Get Ready for Mountain Bike Season!
Wow! Your passionate responses to last week’s “mountain bike riding season is coming” blog were incredible. We are going to build on that enthusiasm over the next two weeks with three perspectives on training that will lead you to a great summer on the bike, regardless of your age or ability.
Perspective #1: Build a Program That Works for You. While this is already a tenet of our 100 Year Athlete community, I want to re-emphasize its importance when beginning something new. This idea was recently captured well in a blog post by Brad Stulberg, author of Master of Change and other books on mastery, meaning, and excellence. To quote from the post, he believes effective routines/programs should:
Help you activate when you are feeling low
Keep you grounded when you are bursting with energy
Automate decisions to save willpower
Prime you to perform at your best and get into the zone
Support focus, consistency, discipline, patience and confidence
Be sustainable
Alleviate stress and tension, not cause it
My takeaways from this bullet list and Brad’s blog: the odds of finding a program that works for you from the internet are low. And what worked for you 3, 5 or 10 years ago is likely not applicable today, especially for those of us in the Masters category of life and sport. Instead, you need a program that explicitly accounts for where you are at (physically, mentally, life) today and where you want to go this coming summer.
If you like this kind of stuff, Brad’s co-conspirator, Steve Magness, has a great book called Do Hard Things, that goes deeper. Brad and Steve’s blog has links to all of their books.
Do you have a summer training plan that is realistic, sustainable, and fun? I welcome your feedback. And let me know if you want more information on the mountain biking program we are announcing on April 9.
Best,
Brian Allison
NSCA CSCS
brian@100yearathlete.com
650.996.8803