Getting fit/focused for DH racing Options

[littlegirlbunny]

Go on then, tell me what I need to be doing to get reallysuperfast

[Rod]

Taking the brakes off certainly give you a bit of motivational incentive to hit (no , wrong word) I mean smoothly arc around... the corners a little faster.

Or follow me down hill and totally avoid any lines I take... you'll be bound to go faster! LOTS Faster!!!


Eh, you'll be fine just get out there and enjoy the day. (yer too damn quick now!)

Rod

[Rod]

there's that echo again... what happens when you post summut to have it appear twice?

[Gareth]

<Echo Deleted> very quickly.

Cross country riding is great fitness work for downhill, ask Steve Peat so you're already doing what you need most of. That is if you haven't slacked off recently?

Gym work and flexibility e.g. Pilates/Core exercises should also help but I wouldn't be at all surprised if you're doing enough of those already too.

[Gareth]

Forgot to mention interval training. Probably useful for all of us but hard to do, try a ten minute warm up followed by a thirty second all out effort and repeat the cycle at least six times. There are whole books on this form of training but that's the basic scheme to build pedalling power for a start off.

[SammyC]

A few things can help Jo:

Ride all day endurance -- as you know your final race run can be quite late in the afternoon so you have to be able to perform at the end of the day. This is the XC training.
Sprint intervals -- DH course in the UK are often quite sprinty, tech sections interspersed with flat sections. When you do interval training make sure you don't back off too much outside of the interval, it should be warm up, 30s sprint, 1 minute normal, 30 second sprint etc etc etc
Quads -- standing up cycling, climb a few hill stood up all the way, as you know on a DH bike you shouldn't be sitting down much.
Learn to ride when very tired -- not sure how you go about this but you need to be able to ride well even when you're physically just hanging on. If you've got to the end of a race run and you can still talk fine then you didn't give 100%.

I've got a good training program on my desk, ping me an email and I'll see if I can scan it in for you.

[_tom_]

Since getting a road bike again my fitness improved dramatically. Did a whole FOD uplift day 2 weeks ago without being too nackered by the end of it - last year when I went I was shattered after a few runs but this time I still felt fresh enough to give some of the xc loop a go after the uplift had closed. I don't race so can't say for sure whether it'd help you but I can definitely notice a difference.

[littlegirlbunny]

<Echo Deleted> very quickly.

Cross country riding is great fitness work for downhill, ask Steve Peat so you're already doing what you need most of. That is if you haven't slacked off recently?

Gym work and flexibility e.g. Pilates/Core exercises should also help but I wouldn't be at all surprised if you're doing enough of those already too.

Moi, slack of XC?

In all honesty I don't get anywhere near enough time in the saddle pedalling as I would like because of work and because DH is much more fun.

Forgot to mention interval training. Probably useful for all of us but hard to do, try a ten minute warm up followed by a thirty second all out effort and repeat the cycle at least six times. There are whole books on this form of training but that's the basic scheme to build pedalling power for a start off.

A few things can help Jo:

Ride all day endurance -- as you know your final race run can be quite late in the afternoon so you have to be able to perform at the end of the day. This is the XC training.
Sprint intervals -- DH course in the UK are often quite sprinty, tech sections interspersed with flat sections. When you do interval training make sure you don't back off too much outside of the interval, it should be warm up, 30s sprint, 1 minute normal, 30 second sprint etc etc etc
Quads -- standing up cycling, climb a few hill stood up all the way, as you know on a DH bike you shouldn't be sitting down much.
Learn to ride when very tired -- not sure how you go about this but you need to be able to ride well even when you're physically just hanging on. If you've got to the end of a race run and you can still talk fine then you didn't give 100%.

I've got a good training program on my desk, ping me an email and I'll see if I can scan it in for you.

Hmm, intervals. Interesting

Good point about riding when tired. I am trying to force myself to ride techy stuff on weekday evenings now even when I am shattered from long work days as it's all too tempting to just spin slowly and mince around the hard stuff. Also, when we did Racer's Guild last Saturday, I noticed how bad I am at concentrating for a whole run (and it's not like Stile Cop has long descents ! ). So I am going to focus on riding more full-length runs, even on push-up days rather than just milling around doing the fun jumpy stuff.

I have QUADS OF STEEL from all the squats, which also work my core, but leave me tight and sore for much of the week once I get to the heavier end of a 6-8 week cycle. So there is always trade off of strength v's recovery for riding. It wouldn't be a problem if I didn't have such a busy work life which leaves me little time to recover properly and eat well.

Since getting a road bike again my fitness improved dramatically. Did a whole FOD uplift day 2 weeks ago without being too nackered by the end of it - last year when I went I was shattered after a few runs but this time I still felt fresh enough to give some of the xc loop a go after the uplift had closed. I don't race so can't say for sure whether it'd help you but I can definitely notice a difference.

