It's Christmas! Well not yet. But it's nearly Christmas and that means it's the time of year to over indulge on your favourite treats, sweets, and beer. This is in stark contrast to the usual diet of the well trained (sort of), elite (ish) athlete that is the road cyclist. Christmas for many cyclists solely exists as a challenge to endure without deviating from the nutrition plan, while utilising the extra time off work in order to get a big training block in. Invariably this makes the cyclist cranky and miserable, as they watch friends and family actually enjoy themselves over Christmas.
However it doesn't have to be this way. As a cyclist you don't have to have a miserable Christmas, and you can enjoy the festivities to the full. First of all, most of us have a bit of time off work. This means more time for bike riding, which is always good. Instead of sticking with your regular Winter programme, make sure you have adapted your plan for the extra training time available to you. It will allow you to enjoy the bike more and you will feel good about having completed a good block of training, which will go a long way towards your preparation for the coming season. However, don't go too mad. Jumping from 6-8 hour training weeks to 20 is not advisable (unless you want to be truly miserable and fatigued over the festive period). An increase in bike riding means an increase in training load. This has the added benefit of increasing the amount of calories burned. This in turn has the benefit of allowing you to indulge a little bit over the festive season. Say yes to seconds, that mince pie, or extra slice of Christmas cake. Unless you're aiming to hit peak form for the Stephen's day Turkey Spin (but then you'd be a fred), you won't be doing any harm to your form (in fact you'll probably improve due to the increased training), and you will avoid becoming that irritable, miserable cyclist. Put the nutrition plan to one side at this time of the year, it's still a long way to the racing season. Another great worry of the diligent cyclist are the inevitable (sometimes dreaded) social occasions, which may involve late nights and/or alcoholic beverages. Surely this is a cyclists worst nightmare. How is it possible to perform in a race that is over 2 months away, if you engage fully in these social occasions? It may surprise you, but this is the time of year where catching up with friends and family is a common occurence and should be expected. Usually these social occasions are well planned, so factor them in to your training. Have a few beers or a couple of glasses of wine. Stay up late and enjoy the night. When the season gets closer these nights will be few or far between so make the most of them while you can. However, it is not advisable to plan a hard session (training or drinking) the day after. If you accomodate the odd festive night out into your plan, you can have the best of both worlds. All in all a few days of overindulgence isn't going to make a blind bit of difference to form or fitness come March. Christmas is there to be enjoyed not endured- Eat, drink, and be merry! (Oh and ride your bike).
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October 2017
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