Don’t be Afraid…

BY KENNETH LUNDGREN

Autumn is a time most riders can make mistakes with their training. In my opinion, winter is the most critical training period of the year, and if you don’t train properly through the autumn, then you will not be able to get the job done during the winter months…

And by training, sometimes that means NOT training.

After a year of hard racing and training, taking a true break, both physically but perhaps even more importantly mentally, is a necessity. I’d recommend taking two weeks completely off. Time to get out of shape, violate all the rules of your training diet, stay up late, spend more time with the family, really just get the mind off the bike…

You should. You deserve it 🙂

After a few weeks of pure fun, training can return, but I’d recommend doing activities other than hitting the road: mountain biking, hiking, Rollerblading, swimming, running, rock climbing, yoga – these are all popular cross-training activities.

After a few weeks of this, combined with light weightlifting, then the rider is ready to get back on track with Transition and Preparation Training and will be ready to go.

Taking these true breaks are critical to long-term cycling success.

Thanks for reading.