upgradecyclecoaching.com » cyclocross http://blog.upgradecyclecoaching.com The Art and Science of Training for Cycling Sat, 04 Sep 2010 21:35:30 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Superior Cross http://blog.upgradecyclecoaching.com/bikeracing/superior-cross/ http://blog.upgradecyclecoaching.com/bikeracing/superior-cross/#comments Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:08:00 +0000 Christian http://blog.upgradecyclecoaching.com/?p=22 I raced the Superior Cyclocross race up in Cathaprin VA on Saturday, and had, for me, a pretty good race.  I was able to snag a spot on the second row at the line and was determined to have a strong start.  At first, it didn’t look good as my wheel was between two other riders and I was completely boxed in.  I managed to get out some sort of inarticulate grunt that may have been taken for “in between,” but in any event the rider to my left moved over just enough and I shot through, managing to be 5th wheel going into the dirt.

The course was a tough one; the only pavement was the short finishing stretch, and the remainder, mostly through open fields, was quite bumpy.  The bumps I could handle; it was the numerous hills, especially 3 steep ones that required you to stand just to get up them that did me in.  Several times during the race I overtook riders on the flatter or downhill sections, only to be passed in turn on the hills.  After a few laps of repeating this pattern, I lost contact with them, not being able to storm up the hills again and again, and I settled into my own private pain cave for the duration.

Perhaps the most unusual feature was the pile of woodchips used as an obstacle.  I was so surprised at coming upon it during warmups that I actually stopped and asked where the course went.  Grinning at my confusion, the volunteers pointed straight over the pile.  And over it I went.  One aspect of the race I really regret, however, was not seeing if I could ride the pile.  Several riders could, but by the time it occurred to me to try it, warmup was over, and I wasn’t willing to experiment once the race started.  Consequently, I dismounted and clambered, stumbled, and even sunk a few times as I crossed it.  Riding it would have saved a few seconds every lap, seconds that I really could have used as I finished 9th and 7th and 8th place were still within sight.

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]]> http://blog.upgradecyclecoaching.com/bikeracing/superior-cross/feed/ 0 The importance of specificity (re)illustrated http://blog.upgradecyclecoaching.com/bikeracing/the-importance-of-specificity-reillustrated/ http://blog.upgradecyclecoaching.com/bikeracing/the-importance-of-specificity-reillustrated/#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:07:00 +0000 Christian http://blog.upgradecyclecoaching.com/?p=21 I finally did a “real” race this past weekend.  The first in nearly two months, which given my general schedule of racing nearly every weekend while living in Chicago was quite a break.  Being November, it was a ‘cross race, a discipline I both love and loathe.  When I did my first cross race, may be four years ago, I loved it with all the passion a neophyte has.  The sheer novelty of it made me excited to be racing in a way I hadn’t been in years.  Of course, all that enthusiasm didn’t translate into results, and I counted it a victory that season if I didn’t get lapped after the first few laps.  Fast forward four years, and well, things haven’t changed all that much.  In Sunday’s race the top 9 guys lapped me, ninth place catching me in the finishing straight.

What has changed, however, is my physical condition after a cross race.  In previous years I would cross the line retching and wheezing, with a full-blown asthma attack under way.  In this race, I was able to keep my breathing under control, which was largely a result of the course but also because for the past 2 months I have been focusing my training on VO2max intervals, and I’ve been able to set a season best power for 5′.  I also set season bests in  1′ power and come close to my 20′ best in the past month, so I should be on pretty good form .

So what explains the disappointing day?  Well the most obvious (and probably sufficient) answer is that I lined up in the back row, and on a course as tight and twisty at the one at IX, with that starting position, unless you’re a real stud, you won’t be seeing the front. But because I try to treat each race as a learning experience, I cast around for a further explanation, and it occurred to me that I may not have been breathing as hard as I usually am because the course didn’t really contain enough straights for me to reach VO2max.  What it did have was constant sharp turns and short steep hills, the kind of course that puts a real strain on your neuromuscular power.  My body’s response bears this out — I may not have been panting as I am after a race or a hard interval, but my legs were tired, the kind of tired I associate with a hard sprint workout (or when I lifted more regularly, a hard session in the squat rack).

During my V02 block, I’ve essentially neglected neuromuscular power, beyond what’s required to get over the hills that abound here in Virginia.  This neglect is borne out by the numbers — my 5″ power over the past month is nearly 10% lower than my season peak.  Just to double check this decline, I did a few sprints today as part of my race prep routine and 5″ power was down even more, nearly 20% from my season peak in May.

Cyclocross requires quite a bit of neuromuscular power because of the constant slowing down and accelerating after dismounts and tight turns.  The course at IX was just a more extreme example of this principle and really emphasized the truism that the three most important words in training for cycling are specificity, specificity, and specificity.  So, while it’s probably too late for training I do now to have an impact on any but the last few cross races, I will certainly be including some nm workouts from now on, and if I decide to focus on cross again next season, I’ll be sure to make sure I start them earlier because Sunday’s experience confirmed once again that you need to maintain that “burstiness” that comes with a well-developed neuromuscular system to succeed at cross.

Oh, and being sure that you weasel your way to front on the start line…

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