Author: Admin

A Way Out of the Slump – Planning Your Sporting Year

Cycling, Running and Triathlon are essentially seasonal sports, they need to be as endurance training and racing is hard on your body, but it is generally due to the short days and poor weather limiting available events. As the season closes you will need a rest to allow your muscles and joints to repair, but it is easy to lose motivation as your mind and body take the opportunity to recover. This is not helped by the dark cold days and adverse weather which also reduces enthusiasm to train. For some a few weeks pass then normal service is resumed, unfortunately for many it is not quite so easy.

If you find yourself in this slump, you may feel tired but it is actually a mental state and it is your mind not your body which needs to recover. The best way to turn this around is to take your mind forward to those long sunny days of the event season and plan your next races or challenges. Once your mind starts to focus on the events ahead, you will have a reason to train, your mind will connect with the good feelings your sport brings and your desire to train will return.

With this in mind, now as the season comes to a close, is the ideal time to start thinking about next year.

What to Consider?

There are so many races and challenges out there, every event is different, some short, some long (some very long), some hot, some cold, some flat, some hilly, pool based, open water, home or abroad. Generally these events are open to you just by submitting an entry form, but some require qualification or very early entry to get your place so this must be considered in your plan.

You must first review your sporting background, along with the results of this years training and events. Consider your strengths and weaknesses, for example if as a triathlete swimming is a challenge you may prefer to stay away from long sea swims until your skills and confidence improves. If you are not particularly fast but have good endurance, consider races with long tough courses so you can gain time on the other racers in the tough sections. What do you enjoy? If you like short fast events seek them out, if you fancy the challenge of longer distance and even ultra events you can consider those.

How much training have you done this year? This will give you an indication of the time you will have next year, consider family and work commitments, a new baby or more stressful work will not fit well with a decision to train for a long distance event. What do you want from the sport, are you able to compete for wins and places or just to complete the event to the best of your ability? What are your longer term ambitions? It may be to keep fit, complete a 24hr time trial, race in Ironman, race for GB or just tour the world riding, running and racing in exotic places. If you have high ambitions you may need a two or three year plan to get yourself to the level you need to be at. Racing can be expensive, the cost of events is steadily increasing, ensure you add the travel and accommodation to get the true cost. Finance may well be a limiting factor, do you decide to compete in one major event or a number of local events for the same cost? Staying injury free is key to improvement, you may have the time and finance to race every weekend, but will your body take the strain, will you be nursing injuries through each event never achieving your potential. You may have a holiday planned or friends and family in other parts of the UK, or even other countries. Consider combining your sport with a trip, it gets you to events in other interesting places and even the most jaded sporting widow/widower will be enthused by a week on the beach in return for a few hours standing at the roadside watching you race.

What races are out there?

There are many ways to find out what events are available to you. These days without internet access you are unlikely to find many races, but as you are reading this you should be ok. Speak to other athletes within and outside your club, see where they raced and what they liked and disliked about the events. Read the specialist magazines which contain race reports and race calendars, as do many specialist websites. Your sports governing body will generally publish an event calendar and/or publish a members handbook setting out the available events. It may not have next years races listed so early but look at the equivalent period this year to see what races are likely to run next. It should also have links to the clubs and major events stand alone websites where more information can be found.

Keep it real

As you look through the mass of event opportunities it is easy to get carried away with the thought of finishing a really cool event. Many events are promoted for first time or novice racers, even major televised events are accessible to first timers. Some are not really suitable. This does not mean you couldn’t finish a very long distance race having never done anything similar before, but you won’t race to your potential or enjoy the experience as you should. Don’t get carried away by the success of your friends and club mates, most will admit they were a bit naive on their first races and suffered as a result. If that race is local and an hour or two long no harm done, its part of the process, if it’s hundreds of pounds and many hours of pain and suffering it’s less clever. Even if you have the fitness and experience to race over the very long distances, only consider including ‘one’ of these races in your plan for each year. A pro or semi pro may be able to do more, but if you need to read this advice you can’t. Be realistic about your goals but challenge yourself.

What’s an ‘A’ race

When you have decided on the events you really want to do these are your ‘A’ races. They may be your qualification event, your Ironman, your National event, your club championships or a target for a personal best. They are the races which are really important to you, where you want to go fast and enjoy the experience. Where possible they should be spread evenly through your season, four weeks or more between each so you can properly recover and phase your training to maximise your performance. You may only have one ‘A’ race in a season so all your training and other races will be intended to maximise your performance that day. Once you have set these dates there may be other events you want to do with friends, as part of the club, or as specific preparation for your ‘A’ events. Fit these around your ‘A’ events but be aware you may not be able to perform to your maximum if you are recovering or training hard for your most important event. These events should really be considered as part of your training, if you do well it’s just a bonus.

Now you have decided

Once your season is planned out you need to make sure you submit your entries in good time. Check web sites regularly for information about when entries will be accepted, if funds are limited focus on your ‘A’ races and take a risk with delaying the others. Tell your husband/wife or partner about your plans so holidays, late parties, family celebrations and other domestic arrangements can avoid your key events. You may also need to book leave from work if you work weekends or your event involves travel. Book any accommodation you need in good time, the longer you leave it the more expensive and further from the start it will be. With all these things in place and all the money spent you will also have a great incentive to train through the cold winter months.

