Diversify your winter training with alternative disciplines

November and December are not the best time to ride on the route in most regions of France. However, autumn and winter have their charms… and their own alternative disciplines. How to get through these difficult months while still making progress.

Text: Olivier Dulaurent – ​​Photos: Depositphotos.com

The context

In the minds of most cyclists, the breakdown of the season is simple: training resumes in the winter, "hard" training in the spring, racing from spring to mid-summer, then rest in the fall.

However, A break that is too long and/or too pronounced will lead to detraining.

Since then other ways are possible :

• continue to train hard, with the risk of not lasting over time, physically and/or psychologically.
• adapt to the conditions and vary training by trying out “winter” disciplines.

In the second case, in other words, it is about progressing while having fun, by discovering new practices and reducing constraints.

Swimming

Well beyond the notions of planning – it is not about becoming a real swimmer in a few weeks in the off-season – or even training strictly speaking, it is necessary to take into account the principle of specificity: the transfer phenomena are quite weak between cycling and swimming. However, The goal to be achieved remains interesting: swimming improves physical condition.

On the other hand, if you really want to improve your swimming, with the possible aim of discovering the world of triathlon in the future, it is necessary to keep in mind The achievements of this discipline disappear much more quickly than for others because the technical dimension is much more present there. This is why no “substitution” activity can be found.

Cycling in other forms

In winter, specific cycling activities stand out: mountain biking on the one hand, cyclo-cross/gravel on the other, which can possibly be practiced with the same bike.

More fun than the route, more pleasant in cold weather, these activities combine the advantagestages :

• endurance work, maintenance of aerobic capacity.
• direct impact on performance: strength work, velocity work, pedal stroke work, changes of rhythm, etc.

That said, the characteristics of mountain biking, cyclo-cross and gravel mean that these activities bring a real benefit to your cycling potential:

• work of agility, balance, trajectories, ease on the bike, self-confidence, all factors which will be interesting later, particularly on hilly and technical courses.
• In both cases you will be faced with uneven paths which will cause a “natural” strength work and changes of pace that will promote the development of your VO2max. It's still better than the traditional slow and themeless releases on the route in this period.

These activities, both close and far from the route can be used as training sessions, especially for vary the pleasures and avoid saturation but also as competitions. In this case they could constituteexcellent rhythm sessions but they should be consumed in moderation so as not to come out of the winter period tired.

The limits:

Be careful not to go overboard, however. While mountain biking, cyclocross and gravel offer real progression to those who do it regularly, particularly in strength and the ability to change pace, it is important to remember that it is difficult to engage in specific work, qualitative by practicing these activities. Indeed, targeted sessions are more easily set up on the route or on the home trainer. It will therefore be necessary to find a balance between, on the one hand, mountain biking and/or cyclocross-Gravel and on the other hand, qualitative and more specific work using your bike. route.

Running

Mountain biking, cyclocross and gravel for cycling… trail and cross-country for running.

The “winter” versions of cycling and running are ultimately quite similar: we leave the route for trails and paths, asphalt for mud or stones.

Cross country but also and above all trail running are disciplines which are still booming and are generally very popular with cyclosportives, with specialists in short distances and federation races often turning to cross-country, which is very intense, while specialists in long distances are more often tempted by trail running, a discipline where the spirit is quite close to that found in long-distance events (cyclosportives).

What are the advantages?tagAre there any of these practices?

Finally, we will find characteristics very close to running, with two additional “dimensions”, and not the least, both linked to the difference in altitude:

• they promote a hyper-specific muscle strengthening.
• they offer multiple changes of pace.

It is not for nothing that cross-country is known as a "very good school" for marathon runners. route and if winter trails are enjoying growing success.

Preparing for these tests means moving away somewhat from the route and the track to train differently and moretagand in nature with less calibrated sessions. Nothing like this to recharge your batteries and avoid saturation.

Like mountain biking and cyclo-cross, cross-country and trail running can be both training sessions and competitions.

In this second scenario, we will avoid several pitfalls:

• avoid multiplying participations, especially in cross-country, so as not to hinder winter preparation and not fall into fatigue
• not to fall into climbing and extremes in terms of distances for the trail in order to avoid setbacks (physical and moral) but also injuries.

The limits:

Here again we find a parallel with cyclo-cross/Gravel and mountain biking: these nature training sessions leave moretagand less room for feeling and therefore less for specific work. However, progress comes through the development of basic qualities, in particular speed, technique and VMA. If cross-country and trail running improve endurance and strength, it will be necessary to find a balance with qualitative, targeted sessions carried out on the track or on route.

Chained disciplines

 How can we not mention the vetathlons (or green duathlons) and “run and bike” when we talk about winter preparation.

In addition to a particularly fun activity with a training partner or friend, These tests allow you to change your horizons, which is always a plus for motivation. In addition, the alternations between running parts (fast) and cycling parts (in recovery), ultimately represent a natural split session largely profitable for the rest of the preparation.

Conclusion

Cyclo-cross, mountain biking, cross-country, trails, vetathlons, run and bike, so many very interesting autumn and winter disciplines, both as competitions and as part of your preparation.

Each brings added value compared to the bike route. Be careful though: it is about varying the pleasures, keeping motivation intact by changing disciplines while training, but it is appropriate to include them in the context of long-term preparation: So it is important to keep in mind that the ultimate goal will be to develop your basic skills as a cyclist.

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