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In light of the recent COVID-19 outbreak, the timing of your training for the 2020 cycling season has changed. Races are in question, stress is high, and a lot of us are wondering how to proceed with our seasons with so much being up in the air. So we decided to sit down and chat about the age old question: what should we do when our races get cancelled? How do we proceed when plans change? A lot of us are in this position, so we hope that this clears some of the worry and unknown when it comes to the next few weeks of the season. #KeepCalmAndFtFPOn .
Here are 3 training scenarios if your plans have changed per our “Timing is Everything” Podcast:
#1 your next race is in 6-10 weeks (and/or you have MORE time to train):
#2 your next race is in 6-10 weeks (and you have LESS time to train):
#3 you are a cyclocross’er in the off season and don’t want to go to the gym anymore [#flattenthecurve]
We advocate making your own home gym with the strength and conditioning movements we prescribe in our 10 week resistance training plan. You’ll have to let go of the squat, leg press and leg curl from the plan and double down on these strength and conditioning movements and routines
- Nino’s
- Coach Brandon’s #secretTraining 5 minute Plank
- Your REVO Physiotherapy Hydrate & Skate band exercises
- EC Fit Strength and Conditioning App
- YogaGlo
I feel great and FAST Right Now:
Good (!) & congratulations! Sounds like your training is working (you’ve been #FtFP’ing). Here are a few things you can do to flex your muscle:
#1 measure how much faster you are with a 20 minute Field Test – not the ‘funnest’ so perhaps # 2 is your jam
#2 go for your favorite Strava segment for a PR – take a page out of FasCat Athlete Phil Gaimon’s playbook and test yourself agains your previous best.
We hope these suggestions and podcast help – that’s what we’re here for: to help you go faster on the bike. Should you have anymore questions, concerns, dilemmas, obstacles, etc… reach out to your FasCat Coach, hire one or goto our athlete forum and post your question – we’d be glad to try and help!
Hello @ryanolson -
You def want to switch from base to race bc you don’t want to get stagnant from base training (and CTL leveling out). I think we are just in a 4 week pause for some gravel racing and have high hope that the DK still happens May 30th.
Good point on the stagnation, did not think of that, so I am glad you corrected my thinking.
I think BWR will be postponed for sure and even DK will be tight. Another issue I may run into is even if DK runs, they may not allow me to cross the border!
My may 16th race would be the qualifying event for UCI Gran Fondo worlds in September, so I had only planned for these 2 this year.
No news yet on new dates, but I doubt anytime before July.
I would plan to be in form mid-May with interval training. But then cycle back n forth between sweet spot and intervals more of an ‘in season’ style until you know more.
Intervals > sweet spot > Intervals
A lot of people train and ride for fun. Most of the enjoyment and pleasure comes from the build up to the event. The event is only a small fraction of it. Look to improve on personal goals through your training. Improve your FTP, fastest 100 mile solo ride, improve personal Strava KOM’s, ride the most you have ridden in a day and etc. Know that the work you put in this year will help for next year! If you let up this year and take it easy it will only take more work next year to get back to a position you would be in if you stayed on it. Think of it this way as well, how many people go to the gyms, or do CrossFit yet never enter a competition?
For long outdoors rides one thing I also do is look to ride new roads, in new directions, ride places I have never ridden, add in Strava segments along the way throughout the ride, create new ones and etc! We have segments here that are on sections of roads that are 30, 45 and 60 minutes long. Ride to one of these, do it and ride back and already early have 3 - 4 hours. These can be great motivators. They are not climbs, some are flat, some are rolling, some are out and back, and some are loops. Try drawing something on Strava map by the route you ride. You are only limited by your creativity.
With no racing it becomes more important to keep training. There are not races to help you get into shape. So you will have to work hard on staying motived and getting in race intensity. This for most will be the harder then doing long rides. Learning to push yourself as hard as you would in a race is very hard. You can try Zwift racing! That is something a lot maybe doing to get out that competitiveness they crave and also, quite frankly, some brutal efforts. But come the first races this year or next it will be easy to tell who put in the work and who didn’t.
If for whatever reason there is not racing this year those that put in the work will never regret doing it or being in shape, but those who don’t might.
Just have fun, enjoy the riding, enjoy pushing and challenging yourself and most of all just #FtFP. We’ll get through this together enjoy some group riding, racing, coffee shop rides and drinks together soon enough.