From Coach Michael Carter

“Winter training,” the gloomy, deep, dark, cold days of riding on a trainer (or those days of taking half an hour to get dressed to head out in less than tropical temperatures). This is the time when you gain weight, start to feel lethargic, unmotivated and sometimes, depressed. But these do not have to be so gloomy! These are the days when you set the tone for the upcoming season. These are the days that you lay the foundation that you can build upon and that foundation is what allows you to train at a higher, more effective level in pre-season that will lift your conditioning level to what you are aiming for.

So how do you set that tone? You do it through strength training - both muscular and aerobic. But keep this in mind: over 80% of your performance (as a “roadie” or MTB rider - those track riders are a different animal all together) is based on cardiopulmonary function which is determined by vascularity, veins, arteries, capillaries, stroke volume of the heart, muscle cell elements which include oxygen uptake components. Less than 20% of overall performance is determined by absolute leg strength. But you do need to address both areas - so how do you do that? Why not lift leg weights and just ride hard? Because when you lift weights, you are conditioning your body to become stronger doing that specific motion. No leg weight exercise duplicates a pedaling motion (unless done on a bike). “Specificity,” think revolutions per minute, per hour, per day, per week, etc. Also, when you lift weights, you isolate the muscles used and the effort that those targeted muscles exerts is concentrated so much so that the damage done can require 72 hours or more for a full recovery. 72 hours is the extreme end, but none the less, in that 72 hour (or more) period any aerobic effort you try to do is discounted. You can not have the quality of effort that maximizes the aerobic effort you will want. Why? Because the muscles are “injured” at least on a clinical level. When you lift weights, what happens is that the cross bridges within the muscle are torn apart. A muscle’s strength is determined by the number of cross bridges contained within a muscle fiber. So when you lift, you tear those bridges apart, and muscles respond (with proper rest) by building more cross bridges which means a more dense, stronger muscle. But again, to allow the re-building of those cross bridges, you need to let the muscle rest. That means little to no aerobic training. So why train a small percentage contributor, for a small contribution towards performance? As a cyclist, YOU DON’T.

So what is the best way to train both the muscular component and the aerobic component at the same time? Strength training ON THE BIKE.

I use “W.O.B.” workouts for these workouts outs. “WOB” stands for “weights on the bike.” This workout is defined by RPM’s, watts, HR and rate of perceived exertion,” or RPE. The RPM’s for WOB are 40 to 50. Such a low RPM results in engaging the pedal earlier in the pedal stroke, increasing the distance of the power stroke. The greater or longer the travel distance of the power stroke, the greater the demand on the heart. The greater the demand on the heart, the greater the contribution to that aerobic power development that is so critical to cycling performance. Watt’s are 100% plus 10 of the watts you achieve at your threshold (as determined when using the “Conconi” assessment), and a heart rate at 93% or more of your heart rate at the Conconi threshold. The RPE varies from a “6” on a scale of 1 to 10 (where a “10” is a maximal effort, a “1” is no sensation while riding, and a “7” is threshold) and a “9.” The intervals of these workouts are from 5 minutes (5’) to as much as 20’. Recovery is typically half the interval. These workouts are intense! These are to be used NO more than three times per week. You need to allow for recovery, but because you are doing this training on the bike, and the effort is not as isolated on a muscle as lifting weights, recovery is faster. AND, the biggest bonus is that you are also making a contribution to that aerobic component, the cardiopulmonary functioning which is the biggest contributor to your performance.

You will find these workouts in the winter programs on MapMyRide.com - and you will notice that they increase in duration in a three week type build up or pyramid. The fourth week is a recovery week, where the gains of the three week program are allowed to occur. Then we build you up again from that new level or conditioning.

OK - so that takes care of the “strength” training - what about weight (as in, body weight) control? That article to follow for January so stay tuned!