I have been racing, first running then riding, uninterupted since 1969. During that time I've always been an outdoor guy running/riding in the sun, rain, fog, snow, wind ... you get the picture. There was no excuse for not going because, when you get to the starting line, people really could give two figs about your sob stories of bad weather or the sniffles. Then on June 24, 2012 I broke my elbow and finally had an excuse for not riding outside on the bike. But ... but, but, but .... was that a viable excuse for not training?? For putting my ambitions on hold??? You see, about 10 days before, the course for the 2012 Nationals road race had been released and it feature a long climb to the finish - very much tailor made for me. Everyone joneses for a national title, right? So of course, for this narative to properly continue, the answer to putting training and ambition on pause was "no". Even though I had to undergo 3 surgeries in 4 days (Rocky rising out of Philadelphia hardscrabble has nothing on me!) I was able to, with one hand and lying flat on my back, order a Cycle Ops Jet Fluid Pro power trainer via my iPhone.
Six days after the break I was on the trainer (borrowed from Ta Herrera because my Jet Fluid Pro hadn't arrived yet). See...
What did I learn? The secret for me with the trainer was to stay mentally fresh and to build through the period. I figured I'd be on the trainer for 7 weeks. To stay fresh I ....
- Scheduled hard days and easy days. Stayed disciplined on the easy
days and just enjoyed the spin (1 hour)
- Varied what I did on the hard days
- Did Spinning classes by watching them on YouTube (45 minutes
each + 15 min. warm-up and down)
- Followed training videos (ex: Robbie Ventura's "Crit Racing"
video - a very worthwhile purchase)
- Did workouts sent to me by my professional trainer friends -
usually 1.5 hrs of time on the trainer
- 3x per week I did 2-a-days on the trainer w/ each session being 45
minutes. That built strength
So, schedule your workout week so that each workout has purpose - strength, speed, rest. By throwing in the variety, you will be able to bridge the winter or injury in fine shape. The help of my professional trainer buddies proved invaluable. Their training programs settled me down, eliminated the learning curve and allowed me to approach the period with confidence. Their programs progressively built my endurance, speed and overall fitness. Ten weeks after the break, I was fortunate enough to have a dominant performance at Nationals and bag a nice, new jersey.
I hope you find this post helpfull.
Hank
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