After deciding I was done with Cyclocross, I nonetheless dabbled with one event this year which was local to me, and it's sort of given me the bug again!
In the past I've usually started keen then either gotten ill or injured and sacked off the rest of the season, obviously I'd like to avoid that this time around!
Season opener for me is likely to be late October/early Nov. Counting back, I would want to be doing at least 6-8 weeks dedicated training, this year I was badly found out for only having 'long ride' plodder legs and no real sustained power.
Prior to that I guess I want to do 6-8 weeks strength (over and above the usual maintenance/bodyweight stuff I do during the week) to try and avoid the usual back and knee issues. This would seem to require me to start going to the gym at the height of summer to start preparing! 🤣
How do the other racers start preparing for their seasons? Does it get in the way of summer riding?
I always just used to ride/race year round. A season of road races and MTB races with a bit of volume work was all I ever seemed to need, just calmed it down a bit after the XC nationals to give myself a ‘break’ then started with a bit of extra speed work towards the new cross season. Never did any gym work my entire racing career, although I did quite a bit of physical graft, so maybe that why I didn’t need any more.
Never did any gym work my entire racing career, although I did quite a bit of physical graft, so maybe that why I didn’t need any more.
Whereas I'm a full time desk jockey! Might be the difference. And also I might be confusing myself with a contender who needs the extra gainz from gym work, maybe I can just stick with the injury prevention body weight/ light weights and get on with making gains on the bike instead...
I've just done my 2nd season back as a vet after a 25 gap. I just do my usual summer riding. (Commuting to work, one long ride and a couple of fast rides per week). Last year I tried some running to get ready for cross but gave up quickly as I just ended up injured.
I keep meaning to do strength training but I never find the time.
I only do local league stuff. I think I'd need to be doing more specific work if I was doing national trophies.
For me i get less fit through the CX season as it takes away my chance to do volume.
I don't do much specific stuff. The main shift is moving to more CX like efforts in the run up. Shorter intense rides. Quite easy to do on the MTB. The other one is get used to riding the bike again. I tend to write off the first race and treat it as a practice. It's hard to replicate a race outside of an event.
Starting early let's me get a few dry ones in and build up to the mudflats and slippery stuff also. Grass crit races are less of a shock.
My return to CX was aborted by circumstance this winter OP but in much the same way I'd like to be going in better prepared.
I guess strength is always something to work on (year round), but I'm not joining a gym, maybe kettle bells (possibly some free weights?) at home and DIY circuits in the garden or local park? Plus the kids are off school this summer so I should be able to ramp up my pedalled commuting miles during August.
It might just be that come September when my roll as Daddy Uber ramps back up, I have to get on the turbo earlier than in the past (say 3x 1hr during the week) just to get some volume and targeted stuff in, and maintain that right through till the spring...
The best I've felt for CX is when I've been able to ride consistently during the week in the run up to races...
For me it's just summer fitness, MTB races plus chain gang being the best for CX I reckon, with added intervals in late August to be ready for September.
In the season it's harder to maintain...I *try* to do a few hrs Z2 on a Tuesday and intervals on Thursday.
Depending on where you live Oct/Nov is quite late to start the season. I'd just crack on in September when most leagues start and your summer fitness is still decent.
I've been meaning to do some strength for the last few years...but for reasons (mostly upper body injuries) that hasn't happened yet.
I don't do much specific stuff. The main shift is moving to more CX like efforts in the run up. Shorter intense rides. Quite easy to do on the MTB. The other one is get used to riding the bike again. I tend to write off the first race and treat it as a practice. It's hard to replicate a race outside of an event.
Actually this should be easiest and most fun, start with mid-week short gravel or road-bike smash-fests (a tactic employed by another forum member who spanked me at our last competitive head-to-head) and slowly transfer on to muddier terrain, although I'm loathe to re-invest in nightlights so I guess would end up back on the turbo eventually.
I've always gotten a bit confused about how to integrate strength with intensity training, assuming you want to do at least 2x strength and 2x intensity during the week you always end up doing something back-to-back and the DOMs from the strength work sort of puts me off the bike work! 🤣
Depending on where you live Oct/Nov is quite late to start the season. I'd just crack on in September when most leagues start and your summer fitness is still decent.
True, I'd dismissed the first round in Scotland because I thought it was too far away (problem in Scotland is the series spans a relatively large geographical area, I'm not really prepared to sit on the A9 for 5 hours in one day just for a CX race 🙄 ) but actually it's way closer than I had realised. Also clashes with the 'end' of the gravel season for me, my best and longest gravel rides last year were during a late-September heat wave in the Cairngorms.
I'm new into V60 this year, having not raced for a couple of years
I'm also really not fit, having not raced for a couple of years (and doing little riding this winter
Hoping to be reasonably fit for September but I'll not be anywhere near the tip of the spear, no metter what brand of dryrobe I might buy
I'm new into V60 this year, having not raced for a couple of years
I was looking forward to getting into V40 20 years ago. What a mistake that was, they were just as fast as the Senior Men, and more competitive too, albeit over 40 mins rather than 60. Probably they had all been racing from the age of 15 and kept it up as they got older. I’m 60 now, I stopped racing due to Covid, but have an itch to come back and do a bit more, though I’d definitely be at the back.
albeit over 40 mins rather than 60
🤩
I forgot I would be in Vet now! I just imagined it would be even faster and harder BECAUSE it's only 40 minutes, and the shorter the effort/higher the intensity the less it suits me I think 🙄
As ever, I really want to have another crack at CX this year.
Finally getting a decent amount of riding so far this year so hopefully I’ll actually have a decent base to work from.
I just started doing an extra chaingang a week for a month before the season started. And taking it seriously.
The gang i used to ride with usually split about 10/15 minutes out of town, fast group for those getting ready for CX season, "slower" group for those winding down after the season.
If i'd been racing on the MTB properly that year, the change between hard and harder on the front was fairly easy, just needed to put an edge on. If i'd been road riding, it really depended what i'd been doing in the few weeks immediately before.
My next few months looks like:
Next week - getting over cold/sinusitis
Following week - 5 day 'endurance block' targeting 700km mixed gravel and road miles over 4-5 days, or at least as much as fitness, recovery and injury allows, followed by a week off.
Following month - shorter/sweetspot weekend gravel miles, midweek morning Z2 + one hill session leading up to Grand Old Dukes mid-June.
After that I'm more at liberty to focus on CX although because it's summer I guess I'll be looking to do a bit more elevation on the road bike, but I can start doing midweek threshold sessions which I always 'enjoy' which typically means chasing a selection of rolling 8-10 minute road segments near me. I can alternate with similar on gravel. Still have some long distance gravel objectives but fewer of them so can focus more on building speed.
And I'll continue the sporadic, unfocused strength work that I'm doing already 😆