8 Great Training Tips

Training principles
Below is a list of general training principles which may be applied to any plan or routine.
These principles will help to shape your training plan and will also remind you of the
importance of monitoring the amount of training you do and the amount of recovery time
you allow yourself.

1. Train moderately
Your body has limits when it comes to endurance, speed and strength. Muscles will only
contract forcefully a certain number of times before they refuse to pull hard again. A
common mistake that many athletes make is to go too hard on the easy days and too easy
on the hard days.
By progressing carefully, especially with intensity, you’ll gradually get stronger and there
will be time and energy for other pursuits in life. An athlete who enjoys training will get
more benefits from it than one who is always on the edge of overtraining.

2. Train consistently
The human body thrives on routine, and regular activity brings positive change. This does
not mean that you should do the same workout every day, week after week. Variety also
promotes growth. This is not to say that you shouldn’t do hard workouts or that it isn’t
necessary to push the limits on occasion and experience fatigue as a result.
The key to consistency is moderation and rest.

3. Get adequate rest
During rest, the body adapts to the stresses of training and grows stronger. Without rest,
there’s simply no improvement. As the stress of training increases, so does the need for
rest. When we sleep, our body releases human growth hormones, and it mends and grows
stronger.
If our time spent sleeping is shortened, it takes us longer to recover and our consistency in
training suffers. Damaged cells take longer to heal, raising the risk of injury and illness. If
the training workload remains high despite decreased sleep time, overtraining becomes a
real threat. The risk of burnout is also greatly increased.

4. Train with a plan
This is fundamental to improvement in almost any endeavour of life, yet few self-trained
athletes do it. Realise that all plans can be changed. It is important that you can adapt your
training routine to suit the other responsibilities in your life such as work and home life.
It takes some flexibility to cope with the many factors that will get in your way. These
may also include a bad cold, overtime at work, unexpected travel, or a visit from family or
friends.

5. Improve weaknesses
It is important to try and identify your weaknesses and to dedicate some extra training
time towards making improvements. For example, if you struggle on climbs try to factor
some extra climbing into your routine. If you find you struggle to keep pace on the flatter
parts of a course, you should try to add some extra speed training to your routine. Address
your weaknesses, work on them and don’t shy away from them.

6. Trust your training
When the time comes to take part in an event, few of us trust our training. There’s a great
fear as the big event approaches that we haven’t done enough, so we train right up to race
day. It is important to taper down the training load in the lead up to an event. Do not go
out on a long training ride the day before the event.
It takes 10 to 21 days of reduced workload for the human body to be fully ready to
compete, depending on how long and hard the training has been.

7. Listen to your body
If you listen to what the body is saying, you’ll train smarter and get faster. Cyclists who
train intelligently always beat athletes who train hard. It is important to monitor how you
feel and to adjust your training schedule accordingly. The body will tell you when it needs
a rest or a lower workload through pain, fatigue and illness.

8. Commit to goals
After you set your goals, take a look at them and determine how they relate to your
lifestyle and training. Determine whether change is needed. Eat nutritious food to not only
fuel the body for training, but also to help speed recovery, replenish depleted energy and
nutrient stores, and provide the building blocks for a stronger body.
Keep a training log. Record workout details, stress signals, signs of increasing or decreasing
fitness, equipment changes, and anything else that describes your daily experience. Most
athletes also find that keeping a log