It's been a long year of hard training and racing, both on the bike and trail running. Mentally I feel like a need a break at this point although I trained 39 hours in November, my 2nd highest total of the year and most of those hours were of high quality. Physically, I feel pretty fresh still. I feel as though I could just train year around but know that I need some sort of rest period for next year's race season. My training has remained fresh in part because I attained a road bike, which I've ridden about 12 hours so far. It's been a huge boon to my training although I still need to get a proper bike fit done to alleviate neck and knee pain.
The training book I'm reading recommends to take a 2-4 week Transition period to let my body and mind recover before moving on to next year's Base phase. Question I'm pondering is when do I begin my Transition period...I feel like I'm in a great groove right now and I'd like to build up my Lactate threshold and Bike power a bit over the next month but would that be a waste of time since races don't begin until March? I feel like I can continue to do short,intense workouts under 2 hours and most at 90 minutes. Plus, these workouts are good to help stave off winter weight gain.
Additionally, I just began the Stronglifts 5x5 weightlifting program for one because squats should help with biking power plus I just prefer to be strong in general. I have been weight training seriously since May 2009. This program will help with upper body strength and core also. This past year I felt like all the squats were hampering my running and biking performance because my hammies and glutes always seemed to be tight. I felt slower in my training and races as a result. Turns I probably just needed to stretch more.
My 1st race is March 9th next year (as of this writing) My weightlifting program will end on March 3rd. In those 3 months, I will run and bike occasionally with an emphasis on cross-training. Perhaps more running and less biking and maybe rock-climbing or other sports for a change-up.
Is this a real problem or am I just overthinking this training plan?
I can't seem to decide on purchasing a training plan for $100 or just making my own.
The training book I'm reading recommends to take a 2-4 week Transition period to let my body and mind recover before moving on to next year's Base phase. Question I'm pondering is when do I begin my Transition period...I feel like I'm in a great groove right now and I'd like to build up my Lactate threshold and Bike power a bit over the next month but would that be a waste of time since races don't begin until March? I feel like I can continue to do short,intense workouts under 2 hours and most at 90 minutes. Plus, these workouts are good to help stave off winter weight gain.
Additionally, I just began the Stronglifts 5x5 weightlifting program for one because squats should help with biking power plus I just prefer to be strong in general. I have been weight training seriously since May 2009. This program will help with upper body strength and core also. This past year I felt like all the squats were hampering my running and biking performance because my hammies and glutes always seemed to be tight. I felt slower in my training and races as a result. Turns I probably just needed to stretch more.
My 1st race is March 9th next year (as of this writing) My weightlifting program will end on March 3rd. In those 3 months, I will run and bike occasionally with an emphasis on cross-training. Perhaps more running and less biking and maybe rock-climbing or other sports for a change-up.
Is this a real problem or am I just overthinking this training plan?
I can't seem to decide on purchasing a training plan for $100 or just making my own.