Categories: ExportLa Vie Velominatus

La Vie Velominatus: Train Properly

There are few pleasures in life as great as to achieve a goal, to accomplish something that doesn’t come easily. Great lessons are taught through this activity; we learn that it is our determination and not our doubt that defines our limits. We learn that through studied discipline we can cultivate the skills required to work incrementally towards becoming what we want to be.

This is true for our personal, social and professional lives – and any other aspect that I may have left off. But to achieve our goals is usually a rather complicated mess; it requires introspection, it often requires reliance upon others to do their part or at least not interfere with you doing yours, and it is usually rife with hard choices of long-lasting and difficult to understand consequences.

In its most basic form, Cycling provides us a path to discovery in a less complicated model than do our actual lives. We train our bodies, we become more healthy. We become more healthy, we train more. We become stronger, we go faster. We derive more pleasure from our efforts. We experience reward for sacrifice. We associate progress with the pain of an effort. We enjoy Cycling more. We ride more. We become healthier still. We become stronger still. We go even faster. We suffer more. We associate more pain with a greater sense of achievement. And though it all, we discover it that unlike every other walk of life, in Sport we are islands: what we find here is only what we have brought with us.

Eventually, exercising will become training. The activity becomes richer with the application of the discipline that comes with this rebadging. Exercise is something you do regularly but without structure. With training comes a study of your body and how it responds to stimulus. Long rides have a different effect on the body than do short ones. Successive hard efforts have another effect, as do longer and shorter periods off the bike.

Training Properly requires discipline and patience. It means you don’t just throw your leg over your machine and pedal off to ride along tree-lined boulevards. Training Properly means having a plan for each day. It means heading for the hills one day, and the plains another. It means controlling yourself and not trying to set your best time up the local climb because you feel good that day. Training Properly means restraining yourself on a group ride and not joining in on the town line sprints if your plan doesn’t call for it. Training Properly means leaving for a ride despite the rain falling from the heavens and the loved ones whom you leave at home.

Training Properly comes down you and you alone; much can be learned from books and coaches, but the path is yours to walk. The discovery is yours to experience and to shape into what you are seeking. There are, however, some basics to keep in mind. Also keep in mind I’m not a “Sports Doctor”, “Physiotherapist”, or “Smart”. And never take medical or sporting advice from Some Guy On the Internet.

Break your muscles down, and allow them to build back up. This is the fundamental principle of Training Properly. Hard efforts break your muscles down. You body will respond by building them back stronger than they were before. This process takes time. Be patient.
Observe Rule #5 when appropriate. In accordance with #1 above, laying down the V is handy for breaking the muscles down, but not so much for allowing them to build back up. Lay down the V one day, then give your body a chance to build back up, either through rest or through low-intensity recovery rides.
Learn to listen to your body. There are good pains and bad pains – learn to tell the difference. Good pains include burning lungs, gun aches, road rash, and the like. These pains will lessen during a ride or even go away completely. Proceed carefully, but learn to push through them; if they don’t go away, they get classified as bad pains. Bad pains include different types of knee pain and chronic pains in, for example, your shoulders, back, or neck. Knees are especially sacred and should be looked after carefully; see a physiotherapist for this and if they prescribe time off the bike, take it. Rushing recovery on a sensitive injury may seem tough and in compliance with Rule #5, but may set you back more than being patient and recovering fully. If you suffer from chronic pains, consult a fitting specialist and work on your position.
Train to ride farther than you need to. Incrementally increase the distance of your training, until you can ride farther than you need to. If you are training for a Sportive or race of 140 kilometers, train to ride 160 or 200; you will arrive for your event with the confidence that you can easily handle the ride and will have something in reserve should things not go according to plan.
Save competing for Race Day. Being competitive is for racing, not training. Set goals for a ride, and adhere to them. Don’t chase after a rider who passes you on a climb when you are on a recovery ride. Don’t lift your pace when you see a rider ahead who you think you can catch. If you don’t race, pick a day or two every week where you try to catch every rider you spot on the road – but remember that they should also be adhering to their own training plan; don’t sit on uninvited and don’t hinder their training through your antics.

Be patient. Have discipline. Train Properly. Vive la Vie Velominatus.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

snoov says:

Mar 8 2012 at 7:32 am

@frank
Not sure if your kidding Frank but the guy in The Oracle's picture is William Shakespeare aka The Bard.
frank says:

Mar 8 2012 at 7:35 am

@grumbledook

A couple of years ago, I discovered that cyclocross would be the ideal cycling discipline for my situation. And I can highly recommend it to everyone who likes to ride the pain but has too little time to Train Properly for road racing. CX races usually last less than 1 hour (except for elite riders and pro's). So you don't need a lot of 3-4 hour rides to be prepared properly, plus you can compensate some lack of fitness with superior riding skills (at least in the hobby and C/B amateur categories). But you can still enjoy the competition in a bicycle race. Of course, I still do both, road cycling and cx. But with road cycling alone, my performance would be much worse than it is now.

This is one of the reasons I'm thrilled about CX - also the automatic interval training it will give. As much as I love hitting a climb full gas or rolling along tout a droit, structured interval training is not something I manage to be disciplined about.

The Time-Crunched Cyclist; I hate Chris Carmichael (for no reason other than that he was Pharmy's coach) but this is an interesting new approach to training that lots of people are talking about - more intensity, less distance, etc. Maybe I'll try it some day, but it sounds like hocus-pocus to me, who has spent his life doing super long rides (10-12 hours) to get fit.

I love the long ride; the determination it takes me to not climb off is payed back in spades at the sense of satisfaction of having finished it. Take my local Seattle 200km-er; I ride by my house three separate times before heading out for the last leg; when its pouring rain, the temptation is strong. And I love the way it brings you closer to your machine. The way your body feels when it's been pedaling all day is sublime!

