Training

I really like this time of year. Even though the days are shorter and there can be an occasional rain storm for us on the central coast, it is generally warm and the roads and trails are inviting! This time of the year just makes me want to be on my mountain bike enjoying the trails before the rain really starts. For most endurance athletes autumn also brings the end of a long season. Of course there are a few exceptions like those racing the beautiful suffering that is cross, but for most endurance athletes this time of the year brings a little rest and a time to reflect on the past season and review your goals. Did you achieve what you set out to achieve this season? Where did you improve this year and where did you fall short? The answers to those questions can have a big impact on how you prepare for next year.

This is something I have been thinking about for a while and finally decided to write something on this after overhearing a few riders talking about putting in a ton of long slow distance miles before riding any pace above what my 3 year old girl could do (although she is pretty fast now…). That tradition has been around for very long time and most elite endurance athletes will still spend the beginning part of their year putting in long miles of primarily unstructured training to build “base fitness,” but is that really the best way for us non-elite, 40+ hour work week, athletes to train? Is your season lost if your not putting in 12, 15, or 20 hour training weeks as part of your “base building” training phase? I don't think so, and maybe we need to start to rethink how the rest of us should train.

It seems like this past weekend was team training camp weekend in Northern California.* Most of the teams have their rosters set, racing is nearing, and the weather was pretty amazing for January in this area. Every team has slightly different goal for their training camps but a lot involve some sort of over-reaching in training. This may be one long suffer-fest day; a few harder, moderate distance days; or several mixed days; but all result in a short-term overload of training which results in super-compensation.