Plan Ahead to Optimize Training
It’s important to plan ahead for the bigger picture of your training if you’re going to make the most of a time-limited schedule. Doing so will keep you on track and progressing towards your goals. Here’s a snapshot of what a season overview can look like.
You’ll notice that each week gets it’s own column. There are rows to note events or races that are happening. This where family, work, or school responsibilities should be noted along with the races you’re doing. Below this, you can prioritize your races to help clarify when it is that you want to be going your strongest. With events and races in place you can outline the training cycles you’ll do, most of which will occur in three or four week periods.
Just as it’s important to plan in the critical workouts you’ll be doing, be sure to plan ahead for blocks for rest too. This is when your body can super-compensate from the training overload and come back stronger. If possible, try to coincide your lighter training weeks with when you know that your training opportunities might otherwise be limited. In the example above, you can see that I planned a recovery week to coincide with a week (week 7) that included extra work duties. Next you can write in the workouts (or nature of the workouts) that you’ll be doing each week. Some riders do well with a general focus here while for most it’s best to detail each of the critical workouts to do.
Whether you develop your own plan or enlist the help of a coach, it’s an important part of making the most of your training time. If you haven’t already found it, be sure to read the full article posted at www.MTBRaceNews.com.
Thanks and enjoy the training,