With your season planned so carefully and well in advance you can concentrate on staying fit, healthy and injury free. To help this you build your training plan around your race calendar but that’s a whole new subject……………

Mark Harman – NNW Coach

TriHarman

Don’t let rain stop training

Let’s face it we live in England, it rains regularly in the summer so you can be sure it will rain more in the coming months.  Riding in the wet can be a miserable and uncomfortable experience, purely social riders can choose whether to ride but many riders book their events days, weeks or months in advance and there is no way to anticipate if it will be wet or dry.  You can decide not to start the event but you may have invested significant time and money getting to that start line, a DNS may not be an option.
So if you are going to complete wet events you need to train and prepare for those conditions.  The rain doesn’t have to spoil a beautiful day if you have trained and prepared to ride fast and stay safe despite the water.  So how do we adapt to cope well in the bad weather?

Stay comfortable, remember it is actually heat, not water, which is an endurance athlete’s greatest enemy, and rain can help keep you cool.  Because it’s cooler than your skin, rain soaks up some of the excess body heat that your working muscles produce, the evaporation of the water draws away more heat.  As a result you can ride harder while maintaining a safe body temperature.  Of course this can go too far, the same rain that keeps you from overheating can also cause your body temperature to drop excessively, the combination of cool water, evaporation and wind chill means hypothermia is not out of the question even in the summer.
So how do we prepare for that wet ride?  If it’s already raining or rain is threatening leave with a rain jacket.  If the rain is warm and you don’t use it, no harm done, you have carried a few extra grams in your pocket.  But if the temperature drops significantly and you can’t stay warm through exertion alone, then get that jacket on quickly.  The jacket keeps the cold water away from the skin but also insulates you from the wind chill.  You will still be damp underneath but you will stay warm.  It is important to keep your hands and feet as dry as possible as they will chill very fast when wet and in the airflow.  Overshoes are easily obtained and provide a waterproof layer over your cycle shoes, suitable gloves are also available at a reasonable cost, these will keep your hands and feet much warmer.

Training in the rain can be made more pleasant for you and you companions by riding a bike fitted with mudguards.  The guards will reduce the spray from the wheels keeping it off your legs, back and other riders near you.  You can fit ‘clip on’ guards to most types of bike, even if there is insufficient room for more substantial guards.  Don’t forget the rear mudflap if you ride in a group.

Wear glasses in the rain, your nice tinted glasses may not be suitable so have a set of clear glasses or lenses.  This will keep water and debris out of your eyes, if they become contaminated a wipe with your glove should clear them.
Staying warm is part of staying safe when you’re riding in the rain.  If you are warm and comfortable you will concentrate better and be ready to respond to the challenges of riding in the wet.  Here’s what you need to remember about staying upright on wet road surfaces:

Avoid road paint, grates and manhole covers.  Wet steel and paint are among the slipperiest materials you’ll encounter on the roads.  The white lines may be the smoothest part of the road surface but they are the most slippery on which to brake or turn.  Be sure to ride round metal grates and covers in corners and at junctions, if you cannot avoid them straighten up until you have passed over them and then turn.

Brake early and in a straight line. Some brake/wheel combinations work better in rain than others, but none works as well as when they’re dry.  The brakes will work less efficiently and the tyres will be more prone to locking on the wet surface.  Brake earlier and always in a straight line, reduce speed before the turn, never brake in the corner

Extra hazards are out there, take care where leaves or mud collects, they are also much more slippery when wet.  Where possible avoid puddles, they may be deeper than you think or be hiding pot holes or debris to damage your tyres or cause a crash.  Take care on roundabouts, cars and trucks spill diesel fuel on the corners which then waits for the next unsuspecting arrivals.  Roads immediately outside fuel stations are particularly prone to contamination.  Look out for the distinctive smell and rainbow colours in the water.

Keep the bike more upright through corners.  However careful you are avoiding the extra hazards a wet road offers less grip for your tyres, you can’t lean your bike into corners the way you can when the weather is dry.  Instead, keep the bike more upright and spread your weight evenly between front and rear wheels.  Try to focus your eyes on where you want to exit the turn, you go where you are looking, put your outside pedal down, push your weight through it and a little weight on the inside handle bar.  Be patient and corner smoothly with no jerky movements. A lot of crashes occur when riders get overzealous about accelerating out of a corner.  They shift their weight and jump on the pedals just after the apex of the turn, and it’s enough to break what little traction they had.  Get through the corner and then start accelerating.

Tyres on most road cycles are very narrow and the weight of the rider presses the tyre firmly on the road surface.  It is not necessary to have a tread pattern like on a car tyre as at normal speeds the water will not be trapped between the tyre and the road.  You may prefer the feel of the bike if the tyres are not inflated to full dry road pressure, the softer tyre will provide a little more contact area and more progressive handling.

Lights will assist other road users to see you.  Cars and trucks will put their lights on in the rain to help other road users see them through the gloom.  A flashing rear light will attract the attention of drivers catching up with you on the road, encouraging them to give you more room.

Give plenty of space.  Other road users will also be suffering from the reduced visibility and the more difficult driving conditions.  You must give them more time and space, this separation allows more time to correct the inevitable errors, don’t take unnecessary risks.

Test your equipment and skills in training to give you an advantage in your event.  Too many riders never think to take their race gear out for a rainy-day test ride to prepare themselves for the possibility of rainy events.  Get out there with the carbon wheels and your full race setup and make sure you know how your bike’s going to handle and how your kit works and feels in the wet.

With some thought and preparation you can ride both safely and comfortably in the rain, you may even enjoy the challenge.

Mark Harman – NNW Coach

www.Triharman.com