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I was fortunate enough to make the travels to Louisville, KY this past weekend and experience the World Championships of Cyclocross. What an action-packed and memorable day it was with four races (Juniors, U23, Elite Women, and Elite Men) to take in!  More than anything I was proud to “bring the noise” and wave the American flag while racers ripped around a World Championship course for the first time ever on US soil.  In the photo above you can see the US flag that I was waiving just in front of the 25m to go sign.

Racing in your own country at an event of this caliber is something that only a few professional US racers will ever get to experience so it was fun to cheer them on course-side. You could feel the significance of this every time a US rider sped by and the  crowd noise levels would literally double.

The US did cyclocross proud on the World’s stage and it was incredible to experience it with so many friends and cyclocross enthusiasts who were there to make it all that it was.  If you missed it in person, you can still check out the recorded action here:  Juniors, U23, Elite Women, Elite Men via YouTube. Enjoy,

If you aren’t already training with power, perhaps this is the year to finally do so. Maybe you’ve been training with power for awhile now, but you’re growing tired of being limited to just one rear wheel with your current hub-based powermeter.

Either way, you should check out the wireless crank-based powermeters that are made by Quarq in Spearfish, SD. Quarq offers several versions so that you can choose the best option for your application. You can go with standard or compact chainrings on a SRAM, FSA, Rotor, Specialized, or Cannondale crankset. Also offered is a 2×10 SRAM MTB powermeter.

Quarq provides all of the performance and reliability of other crank-based powermeters, but at a fraction of the cost. All Quarq powermeters have a user replaceable battery too which means that with this system, you won’t have the expense/hassle of sending it away for service every year. This is the same powermeter that the pros use for road, cyclocross, and mtb racing.  Check it out and let Momentum Endurance set you up with the best!

If you have any Quarq-related questions or if you might be interested to purchase,  please feel free to contact us for pricing information. Thanks,

Plan to make your 2012 season the best one yet.  Recently I wrote this article for MTBRaceNews.com. You can read the article as published here, or simply read below for the full version.  Hopefully the article will raise a question or two, so let me know if I can help you further with more information.

Question:  “I know I don’t need to be training on the bike right now but what are some things I should be doing to stay in shape and ensure that I have a great 2012 race season?”

Thanks for the question! The cross training that you are doing now likely won’t have a big impact on your 2012 race season. Cross training will help keep you generally fit and ready to train, but it’s not likely to help you in the going faster department – to get faster you have to ride more and ride faster. The ‘off-season’ is the single longest period of time that you can use to boost your fitness for the season ahead, but you’ve got to do this work on your bike.  Don’t despair however, because it’s important to take a break too. As long as you’re having fun and keeping active your cross training will do its trick for the time being.

Now happens to be a great time to get away from the bike especially if your first high priority races might be sometime in the April or May window. There are some important things that you can (and should) be doing while you’re not turning the cranks. Let’s focus on what you can do while taking a hard earned break from the bike.

Outline the 2012 racing schedule

Outlining your race schedule is the basic first step. Which races do you plan to attend and which are those that you really want to do well at?  Write them all down and make note of each race’s importance in the grand scheme of your season.  This overview can always be adjusted, but it’s helpful to have a template to start with.

Evaluate and change your training routine

In order to maximize your bike training you need to take a close look at your normal day to day schedule.  How well did you balance your training with your other responsibilities during 2011? Modify your weekly schedule so that both ‘real life’ and your riding can benefit.  Perhaps planning for two or three days of no riding each week will allow you to train more and with better quality on the other days.  If you typically ride in the evenings, consider doing some of your training in the morning. This can free up your evening (bonus family time and/or less stress about getting out of work late) or it can allow you to double up and put in a little more training volume, thus adding to the workload you’re able to do in a given week.

Plan for better recovery too

As important as it is to balance life’s responsibilities with training, it is equally important to plan for good rest and recovery.  How much sleep are you getting each night?  Chances are you’ll train and race better with more of it. Adjust your evening schedule so that it might allow you to have a consistent bed time and a little extra slumber time. Evaluate what might be some of life’s biggest stresses and put some time and energy into them so that they might become less stressful. Also, how restful are your ‘rest days’? Make them count just as much as your hardest training days do.

