For juniors on endurance and intensity ... I wasn't kidding that this topic can be highly controversial!
Firstly, the whole topic started as "off-season" so I wanted to point out that the majority of a riders time is going to be with endurance. It's the amount of intensity that is up for debate.
Secondly, the good old days were all about "base miles" in the off-season. Today riders are adding intensity to their off-season so that their "base miles" have more quality to them. Yes, too much early intensity can lead to burnout, or feeling stale.
Thirdly, if endurance rides are the main focus, then let's define endurance for a minute. Endurance is the ability to resist fatigue over time. If a juniors longest event of the year is 3 hours we are not talking about 4 and 5 hour rides in the off season.
Next, let's define how a junior accumulates endurance. If a junior rides 10 hours a week during the season, but does so only through local group rides, it will be difficult to prescribe hours of solo rides in the off-season. I like to recommend that riders break up their endurance rides. For instance, they ride solo before joining the group ride, and then ride solo after the group ride ends. Doing so allows them to warm up properly, get the group ride in, and think about their training and fitness on the last part of the ride.
Bottom line, the off-season work for a junior should be aligned with their goals. Here's three examples with varying advice:
Athlete #1 going into their second season: I'd advise that they keep their riding fun and fairly unstructured (frequency and intensity), but still have them track the weekly hours (volume) so that they understand the importance of off-season work and how it correlates to late season performance.
Athlete #2 is about to start their fourth season, has huge expectations and a past history of "burnout" at the end of the season: first I'd look further into the "burnout" and determine if we're talking physical or mental. Typically young athletes just need more variety in their workouts or a break from the bike. Secondly I'd explore their huge expectations to see if they were real. If their expectations were not I'd advise intensity and only endurance rides if fun and social. If the huge expectations are real, then the athlete may need to refresh their perspective on how the off-season work helps them in their goal events (goal setting).
Athlete #3 is also going into their fourth season, has huge expectations, can stay motivated all year long and has no prior signs of "burnout": cycling rewards consistency and persistence. If an athlete can get enough variety into their workouts (solo/ group, road/ mountain/ track/ cross, weights/ cross training/ stretching) I have no problems advising that they up the endurance in the off-season and pepper in the intensity a bit.
Kevin has a lot more than four years of experience, but this is what he does. Lots of varity and a true love to ride his bike.
If you haven't already read it I highly recommend Kirsten Dieffenbach's "Bike Racing for Juniors". I hope this helps. Cheers, Larry Nolan
1 comment:
Larry, et al-
I recall reading somewhere in the technical journals, that if a jr athlete really crushes their workouts while they are in puberty and HGH is coursing through their systems, that the heart, as one of a couple hundred muscles, will respond by growing disproportionately larger. Conversevely, if an athlete doesn't crush the big workouts while in puberty, that they missed out on the growth spurt, and the heart/pump will be limited for the rest of their lives. Makes sense to me. Ask if you want my personal/anecdotal measurements (from the Stanford cardiovascular lab) which support this theory.
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