Thanks Tom. I don't have the funds or room for a roadie as I am looking at getting a proper XC bike. However, hopefully just riding more XC will help with the endurance as G-Man says above.

Currently, my ideal training week looks like that detailed below. HOWEVER, work normally gets in the way and it's not unusual for me to miss the gym, or night rides. There was once a time I had to force myself to have rest days, now I am grateful if I can train consistently. Stupid work!

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Squat Day (normally work on 6-8 week progressive cycle starting with 5x5 and upping 2.5 kg a week until I get close to failure. Once I'm in the 50-60 kg zone (don't laugh, I'm a girl afterall!) I find the 5x5 volume with warm-ups a lot to recover from so drop to 5x3 or 3x3 before having a rest week or fornight. Actually, I've just had 3 weeks off squats because of holiday). Also chin-ups, lat pulls, abs.
Wednesday - Rest if squats have destroyed me, or gentle ride/run
Thursday - MCS easy paced ladies Malvern ride
Friday - Bench and shoulders at gym with 20 min warm up on stationary bike - I don't make this session every week and it's really for maintenance. Sometimes I'll go out for a ride instead. This may become trail build evening/ride at Cheltenham when the summer arrives
Saturday - Try to do a long 4-5 hr XC ride
Sunday - DH day

Seems like a lot, but like I say, work normally affects my plans and often I don't get out anywhere near as much as I would like. Sometimes I'll just bench, squat and lat pull on the Tuesday as a full body workout rather than work with the Tuesday-Friday split.

Comments?

In terms of the racing, well, I've done goal A (get to the start line haha) for the year so everything else is a bonus. Definitely need to work on flicky corners, pedalling, carrying speed, looking ahead, concentrating for the full length of the trail. One of the biggest things will be changing gear too - I tend to just run one gear for DH, which is fine for messing about in the woods at cruise speed.....not so good when I have to sprint off the line. I am not good at changing gear and pedalling and concentrating and keeping my feet on flat pedals!

I won't even dare to mention the fact I have YET AGAIN considered returning to SPD's for racing.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and I'm stiff as a board and never stretch enough....

[bodger_the_biker]

Well i do what i call sprint training roughly 2times a week which is essentially from a standing start in the highest gear sprint to top speed and maintain it for 100m then roll to a stop in 50m(the bins along the water front are 50m apart) then sprint again for another 100m..... Ill essentially repeat this for mile along the waterfront of my home then chill out for about 10/15min then cocking about practising trackstands bunnys hops and falling off trying to wheelie. After 10/15min screwing around peroid i go sprinting back again repeating the the pattern over and over again for mile back to where i started.

Ill generally spend about an hour to an hour and a half doing this, I suggest you do it on the glory rather than the hardtail or the am bike as it also helps your pedalling technique as it forces you to try and pedal in circles rather than just smash the pedals up and down causing the suspension to boing up and down. My other suggestion is fit a slightly longer seat post to the glory and take it for an XC ride once in awhile

[Mad Pierre]

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Squat Day (normally work on 6-8 week progressive cycle starting with 5x5 and upping 2.5 kg a week until I get close to failure. Once I'm in the 50-60 kg zone (don't laugh, I'm a girl afterall!) I find the 5x5 volume with warm-ups a lot to recover from so drop to 5x3 or 3x3 before having a rest week or fornight. Actually, I've just had 3 weeks off squats because of holiday). Also chin-ups, lat pulls, abs.
Wednesday - Rest if squats have destroyed me, or gentle ride/run
Thursday - MCS easy paced ladies Malvern ride
Friday - Bench and shoulders at gym with 20 min warm up on stationary bike - I don't make this session every week and it's really for maintenance. Sometimes I'll go out for a ride instead. This may become trail build evening/ride at Cheltenham when the summer arrives
Saturday - Try to do a long 4-5 hr XC ride
Sunday - DH day

Blimey! I'm happy if I manage to get on a bike 3 times a week. Usually it's just 2. Usually 2 hours at a go XC.

I'm doing as many of the Gravity Enduros as possible this year and that's my "training" - just riding my bike when I can. I'm never going to win but I'm definitely fitter than a lot of the riders in the first race who were struggling on the transition times and that was coming in off the back of a nasty cough....

[Mick]

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Squat Day (normally work on 6-8 week progressive cycle starting with 5x5 and upping 2.5 kg a week until I get close to failure. Once I'm in the 50-60 kg zone (don't laugh, I'm a girl afterall!) I find the 5x5 volume with warm-ups a lot to recover from so drop to 5x3 or 3x3 before having a rest week or fornight. Actually, I've just had 3 weeks off squats because of holiday). Also chin-ups, lat pulls, abs.
Wednesday - Rest if squats have destroyed me, or gentle ride/run
Thursday - MCS easy paced ladies Malvern ride
Friday - Bench and shoulders at gym with 20 min warm up on stationary bike - I don't make this session every week and it's really for maintenance. Sometimes I'll go out for a ride instead. This may become trail build evening/ride at Cheltenham when the summer arrives
Saturday - Try to do a long 4-5 hr XC ride
Sunday - DH day

Blimey that schedule has made me feel very old and tired

[Gareth]

That is a lot of training but looking at it I would say that intervals are indeed your likely way forward, there is too much bimbling on the bike and you could definitely change tack with less work at the gym to break out of your plateau.

