A basic concept that the triangle’s own off road endurance king, Matthew Lee, taught me years ago, has proven to be invaluable in the pursuit of keeping the body up and the rubber down. Conceptualize the bike wheels as two large gyroscopes turned on edge connected by a central tube. To ride uneven terrain successfully, follow two principles. One, find a way to keep the legs turning as you encounter obstacles, if the wheel gyroscopes keep spinning, they will hold themselves upright. As long as the legs power the gyroscopes upright, the job of the rest of the body is to balance the torso over the connecting tube (i.e. bike). It is not necessary to force the bike where you want it to go, but rather to stay over it as the bike picks it’s line through the trail obstacles.

Keeping this concept in mind, strength training for mountain biking should include challenges to maintaining central stability while allowing the legs freedom to move without affecting the central stability. In order to keep the legs turning, all of the other major muscle groups can be utilized to create stability and balance. Of primary importance are both abdominal muscles and the long muscles that connect arms and shoulders (scapula) to the torso. Though these are muscles that are often strengthened by moving the arms, in the application of mountain biking, the muscles are primarily used with the hands held in place and moving the body relative to the hands.

An example of a strength exercise that incorporates the concepts discussed in this article can be found in this month’s Core Corner feature. In the shown exercise, placing balls under the knees challenges stability of the legs. To work the muscles noted above, simply reverse the exercise by shifting the balls into the hands and moving the feet.

Another way to strengthen your mountain biking is by strengthening our shared mountain biking community. Visit trianglemtb.com to become a member of TORC (Triangle Off Road Cyclists) or seek out trail building opportunities. There are few better ways to holistically strengthen for mountain biking than the workout of building and maintaining trails.

No whining

If you love endurance training, an injury this early in your training can be deflating. Forced down time can be a major pain. Keep things in perspective. The world isn’t going to end tomorrow. There are many people that you and I both know who aren’t or maybe will never be able to enjoy endurance sports. They may have severe illnesses or diseases. You get to go back and do something you really love. Yes, you will get better, and your love of what you do will bring you back. So, keep a positive attitude and stay positive. This will help speed your recovery.

Be patient

Injuries get better; it is their natural progression. Most of the pains and injuries you might experience because of endurance training heal when the environment for healing the tissue is optimized and sufficient time passes. Most of the time there are no magic pills to fix the problem. You will heal, so be patient and give the healing process the time it needs.

If you have a routine, stick to it

If you normally run at lunchtime, continue to get some sort of exercise at lunchtime. If you’re an early morning runner, go for a walk early in the morning. Continue your ritual stretching after your exercise time. There is more to your routine then just the exercise. The time you set aside for yourself is also important. Maybe, this is when you do your best thinking, or maybe it is your shut down time. Either way, it is YOUR time and there are probably a ton of things waiting to take that time. Don’t give that up. It will make it harder to start again and you will reap your mood boosting benefits from the routine itself.

Do it outdoors

This time of year it is tough enough to handle the short days. Many of us, benefit greatly from the exposure we have to daylight. There are physiologic benefits to endurance exercise that positively effect mood and happiness. Fresh air and increased sunlight can also help. Take advantage of it. It will help you maintain a positive attitude.

Sweat

If you normally work out for 45 minutes, then do another activity that doesn’t aggravate your injury for the same amount of time. You might need to do the activity a little more vigorously in order to produce as much sweat as you usually produce, but you will begin to satisfy your ego and need to work hard and feel good about yourself. You will also maintain your aerobic base, which you have been working so hard to develop. Not to mention burning those calories.

Lift weights

I don’t know about you, but when I’m gearing up for a long endurance event, the last thing I want to do is throw lead around in the gym. I barely have enough time to do all of the running and stretching I need, much less mix in weightlifting.

When you are hurt, weights can be a godsend. Since you are often at the gym anyway, riding a stationary bike or the elliptical trainer, it’s not a big deal to spend another 20 minutes with weights. And, because you’re not running, doing more legwork than usual, along with some abdominal and upper body stuff is not a big inconvenience. You might even gain strength and better prepare yourself for your future events.

