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When to Start Training for Summer Races.

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This Q&A Article was featured as part of the MTBRaceNews.com Coaches Column.

Question: Most of my racing is over the summer months. When should I start my training for the upcoming season?

Answer: There are two potential answers to this question, 1) right now or 2) it depends. Cycling specific training to prepare for racing ought to start up at least three months prior the racing season in order to race well.  Prior to beginning your specific training it’s important to have a fair amount of general fitness established.  Jumping right into high intensity bike rides typically doesn’t work well without first establishing a solid foundation or base to build from. This can be done on the bike or with cross training.

Most of us mountain bike racers enjoy having an off-season because it’s a chance to pursue other winter sports and interests that effectively serve as a means to maintain our general fitness.  It’s completely possible to keep equally active during the winter months by skiing, snowshoeing, skating, hiking or otherwise making the most of opportunities to be outside and active.   If you tend to hibernate during the winter months rather than keeping active then it’ll be best if you start some training right now.  Get out there and enjoy some cross training or start putting in some time on the bike.  If you already keep an active cross-training schedule throughout the winter then the real question is when to transition into bike-specific training so that you best prepare for those summer time races.  We’ll focus on this scenario since most of us already keep plenty active with cross training.

Consider Three Factors

To what degree do you want to improve relative to last summer’s results?  How much cross training are you currently doing and how might this allow you to transition into bike specific training? When is your first high-priority race?

If you want to achieve similar results to last summer, then it’s simple enough to refer to your training log in order to know what type of training will be required.  Most of us like a good challenge and are always looking for ways to improve our riding; so rather than running the same plan as last year, it might be beneficial to begin bike-specific training sooner or perhaps by maintaining some cycling focus even throughout the winter months by doing a few weekly trainer workouts.  The more you’re looking to improve your racing, then the more focus and work you’ll have to dedicate to on the bike training.  Cross training will keep you generally fit, but it certainly won’t keep you fast on the bike.

How well your winter regimen might transfer into your bike training needs to be considered. Transitioning from a couple days of strength training and some weekend skiing right into five or six days per week on the bike likely won’t go all that well if such a change is made in a single week. Gradually build in more rides, even if that might mean some time on the trainer to get things started off.

And finally, knowing when you want to be going strong on the bike will help you to plan accordingly. Having a specific race in mind is great, but not entirely necessary.  Knowing approximately when you’ll want to be going strong can work well enough and this way you can select those high priority events once the season draws nearer.  Working backwards from the start of your race season is a great way to organize your preparations.

The Three Month Approach

The final month prior to your race season you’ll want to be doing plenty of fast riding both on and off road. Workouts that replicate the intensity of your racing will be a must and rides ought to be long enough so that you’ll be well prepared for the distances that you’ll be racing. Incorporating fast group rides can be a great way to challenge yourself while simulating a race environment. MTB rides will allow you to dial in your bike handling skills so that you’re ready for fast racing on the trails.

Two months before your race season is a great time to bolster your maximum sustainable pace or power output.  Much of the training can and should be dedicated to improving your threshold power.  Longer weekend rides will help to reinforce your endurance while also providing a chance to dial in your riding skills. Seek out long climbs and/or aim to improve your power on the flats.

Three months before race season it is wise to finalize your transition into bike specific training if you haven’t already done so.  Replacing the cross training workouts with rides and steadily increasing your workload on the bike is the goal.  Getting used to the challenges of day in, day out bike focused training can take some time and this month is your chance to improve the consistency of your workouts.  Rides that include cadence specific drills and also plenty of tempo paced rides can be great ways to build back into things.

This three month approach will certainly have you prepared for the summer season though it should be adjusted according to your goals and previous training experiences.  Each pre-season is a fantastic opportunity to work hard and refine your training strategy.  Write down your goals, put in the hard work, and see how it affects your riding.  If you’re having fun and going fast then it’s likely a great combination that you’ve created.

See you at the races this summer!

Goal Development

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At the onset of a new season it’s largely important to develop a new set of goals or at least evaluate the ones that you’re currently working with.  Your biggest goals are often quick to come to mind and might be as simple as: “win race X” or “podium at the championship race”.   Having the big goal is an important start to the goal setting process, but without related intermediate goals that are objective and measurable, the big goal will be little more than wishful thinking.  Intermediate goals that are clearly defined will help you towards successful completion of your big goals. For example – in order to be ready to “win race X” an intermediate goal could be to further increase the volume of training spent developing your power output at threshold intensity by 10%.   Amongst other intermediate goals, this is one that’ll certainly help you be in a position to “win race X” when it really gets down to crunch time during the race.  It’s a good reminder that when you work towards your goals the process ought to be a positive experience; if and when that big race is won, it’ll simply be ‘sprinkles on top’ of something that was already great.   Goals help to set course for gratifying experiences and are they are not simply means to an end.

