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

Kyle says:

Mar 8 2012 at 10:41 am

@jkennedy

Wiscot posted the info on the Cogal page today. Hope that you can make it!
grumbledook says:

Mar 8 2012 at 12:09 pm

@frank

@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.

I used to go for long-distance rides together with a friend when I was still a PhD student. This is now about 10 years ago. We usually did these rides in the first half of the season with a peak in May/June when we did at least 1, but mostly 2 200+x km rides per week plus 2 or 3 shorter rides. My average distance per ride in these "golden years" was 110 km. But due to the fact that I did a lot of other sports at this time, I never managed to exceed 10k km p.a.. Nevertheless, I guess I am still benefiting from this period of proper training, especially since it helped me in becoming very good in terms of your point #3.
Calmante says:

Mar 8 2012 at 12:46 pm

@scaler911

@mcsqueak

@SuperFed

Looking at your rides recently, I don't think you'll have any problem killing the 160k. I agree with Calmante; have a bit of fun! Stick to the plan you have, but if you're flying up a hill, maybe move one cog down and try to kick it over the top just a wee bit faster.

@scaler911

Awesome link, thanks for sharing. Makes me feel a bit better about all the time I spent on the trainer during the winter, doing 1 minute and five minute intervals.

Sure, Here's the link to the article that was written by Kirk; http://biketechreview.com/performance/supply/47-base-a-new-definition

Good article. I like him.
Buck Rogers says:

Mar 8 2012 at 1:28 pm

@grumbledook

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 think it works great for those guys who only do crits or short (90 min or less) road races. I do not like that type of racing. For me, I like it when you have been suffering with the dudes next to you for three hours and then someone drops the hammer on a climb and there is still another hour to go and you know that you have to kill yourself NOW or you might as well go home. To me, THAT is racing. Not 30 min crits in the States that someone made up for our USA short attention span theatre lives.
minion says:

Mar 8 2012 at 1:40 pm

@brett
minion says:

Mar 8 2012 at 1:40 pm

Feel that sting big boy?
minion says:

Mar 8 2012 at 1:42 pm

Excellent. Double post and now I look like an idiot. That's what happens when you try to have a conversation on Bretto's level.
grumbledook says:

Mar 8 2012 at 1:52 pm

@Buck Rogers

@grumbledook

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 think it works great for those guys who only do crits or short (90 min or less) road races. I do not like that type of racing. For me, I like it when you have been suffering with the dudes next to you for three hours and then someone drops the hammer on a climb and there is still another hour to go and you know that you have to kill yourself NOW or you might as well go home. To me, THAT is racing. Not 30 min crits in the States that someone made up for our USA short attention span theatre lives.

Have you ever been to a CX race, racing yourself or just watching? It's a lot of fun either way, even if it lasts less than 60 min. ... And you may have read in some comments here that a few of us just don't have the time to train for couple of hours, several times a week. So short+intense is the only option left. ... But still, I do love to go for a 10 hour ride in the Swiss alps once or twice a year. This is Zen!
eightzero says:

Mar 8 2012 at 2:03 pm

Here's my training plan: ride the fucking bike. All this training craap pales in comparison to getting my girly ass off the couch, on the contact points, and pointing the merckxdamn thing up the road. I love the feeling of a day on the bike; of polishing off a grueling ride. But like the ads for "abs of steel" I don't need crunches or situps - I need to get rid of the layers of fat and flab than hang on my waistline. I have a special relationship with food, and my bike is very, very jealous.

In fact, I just took the cadence sensor off my bike. Fuck it. Can't read the display anyway, and I'd rather be looking at my velomispouse's ass. The HR meter I keep, because a few BPM difference on a climb makes a huge difference to me. Cadence? Crikey, until I can find a SRAM cassette combination that goes 11x78, it doesn't make a farthings bit of difference. I suck as a climber. But then I suck at sprinting, rolleurs, and time trialing. Other that that, I'm a great cyclist. Or will be in two months time.

â™«â™« Cog-als are the place for me.
Bike livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep mountain biking, just give me that road outside.

Cog-als is where I'd rather stay.
I get allergic smelling Huy.
I just adore a fizik view.
Keepers I love you but give me whatever's new.

...The chores.
...The stores.
...Fresh air.
...Pedal Square

You are my bike.
Good bye to my life.
Co-gals we are there.

-bump bump- â™« â™« â™«
Mikel Pearce says:

Mar 8 2012 at 2:16 pm

For 95% of us (those of us with jobs, kids, and the other complications of a non-pro), train properly can be summed up in six words:
Ride more.
Sleep more.
Eat better.

End of.