Stay connected

One of the most difficult aspects of being injured is not being able to train with your friends. The only time you might see some of them is when you run or ride together. So when out of action, make an effort to stay in touch and at least feel like you’re a part of the scene. A good way to do this is to volunteer to help out at events.

You also get to spend more time with your family. They normally make all sorts of concessions to your training, so while your injured, do the activities they want to do. You might have a newfound respect for and from your community.

Do something every day to get your health back

While injuries can be markedly different, most of them respond extremely well to rest and treatment. If there are things you can do (see a Physical Therapist or other health care provider) that can help you, do them. Very often, there are simple things you can do that will get you back to the activity that you love. Most injuries occur for a reason, fixing the cause will stop you from re-injury and possibly improve your performance. By taking action, you’ll speed recovery, achieve peace of mind, and possibly achieve self-improvement along the way.

Focus on today

As we get older, injuries may take longer to heal. Don’t set yourself up to fail. Just because you had a similar injury in the past and it only took 2 weeks to go away, doesn’t mean it will be the same story again. Arbitrary deadlines for healing can be very disappointing. You may have to forget about that upcoming race you were planning on. Just because you sent in that entry form, doesn’t mean you will be healed by then. Even if you are, lower your expectations and be happy you made it to the starting line. Celebrate the day. You are fortunate. Happiness lives in the journey and your still traveling.

Recent research shows that the optimal time to gain benefits from flexibility work is immediately after a ride and between sets during strength workouts. Stretching immediately after a ride takes advantage of the increased metabolic state of the body’s soft tissues. This leads to improved recovery by facilitating metabolic waste removal. Research also shows that maximum flexibility gains are achieved when muscles are highly active metabolically and that post exertion stretching is significantly better for injury prevention than pre activity stretching. Stretching between sets when doing strength workouts has also been shown to improve muscle recovery.

Sustained stretching where the position is held for a minimum of 30 seconds is recommended for the maximum benefits mentioned above. Stretching should also be performed in a range of motion that sub-maximal to avoid engaging the stretch reflex response. The stretch reflex response is an automatic contraction of a muscle group that occurs when the muscle group is taken beyond its maximal range. When a muscle is taken to it’s limit, the body automatically contracts the muscle in order to prevent injury to the tissue structures. When this occurs, the flexibility improvements that can be gained are limited. This creates a paradoxical problem for many competitive athletes of how to know appropriate quality and quantity of flexibility work to incorporate into a training regimen.

One of the most important muscle groups for cycling performance is the hamstring group. The hamstring group are the muscles in the back of the thigh. The muscle group crosses the knee and hip joints and has the compound action of bending the knee and bringing the thigh backward. This means that during the pedal cycle, the hamstrings are contracting for approximately 80% of the cycle, resting only at the top of the pedal stroke. Restricted mobility in the hamstrings can cause increased curving of the spine thereby interfering with aerodynamics and comfort as well as increasing mechanical stress on the discs and ligaments of the spine. Restricted hamstring flexibility can also have a large pedaling efficiency cost by decreasing the potential force production during the down stroke and top of the pedal stroke. Exercise Physiologist and cycling guru, Ed Burke, PhD, recommends that all cyclists should be able to forward bend from standing and place their palms on the ground without bending the knees. If hamstring restriction prevents this, then it is very likely that this lack of flexibility is interfering with cycling performance.

Imbalances in hamstring flexibility between the muscles on the outside and inside of the back of the thigh can also cause stressful rotational forces to occur at the knee and lead to many different knee problems.

There are many stretching programs and routines that have been published, but often the specific skills of how to listen to one’s body and integrate a flexibility routine for maximum performance benefits are not readily accessible. The incorporation of the techniques and principles of yoga can provide insight into developing flexibility skills specific to ones own body and activities. Many good yoga instructors can be found at studios and clubs throughout the triangle area. Specific events such as the upcoming “Yoga for Cyclists� workshop on March 13th [at Balanced Movement Studio in Carrboro] offer an opportunity for any endurance athlete to improve their performance by gaining optimal flexibility.

References: The Cyclist’s Training Bible, Joe Friel; High Tech Cycling, Optimal Muscle Recovery, Cycling Health & Physiology, Ed Burke, PhD.