your mind and body. There will be plenty of stimuli for you later in the year and the fresher and more motivated that you go in to it, the better you will come out.
Core stability in the gym – Squats on swiss balls, one legged leg presses, planks, dumbbell presses on a ball are all suitable exercises that create a destabilized platform on which your body must harness and increase it core strength and stability and on which muscle imbalances can be addressed.
Save your leg efforts for the bike – Strength endurance efforts involve riding up a climb in a big gear with a cadence of between 50-70rpm. This is the most specific strength effort for your legs that a cyclist can ever, ever do and are an exercise that pays massive dividends in your performances.
Ben Day runs a coaching service open to all. For more info on the off-season training, check out his DayByDay Cycle Coaching blog at: www.daybydaycyclecoaching.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|