This is the time of the year where motivation starts to wane. It’s been a long road season and most of us are ready for a mental and physical break from racing (unless you are a cyclocrosser, then you still have a few moths to go!) But there are still races to be ridden in the upcoming weeks and it’s not uncommon for your final peak of the year to be coming up.
So what to do? Mix things up a bit and do something different. Break out the mountain or cyclocross and do a few of your workouts on them. If you only have a road bike then find some new routes to do. Drive to a different area and explore some new territory! This is also a good time of year to join in with a group ride that you do not usually do.
If you are really lacking motivation, take a couple of days off the bike. Go for a hike or just chill.
Finally, just breaking up your training schedule with a new type of workout can help. We all tend to get into a bit of a rut, doing the same types of intervals time and again. Here’s one of my favorite end of season workouts. Short but hard, perfect for peaking:
MicroBursts-15 Seconds On/Off
Warmup for at least 10 minutes-you want to be ready for these! Do (2) sets of 10 minutes each of micro- bursts. 15 seconds ON and 15 seconds OFF. The on periods should be at 150% of threshold power. The off should be at 50% threshold power. If you are not training with power then go by perceived effort. The on should be toward the upper end of what you could maintain for about 1 minute. The off is recovery spinning. Repeat the on/off cycles continually for 10 minutes. Then 5 minutes of easy spinning , and then next 10 minute block. After the 2nd set ride easy for for 15 minutes easy, and then do 5 x 10 second sprints out of the saddle, with at least 2minutes between each. All out effort! Try to reach 300-350% of threshold power as your max wattage. Cool-down for at least 10minutes afterward.