How to deal with training vacuum - Part one
Cycling training is about getting small advantages over your opponent. Being just one percent better than him means that you will be the favourite and he will be the underdog. If you have a one percent higher anaerobic threshold than your opponent, you will very likely beat him time after time in events where a high anaerobic threshold is essential.
More training is needed to make progress
When you have trained seriously for a couple of years, you will experience that more training is needed before you get significant improvements. At this time that many riders get the feeling of a training vacuum. They train more than they have ever done before, but their form does not change at all. This is a critical moment in every serious riders´ career. The common outcome is that the rider sooner or later realizes that he is not making further progress with the current program. He takes the consequences and start making things different. This could be quitting, switching coach, switching club, different training methods, more training, less training, new bike, new wheels, eating nutritional supplements or getting so desperate that he takes drugs. But often he does not realize that the problem is a training vacuum, because he has optimized his cycling performance through proper training, eating and resting. Instead he victimizes his coach, club or material because his performance has reached a plateau.
Evaluate your current training principles
Experiencing a training vacuum is very frustrating but is worth remembering that this is a natural process. Remember when you started to train on your bike. Any training distance you rode, you became better. Any interval type you chose, you became better. Any post-recovery technique you chose, you became better. Any food you ate, you became better. Now, when you have optimized all these basic principles, it is very natural that you will reach some kind of a plateau with only very slightly progress. That is because you have done all the right things, so now it is time to do more sophisticated things to make further progress. Before you make big changes, consider the basic stuff again.
Do you eat, train and rest properly?
Answer this question and give yourself a score from 1-10 on each of these disciplines. If you have a total score of less than 30 points, you now know where your progress is hidden. Otherwise, return to this blog to read ‘How to deal with training vacuum – part two’ in the following days.
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Boost your performance with alternative workouts said,
June 21, 2007 @ 1:20 pm
[…] Meter Tips - Training4cyclists.comBoost your performance with alternative workoutsJune 21, 2007 at 1:20 pm · Filed under Cycling TrainingMotivation is important when you are aserious cyclist, because you spend so many hours on your bike. The best cyclists have an ability to motivate themselves workout after workout, season after season. But even though you think of yourself as a dedicated and motivated rider, you might sometimes feel that you have ended up in a training vacuum: You train every single day, but you don’t get any better. […]
Overreaching is not equal to overtraining said,
August 4, 2007 @ 4:43 pm
[…] The cure is recovery The cure for overtraining syndrome is often a significantly reduced training volume and intensity. Your body needs time to fully recover from the total accumulated stress in the past months. When you are overtrained, you have probably forgotten about basic principles of recovery. A differential diagnosis could also be that you have reached a training plateau, which is also a very natural thing, still frustrating though. I covered that topic in two posts – Dealing with training vacuum – Part one and two. […]
How to deal with training vacuum - Part two said,
January 10, 2008 @ 10:02 pm
[…] When training does not result in the desired and expected results, riders start to make up reasons why they have stopped improving. As I explained in the first part of ‘How to deal with training vacuum - Part one’ the rider is looking for someone or something to blame. But often it is not someone’s or something’s fault. Instead the rider has reached a plateau for his talent with the current amount of training. And that is a very natural progression. When you are good at something it takes longer to improve to a higher level. […]