At this time of year, most riders are wrapping up their seasons and looking back, hopefully with fond memories of success. All athletes need to do some sort of post-season review — more on that later, but what riding they do now depends on their goals for October, November, and December, that is, whether or not they are racing cross, and if so, how seriously.
If a rider is not racing cross all that seriously, I generally recommend one cross workout midweek, with a warm-up of 20′ or so, focusing on skills, then 20′-40′ (depending on the length of the races he or she does) of race simulation on a shortened course. One of my favorite workouts is to set up a course that takes approximately 4 minutes to ride, with at least 1 dismount, 1 run-up,and if at all possible, a short section of single track to work on handling, and then alternate hard and easy laps for the recommended time. Following this scheme gives the rider specificity both on the “on” and the “off” section of an interval. This midweek workout, combined with a weekend race, is generally enough for riders to maintain enough race fitness to last through the cross season. The other days of the week, I recommend all other rides be endurance rides, with the occasional sweet-spot ride through in every 10 days or so.
For most of the riders I work with, and in most years, for myself, this stripped down approach is the one I recommend. This season, however, my move at the end of July put paid to the last 3 months of my road season, so I determined to focus more fully on cross. I will only be doing a few cross races, but in the past, I’ve always been happy to finish in the top half of the field because I was just out there for the heck of it. This year, I hope to move up a bit by focusing my training more specifically on cross.
What this means in practice…
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