Winter Break

The Climb out of Burnsall. Taken during a recent ride through the Yorkshire Dales.

It’s the end of the season, but, I don’t feel much fatigue from cycling. Many riders have  break from the bike at this time of they year – perhaps 2 or 3 weeks. It is argued that a break from the bike can be a great way to recover before the next year.

I think it really depends on how you feel. Last month was an intense month in terms of interval training, but, very mild in terms of miles. This is probably why I don’t feel tired. If I was a professional training and racing in 250km races I probably would be welcoming a winter break. But, since I don’t feel any psychological need to have a break, I will be riding whenever the weather is decent for riding. The good thing about not having a break is that:

• You don’t lose fitness and have to claw it back in January and February.
• If you have no break, you don’t feel bad if you need to take a week off due to illness / bad weather.
• Often when you take three weeks off, when you’re due to restart training, there is something that prevents you for another two weeks, and before you know it 2 months have passed and you’ve hardly touched a pedal in anger.

My philosophy for the winter will be to get some good miles in. I get bored spinning pedals at 15mph, so I still like to train relatively fast. I won’t be doing any interval training until February, though if there’s a steep hill I won’t feel obliged to hold back into some target heart rate zone.

It’s also quite nice to be able to go cycling with time to enjoy the autumn scenery and not just throw yourself up steep hills!

Related

• Winter Cycling Training