Saturday, August 15, 2009

Cycling burnout?

Are you suffering from "cycling burnout"? I'm talking about the burnout that's NOT caused by "overtraining". I have to admit that I am. Why? I'm sure it's a culmination of things/reasons, such as:
a. excessive business travel
b. recent hot/humid weather
c. recent/past injuries
d. tired of the same old monotonous training rides/routes
e. getting late in the season, therefore getting physically/mentally exhausted
f. other distractions such as pre-season football on TV
g. showing little to no bike performance improvement
h. etc.

Regardless of the reasons for burnout, there is a lot you can do to prevent burnout, such as:
a. find new routes to ride
b. ride with a group or new group
c. ride at a different time of day. i.e. early in the a.m. to beat the heat
d. ride a different bike. i.e. hybrid, cross or mtn bike instead of your road bike
e. take shorter/quicker rides. No reason to go on a 3-4 hr. rides in the heat
f. go to races with friends instead of going solo..it's more fun..and safer if you crash on the bike
g. take your bike on business travel if you can...or ride at the gym in a spin class if you can't
h. etc.

Remember, there is (for the most part) only 1 month left of road racing before the cyclo-cross season starts up. And, for those of you that don't race cyclo-cross, that means "end-of-season". So, do what I suggested...stay motivated...finish STRONG!

2 comments:

Rob Muller said...

BTW, rode a mtn bike for the first time today in Pennypack Park and LOVED IT! Demo'd a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Comp 29er.

Rob Muller said...

Oh, had a TSS=70 for a 1:50:00 ride so you know I didn't go too hard. Not much vertical at Pennypack Park.