Off Season Training... Wait, What? You're in Your Offy?
Ahhh, the off season. No more getting up at oh-dark thirty to do hard trainer rides. Less managing your nutrition and recovery. Leisurely coffee shop rides with your buddies at an easy pace. And just plain old resting your body and mind from a long season.
Well, sort of. At least for me anyway.
My season ended early when I moved from Denver to Phoenix. In Arizona road racing season more or less ends in May as it gets far too hot to race (or even ride) bikes in the summer here. 112 degrees (44 degrees Celsius for those of you abroad) is a regular occurrence here in the valley.
So, with no events to do, I shifted to off season mode. And that's been good for job hunting, and getting my kids to and from their new school, and taking care of the various other vagaries of moving. But, off season for me means a bit of hard work too.
I decided late in the year last year to return to racing after my battle with cancer. As such, I didn't do the normal preparation for going into the season. Namely, weight lifting to restore some balance to my body and to shore up my structure to deal with hard training. And, by the end of my season this year, I was noticing some general fatigue and some real muscle imbalances.
To remedy this, while I have indeed been riding easy (and loving that) whenver I feel like riding, I've also been lifting a few days a week. Now, I enjoy weight lifting. I've always done it but, in recent years, I've explored it in more detail as I was running a fitness business. And I've tinkered with the things I like the most and the things I find to be most effective for me. But, the classics will always be classic so I do a lot of general strength builders like deadlift, squat, and a variety of presses. I do these heavy but very low volume so as not so expose myself to too much risk of injury. Then I follow these lifts with small circuits akin to a crossfit workout (though usually lighter and not as fast) and whatever core and corrective work I feel like I need.
My hope is that I'll go into my next TrainerRoad training cycle with better general strength and a more balanced structure. It's like pro cyclist Eric Marcotte says (I'm paraphrasing here), you don't want to put a V8 engine on an unstable chassis.
I've put together a little training montage video. Because, who doesn't love a training montage.
I start back to training next week. It'll be back to harder rides on the trainer. I'll be training outdoors on the patio. It's a lot cooler in the mornings but still pretty warm, so I'm dreaming up my training set up. And a big fan is first on the list. The weather is going to break here soon however and the mornings will cool off a lot.
With regard to my cancer, I'm doing well. I'm not out of the woods yet, I'm not cancer free. But, it's well managed and I feel pretty good most days. I have the occasional "Cancer Day" where I don't feel well and/or am super tired. Those days I take it easy and usually the next day I'm back at it. In another year or so I'll go off my maintenance med and sometime after that they'll either pronounce me in remission, or they won't.
Thanks for reading! Check me out on Instagram if you haven't already: https://www.instagram.com/hugh_maceachran/
Well, sort of. At least for me anyway.
My season ended early when I moved from Denver to Phoenix. In Arizona road racing season more or less ends in May as it gets far too hot to race (or even ride) bikes in the summer here. 112 degrees (44 degrees Celsius for those of you abroad) is a regular occurrence here in the valley.
So, with no events to do, I shifted to off season mode. And that's been good for job hunting, and getting my kids to and from their new school, and taking care of the various other vagaries of moving. But, off season for me means a bit of hard work too.
I decided late in the year last year to return to racing after my battle with cancer. As such, I didn't do the normal preparation for going into the season. Namely, weight lifting to restore some balance to my body and to shore up my structure to deal with hard training. And, by the end of my season this year, I was noticing some general fatigue and some real muscle imbalances.
To remedy this, while I have indeed been riding easy (and loving that) whenver I feel like riding, I've also been lifting a few days a week. Now, I enjoy weight lifting. I've always done it but, in recent years, I've explored it in more detail as I was running a fitness business. And I've tinkered with the things I like the most and the things I find to be most effective for me. But, the classics will always be classic so I do a lot of general strength builders like deadlift, squat, and a variety of presses. I do these heavy but very low volume so as not so expose myself to too much risk of injury. Then I follow these lifts with small circuits akin to a crossfit workout (though usually lighter and not as fast) and whatever core and corrective work I feel like I need.
My hope is that I'll go into my next TrainerRoad training cycle with better general strength and a more balanced structure. It's like pro cyclist Eric Marcotte says (I'm paraphrasing here), you don't want to put a V8 engine on an unstable chassis.
I've put together a little training montage video. Because, who doesn't love a training montage.
With regard to my cancer, I'm doing well. I'm not out of the woods yet, I'm not cancer free. But, it's well managed and I feel pretty good most days. I have the occasional "Cancer Day" where I don't feel well and/or am super tired. Those days I take it easy and usually the next day I'm back at it. In another year or so I'll go off my maintenance med and sometime after that they'll either pronounce me in remission, or they won't.
Thanks for reading! Check me out on Instagram if you haven't already: https://www.instagram.com/hugh_maceachran/
Comments
Post a Comment