Jim Mansoor, Ph.D.
jkmansoor@ucdavis.edu
In last month's column I spoke about how goals drive you as a competitive athlete. Goals, however, are only one of the many aspects of becoming a better bike racer. Just as integral to bike racing success is training, bike handling skills, competitiveness, nutrition, genetics and on and on. Some of these factors we have no control over. For example, we can't choose our genetic parents (at least not yet). Fortunately, the single most important factor in determining our success on the bike we can control: training.
It may surprise some of you to hear a trained exercise scientist say this, but training is more of an art than a science. And thank goodness this is the case; if we knew all the science, races would be won and lost in the laboratory (and I know you skeptics out there think that this is already the case with illegal drugs). The art part of training you learn by talking with other bike racers, reading articles on endurance training, and trying different things. Your body will let you know whether the training is effective. Remember, there is no magic formula to training. Training fads come and go much like many things in this world. But you do need to know a little bit of science to help you train correctly.
There are three different energy systems in the body that produce the molecule ATP which is necessary for muscular work. The aerobic energy system uses carbohydrates, fats, and oxygen to produce ATP. The other two systems are anaerobic systems, meaning they produce ATP without the use of oxygen. One takes carbohydrate to produce ATP and a by-product, lactic acid. The other splits creatine phosphate to produce ATP. Each of these systems produce ATP at different rates. The anaerobic creatine phosphate system produces ATP the fastest, followed by the anaerobic lactic acid system, and the slowest is the aerobic system. So it makes sense that when you sprint (5-30 seconds) and need a lot of ATP very rapidly, the anaerobic creatine phosphate system is emphasized. When you pull very hard for 30 seconds to a couple of minutes, you are utilizing the anaerobic lactic acid system. And when you perform long sustained efforts, the aerobic energy system is supplying the muscles with most of the ATP. Remember that there is overlap in all of these systems, i.e., all systems may be active at any given moment, but depending on how much and how fast ATP is needed for muscular work, one system or another may predominate.
Okay, you say, thanks for metabolism 101. But now for training 101. Training is a matter of working each of these three energy systems as you need all three to become a successful bike racer. By working these systems, they adapt to the stress you place on them by increasing the rate of ATP production. Doing 5-30 second all out sprints trains the anaerobic creatine phosphate system. Doing 30 second to 5 minute intervals trains the anaerobic lactic acid system, and doing long sustained rides trains the aerobic energy system. In general, you want to start your training by building endurance (small gears, high spin, build your mileage base), gradually build strength (bigger gears, less spin, continue to build your mileage base), work up to high intensity intervals (30 second to 5 minute very hard efforts so you legs "burn" from lactic acid buildup), and then add sprint workouts (5-30 second all out efforts). We are talking many months of work here, not just a few weeks. So start working now so you are ready for those races when the warm Spring/Summer days arrive.