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Both of the two riders who came to Leigh village hall at the start of December last year, John Veness and John Ibbotson, gave Surrey League riders a valuable insight into their training methods and prompted an interesting discussion.

I’ve asked John Veness if I can fire out a copy of the notes he brought along, having prepared them for the day, as they give an interesting insight into one rider’s meticulous preparation for the racing season.

He’s give me the nod…. so here we are.

It’s the time of year to be putting some details down for what you will introduce into your training regime as we move from the depth of the winder, and basic endurance work, to the pre-competition phase.

This is when the 2004 race calendar starts to take shape and when, like John, you start to prioritise your races, allocating them the status of A, B or C.

Enjoy……………

 Cycle Training by John Veness (Evans Cycles RT) - February 2004

Strengths and Weaknesses

• Need to find our limiting factors. Race specific weaknesses holding you back from being successful in certain races.
• Comparing weaknesses to race requirements you will see the limiting factor to doing well in certain types of races.
• Train to improve specific identified weaknesses.

Planning

Race into shape or plan the season?

• Set season goals.
• Measurable
• Under your control
• Must stretch you
• Be positive
• Racing outcome orientated e.g. Top ten finish in SL 2,3,4. Upgrade to next cat by mid or end of season.
• Establish objectives
• Work on limiting factor.

An examples of Goals and objectives :

Goal:                            Finish in the top 5 of an Elite flat road race

Training objective:         Improve speed, spin at 140 RPM with no bouncing by end of March. Out sprint Jamie on training run to 3 out of 5 lamp posts by end of February. (Really need more quantitive measures than this, he might be having a bad day!)

• Decide on annual hours. (Rather than mileage).
• Pro       800-1200 Hrs/Yr
• 1-2       700-1000 Hrs/Yr
• 3          500-700  Hrs/Yr
• 4          350-500  Hrs/Yr
• Junior   200-350  Hrs/Yr
• Need to fit in with your life and other commitments.
• Be realistic.
• Don’t increase more than about 15% over previous years load.
• Volume develops endurance.
• Prioritise races.
• Allocate A,B and C.
• A are most important for you. Will determine where you peak. Could be up to 6 of these.
• B are important but won’t generally peak for these.
• Rest will be C. Training races for experience and hard workouts. Use to tune-up fitness. May decide to do one last minute.
• Use a chart to allocate weekly hours depending upon training phase.
• Then allocate daily hours and specific sessions.
• Examples of sessions:  Intervals, hill sprints, spin-ups. TT’s good for testing progress.

Training

• 3 fundamental elements, Frequency, Duration, Intensity.
• Specificity. You will be the best at what you do the most of.
• Overload. Challenging the body’s current state of fitness.
• I use the Periodisation System.
• Don’t be a slave to the plan, still try to be flexible, unexpected things will happen.
  

• Preparation 3-4 weeks.

Start of the year. Low intensity, preparing the body to ride again. Volume not to high, keep at base level.

• Base 8-12 weeks.

Establish strength, speed and endurance. The wider the base the higher the peak ? Introduce muscular endurance and hill work. Volume ramps up. With each month of base, intensity steps up. Try and stay seated and spin.

• Build 6-10 weeks.

Develop muscular endurance, speed endurance, and power. Really starts to introduce high intensity workouts. C cat race will be ridden.

• Peak 1-2 weeks. Reduced volume and high intensity workouts. 2 a week, taper to important races. Be rested and ready for the big ones.
• Race 1-6 weeks. Race, refine strengths and recover.
• Transition 1-6 weeks. Rest and recover. Can occur mid season to prevent burn-out.

• Periods split into 4 week cycles. Ramp up through wks 1-3.
• Every 4^th week have an easy one. Base volume with little intensity.

What I’ve learnt

• Mix it up, don’t get stagnant
• Get tested, this will help you train more effectively.
• Don’t be afraid to change the way you do things, you need to adapt with your body.
• If you don’t feel like it don’t do it.
• Get enough sleep, it makes a huge difference. Lunch time nap?
• Eat real food.
• Learn race tactics or you will get nowhere (as I’ve discovered many times)
• Learn about the subject. The cyclists training bible. Joe Friel.