ActiveRecovery

 Recovery: Stress Management

What can create both a positive and a negative response? Is something everybody experiences? Most people desire less of? And many people struggle to balance?

In our daily lives, we experience both physical and emotional stress. As athletes we need physical stress in the form of “training load” to provide the stimulus from which we can improve. The key to a good training program is one that provides just the right amount of stress; not enough and we stagnate or get stuck on a plateau, too much and we get fatigued, sick or injured. Remember the story of Goldilocks and the 3 bears? She wanted it “just right.”

Both too little or too much physical stress leads to a lack of progress in your fitness.

Emotional stress encompasses stress from work, social/family interactions, and general life stress. School work, friend drama, and Taylor Swift’s newest terrible record are all examples of the emotional stress people experience in their daily lives. The key point here from an athlete’s perspective is that at the end of the day stress is stress; whether it is physical (training) stress or emotional (mental) stress. All stress adds up and contributes to your ability, or inability, to recover from your training and improve your performance. 

Remember that your body doesn’t know the difference between training and life stress. To it, all stress is stressful! (pretty deep, eh)

If your emotional (life) stress is heavy, then your physical (training) stress must be lighter. It all adds up! It’s critical to pay close attention to your stress balance if you want to make continued improvement in your sport.

Sleep is hands down the most important stress management tool. Aiming for 8-9 hours of sleep everyday is ideal. Oftentimes, in periods of high stress, it is more valuable to skip a workout in favor of more sleep. Listen to your body. If you’re tired, go to sleep!

The more you are under stress the more important a nutritious diet becomes. Eliminate the junk: sugar, fried foods, refined foods, etc. Maximize the fruits and vegetables. Less tacos, more apples.

Practicing yoga, deep breathing, visualization techniques, and simply reading a book can help lower stress levels. Spend time being still and quiet. (No, silence will not harm you)

Lighten up! Surround yourself with fun people at times and smile and laugh. It’s proven to relieve stress and make you a happier person.

Your training must progress gradually to avoid excessive acute stress. Fitness is a long term commitment and can’t be rushed. Experts estimate that it takes 10 full consistent consecutive training seasons for athletes to reach their prime fitness levels.

Consuming calories immediately following long and/ or intense training sessions is a critical recovery strategy. The key is to include both carbohydrates and protein in adequate amounts to begin the restoration process.

Daily self-massage (foam rollers, massage balls, massage sticks, etc.) is time well spent and can be done before bed as part of a relaxation routine.

While science will say there is no evidence that stretching actually does anything; however most people will agree that, at the very least, it feels good. Unless you are genetically hyper-flexible, including some stretching in your weekly routine will help you stay loose and maintain an effective range of motion. It is another great activity to include in your nightly relaxation routine.

Another controversial technique in the recovery equation. The verdict is still out as to whether compression actually does anything, but if you think it does then go for it! Donning compression clothing post-workouts and pneumatic ‘compression boots’ are two tools to consider including in your recovery routine.

In conclusion, stress management is a critical factor in your training progression. Work to get the balance right and you’ll better absorb your training efforts which leads to higher performance. Like Goldilocks, get it “just right.”

Now that you've figured out your big picture fueling strategy for both life and training, lets chat about what to eat and how much to eat while you are riding.  Here are a few general rules/tips to follow for fueling on the bike:

• Calorie goal: try to eat at least half the number of calories you are burning during an activity each hour. Example: on a long endurance ride (low intensity) you burn about 500-600 calories/hr. So, in these cases you should aim to consume about 250-300 calories/hr. For reference a Clif Bar has about 250 calories, a pack of shot bloks 200 calories.

• Eat Often: try to make yourself a fueling schedule in your mind. Space your eating out versus cramming in large amounts all at once. Example: I typically eat a shot blok every 20min and a clif bar every 1.5 hrs during marathon length races (Over 3 hrs long)

• Choose the right fuel for your ride type: Activities that are high intensity (hard intervals) burn more simple carbohydrates vs. long, slower activities that burn more of a mix of fat and carbohydrates. So, if you are doing multiple tough intervals you may need more quick calories (gels, shot bloks, etc). If you are doing a longer, slower ride you should eat more real foods (pbj, bananas, trail mix, etc). If you are doing a long race that has both type efforts, you need both types of food. 

• Choose Wisely: Pick foods that cut into bite size pieces, are easily packable (jersey pocket) and taste good on the go. If it tastes great you will be more likely to eat and less likely to hit a wall on your rides or in your races. (S'Mores flavored gels are delicious!!)

• Calories can come in liquid form: There are great options for drink mixes to help quench your thirst and get you those quick calories (these fit into that quick burn carbohydrate category). Check out the huge variety of mixes and find one that tastes great. (Skratch, Gatorade, Heed, etc.) 

More on hydrating during rides and races next week...

For just a few minutes I want you to think less like an endurance cyclist and more like a downhiller (Yeah, send it bros!) We're going to talk about the right way to use your brakes. Funny thing is, this will make you a faster endurance racer as well!

