Are You Ready To Be The World's Best?

If you're never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances. - Julia Sorel

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? -Vincent van Gogh

You really need to ask yourself why you're into cycling. Is it simply a social activity? Is it more for your fun and fitness? Do you really want to race? Your training should be structured around whatever your decide your ultimate goals are. If those are more fun and fitness, then 3 to 4 days a week of riding, even just an hour a day, should meet those goals. But if you want to race, then you need to be a bit more serious and courageous. You need to start thinking about being the world's best cyclist, which brings me to...

How Big Is Your World?

You really can be the world's best cyclist, as it all depends on how you define the size and shape of that world. You only need to do enough training to satisfy the needs of that world. It could be a world defined by century rides. It could be a world defined by Cat 4 racing, by Masters racing, or by elite national class racing. You decide - and then go for it!

I think many of us desperately want to believe we can be the world's best at something. So do the rational thing and decide how big that world will be. The choice is yours. You must make active decisions along the way, which brings me to...

Winners Risk Losing

We are creatures of habit. It is comfortable to sit-in during a race and react to the events around us. But if you want to be a winner, you really need to start thinking like a winner. Winners take chances and risk losing so they can actually increase their chances of winning. If you get to the finish line in a pack of 20 riders, then you are guaranteed at least 20th place. But if you could actually break up that group before the line, and get in a smaller pack of say 8 riders, then you're guaranteed at least 8th place. Where would you rather place your chances?

You Make The Move

In your next race, be a player. You make a move and try to get others to go with you. You are the orchestrator of your life, so why not be the orchestrator in your next race? You could very well end up on the podium. If it doesn't work out, pay attention to what went wrong, learn from it, write it down in your log book, and come back better prepared next time.

Can You Lose That Weight As Easily As You Gained It?

In a word, no. How many chubby retired athletes have you seen? I've noticed plenty. What's going on here?

As athletes, we've all experienced a certain amount of fluctuation in our weight as we move through the periodized schedules of our training. Many times, we think the weight we gain in the off-season will simply fall away when we resume our normal training. Anecdotally, I think most of us have found it doesn't completely work like that. The weight jumps up, but it never really returns to what it was previously, unless you put in some massive work -more than you were doing before. Is it simply the inevitable matter of middle-aged spread? It doesn't have to be, if you are smart with your training and eating.

Do You Gain & Lose Weight Asymmetrically?

The 2008, Volume 40, Number 2 Edition of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise published a report titled "Asymmetric Weight Gain and Loss From Increasing and Decreasing Exercise." The report studied male and female runners, and found that weight gain due to reduced weekly exercise may not be reversed when prior activity is resumed. The researchers did not find a particular underlying mechanism involved.

For us athletes though, it points to a few things we should keep in mind, especially for those of us where weight is an issue. And as cyclists, our power-to-weight ratio is extremely important, particularly when the roads turn up!

Keep Those Legs A-Movin'

First off, weight management is far easier to control by simply ensuring you don't totally back off on your training, even in the off-season.

And Periodize Your Eating

Second, when you do reduce your activity level, watch your weight and watch what you eat closer than you might otherwise. Adjust your calories in, to better match your reduced calories out. In essence, periodize your eating along with your training. Chris Carmichael advocates that approach in his book, Food For Fitness. The report in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise did not examine the dietary habits of the subjects, so perhaps this is the angle we should really exploit to maintain a consistent weight.

I Think I'm Turning Japanese, I Really Think So...

Another approach that can help with your diet periodization is to eat like an Okinawan. These Japanese champions of longevity will typically stop eating when they are only 80% full. So despite what your mamma taught you, don't clean your plate. Take your time, and simply stop eating when you are full. Save the leftovers for another meal, perhaps even as a special treat for your pet.

Combined, these strategies will help ensure your weight doesn't creep up on you, to the point that you can't get it back down where it should be.

But I think the ultimate solution to not becoming a fat retired athlete is quite simple. Don't retire!

What are your thoughts?

Grab Your Season By The Collar and Shake It Up

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein

Is your training driving your crazy?

Let me tell you a short story about myself.

My First Breakthrough Season

I've been on a journey with my cycling. After many years of struggling along in the back 3rd of the peloton, I finally had a breakthough season.

