Have you ever wondered how does one progress in cycling training. Or more general – how does training work at all? In a way – does every training be equal to another. Does it make a difference if you push harder or do a weekend coffee ride and have similar results? And what about you against your colleagues? Or about your version from three weeks from now?
Biggest gains are always made at the beginning of the training. Untrained “future athletes” gain strength and endurance quite quickly. The better you get the harder it will be to achieve similar results. When you will train your body for longer period of time you will notice that making visible gains will get harder and harder. The further you go into the woods the smaller result from each similar training you get. The remedy to this is to start changing your training routine, introducing new sensations to your body or if these are not possible just train longer. Although this proves not to be too efficient and does not give as meaningful results as the first two options.
I think everyone remembers their first trainings – that immediate power growth. Pain in the legs the next day, but accompanied with next session’s advancement again. With each consecutive training session you will notice that the progress made is smaller. It’s would be too easy to always have growths as a beginner. Unfortunately it gets harder with time. It can be nicely compared for example to the tabs in your internet browser. You probably are using them from long time, but not necessarily noticed how they form themselves and grow with each new opened.
When you open a new browser window and start with just one its a blank space – this is you at the first session. Full gain! You’re immediately betted then before you’ve begun. Then the second session comes and an immediate boost in form again:
Then the next sessions come and you keep getting better and better:
And then you become “saturated”. You’ve reached your average cycling fitness:
To improve even more you will have to put much more training than before, train harder, and the results will not be visible so quickly:
It will take a lot of sweat at the next sessions, but this is what distinguishes average athletes from the top ones. If you want to go beyond being average, beyond the point where you are at your 80% of capability you will have to throw a lot more on the line. I hope you remember my constant returns to the Pareto principle? 🙂
You will get approximately 80% of the result (your total possible fitness) just after putting 20% effort – and already you can call yourself a cyclist. You don’t sweat before each ride with your buddies, can do a 100km ride without not being able to move for the next 5 days because of soreness and can climb slowly and steadily any mountain you’ve got around your home.
But if you want to be better than that, you will have to give something extra. And I mean a lot “extra”. The next 20% result will show after you put 80% effort – this is where the steeper stairs start. The training sessions you did at the beginnig with high effort are easier now, but do not give much effect – you are not as tired as before even. You have to spend long hours on the saddle to get your body really tired. Or the training sessions have to be really intense. You will have to start to pay real attention to what and when you eat. How you sleep. What you do and when you do it. Invest a lot of money in the gear, coaches, massages, etc. This is how you become the champion. Even your local one.
Just take a look at the professional weightlifters – even though the whole white of this sport lifts more than 200-300kg, the best differ between each other by 2,5 or 5kg, what is just a fraction of the total %. This is what shows the best what does it take to be the best. How many factors influence the final result and great performance. Think about it – if you have what it takes and are able to sacrifice so much to have a chance to be the best one day.
Cover photo courtesy of Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Caesar's Cycling 