Fall: The Transition Season

Thu October 01 2009
Posted Oct 1, 2009
7,708

From Coach David Ertl As most of us are nearing the end of our 2009 cycling season, October is what I consider to be the Transition Month. This is the time to ease up on your serious riding and training and play around more. It's the time between this past season and next season. This month's article will discuss the need for a transition period and how to use it. My featured workout is a good example of a cross training workout, mountain biking. Mountain biking is a fun yet effective way to stay in shape in the off-season. My featured product is my brand new eBook, Indoor Training For Cyclists. With fall and then winter approaching, many of us will be forced indoors and it is possible to stay in shape on an indoor trainer. Best wishes with your training! Coach David Ertl

THE TRANSITION SEASON Fall marks the end of the 2009 road cycling season. Most of the tours and races are over. The World Cycling Championships were just held and they mark the end for most professional cyclists as well. In coaching terminology, the year is broken into periods, something called Periodization. The year starts with base or foundational training which emphasized strength training and endurance. As your fitness improves in the spring, you move into what some call the 'Build' period where you increase your mileage and/or intensity of riding. As you approach key events such as a large tour or race, you will want to go through as short peak period to hone your fitness. After a large event midseason, you may want to take a small break, and then continue on with your training for the remainder of the riding season. At the end of the season is the 'Transition' period. This marks the end of one season and precedes the next season. Transition typically lasts about 4-6 weeks. During this transition period, the main thing you are trying to accomplish is to allow your body and your mind to rest up and refresh from the cycling season. If you have been riding and training seriously and regularly since last winter, this is the first significant chance you get to ease up on your riding. Your body can use a break as can your head. Training is mentally hard and your mind can use a break as much as or even more than your body does. The harder you train, the more you need a transition at the end of the season and the longer it should be. So what does one do during the 'Transition' ? First, you want to back off on the cycling mileage, or the volume of riding that you do. You should also cut back on the intensity of your riding. This is not the time of year to be doing a lot of hard, structured intervals. It's even okay to park your bike for a couple of weeks if you so desire. But that doesn't mean to stop being active. As a cyclists, you want to maintain some activity but this is a good time of year to do something different. "Doing something different" is what we call 'cross training'. Cross training is doing some sort of activity or exercise which is different from riding your road bike. It can be something totally different, such as running, playing basketball or soccer, swimming, or almost anything else you can do to get exercise. It can also be something similar to road cycling such as cyclo cross or mountain biking. While these may seem very similar to road cycling, because they are somewhat different and done off-road, I find them to be a very good change of pace. I love riding my mountain bike this time of year, being out in the woods with the changing colors. And because mountain biking is like playing, you hardly realize how hard you are working when riding off-road. It's a great change of pace for you head as well as your body. Whatever you do, try to stay active 4-5 days a week doing something. And if you can't part with your bike that long, by all means continue to ride. Just know that you should be riding for the sheer joy of riding and not for any specific training effect at this time of year. So get out and enjoy the fall weather if you choose. But ride as easily as you wish. The other thing you want to do during Transition is to allow your body to recover from any nagging injuries or aches or pains you may have developed during this year's riding season. This is a good time to get a physical and have everything checked out, especially if you do have a nagging injury. Get to work on it now and get it fixed so it doesn't interfere with your riding and training coming up for the 2010 season. The third thing that is good to work on was the subject of last month's newsletter article: weight loss. If you want to drop a few pounds, this is a good time to do it. When in weight loss mode, you don't have as much energy to ride and train hard, so it fits perfectly in with this Transition time. Finally, it's also a good time to do an overhaul on your bike. Go through and take it apart (or have someone skilled do it if you are not), regrease bearings, replace cables, chains, housings, and lube everything and give it a thorough cleaning. Your bike has been good to you this year, return the favor. I always look forward to this time of year for a change of pace and excuse to back off of the intense training somewhat. So get out and enjoy the fall weather but try some new activities.

FEATURED WORKOUT: Mountain Biking Purpose of Workout: Although mountain biking is still riding a bike, it is a great way to get in a ride in a very different atmosphere. When you are riding and training on the road all the time, no matter how much you love it, it can get a little old after a while, especially if you are doing a lot of structure training rides. Mountain biking allows you to get a good workout in for your legs and your heart but gives your head a break. I tend to view mountain biking as play. It's such a different way to ride a bike, especially when going off road on single track, that you almost forget you are training. I don't have a computer on my mountain bike and just ride it for fun and cross training, but I know I get my heart rate up pretty high. In addition, mountain biking adds the element of bike handling that is hard to get from road riding, unless you slide around corners on sand a lot. On single track, you are continually shifting your weight, riding through off-camber corners, balancing at near standstills, and sliding around corners. This helps train your responses to deal with these sensations and these carry over to your road riding. Course Description: You can mountain biking almost anywhere, and it's recommended to ride off-road. Choose single track trails if you have them available, or just ride on a gravel trail or dirt road. Use this opportunity to ride places you wouldn't go on your road bike. Workout Description: Take off on your mountain bike and let the course dictate your tempo and effort. If riding single track, try to maintain a constant speed, avoid excessive breaking and try to be smooth going around trees and curves. Practice putting your foot out and sliding around tight bends. Learn to jump over small objects. Have fun. Total Workout Length: 1.0 to 2.0 Hours Modifications: Ride with someone more experienced than yourself and follow them to learn to be a smoother, faster rider on single track. To learn more about the other 100 workouts in my book '101 Cycling Workouts', click HERE.