It happened after I bought a CompuTrainer and used it throughout my winter training. That next season, I finally upgraded from the ranks of a Category 3 racer to Category 2. Also, I had been struggling all my life to crack the hour in the 40km time trial. In that next season after spending the winter on the CompuTrainer, I didn't just break the hour, I smashed it. I set my best ever time of 54:07 mm:ss.

Things were going well. I was achieving goals, placing in races, and continually cracking the hour in the 40km time trial. I started saying to myself, "You know, I can really do this and be competitive."

The Dip

And then it started. My time trials didn't get any faster, and then last season they actually started getting slower, despite the fact I was training more than I ever had. I entered the "Dip", as defined by Seth Godin.

I don't know how it happened, but I stumbled across Godin's prescient book of the same title, The Dip. Just about everything worthwhile doing in life is controlled by the Dip. His description of the it fit me perfectly. "The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery... The Dip is the long stretch between beginner's luck and real accomplishment."

His solution? Two choices: either quit and move onto something else you can master or push on hard and get through the Dip.

Successful people actually quit often. They are quick to see the things they'll never truly master, so instead of wasting further precious time (a very limited commodity in our lives), they move onto something they can master.

And if you think you can get through the Dip in your current pursuit, you don't simply settle down, bear with it and keep doing the same things until you make it. No, that leads to Einstein's definition of insanity. Successful people "... lean into the Dip. They push harder, changing the rules as they go. Just because you know you're in the Dip doesn't mean you have to live happily with it. Dips don't last quite as long when you whittle at them."

Give Your Season A Really Good Shake!

So here I am today, leaning into my Dip. I've taken a very different approach to training, which I'll be describing more here at the Bicycling Blogger. And it is my hope you'll find some useful nuggets to get you through your own Dip.

Take a look now at where you are as a cyclist. Where do you want to be at the end of the season? What are your goals? What are the objectives that will help you reach those goals? Do you really think the same things you did last year will get you through this year? Successfully?

I want you to really examine everything about your training. Grab it, give it the really good Marine sergeant yelling, and do something totally different this year. Even if it is just one aspect of your training, but maybe it's something larger, like stepping up and registering for that big stage race you always wished you'd do. This is the season you'll do it.

Think differently. Conformity will stifle your growth. Do something different and create your own breakthrough season.

Now get out there and ride!

"I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past." - Clara Barton, organizer, Red Cross

Training + Recovery = Fitness

Do you understand this formula?

I mean really, do you understand this basic formula? Because it all begins here, and it will always come back to this:

TRAINING + RECOVERY = FITNESS

Everything about being an athlete is based on this equation (you're not just a cyclist, you are an athlete). We manipulate the formula properly, and we'll increase our fitness - no matter what your ability. Abuse this equation, and you'll quickly flush your fitness down the crapper!

Hammer this formula into your mind. As an athlete, plan your life around it. Respect it and it'll respect you. Now let me break it down and look at the basics.

TRAINING

Training is anything you do to improve your muscle function. It has everything to do with your endurance, sustained power, maximum power, strength, skills and flexibility. You know this. These are the workouts you do.

But proper training also sets you up for proper recovery through your body's own natural release of the following anabolic hormones: thyroid hormone, human growth hormone and testosterone.

You must also consider the psychological aspect to training. Improved mental functions will definitely support your improved muscle functions. Sometimes being able to suffer just a bit more than your opponent is all you need to win, especially when you're a highly functioning elite athlete competing against elites much the same as you.

RECOVERY

Your body needs to repair the damage you've done to it during training. Yes, you read that right - damage. Training done properly should cause muscle damage. You become stronger when your body repairs that damage. Repair processes require proper nutrition and adequate sleep. Your recovery processes will be much more efficient when happening in the presence of the anabolic hormones that your body will naturally produce for you as a result of your training. And you must keep at bay the devilish catabolic hormone cortisol. It increases your body's breakdown of muscle protein as an energy source. Not what you want when trying to build muscle tissue.

Insulin is another key hormone in your recovery process. Respect the timing of its presence and your muscles will have all the stored energy needed for your next training session. This energy store comes in the form of muscle glycogen. Insulin helps both with the creation of glycogen from the carbohydrates eaten in your diet and the transport of that glycogen into your muscle cells.

FITNESS

This is what you're after. Understand, though, that fitness is not an always increasing function. It will have plateaus, some valleys, and then increases again. How you manipulate the inputs to the formula (your training and recovery) will determine the degree of control you have on your fitness outcome. Testing is key to tracking your progress. Races and other competitions serve as tests, but periodic specific field and laboratory tests will also help you make adjustments to training and recovery.

