There is nothing quite like speeding down a hill at 40+ mph, going aero with the sun reflecting off of your sunscreen and sweat-licked face while breathing in the fresh air and smell of evergreens. There is also no feeling similar to the leg fatigue one feels after an eight mile climb up a mountain. The descent makes it all worth it, though.
How do you build up a base strong enough to make those climbs that lead to such glorious descents? A couple things are key in endurance sports like cycling or running: strong leg muscles and a high lactate threshold (LT).
When training for an event your workouts can be divided into categories - interval and endurance, i.e. weekdays and weekends. Busy schedules during the week usually leave us with less time to workout, but it is still important to get in workouts during the week. The good news is you can get in extremely beneficial workouts in a little time during the week by doing interval training and weight training. Keep your long rides and runs for the weekend, and during the week go to the track and work on speed intervals, find your favorite hill and do hill repeats or hit the gym and work on your squat and deadlift. This will increase your LT and make your long weekend workouts easier by easing the burning that you feel from the lactic acid build up. Use the weekdays to build up a tolerance and everything will fall into place on the weekends. It will also boost your performance come race day. That is the day that you can breath it all in and remember why you worked so hard.
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