Petrylak’s Blogz in Motion
with John Petrylak (2016 VORS EXPERT & XCT CHAMPION)
From 20 minute short track to 18 hour solo racing and everything in between John has never been one to turn down a challenge.
For 2019 John has set his sights on Masters XC World Championships at Mont Sainte-Anne. John is going to document what he is doing to get prepared for the event and all the other racing he has on tap for 2019.
CHECK OUT HIS VORS RACE PROFILE....Click Here)
John Petrylak joins Jeremiah Bishop Training
How to race and training for an entire race series
How to race and training for an entire race series
How to race and training for an entire race series
How to race and training for an entire race series
When you’re training for your most important event of the season, your “A” race, there is a path to the goal. That path begins with building base fitness over the offseason, followed by preseason events and training, then into more specificity in training along with events that match your peak event and that all flows into peaking for the race itself. That’s a very simplified version with many other factors that are needed to have your program aligned with your main goal. However, what if your main goal is the entire race series?
You need to win a lot of races to win the entire race series, so how do you manage this? Let’s take a look.
Planning your races out is an important part of the season, selecting the races that suit your ability best, to do well at. This allows you to plan ahead and taper into these events. Tapering requires reducing your training volume by 60-80% while maintaining some intensity with short efforts. This allows the body to recover from training and further preps it for race day. Planning on tapering into several races in a row is the key to performing at your very best.
The foundation to a successful season begins long before the first race. This begins in the preseason approximately 3 months prior to the start of your season. The preseason training will be low to moderate intensity with the volume of training increasing throughout the preseason phase. During this time strength training, flexibility training (yoga) and body weight maintenance will all be of high importance.
About 6 weeks before your first race you will begin to transition to the specialization phase. During the specialty phase volume will continue to be high in the beginning and then you will start to decrease volume and increase intensity half way through. Intervals will be added to your training during this time; these intervals will be VO2, threshold, sprints and tempo intervals. These intervals will prepare you for the physical demands of racing. Strength training and flexibility training will continue during the specialty phase but the duration and intensity will decrease as your high intensity workouts on the bike begin.
Once race season arrives the competition or “maintenance” phase begins. During the competition phase the goal is to progressively increase your performance capacity. You will increase this capacity by adding training races to your calendar, intervals will now become racing specific (sprinting, attacking, climbing, technical skills). During this phase it will now be time to peak for races that are important to you. Flexibility training will continue during the competition phase and strength training will now become mostly plyometrics to maintain core strength.
Approximately halfway through your season a great benefit will be to add a recovery phase. This will be a relatively short break from racing. You will train but with very low intensity and low volume for a short cycle. This cycle will generally be a few weeks long to help reset you physically and mentally for the second half of your season. During the transition phase it is a perfect time to take that beach trip.
Here a few helpful tips to manage the race series and keep the goal in focus: ● Look at the calendar. In January (or as early as possible) look at the race calendar and pick out which races suit you the best. These should be the focus for the year and incorporated into your annual training plan, your plan will be built around them. It’s haphazardly to think you can “race yourself into shape” in March when you have not been putting in the base miles over the winter.
● Do more than you have to. If the series has a “best out of ? races” add 2 or 3 more to your annual training plan. This will eliminate pressure if you flat or crash or just have a tough day.
● Plan accordingly. If you are going to be racing outside of the series choose those races carefully. Sometimes dates conflict and you will have to manage your expectations if the dates are close or the same weekend. In Virginia our series runs from March through October and it’s a best of 7 races. This allows me to choose races throughout the year to target but also to use some races as specificity training for other important races outside of the series.
● Pick up the pieces. When disaster strikes, as it inevitably will stay calm and fix what you can as quickly as you can. Every position you regain is a few more points that will be priceless at the end of season. If you have a bad result, it might be necessary to adjust your training plan and shift your focus to another race that was not on your calendar for the year. Your plan is a guide, not a rule book! You can adjust and change as circumstances change during the season.
● Build up fitness when it makes sense. Look for several races in a row that you would like to target. The best scenario would be to have the races line up 3 or 4 weekends in a row. Use these races to build into a peak especially in the spring or fall. Once you decide on the block of races you can add a nice build into your annual training plan. During the build phase it might make sense to skip a race in the series in favor of building fitness or you can race but the race will become a low priority race. After you taper into the first race of this high importance block you will need maintenance between the additional races. Pay attention to how you are recovering between the races and make sure you don’t overdo it during the week. Typically only a little maintenance is needed before the next race. A recovery ride on Tuesday , then a short sharp day on Wednesday and finally a very short “race prep ride” the day before the next race might be all you need.
● Wins are great but consistency is better. Racing smart is better than putting yourself in a bad position by making a risky decision and causing a forced mechanical or a crash. In the early part of season pay attention to where you need improvement. Early in the season is the best time to polish up specific skills. If you are suffering with the pace at the start of the race this is the time to add start intervals to your training plan. Maybe you are holding on to the lead group for a few minutes but then find the pace is just too much; this is also something that can be addressed with specific intervals.
