Season Planning

Planning your season in detail is critical when it comes to ensuring a successful and enjoyable racing year. When the race calendar comes out, sit down and plan out what races you will be competing in for the season. As an athlete can't be at peak performance for the entire race season, next, prioritize the races in order of most to least important. Do this by assigning an "A" to those races that are most important, "B" to those of intermediate importance, and "C" to practice-style races. This step is crucial to designing a proper training pattern for the season. Base training and lower level intervals need to be included throughout the entire year. The "A" races will need to have pre-event tapers built in to the training program to ensure that the athlete is well rested when it comes time to race. As these are the most important races of the year, the time spent off the bike should be used for complete rest and mental preparation. "B" races also require the athlete to be rested, however to a lesser degree. Thus a full pre-event training taper is not required. "B" races are still important and the athlete should look for good results in these events. In preparation for priority "C" races the athlete will simply train through the race with no rest period in the training scheduled. It is possible that you may be somewhat fatigued when it comes time to ride the "C" race. Understand that during these events the primary goals are to gain racing miles and experience. The coach should determine how much the athlete should exert in these races depending on where the athlete is in his/her training schedule. These races are not important when it comes to looking at the entire season. They are typically early in the season and don't have any implications on season standings.

Happy planning!
Kevin