We heard yesterday that our UK CX League that would normally run from Sept - Jan has been cancelled.
We don’t yet know if other leagues and/or pop-up races will happen but there will be no way of predicting that yet.
I’m feeling generally ok about this - there’s much bigger things going on and I think I’m motivated enough to train for another 18 months until the potential 2021 season.
Currently, I am planning to continue my training structure (Base-Build-Base-Build) to peak in Sept:
- To evaluate how this 9-12 month structure worked for me and what I could tweak next year
- In case there is some racing or training possible in what would’ve been the CX season
My question is - if there is little or no racing this year, what sort of training would you target in what would normally be race season? I’m currently thinking about recreating a race season using a combination of speciality training and online racing, going into a really long base instead and/or another approach.
Any thoughts appreciated. Many thanks.
This is a tricky one because one thing has to suffer in order for the other to succeed. I would suggest sticking to the plan as if the 2020 CX race season was going to happen. I think some local races/challenges will pop up and it would be nice to be ready for those. I also imagine Zwift, etc. are cooking up some type of virtual cx effort (without running) races, too. You could start your 2021 campaign early with a solid recovery break and then really build up a solid foundation of strength and base this winter. I hope this helps.
Thanks @Brandon - this is helpful and cemented my thinking a bit.
I’m definitely going to carry on with my current plan to peak in Sept (realistically it would’ve been a bit later than that, more like mid-season with some race craft behind me).
We are already trialling a virtual CX league in Zwift. It’s great, but a pure numbers game and it’s the technical I miss!
Hoping some pop up events occur Sept - Dec. I’m thinking little chance of Nationals in Jan but too early to say. This would give me a chance to put in a bigger base as I usually only manage 8 weeks after Nationals and to squeeze in enough times outside of this to help team in road and crit races come May.
I’m actually quite excited to work until 2021 season to see what I can achieve without being fatigued for 4 months of the year from back to back CX races!
Some type of technique factor / handicap would be a cool feature. Perhaps the fellow competitors could rank your skills and then an algorithm gives you a slow down or speed up after you cross a technical section. Or maybe it just happens randomly, like can often happen in cross! That would be fun.
Thanks @Brandon - good thoughts!
Virtual cyclocross racing in our league is going really well. It’s giving people a focus in lockdown both socially, mentally and training wise. It might become a regular feature across the season until we can race IRL.
This will all be interesting to follow. Keep us all posted!