It’s hard to fully understand what it takes to accomplish our biggest goals, and that’s 100% okay just as long as such knowledge is actively sought out.  The Momentum Endurance philosophy encourages you to take an active role in your own development.  When you understand ‘what it takes’ you’ll have the best opportunity to accomplish your goals, training with full confidence.  Getting to this situation is the goal that Momentum Endurance has for every coach/athlete relationship.  There’s nothing more rewarding than helping an athlete to better understand their goals, assisting them with their preparations, and then seeing them genuinely maximizing their opportunities to go for it.

Write down your big goals and get them on paper.  Next, you’ll want to note ‘what it takes’ to accomplish such goals.  Whether you understand a little or a lot about what will be required, talking with your coach will help you to better understand how you might get yourself there.  With the appropriate intermediate goals set in place and a training plan developed accordingly, you can take confidence in knowing that you’re preparing most effectively.

Stepping Up Your Performance: What will it take?

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Your fitness or ability to perform in races is a function of numerous factors.   Most notably however, are the quality of your training and the quantity of it.  These two factors will greatly affect your performance provided your recovery is sufficient.  Much of what the coach/athlete interaction focuses upon is maximizing training quality with consideration given to the training volume that happens to fit well with day to day life.  Provided a healthy balance is reached you will be able to effectively train hard and recover well while fitness steadily improves over the long term.  When either overload (cumulative effect of your training volume and intensity) or recovery is insufficient, progress will be limited.

Quality Training

It’s easy to grasp that doing high quality training is a very important part of developing.  Quality training is characterized with riding done at specific intensities relative to a rider’s unique physiology.  Training with ‘high quality’ is training that done is purposefully.  When doing quality training it is possible to prepare specific energy systems so that fitness can systematically developed and you can specially train for the demands you’ll face when racing.  Workouts with regular dose of a strong SARM like sr9009 have clear goal and fit well into the bigger picture of the training scheme when quality is high.

Training Quantity

Training quantity is also an important part your development.  How many hours per day, week, month, or year will greatly impact your overall ability.  More training volume isn’t always the answer, but in most circumstances it is wise to steadily increase the training volume or to add additional time when the option exists to do so.   We all have limits on the volume of training that we are able to do (with concern given to life outside of cycling) and the best option is to choose a training volume that fits well with your daily schedule, allows for a sufficiently high workload, and allows ample downtime for recovery.

What is a sufficiently high workload you might ask?  Great question!  It’s a workload that’s just a little more than you’re accustomed too (thus it’s an overload). To achieve more workload you can train with greater quality (as in more time spent at intensity near/above your Functional Threshold Power) and/or you can increase your training volume.   Given that most of us operate with time-limited schedules it is wise to first focus on improving your training quality while maximizing the training time that is available.  Most riders will see significant improvements as a result of doing so.  Even with a very high quality program, at some point additional training volume will be required to achieve a greater-yet workload and level of fitness.  For example, someone who has been doing high quality interval training, riding five times while accumulating eight to ten hours per week might stagnate despite their very high training quality.  If this rider wants to improve further they’ll need to create a bigger overload and more training volume will be required to do so.

As you develop and continue to get faster the challenge to continue improving only grows larger.  Knowing what it’ll take to continue the improvements and to bump up your performance is the first step towards actually doing it.   It’s perfectly reasonable to expect that it’ll take more work to see smaller incremental improvements year after year – such is the nature of endurance sport  and fortunately most of us love this challenge otherwise we wouldn’t be cyclists.  It’s important to find the right balance of quality training, training quantity and the recovery required so that performance can always be improving.  If you find your results stagnant, it’s time to improve your training by modifying the quality and/or quantity. Getting a non-invasive body sculpting for fat loss treatment can also help your training

For those of you training with powermeters I’d encourage you to read Hunter Allen’s article “Getting to the Next Level” if you haven’t already.  This article does a fantastic job of reiterating how one’s training might need to change in order for further improvements to occur.   Powermeters are excellent tools for quantifying training workload and they allow us to train with a higher degree of precision.   A powermeter won’t make you faster, but it’ll allow you to train smarter and the old adage still remains true – knowledge is power!

