5 MISTAKE TO AVOID WHEN STARTING A TRAINING PROGRAM

1) START THE TRAINING WITHOUT PERFORMING A THRESHOLD TEST:

One of the basics to make sure that the training is effective and that you go to train the right metabolism, is to have clear your own values of threshold, which can only be obtained by doing a test on the road or in the laboratory. It is not necessary to have some kind of instruments and it is possible to do it autonomously: just have a heart rate monitor (Conconi Test) and (even better) a power meter (FTP test). By doing the test, you will get your OWN training zones, which are the base of your training.

2) STARTING THE PREPARATION WITHOUT A GOAL:

Another thing that many underestimate are the goals, without them where do we get the motivation to move forward? The first thing to do when planning your season is setting your goals. A good way to set goals is using the S.M.A.R.T. model, which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound Specific means something that is clearly definable and easy to assess. An example; get top three at the road nationals this year. Measurable means being able to establish criteria for measuring the goal. It also means being able to revise the goal after the event. An example; for a rider looking to do a sportive event, a measureable goal can be to finish within six hours. Attainable means being achievable. An attainable number of goals can be three and it is important to keep them achievable. Non-achievable goals can lead to demotivation. For an A4 rider, for example, an attainable goal would be upgrade to A3 in 2018. Relevant means a goal that is important to you. For a Kerry rider, for example, the goal may be to ride Rás Mumhan in 2018, or achieve a particular result in it. Time-bound means having a timeline for the goal to be completed in. It could be win a race by the end of June.

3) DO NOT HAVE AN ADEQUATE RECOVERY ON YOUR TRAINING PROGRAMME.

The REST and the RECOVERY are themselves TRAINING: WITHOUT WE DO NOT IMPROVE. When we are recovering, after a block of intense training, all those physiological mechanisms are implemented that adapt the body to bear increasingly higher loads, leading us to SUPERCOMPENSATION, which is the basis of the increase in performance. If we do eliminate the recovery phase, continuing to train with heavy loads, we do not give our bodies time to adapt and we risk getting worse, getting overreaching and, in the worst cases, overtraining, from which it is difficult to go back. This is why we offer days of absolute rest or active recovery and recovery weeks (with our formula 3+1. Three weeks of over-reaching and 1 week of recovery).

4) BECOME A SLAVE OF YOUR TRAINING PROGRAM:

Follow a training program well is one of the principles of improvement, but it should not be a fixed nail, we must be FLEXIBLE: when we have to do a specific workout, but we are too tired, it is better that we avoid to carry it out and go home, we can try to see the following day if we feel better. We must also consider that there may be unforeseen commitments, family or work commitments, so we must adapt. It is not those 2-3 days that we have lost that affect our preparation, especially if until that moment we have done everything correctly.

5) HAVING THE WRONG TRAINING PLAN IN RELATION TO THE TYPES OF PERFORMANCE THAT REQUIRES THE GOAL:

It is very important to train according to our goal. Let me explain: if our goal is a criterium competition, it is clear that we should stimulate the anaerobic mechanisms with training and not the aerobic ones. And vice versa, if our goal is to do the PR on a 40 '/ 50' climb, it is useless that we are going to train too much the anaerobic metabolism, but it will be useful to train around your threshold.

Matteo Cigala
Founder and Head Coach