Self Assessment:

 

Many cyclist train hard but with no specific direction. Until you have identified your strengths and weaknesses, and then compared them to your goals, how do you know what areas to develop? At FocusedCycling.com we start every athlete account with an assessment of that riders abilities, experience, motivation, goals and free time to determine the best way to go about reaching success.

 

Advice and Reassurance:

 

Once goals and abilities have been determined your fitness will not improve overnight. Most cyclist take at least 7 years of FOCUSED training to go from beginner to pro level. This will not be a straight forward and easy task! With out someone to guide and reassure you, it will be easier to become distracted and loose focus. Having a coach allows you to restore confidence in your plan, actions and results. Family and loved ones play a huge role in your ability to succeed and become a vital part of your Support Staff just as a coach will become a part of your family and Support Staff. You will be more FOCUSED with the backing of a Support Staff!

 

Pacing and Resting:

 

For many, beating your body into submission on the bike is not hard. You would not be reading this if you did not have a passion for fitness and cycling. Many athletes have the drive to train hard but do not understand the importance of resting. Getting caught up in workouts for the week you are in or the race next weekend is easy but will make it hard to plan for success 2 weeks or even 2 months from now. Resting between harder blocks of workouts and after accumulated time of riding hard is a must in order to improve. At FocusedCycling.com we base all of our training plans around a method of periodization, a trusted method to ensure both hard intensity and rest in a healthy balance. Overtraining is a common issue among unguided and independent athletes.

 

Monitoring and Adaptation:

 

Making a plan is one thing, following the plan strictly is another. In other words, every plan must be modified and altered as time goes dependent on rate of fitness improvement and outside factors such as in-laws visiting or cramming for an exam. With the help of a coach, riders get an extra opinion on analysis of workouts and how they were performed. No one is able to create a plan for an athlete for the time span of 1 year and just walk away with out making adjustments as the athlete progresses. This should come as no surprise to many but the weight of making calculated and proper alterations to your training plan can become daunting. Let the experts assist you in these important decisions.