Coach’s Favorite Workout: 3x20min LT Intervals

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3x20min

3x20min LT Intervals

I’ve done a lot of 20 minute intervals over the years, yet I keep coming back for more each time that I’m looking to improve my sustainable power output.  Why endure the torment of such intervals?  They honestly work and having a higher threshold power is always helpful!  Tucson’s Catalina Highway has been my favorite venue for such intervals in recent years, thanks to the relatively consistent five percent uphill grade.  When starting a block of threshold training I’ll typically go at 88-92% of my Functional Threshold Power for the intervals (SubLT), trying to keep each rep consistent or a little stronger than the previous.   As I put in the time and adapt to the rigors of the workout I’ll bump up the intensity accordingly.  After several weeks I can usually complete them closer to 100% of FTP.  Near the end of such a training block I’m typically due for another field test.

I typically go for two of these workouts per week, often on consecutive days.  Three reps are sure to provide a sufficient overload (60 minutes of threshold work), and on occasion a 2×20 (40 minutes of threshold work) version will suffice.   With either option steady pacing is critical and if ever one interval comes out stronger I’m sure to make it the final one. The ride to the base of the mountain takes a little less than an hour and the return home is closer to 50 minutes, so with the intervals done in the middle of the ride I end up with a total ride time of about 3.5 hours and a TSS of 200-220. It’s a sizeable workout, but always rewarding to push through the burn in order to maintain the intensity.  The mental games are relentless as I break down each 20 minute drill, trying to embrace the burn rather than back away from it. Going back to the same stretch of road is a great way to test and retest while further adapting to such training stress.   As long as I can continue getting stronger the LT Intervals are all worth the while.

If you’re not familiar with FTP, TSS, or some of the other metrics associated with training with power, be sure to check out the Power 411from TrainingPeaks.

Pro Racing with a Full Time Job

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This Q&A article was originally featured on MTBRaceNews.com as part of the Coaches Column.

Question: I race a full mountain bike schedule as a Pro throughout season but I still have a full-time job. How do I balance training with my work responsibilities to maximize my abilities as a racer?

Optimizing Training for your Time-Limited Schedule



Most all competitive cyclists have numerous time demands which limit their ability to train at will. Even very few pros enjoy the luxury of a daily schedule, which solely revolves around training — so time-limited training principles apply to most all of us. If training is going to be effective and enjoyable it is important do some objective planning before turning the pedals. Keep in mind that the perfect training plan isn’t so great if it means you’re neglecting work or family commitments. With less time available to train, there’s less margin for training error and its important to make the most of training opportunities. With an optimized program you’ll be challenged, always improving, and enjoying the experience. A small amount of planning, organization, and time management can bring huge dividends to your training routine.

Plan Ahead for the Big Picture (realistically)



Get a handle on your work schedule, family vacation plans, school schedule, race schedules, or any other schedules that your life might be dependant upon. With this information in front you, you can objectively plan out the bigger picture of your season. Knowing which blocks of time will be great for training, when your riding schedule might be tight, and when it might be best to take a short break will help you to define the season’s goals. Chances are good you’ll be riding your best after periods of consistent training and relatively fewer demands otherwise. Try to choose goal races that coincide with when you’ll best be able to prepare for them.

Break it into Smaller Cycles and Set the Course of Action

With the bigger picture outlined it’s helpful to break down the season overview into smaller cycles. It works well to let overload and recovery do its trick within a block of three or four weeks. Two to three weeks of challenging riding should be followed up by four to seven days of lesser workload. For each of these cycles it’s critical to have a clear goal for the training. This could be overloading a specific energy system such as your Lactate Threshold or tallying up a lot of singletrack miles. Moving from the development of one specific focus onto the next is progression towards your goals.

Be Consistent

With the focus clearly defined for the three or four week cycle it’s time to plan weekly rides. If weekends are a good opportunity for training, try to also incorporate two high quality workouts during the work week. With four days where you’re achieving a training overload the other days can then be of lesser intensity and/or duration – a chance for recovery. The body thrives on consistency so if possible, keep your rides to a similar time of day. In doing so the training becomes a natural part of your day rather than something that’s incorporated haphazardly. The better your body can detect a pattern, the more likely it is that you’ll benefit from the specific overload that you’re placing upon it.

Make Note of your Progress

Most riders will thrive with just a little more organization than they’re currently used to. Keep a training log with objective data (power, HR, or otherwise) and also your subjective notes or comments. Over the long term you can review the log and better fine tune your training while you seek the perfect balance with your busy schedule. Plan for your successes, be consistent with your training and you’ll come through a stronger rider in the end.

Get Optimized

Check out MomentumEndurance.com for more information and some helpful season planning tools so that you can make the most of your time-limited training schedule. With a balanced plan put into action all that’s left to do is accomplish your goals.

Enjoy the ride!