Managing our overall fatigue - there is value in logging the miles

We are training, and yup, we want to be getting better. After all, we are doing the work and should be getting better, right? Roughly speaking yes. But what is important to keep in mind is that we can’t be at peak fitness all the time. At some points in the season we are going to have to back off the training and just “log some miles”. You will need to keep the ball rolling so as not to lose fitness, while working on some other elements of your cycling.

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In France, they will always ask the riders at events: “et la forme?”. Essentially, how is your fitness? They know that it is a special time when a rider is at their best. To be at our peak fitness, “en forme” means those points in the year when our fitness has come together and we are truly riding sans chaine.

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When we are at our peak we feel great on the bike. Climbing, wind, jumping on a hill, it all feels so easy. The catch is that we can’t stay at that peak for very long, or achieve it more than two or maybe three times in a season. We need to time our fitness, our moments of being en forme, for those moments in the season when we want to be at our best.

In our training we are always looking to progress. The key is to manage this progression and our overall fatigue to reach our peak fitness at the right time. We have been taught to think of progression as only changes in our fitness - the watts we can push. Progression can come in many forms: physically (aerobic and anaerobic changes), mentally, and in our skills (think of our Toolbox).

As we move through a season there will be times when we need to take a break from the harder training and just log some miles. We need to keep riding to maintain our fitness, but at a pace that allows us to recover and manage our overall fatigue.

These sort of times are great opportunities to a) log some miles by putting in some proper endurance miles, and b) to work on our Toolbox concepts.

Logging miles at our endurance pace means doing rides that don’t leave us fatigued the next day. This pace is often easier than we like to think. But, doing it properly will help you manage your overall fatigue (think across a full season) and still actually make some physical improvements needed to improve your fitness.

Our Toolbox concept is full of ideas to work on during your rides - pedal stroke, breathing, and fueling. Working on these areas while logging your miles will make your rides much more interesting and help pass the time. They are also elements of your riding that when improved will only enhance your abilities when you do reach your peak fitness.

Start thinking about how you are going to manage your training to find that peak fitness at the right times of the year. Don’t discount those times where you are logging the miles, they have value, giving you the opportunity to make yourself more of a complete, rested and happy rider.