getting back into training
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Last modified: May 20, 2013
getting back into training after a break
Recently I had some minor surgery and was only given the green light to train a week ago. That meant missing two weeks proper training. This post is about how to deal with unwanted mid-season breaks.
What I did in this period was gentle walks in the first week, mainly to get over the claustrophobia I was suffering from having my nose stuffed with bandages. The second week I started gentle cycling, really easy stuff, but with some strength work t keep muscle tone and keep tendons and ligaments primed. In the third week I would pick up the pace, and ‘go through the gear’ so to speak: 20′ at 36kph, 20′ 39kph, 10′ at 41kph, this is quite easy in a short session.
After week three I got back into training proper, but even that wasn’t straight forward… Volume and ‘lactic power’ (anaerobic glycolitic power) was what I was missing and these aspect are tricky to fine tune. I found training very well (3-4 hours, mostly tempo, with a lot lactic tolerance training (just bellow threshold) over one to three days and frequent rest days involving some nasty 1′ intervals on a tough hill I know (it’s ~300m, 30m ascent and takes me a minute more or less).
Controling what you eat during any period without training is key. Even paying attention to this aspect I gained a kilo in the three weeks I was away from the bike. Weight is the worse thing for performance and takes a lot of effort to shift: avoid this problem mid season.
I feel it’s coming back together, but just the amount of work to get my form back up where it was is terrifying… It’s all the difficult aspects I need to train.
In summary:
- Control your diet (don’t put on weigt)
- Keep ligaments, tendons etc primed using some strength work
- Start back into training with long tempo rides to quickly improve endurance
- Divide lactic tolerance training and power into separate sessions
- Train as you would normaly, but boost recovery periods (smaller load blocks)
Read some complimentary advive (it’s more aimed at people who’ve been away a long time)