Save It For The Race
We are coming up on late summer and fall racing. Often we are very close to our biggest event of the season. Now is the time to make sure that you make sure that you can use all of the training you have done on race day. There are a few things to remember to make sure you are getting the most out of what you have put in.
It is too late...
It is too late to gain NEW fitness that you will be able to use in your event when you are within the last couple of weeks prior to the event. That is right, you can't (and shouldn't try to) get real benefit from one more big training day when you are in the last couple of weeks before your big event. It takes about 2 weeks for your body to adapt to the training stress you place on it. It takes about 3 weeks to fully recover from very hard training. That means that if you have less than 2 weeks to go a workout will not cause a fitness gain before the event. Worse yet, that hard workout WILL cause fatigue that you will carry with you. So, don't try to squeeze in extra workouts that really stress you, because it is too late.
Don't get stale.
The last couple of weeks prior to a big event ARE about getting the fatigue out WHILE getting sharp and not feeling stale. Recovery is important, but if you back things way off you can feel stale. Within a well structured training plan there will be a recovery week and then a couple of "peak" weeks leading up to a big event. You need to get the recovery in first, but then you need to do some efforts at elevated pace (during the peak weeks) to make sure that you are ready to go "full gas". If you just back things off you will not have the snap that you are wanting to have on race day. There is a balance to find though. You don't want to do too much or too little. Too much will just be fatigue. Too little and you will feel flat and stale. A good rule of thumb is to do about 70% of you intensity volume 2 weeks before and 60% the week before your race. This has the effect of making sure your training right before the event is less intense than earlier so you have extra energy to give, but it is also intense enough so that you aren't turning into a couch potato.
Resist the urge to go harder.
With a recovery and a peak leading up to the important event your brain will start to tell you things.
- "See what you can do."
- "Push a bit harder."
- "One last 'test' before the big day."
- "One extra climb." etc.
You do NOT want to give in to these voices in your head. You need to SAVE IT FOR THE EVENT. You COULD go out and ride really hard. This is because you have prepared yourself for a big event. Remember that pushing that bit extra at this point is only going to reduce what you can do in the event. Remember that the event is what all of the training was for. You didn't work so hard just to go a bit harder 2 weeks BEFORE the event. You trained for the event. Save it for the event!
This training tip also to be featured on: www.CenturionCycling.com/training
