Recovery rides are just as important as interval rides! As a matter of fact recovery days are when you begin to become fitter, without them you will not make gains in fitness as fast and eventually become weaker.

During hard training rides you breakdown muscle and only during rest and easy rides do they have time to repair themselves. That is why it is important to have a good recovery plan as well as interval plans.

The first part of this equation is to make  sure to have a good recovery meal after any training ride. Within 30 minutes try to have a recovery drink containing both carbohydrates and protein, the liquid will digest and be absorbed by the body much faster than solid food. Then try for a good meal within 60 – 120 min post ride consisting of lean protein and low glycemic carbohydrates.

Recovery rides are best done on your own or with like minded individuals, the last thing you need is someone half wheeling you! Also the length of the ride should be less than 90 minutes, although 1 hour is a little better. Any more than 90 minutes then the ride becomes an aerobic endurance ride which will not promote recovery.

Recovery rides should be ridden at a heart rate of 65% or less of your maximum HR, power should be <55% of your functional threshold, and 1 – 2 on a scale of 1 – 10 with 10 being all out effort if using perceived exertion. If your a person that always thinks and looks at average speed, put some tape over your speedo or leave it at home…its about time and effort…come to think about it, all your rides should be quantified in time and effort, not average speed, that number really means nothing and is to subjective.

Over time you will find the correct balance of off and recovery rides, how will you know…when you race or try doing intervals and you are struggling to hang or reach the numbers you have in the past…well then…you better take a couple easy days!

Good luck, train hard, and don’t forget to slow down and enjoy the scenery!

Paul

Following suit of the weather trend for 2012 the conditions were brisk in the low 40′s with a light wind impacting the racers on the six lap 13.2 mile course.

Team Director Ernie Riley explained that participation appeared to be up for 2012 and the times for the course quicker than in the past making for some great competition.

The TCC-RT mounted some strong results but placed just shy of the box in this round.

Full results can be viewed at:

http://www.mbra.org/Results/2012/2012_WillowTT.pdf

Rick Trudu 31.08 (6th CAT4)

Ernie Riley 31.30 (9th CAT4)

Terry Bishup 33.13 (18th CAT4)

Bob Miller 32.17 (5th CAT5)

Matthew Ohl 34.12 (16th CAT5)

Next MBRA event Cone Azalia!

After its Category 4 MBRA dominance in 2011 the Midland based Tri-Cities Race Team  wants to expand and diversify into the Category 3 ranks and the MBRA Points Race.

West Branch, MI., April 13-15, 2012

It’s hard to dispute the  2011 results résumé that included  overall race wins and second place in the MBRA points chase by TCC-RT.  But the TCC-RT has a goal of coming out of their 2012 pre-season training camp with both expansion and diversification of last year’s achievements.

The Midland Michigan based development  squad, whose title sponsor is a Midland based micro-brewing company (MBC), is gunning to repeat the success of  the team and stand out Ben Rolenhagan. Last year, Ben took top honors at several events representing TCC-RT on the podum within CAT4.  But true success will be measured by whether the team can elicit more wins from Ben within CAT3 as well garner support from Weckle as well as up and comer Riley.

“Obviously ‘Ben’ is our main guy,” said team director Steve Weckle,  “But it would certainly be nice to get some more production from other riders. We have a lot of guys on the team who are really early in their development, so hopefully as they progress they’ll start stepping into race-winning scenarios and move up in Catagory.”

Captain Ernie Riley and his 13 + rider squad spent the second of weeked of April holed up in a spacious cabin in the rolling hills terrain of West Branch MI at Camp Timbers.  On-the-bike training was job No. 1, with detailed training provided by Coach Paul Rytlewski.  Training, seminars, resting and team building casual time  filling out the busy days.  Friday was composed of a group ride to inspect the course and familiarize with the nature of the climbs.  Saturday’s training consisted of a 90 mile ride designed to work on climbing, sprinting and team pace work.  The weekend culminated premature as the sporadic Michigan weather did not cooperate with the plan to simulate a two lap race of the West Branch Classic road race as heavy rain held for the day.  Racers instead worked on compu-trainer session and bike fit. 

