Hey Fascats! I just wrapped up the CX stravavals plan. It was pretty fun and I was grateful to find a plan that motivated me this year (confession, that was the first plan I have managed to complete this year).
Without any CX season around here (WA), I’m interested in hearing what you think would be a good strategy for now to February when I could get going on the strength program. Given that CX would barely be started if all were normal, it seems too early to throw in the towel on getting in some good fall training. I was thinking about jumping into the CX Summer Sweet spot plan to build some fitness into mid-November (maybe also developing a new CX course to challenge as I am kind of tired of the first one), and then call it a season. Thank you for any suggestions!
Hi @gevolympia - good to hear from you & thanks for doing our cx stravaVals plan
This cyclocross cancellations has become not only a huge bummer but quite the conundrum for cyclocross athletes:
nationals is cancelled, some regions don’t have any racing
its too far away (10-11 months) till next Fall to train exclusively for cyclocross
I have had the same conversation with all the 'cross athletes I coach and we have decided to take a break in the next 2-6 weeks and target an event in the Spring - like the Belgian Waffle Ride or similar gravel event. In another case to race criteriums in the Spring and then switch over to cross specific training in June and go all in for cx in the Fall.
The important thing is choosing something to go for in the Spring. Gravel, road, MTB, Fondo, Hill Climbing, Criteriums, TT etc… - let that serve as a mid term goal to get you to the CX season. Because from now till CX Season is too long
Hope that helps (!) and if something jumps out 'atcha take you break now and do some fun riding and then lift weights and then build your base (sweet spot style, of course All exemplified in our 32 week off season training plan here
Or you could do our 24 week CX plan in November (not in Feb in a traditional CX year)
Thank you Frank - this was very helpful. Sadly, I crashed my bike a few days ago and broke a couple of ribs, so that pretty much set the stage for the next while. Shucks. The good news is there is only one way for me to go after this year, and that is up! I’m going to spend the downtime setting up my home gym so that come January I can get going and then have a good long base build into the summer. Might even try the weight loss program in the meantime. Loving your podcasts - they really help me stay connected with my racing dreams even through all these chicanes! Cheers!
All exemplified in our 32 week off season training plan here