[dc]F[/dc]all has hit, il Lombardia is in the books, Paris Tours has come and gone, and cyclocross is in full swing. For those riders who have been training since the dark hours of January, the season has wound down and rides consist of trips to the coffee shop amid the crunch of fallen leaves. If not for a double espresso run, it's time to put feet up on the coffee table, read the gossip (USADA decision anyone?) and recover while starting to plan for next year.
Regarding planning for next season, one of the biggest fallacies that I've run across lately is explained by the post below:
I've been thinking about racing this coming year, but I live in (northern state that gets a lot of snow). I'm worried that I can't get enough miles in during the winter to keep me fit and get me ready for next year. Should I go out during the winter and try to build up my miles in the cold and snow?
While I can't fault people for counting their mileage, what I CAN fault them for is continuing to buy into the myth that “more miles equals more fitness.” Another name for this would be “more hours equals more fitness.” Eddy Merckx made it famous by saying “just ride.” While there is some truth to this adage, especially for cyclists who are new to the sport, as we progress and our fitness builds, it becomes less and less truthful. In fact, it couldn't be further from the truth for people who are setting specific competitive goals, and I'll tell you why:
The Three Facets of Fitness
Let's get acquainted with what I call the “three facets of fitness.” Duration. Intensity. Frequency. Duration is simply the length of your workout, either in hours or, in the case above, miles. Intensity is the difficulty of the workout. Frequency is how often you're stressing your body with a workout. Learn them, live them, love them, and for the love of everything Merckxian, apply them!
Alone, each of these facets will help your fitness improve a little bit. But if you combine them (like a Panera “You Pick two” deal) you'll have a powerful tool for increasing your fitness. But many athletes make a critical mistake when thinking about how to put those together, figuring that “more must be better.” This almost universally translates into longer duration and more frequency, which will result in increased fatigue, decreased motivation and only moderate fitness gains.
Why?
Base Miles
Ask any cyclist what they do in the winter and most will answer with “long rides”, “base miles” or “long slow distance.” I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS MYTH STILL EXISTS FOR THOSE OF US WHO AREN'T PROFESSIONAL RIDERS! If you think of the physiology behind a professional cyclist's training, they MUST be doing slow miles if they're riding for five hours a day early in the year. They couldn't possibly maintain significant intensity at that volume, that early in the year. Factor in that those long slow rides are often used for teams to gel during training camp and you now understand why pros are on their bikes five hours a day, doing low intensity or zone 2 work.
With that out of the way, there is some benefit to zone 2 work: it increases your aerobic capacity and builds the aerobic enzymes and mitochondria that your body relies on for energy production. So if you're not a pro, you're not receiving a cheque to ride your bike for five hours a day and you still want to make fitness gains, what do you do? Thankfully there are ways to build fitness and raise your functional threshold without those zone 2 base miles (and ones that won't bore you to death either.)
Frequent Intensity
Instead of frequency and duration, consider frequency and intensity as your go-to facets of fitness. Research has proven that aerobic fitness increases with anaerobic work, so you're getting the benefits that long slow base miles provide along the way. If you can build base along with fundamental skills and do it in a shorter period by adding some intensity, why not?
Frequent high intensity workouts also tend to be short and to the point: you don't have to block out five hours a day to do them. This is extremely important to those cyclists who have work, families, homes to maintain, snow to shovel, etc etc. Instead of spending most of the daylight on Saturday freezing out in the January wind, they can spend 45 minutes doing a high intensity workout and spend four hours with the kids. Sounds like a win/win to me.
While freezing your butt off might sound bad, pedaling along for four hours at zone 2 is probably worse. High intensity work is a relief from the monotony of long base miles, which is hugely appealing to many cyclists. The variety of intensities and the suffering involved in completing those workouts helps keep a cyclist mentally focused. Knowing how difficult it is to stay focused during the winter months, it would follow that the most stimulating workouts would be the most desirable.
Choose Your Intensity Carefully
Even though everything listed above is a compelling reason to swap your winter training from monotonous, long zone 2 miles, consider your goals for the coming season. Shorter duration, higher intensity work helps a cyclist to build specific fitness that will translate into event specific performance. For example, if said cyclist has a lot of climbing events in next year's schedule, workouts that tax climbing power, strength and technique should be used. They will not only build base fitness but begin to lay a foundation for that athlete's goal specific fitness.
Caveats
Don't get me wrong: I don't hate long zone 2 workouts. They're perfect as a small part of your winter training or as a way to mentally check out and just pedal around the countryside. But when used as the bulk of an offseason workout program, they are grossly inferior to more current training methods that will provide better results. Ideally, your winter training plan will include a day (maybe 2) of longer duration zone 2 work, one to two days of higher intensity work and at least a couple days of technique or fundamental type work. Not only will this build event specific fitness, you'll still get those zone 2 days to recover and “build your base”. Eddy Merckx would be proud….