Kick start your bike season a little earlier

Use your off-season as a great opportunity to generally catch up, evaluate things, and then prepare to implement changes once you resume training.   If your goal is to make 2012 better than the other years, I’ll encourage you to start your training a little sooner rather than later relative to what you’ve done before. The indoor trainer won’t replace singletrack, but it will certainly allow you to boost fitness for the season to come.

If you’re looking for an early season escape from the snow and cold, I’d encourage you to plan a training camp in a warmer location.  After taking a wintertime break, a training camp is an excellent way to refocus and get things started right for the new season. This can be a great chance to put in some bigger miles and catch up on some extra rest and relaxation.  Perhaps your teammates would be interested to do a camp with you, or you can consider joining Brian Matter and I at our Tucson Training Camp January 17-22, 2012.  We’ll be doing some great rides and helping riders like you sort out their season plans.

Wrapping it up

The most beneficial things that you can do during your break aren’t cross training related at all.  Invest the time to evaluate the bigger picture and figure out how your training and recovery might be able to work better with everyday life this season.  If you can do this, your training and racing will be better than ever.  While not training this time of the year, be sure to enjoy your time away from the bike. Keep active, have fun in the snow, and plan ahead for a bigger and better season in 2012. When you’re ready to go, all you’ll have to do is go for it!

MTBRaceNews.com published this Q&A article, but I want to share it here too. Give it a read and learn how to train specifically for a faster start.

Question: I want to improve my starts and the first 5-10 minutes of my race. What are some good workouts to do?

Answer: The start of most XC races is certainly an important segment and is more critical than any other 5-10 minute portion of the race that we could otherwise consider.  Establishing your position early will allow you to settle into your rhythm without having to chase or catch back on to the competition later in the race.  However, it is also critical that you don’t start off too hard since it is possible to negatively affect the rest of the race if you do too much too soon.  Knowing yourself and what you are capable of doing will help you to gauge how hard to go at the start of your next race.  Fortunately, by training for race starts you also learn just how hard you can go and how various intensities affect your ability to withstand such an effort over the long haul.

During the first 5-10 minutes of the race you will rely heavily upon your VO₂Max fitness.  How hard you’re able to go and how quickly you can recover from such intensity depends upon how well you’ve developed your maximum aerobic capacity.  By doing more VO₂Max training you’ll be able to withstand more time spent above your threshold and you’ll also recover more rapidly from such efforts.  Let’s take a look at some workout examples that will help to improve your fitness at VO₂Max.

FTP = Functional Threshold Power, your maximum sustainable pace for 60 minutes

RPE = Rate of Perceived Exertion, using a 1-10 scale with 10 being a max effort

There are two types of VO₂Max workouts that I suggest. 1) Continuous work intervals followed by full recovery of the same duration.  This is the typical interval training that most are familiar with – go hard for a set time, then recover fully for a set time before repeating. 2) Intermittent training will have you change the intensity numerous times prior to taking a full rest.  The intensity will oscillate between VO₂Max and Tempo meaning that the sequence will eventually become very challenging.  Continuous work intervals are hard right from the start whereas the intermittent approach allows you to build into it before the workload really catches up with you.  Both VO₂Max training approaches will be effective so be sure to try and include both in your season preparations.

I suggest doing numerous VO₂Max training sessions within a two week block so that you can create a sufficient overload, but also one that doesn’t go on too long.  It is intense training so be sure to recover adequately between such workouts.  With improvements to your maximum aerobic capacity, you’ll certainly be more prepared to handle the first 5-10 minutes of your next XC race.  Establish your position early, but don’t burn all of your matches in order to do so.  With each VO₂Max workout you’ll learn just how much you’re able to do so that on race day you can be wise with your pacing strategy.  Work hard, have fun, and the VO₂Max training is sure to benefit your race starts.  Let me know how it goes for you!