ricebowls said:
Hey I'm looking for some ideas for downhill specific training and figured I'd have better luck over here than the DH forum. I've been racing DH for about 4 years now and cyclocross for about 2.5 so I've got a basic understanding of training and periodization.
For the most part DH is skill intensive but since I've started racing CX and working on improving my fitnesses I've seen a carry over to DH racing. So outside of building a general fitness base and doing cycling/DH specific weight work what sort of cardio/endurance workouts would you guys suggest such as intervals. Stuff that could be done on a road or cross bike would be good too. I was thinking a mix of basic intervals such as 2x4's or something that lasts the same duration as the event as well as moderate intervals in the 10-20 minute range. Plus if there's anything outside of intervals you could suggest that's cool too.
And to give you an idea what the event actually entails it's basically a 2.5 to 5 minute (superD can be anywhere between 5-30 min) time trial. So all out for that amount of time.
Hi,
I have little background in DH, so I'll presume you can rock the skills stuff on your own and move onto the other stuff...
Because of the amount of time spent not pedalling, negotiating rock gardens, etc, it's likely DH ends up being a highly stochastic event, involving maximal sprints, followed by pseudo-recovery (technical bits). The precise training you would want to do would depend a bit on the typical nature of the courses you race, or the courses at your target event/s. For example: if it was a fireroad decent where you could pedal the whole time (obviously its not - just for an eg), you'd train more like a track pursuit rider, whereas if you were racing an extremely technical course where you sprinted for 20s out of the gate and then essentially had only very short opportunities for pedalling 10s or more apart, you'd probably want to train more like a track sprinter or kilo rider.
Given the demands of the event (throwing yourself and your bike around, jumping, etc), it might also be beneficial to do some upper body conditioning, balance work, core stability stuff, etc.
Finally, presumably you have to complete multiple runs, training runs and sometimes compete on consecutive days, hence general aerobic fitness will be helpful to ameliorate fatigue and speed recovery.
Depending on the exact nature of your event I would suggest incorporating the following types of training (if you're interested my guess is you should train like a track kilo rider - mainly like a sprinter but with some aerobic conditioning as well):
General conditioning:
Strength and power work on both upper and lower body with weights, plyometrics, etc. Maybe some core conditioning, balance exercises, etc (I'm not really sure if/when these are beneficial but if they were to be for anyone you're probably the guy - seek other advice!). A good quality strength trainer should be able to help more than I can as this is far from my area of expertise.
Aerobic conditioning via a road/cross style program - focus on this outside of race season, cut back to 1-2 short maintenance rides a week at or below tempo (<0.91FT) in season. Incorporate a periodised program going from a primarily L2/L3 base to L5 and L4. Do L7 work for most of year - this is highly specific to the demands of your event and not overly taxing.
As far as intervals, 2X4' is probably not enought to really overload the body and get the adaption you want to see. I would go with 2X20' L4 in the general conditioning/base period, and transition into more intense 6X1' L6 and 5X5' L5 in the leadup to your race season, before focusing primarily on the anaerobic stuff outlined below (provided your race season isn't more than 2-3 months long - if it is, accept that part of the season you will still be doing more general conditioning and drop the pain on the specific work 10-12 weeks out).
Race specific work: stack your program with very intense anaerobic work (L6) from about 6-8 weeks out from your target event. Things like... 6-8 X 1 minutes with 6-10 minutes rest, maximal. 3-5 X 90-120s maximal with 12-15 minute rests. 12 X 30s maximal with 5-8 minutes rest. 3X2 mins maximal, 5-8 mins rest, then 3 X 30s maximal 5 mins rest.
Also, keep up some quality L7 work on days you are fresh - 6-12 X 8-15 seconds maximal with recovery of at least 4 minutes, preferably longer (8-10). These might be good to throw in on your race bike (DH bike) on technical training days - they take relatively little mental and physical energy, and they are best performed on the equipment you want to race on because gains will be largely neuromuscular and neuromuscular gains transfer at the specific joint angle and velocity at which they are trained.
Make sure you do a good taper before your target event - drop out all volume/general maintenance and just do very easy rides, technical work, and some body-breaking, mind-blowing, vomit-inducing quality (but not too much...)
I hope this is helpful... certainly not meant to be definitive. Just some suggestions - I am no expert in DH or sprint training.
By the way, L followed by a number is referring to a power level in Andy Coggan's training schema. Available on the cyclingpeaks website and in other places. Google it if you aren't familiar, or searching the forum might give you a link. If you don't have a power meter, you can still gauge the appropriate intensity from perceived exertion and try to hit the right levels in your training.
