Peaking

gmd_bike said:

Hi,
I am a 14 year old Junior Road Racer and I am looking for some advice. My whole season is revolving around Jr. Nats (Seven Springs). I am wondering how to be on my best form for July 5-9 and how to do it? The course is very hilly and there is a 5 mile TT also that I want to do well in. Any help with training, advice or any kind of tips would greatly be appreciated.

If you want to be "on form" for a particular event, I would suggest hiring one of the following people to coach you:

Hunter Allen
Chris Merriam
Frank Overton
John Verheul
Dave Harris
Dave Jordaan
Lynda Wallenfels
Ben Sharp
Brian Walton
Lyndsay Edwards
Jim Miller

(There are a few others that I would recommend for the same reason, but AFAIK they don't actively coach anyone.)

(Great advise Andy.)

There are probably other good coaches too, but at the national level I even wonder how come you don't already have one.

SolarEnergy said:

(Great advise Andy.)

There are probably other good coaches too, but at the national level I even wonder how come you don't already have one.

I trust the team director because he has made a number of succesful athletes so I don't think I really needed one. I was just asking everyone on the forums and see what their responses were and then talk to him about them.

The key to peaking for a special event is to duplicate those traing sessions you have when the pedals feel ever so light under your feet.

Therefore in order to do this you must write down everthing that you do,

Eg. what type of session it was, windy, cold, hot, what did you eat, sleep, etc/etc.

Once you are able to identify a pattern, then you try to replicate it. As you become better at this you be able to replicate it for training sessions allowing you to have even better training sessions. And round and round we go.

Also entering the last 3-4 days before the race you reduce some volume, it doesn't hurt to do some sprints just to open the motor, as I like to say. It sort of reminds your body that you might be doing some work today, yet it won't wear you out.

Now, 14 is kind of young to establish this because your body is growing incredibly fast. You might think that you rested well for the race and find out that your body said " to bad today, we had to grow and decided to use all of your energy to do this"

This is such a broad topic, which is probably why you haven't gotten any detailed responses yet. My first suggestion would be to continue browsing this forum and learning about training. this is what I can offer:

Your goals are really divided into two things: training, and tapering

Tapering is basically a matter of increasing volume while keeping some form of intensity to arive at race day fresh. A full taper will be 10-14 days. Early on include some tough workouts with more rest than normal. The last few days might be easy spinning with some efforts to stay "open."

gmd_bike said:

I trust the team director because he has made a number of succesful athletes so I don't think I really needed one. I was just asking everyone on the forums and see what their responses were and then talk to him about them.

Do you follow a plan at the moment?

SolarEnergy said:

Do you follow a plan at the moment?

Yes,
Monday- Rest Day completley of the bike.
Tuesday-Ride Time 1 1/2 - 2 Hrs Speed Accelerations (sprints )
Wednesday-Ride Time 3 Hrs-Endurance Miles (long and Steady Zone 3 heart rate)
Thursday- Ride Time 2 hrs. Steady State Intervals

Friday Ride 1-1/2 Hrs.

Saturday Ride Time 2-3 Hrs OR RACE

Sunday Ride Time 2- 2 1/2 OR RACE

That is my Training plan now but it will get longer once school is out for the summer. Any suggestions? And any suggestions for better times for TT ?

Thanks,
Graham

For all you people suggesting that you can properly peak with a week of tapering is just wrong. Think more long term gmd, you should have been aiming for this race 12 months in advance! 1st phase of training-BASE/ endurance...your avg speeds on long rides should keep improving and you should be able to ride for longer.

2nd phase-Longer TT's and strength endurance, keep spinning on any downhill sections whilst riding to improve leg speed and strength at the same time...leg speed is often a big decider in junior races (I am a natural masher 🙁) even if you are like me you HAVE to have leh speed.

3rd phase- Move onto Interval work 1-2 minutes hard, rest 1-2, repeat x10-20!!! Incorporate some sprints once or twice a week.

4th phase- Shorter intervals using little gears maybe uphill for 20 seconds, repeat 5-10 times. Do a few 5 mile TT's to practice for the nats course

5th phase- focus totally on the nats, do some reconaissonce (spelling bad lol) of the course and do drills that you will need for the race.

This is a very rough guide but it should work, I recommend that you race as much as possible even in the BASE/ endurance phase so you learn tactics better. A few light weights in the first 2 phases wouldn't hurt and could give you an advantage over your less developed rivals, a bit of swimming even to work on lung capacity (practice holding your breath for 6-12 strokes) and general muscle conditioning.

Lastly I also recommend that if you are in Interval/ sprint phase also do a long TT once a fortnight just incase that skill you have built strats to weaken. Also do a Long ride once a week to keep that endurance you have built...hopefully it will all come together for you next year if you use this plan. In the meantime just do as much as possible for this years race and rest beforehand!

whoawhoa said:

Tapering is basically a matter of increasing volume while keeping some form of intensity to arive at race day fresh. A full taper will be 10-14 days. Early on include some tough workouts with more rest than normal. The last few days might be easy spinning with some efforts to stay "open."

Usually, tapering consists of *decreasing* volume both in total time and the amount of time spent on high intensity intervals. The last few days might include some efforts around VO2max and short sprints, but in smaller gears to save the legs a bit while still providing enough stress to maintain the aerobic and anaerobic systems. Before most races, and especially when tapering I do 2 to 3, 4-5' progressions from about 70% of threshold to around 110% of threshold.

WarrenG said:

Usually, tapering consists of *decreasing* volume both in total time and the amount of time spent on high intensity intervals. The last few days might include some efforts around VO2max and short sprints, but in smaller gears to save the legs a bit while still providing enough stress to maintain the aerobic and anaerobic systems. Before most races, and especially when tapering I do 2 to 3, 4-5' progressions from about 70% of threshold to around 110% of threshold.

You're right, that was a mistype. Thanks for the heads up.