Check out the following tips to dial in your braking prowess:

Let's start simple. Only use your index finger to brake. Modern disc brakes have plenty of power for on-finger braking. Use your other fingers to hold onto your grips.

The less time you spend braking, the better. When you hit your brakes bad things happen to your bike handling. Tires skip, suspension will stiffen, muscles tighten up and your ability to move around your bike will drop significantly. 

Brake in the right places, harder, but less often. Try to break the habit of feathering your brakes through corners and during descents. Feathers are for birds, not bike racers!! Get heavy with your body on your pedals and give those levers a squeeze, then get off of them. Brake before corners and ride them through. Try not to brake in the middle of a turn. If you have to, then lay off the front brake and just use your rear brake. 

Brake in a straight line (when your tires are perpendicular to the ground). Braking while leaning will either slide your tires out, or stand up your bike. This is no bueno on loose gravel or slick roots.

Brake on good ground. Look for spots with good traction and hit them hard. Avoid washboards (where everyone else has braked and skidded. These are common before tight corners) Get creative with your braking spots. 

Use both brakes. Do not fear the front brake! If your body weight is in the right spot and your weight is driving downward, you won't go over the bars. Squeeze gradually to give yourself time to adjust your position. Squeeze both brakes equally. You don't realize how much stopping power that front brake will give you!

Practice braking as hard as you can without skidding. Experiment with braking lever pressure and body position until you have this dialed in. Start on hard surfaces, like a parking lot, then work up to gravel. If you drive your weight down as you brake you will be amazed how quickly you can stop on loose ground.

Never lock your front wheel! You need your front wheel to track through turns. When it is skidding it isn't tracking. If it starts to lock up, ease off the brake until it starts to roll again.

Get those fingers off your brake levers while climbing!! This one is habit driven and pretty obvious. Don't waste hard earned momentum with pointless braking when you are slogging uphill.

Lastly, Look ahead on the trail so you can plan your braking! The farther you look ahead the faster you can go while in control. Rather than seeing immediate threats you will find future possibilities. Good lesson for life, too!

 Lets go over a few cues we can tuck into the back of our minds about cycling position and posture, when climbing and descending. Dial these in and you will not only look more like the pros, but ride more like them as well.

Climbing:

• good posture (didn't your mom teach you not to slouch?)
• relaxed face, shoulders, elbows and wrists (tension kills efficiency and flow)
• hands squeezing your grips just enough to hold on, shift, and maneuver 

                     (remember, piano fingers!!!) NO DEATH GRIPS!

• head and neck in line with your spine, but looking forward (eyes can move independent of your noggin)
• butt bones seated firmly on the wings of your saddle
• relaxed hips, knees and ankles through your smooth pedal stroke
• slightly engage your big toe as you come across the top of your pedal stroke
• bonus points if you can keep your index finger off your brake levers while climbing

**This is the position that will help you be efficient and drive the most power to your pedal stroke (that thing we talked about last week)

Descending (aka Attack Position):

• Heavy feet, Light hands (weight on your feet, driving through your bottom bracket, very little weight on your hands. Grip your bars "just enough" like when climbing)
• Stay Low, Loose, and Looking
• Hinge at your hips and get your torso parallel with the ground
• Let the bike move below you, independent of your body. Your legs and arms should negotiate the bike while your head moves down the trail in a steady, smooth line (yep, even through the gnar)

**We'll talk later about more specifics when descending (looking ahead, braking, pumping, keeping momentum, etc., but the cues above are the foundation to build upon as we move towards MTB Nirvana.

 You may be wondering why we are doing specific lifts during our strength sessions. Let me break it down for you. Sometimes knowing the “why” will fuel the drive to buy into the exercises. Let's talk about our lifting progressions and what muscles they target. See below for what each of these muscle groups does during your cycling pedal stroke. 

We always start out working our core (front, side and back). The core ties your body together and stabilizes during movement. It’s the glue that holds us together when riding. Weak core = overuse injuries and poor form, especially when you get tired late in a race. Pro tip: You should also be stabilizing your core in later exercises, which works it further.

Push and pull exercises work your arms, back and chest.

Squat and Deadlift are the keys to all of our cycling strength sessions. This is where you develop the power to excel on your bike. You work all of the muscles listed below and teach your body to be explosive.

The explosive movements at the end of each strength session are to further that explosion development. They should be a true full body exercise, just like mountain biking!

***Check out the attached pic to see the major muscles you use when pedaling and how your strength work integrates into your pedal stroke.***

When do we use these muscles when riding?

Quads: Big guns for the power phase of your pedal stroke

Gluts: Important for standing pedaling, descending

Hamstrings: main muscle in pull phase, big w/ descending in Attack position

Calves and Shins: Key for smooth stroke, efficiency. Used with all parts of cycling

Core: Key for keeping correct form, hugely important with descending, technical terrain

Arms: big with cornering, braking, shifting.