TRAINING + RECOVERY = FITNESS

So does the formula mean anything to you now?

As your Bicycling Blogger, I will try to shed more light on this formula for you. I'll provide you with the intelligence you need to become stronger, faster, fitter than you were before. No matter your age, no matter where you are in your journey as a cyclist, with this intelligence you'll be in control!

If you found this post useful, make sure you sign up for your free updates. Use one of the links on the right at the top of the side bar to subscribe. I've got lots of valuable nuggets to continue sharing with you.

Your Bicycling Journey Starts Here...

If you aren't interested in bicycle training techniques, if you aren't interested in bike equipment, if you aren't interested in bicycle racing or touring, then leave this blog now. You're in the wrong place. Bicycling Blogger will not appeal to you and you'll waste your time here.

But, if riding your bike is really fun. If riding your bike fast is really fun. If you like seeing the world from the seat of your bike. If you even like to mix it up a little with some group riding, or better yet, bike racing, then Bicycling Blogger is totally for you.

As a cyclist myself, I came of age way before the Armstrong era. Grabbing my attention first was Canadian cycling legend Steve Bauer winning the silver medal in the 1984 Olympic Road Race. Then, a huge double wammy in 1986: the first North American pulled on the Tour de France yellow jersey, and better yet he was also a Canadian - Alex Stieda (actually he was awarded every coloured jersey after his phenomenal Stage 1 win). And to top it off, the first great American cyclist, Greg Lemond, won Le Tour that year.

These guys inspired me. Maybe a young Canadian could make a go of it in the world of competitive cycling - and so my dream was born.

But really, I just muddled along. Sure, I trained. I found a book, Beginning Bicycle Racing by Fred Matheny. I subscribed to Bicycling Magazine. I sucked up as much about training for bike racing as I could, but without any coaching, without joining a club, without really doing any racing. Sure, I rode a few club level mid-week races here in Edmonton, AB. I did one sanctioned race, the Edmonton edition of the 1984 Canadian Ice Cream Classic. I actually did not bad in that one, finishing on the podium in second place. I had some potential, but what I lacked at the time was the focus to do something truly great with that potential. It would take me about another 12 years to finally get things figured out.

In the meantime, university, marriage, career took up all my time. I was focused, but not on bike racing. But bike racing was always there, in the back of my mind. I continued to follow Le Tour. The advent of the Internet really helped, as I could finally follow the race progress on a daily basis. Back in the '80s, I had to watch weekly TV highlights on ABC Sports that were spliced in with boxing coverage. I'm not a boxer, so why did I have to sit through all those matches, hoping the next round would be the knockout so we could get back to the cycling? In the '90s the Internet solved all that.

My career took me to Ottawa, where I spent those years commuting to work (a perfect excuse to do some bike riding). I would train a bit after work, maybe do a longer ride on the weekend. But was I ever going to do some real bike racing? I hit 30, had my first child, and then, probably while potty training my daughter, I said to myself, "Pee or get off the pot!" It was time to either give this bike racing thing an honest try or finally shelve that dream and get on with other things. Even if I was already 30 and a "Master". Even though I was really only a beginner - for in cycling age-based Masters racing begins at 30.

The best thing I did at the time was join a bike club - the Ottawa Bicycle Club. I found a group of other like-minded people to ride with. They had a structured series of weekend rides. And I got in-the-loop of racing. I started riding the Tuesday Night Criterium series, on the same course that Gord Fraser got started on. Finally I began recognizing the faces at the races. They weren't much different than me. I belonged.

So no matter what your age - a Junior just starting out. A Senior with lots of potential. A Master who wants to ride for fitness, for life, and maybe to race, my best advice to you is simply join one of your local bicycle clubs. On my blog here, you'll find lots of resources to support your passion for everything bicycling. But in the end, to really put it all together, you won't go wrong by joining a bike club. I'm back living in Edmonton now, so if you're a local rider a good place to start your journey is with my club: the Edmonton Road & Track Club.

And of course, subscribe (it's free!) to Bicycling Blogger (check out the widgets in the side-bar), or bookmark www.bicyclingblogger.com. I'll be your in-the-know club member no matter where you are on the journey...



P.S. Drop me an e-mail if you've got something you want to explore:
kevin @ bicyclingblogger.com