Podcast Suggestion

Podcast
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Coach @FRANK I listened to your great podcast on what to do when your race is cancelled…if I may humbly recommend a podcast on what to do if your entire season (e.g. cyclocross) is cancelled.

I heard some great tips here on the forum (race simulations, soul rides, hard group rides), cx secret training tips, and on the the covid podcasts, etc. I think a podcast to tie that all together would be awesome!

Questions to discuss could be: do I still do the 6 weeks till cross, then all subsequent plans (intervals, rest n recovery, etc). Or do I modify with SS#4… or is this my big chance to finally be a group ride hero and show off all the work I’ve done in the dojo to my friends? LOL.

Thank you for your consideration.

Dave.

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Excellent suggestion - thanks! Stay tuned but here is an excerpt:

First and foremost you want to continue to prepare as if the season were happening for 2 reasons. #1 for your cyclocross development from a skills perspective (those 10,000 hours) and #2 from a power development standpoint. All the work you do this year will make you better for next year.

You won’t hit 10,000 hours this year but you can chip away at it for sure and this includes:
Race starts,
Corners
Dismounts and remounts
And Bunny hops to name a few

That said by all means have fun with the cx skills training - take the bunny hop challenge to teach yourself how and then how to hop smoother and higher. Coach Brandon has a great how to video on our youtube channel even if you’ve never tried. Guess what: this Summer and Fall is your chance!

Take your CX bike mountain biking! Singletrack that is easier on your mtb may be slightly more challenging on your cross rig but really really good bike handling skills practice.

Set up your 4-6 minute cx course and a strava segment for a lap and race yourself for 4-5 laps. Use cones, logs, portable barriers, sand pits, stairs, ditches, trees, dirt, grass, pavement - you name it , pretend you are a cyclocross promoter. After you’ve ripped the course and established your Strava PR - see if you can ride it faster not by riding with more watts but from carrying more speed out the the corners and executing your skills smoother. Smoother is faster.

You can also put a governor on yourself with a max heart rate of 150bpm and plan a game to go as fast as you can but not higher than 150bpm. This forces you to concentrate on being smoother in order to gain time as opposed to the habit of throwing down big watts.

With regards to our cyclocross training plans you still want to follow the order and progression we’ve talked about in the past:
Cyclocross Summer Sweet Spot
Six Weeks till Cyclocross
Cyclocross Intervals
Cyclocross In-Season
Six Weeks to Peak

For the first three - I recommend being diligent with FtFP’ing those. Once you get into October you’ll have to get creative. You never know there may be small grassroot tt style challenges so stay sharp to be ready to race!

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Ask and ye shall receive @traxxtar :slight_smile:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

What do you do when the whole season is cancelled because of a global pandemic? Keep calm and FtFP on, duh, because bike riding ain’t cancelled! Coach Frank revisits the topic after we discussed back when COVID-19 first exploded in the U.S. in March and put many things in question, and my how times have changed…

Frank shares his expert covid summertime coaching advice to help you keep the motivation rolling, what training should look like right now, some ideas for challenges and ways to use your fitness, and more. Remember to stay positive and embrace this current moment; it’s still such a gift to be able to ride at all!

Featured Training Plan: Sweet Spot Part 4: Polarized, $49

SBTVRTL : https://sbtgrvl.com/sbt-vrtl/

How to Taper https://fascatcoaching.com/tips/tapering-in-cycling-for-peak-performance/

Using the Performance Manager Chart to Peak https://fascatcoaching.com/tips/realtstwkt/

Thanks to everyone for tuning in, subscribing and reviewing on Apple Podcasts, and for engaging in our forum! For more things cycling training, visit http://fascatcoaching.com.

Save 25% on your next training plan with code 25podcast

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Thank you so much for your response. I am glad to hear you say that we should still follow your progression of plans as if the CX season were happening (e.g. 6 weeks till Cross, In-Season, etc). The timing is perfect as I am about to wrap up the CX Off-Season 24wk Plan. (Note: I have seen tremendous improvements from that plan by the way!!!)

Not only do I enjoy that process, and seeing the fitness improvements, but it also takes all the guesswork out of the equation and allows for more repetitions of the skills while the season is in limbo and possibly cancelled. Plus I’ll be ready to go if the CX planners here in TX do come up with some alternative race formats.

Great podcast as well! That was amazing to do one so quickly! I already did some gnarly trails on the CX bike for handling practice and even drew up some plans to build a “stackable” barrier (from 4" - 15.7").

Thanks again!!!

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