Kaizen said:[font=Times New Roman]I understand the importance of building a base during the off season. In the winter my weeks consist of 4-5 rides per week at an average of 70-75% Max Heart Rate….[/font]
[font=Times New Roman]However, for cross training, I play basketball 2-3 days per week at an intense level (sprints, jumping, 90% MHR at times, 2 hours).[/font]
[font=Times New Roman]Could this intense cross training negatively affect my base come racing season? [/font]
[font=Times New Roman]In addition to Basketball and Cycling, I am lifting 3 days a week.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman]Any insight would be greatly appreciated.[/font]
What sort of cycling and/or racing do you do?
As regards the high intensity work you are doing when taking part in basketball, if you are alluding to the sometimes quoted idea that intense efforts can damage you/your base/your capillaries then i wouldn't worry as such an idea is ludicrous.
whether they have a negative effect in other ways is possible (e.g., if 2hrs of intense workouts fatigue you for your next cycling session then it's likely bad for your cycling). on the other hand as you're cycling very easy you probably need some intensity... but this is best done on the bike, if you're going to race next season. There's little point in cycling around at low intensity all the time -- it just makes you slower.
assuming that you are not a track sprinter (200m, 1km, etc) then the weights are most likely detrimental to performance.
ric