Following a recap of the TCC-RT training camp paired with the impressive riding ability during weekly training rides the TCC-RT looks on target to make a solid run in the MBRA points chase within both CAT4 and CAT3. 

Now that the race season is once again upon us we need to train to race. “Training to Race”, is all about specificity. What that means is your training should mimic your racing when it comes to intensity, volume, technique and tactics.

If you are a mountain biker you should be working on improving power at your lactate threshold (LT) using a cadence of 75-90 rpm once a week with 3 efforts of 10 – 20 minutes having 10 minutes of easy riding between each interval. Anaerobic power (AP) intervals of 1 -3 minutes done at the end of each of the LT intervals will really mimic (specificity) the efforts found in most mountain bike races. The volume of your longer rides should only be around 120% of your longest race, because the racing and training intensity’s are higher. One or two of your weekly rides should be on the trails working on bike handling skills.

Road races can consist of criteriums, time trials, and road races, so having your races planned well ahead of time is very important when it comes to specificity. The volume of your longest endurance ride should be around 120% of your longest race. These rides are used to improve your efficiency and should be ridden in your aerobic zone at 90 – 110 rpm once a week. Since crits are short and intense, a good crit specific workout could be 3 or 4 lactate threshold (LT) efforts of 5 – 15 minutes with a 5 – 15 second sprint done once every minute during the LT effort, done once or twice a week. A road race specific workout could be 2 – 3, 20 – 30 minutes efforts, alternating 5 minute efforts of zone 3 (upper end of aerobic zone) and zone 4 (lactate threshold), recover 10 minutes between intervals. Example of a 2 x 20 min workout: 30 min warm up then, 5 min Z3, 5 min Z4, 5 min Z3, 5 min Z4, recover 10 min Z1, then, 5 min Z3, 5 min Z4, 5 min Z3, 5 min Z4, cool down. This type of workout should be done once a week. A good time trial specific workout is 6 efforts of 5 minutes at the upper end to slightly above your lactate threshold with one minute easy between. Do 1 – 2 of these once or twice a week.

These are all good examples of race specific workouts, they are very intense, and so make sure you’re fully recovered before doing these, and also done early enough in the week to be recovered if you’re racing on the weekend.

Once you have completed a few races you will be able to better define your strengths and weaknesses. Try to improve your weaknesses while keeping your strengths where they need to be during training. “Racing to Train”, is using weekly group rides, and races that are not your goal races, to improve your weak points, or to fine tune your strengths. If you have trouble in sprints, then get involved in prime sprints, if it is time trials, then work on bridging gaps, or go on breakaways. If you have trouble on climbs try conserving as much energy as you can on the flats then work hard as you can when the climb starts, try different cadences to see where you may be more efficient. But most of all, remember why you race, you race because you love to ride your bike, you like the camaraderie and you’re a competitive person, so keep it fun and you will see yourself improving with every ride and race.

-Paul

Two weeks until team camp up in West Branch!

LOWELL 50 Spring Classic Gravel Road Race Results

Martin Burke  1.28.36    3rd Division 9th overall (28 mile)

Tom Canale 1.34.35 5th Division 20th overall (28 mile)

Kevin Daum 2.29.42 7th Division 28th overall (50 mile)

Jacob Malarz  1.34.32 5th Division 17th overall (28 mile)

Bob Miller  1.28.36  1st Division 7th overall (28 mile)

In the mean time enjoy your riding conditions…they could be harsher

If you have not had a chance to check out MBC your missing out.  Great variety of beer brewed on site as well as a great root beer for the kids!  Follow them on Facebook for weekly updates of bands and other activities hosted at the brewery.

TCC-Race Team is looking to meet at MBC following the Tuesday Slaughterfest Training Rides at approximately 8pm.  Come on out, have some subway and a cold beer after a great ride!

Thanks Subway!

http://www.thelowell50.com/index.html