@The Oracle

VLVV*
*(I saw roadslave use this Velomiscrit abbreviation, and I move that it be immediately added to the Lexicon).

Done.
brianc says:

Mar 8 2012 at 7:52 am

@frank

The Time-Crunched Cyclist; I hate Chris Carmichael (for no reason other than that he was Pharmy's coach) but this is an interesting new approach to training that lots of people are talking about - more intensity, less distance, etc. Maybe I'll try it some day, but it sounds like hocus-pocus to me, who has spent his life doing super long rides (10-12 hours) to get fit.

I'm a few weeks into one of his training plans right now and I will say I've seen dramatic results. Better cardio across the board and more sustained power. Granted these things may not be long-term helpful or would have happened simply via riding more but having a plan (do this at x effort for y time) with my limited time (work, family) has been really helpful. Which I know was your whole point with this article.
snoov says:

Mar 8 2012 at 7:57 am

@frank
Last week on the BBC a former GP turned presenter was involved in an exercise experiment.

On an exercise bike he did 3 x 20 second all out efforts, 3 times a week for 6 weeks.

In terms of health benefits he was shocked by the results. Evidently it's better than going running or to the gym for hours.

Not sure how it relates to cyclists who want to race etc but very interesting.
ChrisO says:

Mar 8 2012 at 7:58 am

@frank

@Marcus

@ChrisO
If you are Hamlet, does that collectively make the rest of us Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? If so, not very nice.

And because you are the first one to my knowledge to quote Willy in these parts you get this

Wish I knew how to embed videos.

OK, I figured it out now. And that is one of my all-time favorite quotes. Chapeau.

Presuming you don't mean the Samuel L Jackson... this is a great rendition of it, from my favourite film of all time.

http://youtu.be/6zEVZGuU3BU
doubleR says:

Mar 8 2012 at 8:22 am

I have to admit that while I was out of action due to my knee, it was nice to sleep late on Sundays, get up whenever I wanted to, make my espresso, and casually read the morning news.

I'm really looking forward to getting back into it. However, as many others have posted, there's a fine line between having a passion for something, and being completely consumed by it. As much as I love cycling, (and I DO want to continue to improve both speed and distance-wise), I also want to keep it in balance with my life. I have a career, have an 11-year-son I like to spend time with, and I play guitar and sing in a rock 'n roll cover band with four other old geezers like me. All of the above will (hopefully) keep me young in mind, and body.
Calmante says:

Mar 8 2012 at 8:29 am

@brianc

@frank

The Time-Crunched Cyclist; I hate Chris Carmichael (for no reason other than that he was Pharmy's coach) but this is an interesting new approach to training that lots of people are talking about - more intensity, less distance, etc. Maybe I'll try it some day, but it sounds like hocus-pocus to me, who has spent his life doing super long rides (10-12 hours) to get fit.

I'm a few weeks into one of his training plans right now and I will say I've seen dramatic results. Better cardio across the board and more sustained power. Granted these things may not be long-term helpful or would have happened simply via riding more but having a plan (do this at x effort for y time) with my limited time (work, family) has been really helpful. Which I know was your whole point with this article.

I've been on the Carmichael plan for three years, now. It's definitely not hocus pocus. It is, however, impossible to do without a nice programmable HRM or power meter. It's also not for everyone, as there are some limitations to the method. It works on a 12 week cycle, and due to the extreme loads placed on the body during certain stages of the program, a good four week break is a necessity between cycles. It works extremely well for me, but it requires absolute dedication and quite a few hours of programming into my Garmin (the first time you set up the programs).
scaler911 says:

Mar 8 2012 at 8:39 am

@brianc

@frank

The Time-Crunched Cyclist; I hate Chris Carmichael (for no reason other than that he was Pharmy's coach) but this is an interesting new approach to training that lots of people are talking about - more intensity, less distance, etc. Maybe I'll try it some day, but it sounds like hocus-pocus to me, who has spent his life doing super long rides (10-12 hours) to get fit.

I'm a few weeks into one of his training plans right now and I will say I've seen dramatic results. Better cardio across the board and more sustained power. Granted these things may not be long-term helpful or would have happened simply via riding more but having a plan (do this at x effort for y time) with my limited time (work, family) has been really helpful. Which I know was your whole point with this article.

I'm going with 20MP, a training plan by Kirk Wilett, former pro cyclist and now a ER MD. He's the real deal (I've toed up next to him many times), and the research is sound. This'll be my first season using it, but it's much simpler than TTCC.

http://bicyclepaper.com/articles/320-Less-is-More-For-Former-Pro-Kirk-Willett-Less-Miles-Means-More-Performance-
SuperFed says:

Mar 8 2012 at 9:17 am

Saving The V only for intervals during my first century training takes a great amount of discipline.

When I'm out on my long ride, it's difficult to stay with the game plan when I round a curve and see a hill that I know I'm only 3 seconds behind the next guy on Strava. Apply The V, crest the hill, and curse at myself for lack of discipline.

But then again...there is the satisfaction of moving up a notch or two on the leader board.
Calmante says:

Mar 8 2012 at 9:27 am

@SuperFed

Saving The V only for intervals during my first century training takes a great amount of discipline.

When I'm out on my long ride, it's difficult to stay with the game plan when I round a curve and see a hill that I know I'm only 3 seconds behind the next guy on Strava. Apply The V, crest the hill, and curse at myself for lack of discipline.

But then again...there is the satisfaction of moving up a notch or two on the leader board.

Don't deny yourself those moments of fun, man. It's absolutely worth moving up those leader boards.