[_tom_]

I've also heard from my super-fit roadie mate that running helps massively with the road biking so I would assume it would still be similar for other kinds of bikes. Saves having to buy/ride a road bike if you don't fancy that Think I'm going to give it a go soon as I sometimes get bored of road biking.

[littlegirlbunny]

Ill generally spend about an hour to an hour and a half doing this, I suggest you do it on the glory rather than the hardtail or the am bike as it also helps your pedalling technique as it forces you to try and pedal in circles rather than just smash the pedals up and down causing the suspension to boing up and down. My other suggestion is fit a slightly longer seat post to the glory and take it for an XC ride once in awhile

Thanks Bodger - this weekend I have spent a lot of time really pedalling the Glory, both on the new top section at the FoD which is super pedally and also at Sheffield on the race track for Peaty's race in a few weeks. I can't even begin to tell you how flat it is - that will teach me for entering a race that says 'suitable for mid-travel bikes' when I don't have one at the moment! I am SHATTERED after trying to sprint the Glory for ~2 mins at a time yesterday. That is definitely going to get me fit

Blimey! I'm happy if I manage to get on a bike 3 times a week. Usually it's just 2. Usually 2 hours at a go XC.

I'm doing as many of the Gravity Enduros as possible this year and that's my "training" - just riding my bike when I can. I'm never going to win but I'm definitely fitter than a lot of the riders in the first race who were struggling on the transition times and that was coming in off the back of a nasty cough....

Blimey that schedule has made me feel very old and tired

Interesting I don't think it' a huge amount of training tbh, not compared to what I am used to. I do have to work very hard to keep up with you boys on the trails, any let up in training and there is no way I can manage it.

I can already see how racing (and practice) gets you fit quicker. I haven't worked so hard on the trails as I have over the last month or so. Racing is so weird though, it has definitely changed my focus totally from 'fun' to 'speed' and I'm fully aware of the fact that I need to keep things in perspective or I'm gonna be even more unbearable to ride with than I am already.

That is a lot of training but looking at it I would say that intervals are indeed your likely way forward, there is too much bimbling on the bike and you could definitely change tack with less work at the gym to break out of your plateau.

Hmm, I need to work out the best way to incorporate them without loosing strength. No point in getting faster if I can't handle the bike at speed! I can't loose too much gym work, the bike is such a big percentage of my bodyweight compared to the guys and if I am not strong then I struggle to handle big hits and g-outs.

Compromise, compromise........

I've also heard from my super-fit roadie mate that running helps massively with the road biking so I would assume it would still be similar for other kinds of bikes. Saves having to buy/ride a road bike if you don't fancy that Think I'm going to give it a go soon as I sometimes get bored of road biking.

I love running _tom_ but unfortunately I've not been able to run properly for the last year or two because of pelvic pains. I can sometimes manage short runs (30 mins) but often pay for days after and often only manage 5 minutes before I have to stop. So I've not been out on foot for a long time now.

I really miss running

[Suggsey]

Now I know you aint going to like this one Jo but trust me it makes you as fast descending not pedalling as a 10 stoner pedalling hell for leather,
PIES
I'll get me coat

[littlegirlbunny]

Now I know you aint going to like this one Jo but trust me it makes you as fast descending not pedalling as a 10 stoner pedalling hell for leather,
PIES
I'll get me coat

Conker that! The amount of time I spend blasting pedals just trying to keep up with coasting guys is unreal! Being small may be quicker to accelerate (if you have the power) but once rolling it's definitely not an advantage in my experience.

Funnily enough......I have a big batch of pasties in the oven as I type

[Suggsey]

Conker that! The amount of time I spend blasting pedals just trying to keep up with coasting guys is unreal! Being small may be quicker to accelerate (if you have the power) but once rolling it's definitely not an advantage in my experience.

Funnily enough......I have a big batch of pasties in the oven as I type

Proper training

[:: Xiphon ::]

I've taken up BMX racing, to aid in DH stamina (getting pounded legs for 4-5min runs).

I have good leg endurance power (commute 100 miles per week by bike), but my god.... I was smashed by the end of the first straight on a BMX..... it's brutal! Zero sprint capabilities in my old legs!

[addict]

Drink jäger, smoke fags, stay up late, listen to metal. Done.

[littlegirlbunny]

Drink jäger, smoke fags, stay up late, listen to metal. Done.

Well it appears to work for you so I shall try that