Winter is now fully under way in most parts of the world, It's
nice to know that during the saddle seasons we can have a short
dedicated window to focus on preparation. Even if that time period
is short, some specific training can be very helpful when returning
to bike season.
Winter is the time to round out the muscles as we discussed - so
other sports are are great way to do this even if you are in the
gym with a focused strength component. The 'Heart and
Lungs' don't know the difference between skiing, hiking,
snowshoeing, swimming, running or hip hop dance classes, but the
legs will know the difference between going hard and easy. Take
some time to ease into new sports and your muscles will thank
you.
If you are lifting weights (or alpine skiing), which is a great
thing to do for young and old, then you will need some easy miles
to keep the blood pumping and this will increase the effectiveness
of your strength work, but the ratio of cardio will be smaller. If
you are solely doing cardio efforts then you will want to consider
the intensity and the ratio of cruise to hammer. The winter is
considered general training or "all body", so get out there and
enjoy, but stay off the gas for the most part. These other
exercises will greatly benefit your transfer back to the bike and
carry your fitness through winter and potentially give you a higher
platform to start on for next summer.
As this is November I want to add that a small block of training
in the first couple weeks of December will allow you to relax over
Christmas and New Years, not worry about squeezing work outs in.
Then when the New Year starts you can pick up where you left off
and feel good about not loosing the fitness you have gained or
maintained.
Cheers
Dre
