Q: “I think I’m going to call an end to my season, but I’m not ready to start transition yet. I plan to begin transition in October. What should I do for the next 4 weeks? I am a cyclist.“

A: Coach Eric: I get this question often this time of year: “How do you NOT train?” Especially for the cyclist who has been racing all summer, sometimes every weekend, not training hard and racing all the time can feel very strange.

First off – and overall – I would say less is better here. Catch up on work, family, and drop off the bike at the shop for a tune up. Have them check it over for cracks in the frame along with full safety check. Racing is very hard on your equipment. The key with this phase, including the transition phase, is to make sure you are 110% ready to start training come the start of your program. The under-trained, over-motivated athlete will beat the perfectly trained under-motivated athlete every time! Come Base1 you should be itching to ride. It should be all you think about, so when its 20 degrees and freezing rain, your pumped up and ready to put in a solid training effort! This is also the best time to sit down with your coach and/or teammates to discus what your goals my be for next year. How did you perform this year? What was good? What was bad? What will have to be different with your preparation for 2007…

To be more specific, I would completely lay off of anaerobic efforts. Anaerobic training and racing is extremely taxing on your body. Stick to Base and Endurance training. If you need to do something, do specific workouts to work your weakness. Again try to avoid anaerobic efforts and remember you don’t have to kill yourself for your training to have a good effect. As a general rule, keep any intensity to half of what you would do in a hard training block. Best to consult a personal coach for this.

Cross Train! Go mountain biking, running, play basketball, tennis what ever you like and have put off due to you strict cycling training. Cyclists are notorious for having weak abs and core muscles. Working on this will help keep you injury free next year.

Have fun! Do those old training rides you did when you first started riding. Plan a trip. I have done a few long rides with friends in the fall that have proved to be lots of fun and great endurance training.