Heading into winter my only real objective was to cover some
extra miles. I was doing between 20 and 30 miles a day for the commutes and odd
rides on the weekends. Averaging around 150 miles a week with no real purpose other
than increasing time on the bike.
The purpose of this was to increase my average ride distance
from the usual 8 mile commute. Let’s face it; my body is hardly going to be
ready to race 10 or 25 miles if it only rides 8 miles on each ride!?
Many cycling training philosophies seem to incorporate this
type of winter training. “Get your base
miles in during the winter and build of them during the summer”. I was a
little bit apprehensive about this. Back from the days when I was running we
did things slightly different. Build strength during the winter (XC racing,
hill repeats, gym work) and convert to speed during the summer (track and
road). The base miles were incorporated into each weeks training plan with a
steady Sunday run. This was my first stab at cycling training and peaking your fitness
works in different ways so I thought I would follow the text book…
My overall impression… I think it did the job and fulfilled
the purpose. Coming out of the New Year, I had far better endurance than I ever
had. This was one of my main goals. The more riding I can do in a week, the
more training I can do… right? So this was from about October to February. The
first TT was at the end of February so I was in need of starting some higher
intensity efforts… along came the intervals…
This was where the training really didn’t help much. Because
I hadn’t been pushing myself much over the last few months, it was as though my
body had forgotten how to inflict pain on itself. This was no good. How was I going
to kill myself in the next TT if my mind was being a pussy! It was as though I had
lost all motivation I was demoralised that I had wasted the whole winters worth
of training.
And for this reason… I’m out.
I think this theory of building base miles during the winter
is a load of bollox. You can build base miles any time of the year. Most of us
do just by doing the Sunday Club ‘Cake’ runs. Long steady miles. Why would
anyone want to do this during the winter?... when it’s cold, dark and wet?...
Get out on a summer morning and do it. Watch the sun come up, feel the heat on
you as you cruise around the countryside… freeing your legs up from the hard
interval sessions during the week.
You should be attacking your weaknesses in training not
following what everyone else does. You need to identify weakness; improve on it
and build your fitness in the right areas for the right time of the year. As it
happens, endurance was my weakness, so this winter’s training did me the world
of good… but I will be keeping this ‘topped’ up during the year now… I sure as hell
won’t be doing a 30 mile commute in the wet and cold again!
Long Slow Distance (LSD) training has been the basic format
to getting better at something for years. It’s proven to allow you to reach up
to 80% of you maximum potential without really pushing hard. Before interval
sessions came along this was how people became athletes. The theory being… if
you repeat something over and over again… you will become good at it. You will
never become the best though. We’re not here to reach 80% of our potential… We’re
here to reach 110%... here come the interval sessions…
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