Personal Mountain Bike Training 2011
Current availability for new 2011 season Personal Mountain Bike Training clients is two places.
Personal Mountain Bike Training is an individual, focused, results driven service with riders receiving unlimited contact time with me. For this reason the number of clients I have at any one time is strictly limited. In 2011 this limit will be 6 clients. I believe this enables me to deliver the very best service to these individuals. The ideal time to begin working with a coach for the 2011 season is between October and December 2010 (although I do accept new clients throughout the season, depending on availability). This enables us to debrief the 2010 season, establish goals for the new season and begin, methodically, to work towards these.
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Gaining Season End Speed...
August can often feel like a slump month in the racing calendar, and for good reason... the National Championships have past, there are fewer races due to holidays, and these anticlimax inducers toxically combine with the fact that most racers have been training towards and thinking about racing since December-January time. Even with the R&R weeks that form a crucial part of my riders' annual plan, there is no getting away from the fact that the season is almost through, and, let's admit it, we all look forward to a period after that when we have just a wee while when cycling is not the most important thing in our lives.
So, what to do? Well, how about working on some of the details you may not usually give enough time to? Spend a day focusing on skills rather than the SRM. Either enlist the wisdom and watchful eye of a skills coach or, if need be, self coach. Identify your weak areas / work area and consider your looking, footwork, body position and line choice through the section you have identified as your bugbear. Not working? Deconstruct it further, take a step back and perfect and easier (but similar) section before returning to the tougher one. Consider whether you ride right handers as well as left handers (and vice versa) as this is a common work area. Try to see yourself in the third person, as though you had your very own instant video footage available. Most of all, enjoy stopping and repeating a section to perfect a technique. Next, your mechanical skills... learn some new ones. If you have never set up your own gears / brakes etc then now is the time to try. Also check that your bike is not taking any power away from you.... gunge on jockey wheels, no lube on chains or stiff bearings in hubs, pedals or bottom bracket will all sap precious watts from your racing performance. In September you can ill afford this! Finally, that kilo you have been meaning to shed... how about making August the month to do so? By the end of the month you will feel fresher from having broken the drudgery of training, be lighter, more skillful, more mechanically aware and have a bike that is working with you not against you. I can think of worse ways to reach the final races.
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Dealing with Adversity...
“We asked for cash, not ash!” The travel disruptions caused by the Icelandic volcano undoubtedly affected many World Cup racers’ journeys to the first race this weekend at Dalby in Yorkshire. Those who did battle their way there encountered some serious disruption and stress along the way: certainly not the ideal preparation for a major race. It will be interesting to see the way in which this affected the results, but there are sure to be those who overcame the problems seemingly effortlessly, whilst others were already rehearsing their post race quotes - blaming the recent events for their poor performance.
Given that racers invest enormous time, money and energy into producing results when it matters, it pays to consider ways to minimise losses when things do not go entirely to plan, both in our racing and training. While a high level of precision and discipline is often associated with successful athletes, it can be that these very characteristics let them down during periods of disruption. So, if you have a personality where everything has to be just right, with a supremely rigid daily and pre-race regime involving exact nutrition, warm ups, bike prep and so on, you may need to consider how you will maintain focus when your preparation does not fit perfectly into your box marked “ideal”. Conversely, those athletes whose approach to racing appears more random may be best placed to deal with missed flights, poor meals and mechanical problems. Given that a highly organised athlete is often the one who achieves a greater performance level (by their very nature), what aspects of the less organised competitor’s attitude can we draw from to help during times of disruption? Can we incorporate this necessary adaptive response into our everyday training and lifestyle? The answer is undoubtedly yes. Anyone reading this who already juggles a job, a family and their cycling will already be well prepared for disruption and is likely to be very good at adapting to a range of circumstances. It is those with fewer distractions that are likely to succumb more seriously to sudden change. For these individuals it is important to experiment with a range of “hindrances” to their training. By changing diet, warm up, whether you pre-ride a course or not, how you cope with a missed bottle, small mechanical issues, time of day you ride at, sleep hours, whether you are using a heart rate monitor / computer / power device, you can improve how you cope when things go wrong. If you know and believe that these imperfect circumstances can be overcome, you are immediately much better able to cope and, indeed, overcome adversity. So next time you have a disastrous day, your cycle computer goes on the blink, or you have three flats on a ride, think of it as a useful lesson in developing mental adaptability, which may prove useful in the future. "
......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
A New Season...
"With new athletes coming onboard during February and March it is an exciting time to be helping riders towards achieving their 2010 goals. For anyone targeting a summer racing season this period is crucial; training prescribed during these two months can make or break the racing year. A successful plan depends upon a realistic assessment of current fitness, a carefully measured increase in training intensity, and objective monitoring of adaptation to training load. By ignoring any of these factors you invite burn out. Self discipline is key to getting this period right. Sounds easy? Well, essentially it is, and yet unfortunately it is all too common for riders to get carried away on a wave of pre-season enthusiasm. Think about it, what is worse, arriving at your first (probably training) event while still on the upward progression curve or arriving at that first start line already feeling mentally and physically fried? Most of you will have written down your racing calendar for the year. Some of you will have a number one target event in mind. Now, take a look at when that event is. Usually the key events in the mountain bike season fall between June and September. If this applies to you, the fact that the races will soon be happening does not mean that you have to approach February and March like a bull at a gate. Instead, think of this time as a period of gradual blending, of phasing from your steady winter foundation to the next step. Be patient, if you have been sensible through the off season you will now have plenty of time to slowly bring your body into racing shape. In my experience those early races are a time to focus on the bigger picture and, to some extent, swallow your ego. Of course there will be guys and girls seemingly going like trains, but the likelyhood is that their progression through the season will be either linear or negative. Alternatively they may also be low on their progression curve which means that they too have been sensible but are simply operating on a higher level, which is still no reason to go bonkers in training.... only time will tell what the outcome is. Take confidence in the fact that you are only on the second step of a tall ladder and let others have their day. Try to focus on what you have done, where you are and where you are going. The early season is the period of the racing year with the biggest discrepancy between racers. This is a time to believe in yourself, to believe in your plan and to stand by the decisions you have made. And, if you lack belief in any of those perhaps it is time to enlist the services of a coach." |
