The Road Racing Spring Series starts in six weeks! The first triathlon is in three months and the first Gran Fondo is in five months. Are you nervous?
If you arent, you should be.
Training for any endurance event requires timea lot of time. And the time to be nervous about your results is today because what you do right now determines what happens on race day.
Endurance training requires enough lead-time to gradually build a solid base. It is only after you have established this base that you can add strength, speed and finally peak for your big event. Whether your goal is to race or to finish, proper training will make the difference between an awesome experience and a sufferfest.
No matter what level of cyclist you are, everyone should go through the same training phases to get to the finish line, albeit in varying levels of intensity.
The first phase of any training program begins with building a base. This phase is the most important but is often overlooked or done incorrectly. This is the time where you are teaching your muscles to become efficient at exchanging oxygen and using fat as fuel. You will know when this phase is coming to an end when you are able to ride at a comfortably fast pace for a long period of time in a very low heart rate zone.
These are the four most common mistakes most cyclists make during their base training phase. This year, try to set your ego aside for two months and avoid these blunders.
Mistake No. 1 Riding above your own individual zone-one heart rate
Training in a low heart rate zone can be just as challenging as any speed workout and you will need a monitor device. If you dont know your heart rate zones and dont own a heart rate monitor or power meter, you might want to start shopping.
Mistake No. 2 Riding in a group that is too fast for you
This common error goes with mistake No. 1 but I have separated them because I cant stress this enough. Group riding is a great way to log riding miles, but if you cant find a group that allows you to ride in a low heart rate zone, it will be to your detriment and destroy your whole riding season.
Mistake No. 3 Riding too far too soon
Building an endurance base takes time. Not only do you have to complete the distance, but you have to allow your body to recover before you increase this distance. Both the work and recovery phases are equally important. If you try to fast-track one or the other, you are sure to bonk on race day.
Mistake No. 4 Building speed and strength before efficiency
Being efficient on the bike is your main goal. If you can ride efficiently, you will automatically be stronger and faster. If the pros still spend countless hours researching and practicing how to be more efficient, Im sure all of us could spend a bit more time in this area as well.
Kristina Bangma is a coach, personal trainer and writer with a love of riding and racing. Email questions to [email protected] and visit getfitwithkris.com.