● Train like you are racing and race like you trained. High intensity in your annual training plan at the proper time during the preseason and through the season is going to elevate your fitness to the next level. If you are doing this correctly a race should feel hard but not impossible. It’s important to remember to make your high intensity intervals hard but do not make every single ride a high intensity ride. You must allow enough recovery time between your hard days.
Completing a race series is an amazing and satisfying experience. With just a little planning in the offseason you can make next year your best year yet! In the offseason “dream big” about next seasons goals, determine what you need to do to set yourself up to successfully achieve that dream and then go after it!
You need to win a lot of races to win the entire race series, so how do you manage this? Let’s take a look.
Planning your races out is an important part of the season, selecting the races that suit your ability best, to do well at. This allows you to plan ahead and taper into these events. Tapering requires reducing your training volume by 60-80% while maintaining some intensity with short efforts. This allows the body to recover from training and further preps it for race day. Planning on tapering into several races in a row is the key to performing at your very best.
The foundation to a successful season begins long before the first race. This begins in the preseason approximately 3 months prior to the start of your season. The preseason training will be low to moderate intensity with the volume of training increasing throughout the preseason phase. During this time strength training, flexibility training (yoga) and body weight maintenance will all be of high importance.
About 6 weeks before your first race you will begin to transition to the specialization phase. During the specialty phase volume will continue to be high in the beginning and then you will start to decrease volume and increase intensity half way through. Intervals will be added to your training during this time; these intervals will be VO2, threshold, sprints and tempo intervals. These intervals will prepare you for the physical demands of racing. Strength training and flexibility training will continue during the specialty phase but the duration and intensity will decrease as your high intensity workouts on the bike begin.
Once race season arrives the competition or “maintenance” phase begins. During the competition phase the goal is to progressively increase your performance capacity. You will increase this capacity by adding training races to your calendar, intervals will now become racing specific (sprinting, attacking, climbing, technical skills). During this phase it will now be time to peak for races that are important to you. Flexibility training will continue during the competition phase and strength training will now become mostly plyometrics to maintain core strength.
Approximately halfway through your season a great benefit will be to add a recovery phase. This will be a relatively short break from racing. You will train but with very low intensity and low volume for a short cycle. This cycle will generally be a few weeks long to help reset you physically and mentally for the second half of your season. During the transition phase it is a perfect time to take that beach trip.
Here a few helpful tips to manage the race series and keep the goal in focus: ● Look at the calendar. In January (or as early as possible) look at the race calendar and pick out which races suit you the best. These should be the focus for the year and incorporated into your annual training plan, your plan will be built around them. It’s haphazardly to think you can “race yourself into shape” in March when you have not been putting in the base miles over the winter.
● Do more than you have to. If the series has a “best out of ? races” add 2 or 3 more to your annual training plan. This will eliminate pressure if you flat or crash or just have a tough day.
● Plan accordingly. If you are going to be racing outside of the series choose those races carefully. Sometimes dates conflict and you will have to manage your expectations if the dates are close or the same weekend. In Virginia our series runs from March through October and it’s a best of 7 races. This allows me to choose races throughout the year to target but also to use some races as specificity training for other important races outside of the series.
● Pick up the pieces. When disaster strikes, as it inevitably will stay calm and fix what you can as quickly as you can. Every position you regain is a few more points that will be priceless at the end of season. If you have a bad result, it might be necessary to adjust your training plan and shift your focus to another race that was not on your calendar for the year. Your plan is a guide, not a rule book! You can adjust and change as circumstances change during the season.
● Build up fitness when it makes sense. Look for several races in a row that you would like to target. The best scenario would be to have the races line up 3 or 4 weekends in a row. Use these races to build into a peak especially in the spring or fall. Once you decide on the block of races you can add a nice build into your annual training plan. During the build phase it might make sense to skip a race in the series in favor of building fitness or you can race but the race will become a low priority race. After you taper into the first race of this high importance block you will need maintenance between the additional races. Pay attention to how you are recovering between the races and make sure you don’t overdo it during the week. Typically only a little maintenance is needed before the next race. A recovery ride on Tuesday , then a short sharp day on Wednesday and finally a very short “race prep ride” the day before the next race might be all you need.
● Wins are great but consistency is better. Racing smart is better than putting yourself in a bad position by making a risky decision and causing a forced mechanical or a crash. In the early part of season pay attention to where you need improvement. Early in the season is the best time to polish up specific skills. If you are suffering with the pace at the start of the race this is the time to add start intervals to your training plan. Maybe you are holding on to the lead group for a few minutes but then find the pace is just too much; this is also something that can be addressed with specific intervals.
● Train like you are racing and race like you trained. High intensity in your annual training plan at the proper time during the preseason and through the season is going to elevate your fitness to the next level. If you are doing this correctly a race should feel hard but not impossible. It’s important to remember to make your high intensity intervals hard but do not make every single ride a high intensity ride. You must allow enough recovery time between your hard days.
Completing a race series is an amazing and satisfying experience. With just a little planning in the offseason you can make next year your best year yet! In the offseason “dream big” about next seasons goals, determine what you need to do to set yourself up to successfully achieve that dream and then go after it!