It's March! Time to start riding outside again!
 
March and April are about preparation. Don't rush it!  Regular 2-hour rides are ideal, with the occasional 3-4 hour effort on the weekends. Discipline yourself to be in the small chain ring for these early rides. Don't go past gearing of 39 x 14. Efforts should be easy and steady.
 
This is the time to get the back, neck, shoulders, arms and butt used to sitting on the saddle, bent over the handlebars. The knees and hips need to get used to working against a good resistance for thousands of repetitions as well. Give them all a chance to adapt before stressing them with high intensity work. Don't neglect your rest. Without it you cannot progress the way you plan.
 
Speaking of a plan, do you have one for the season? Decide on some goals for the season. Think about times over particular distances, places in a particular race, a move up in category, etc. Be specific and use objective measurements. Set your goals on a schedule. Then decide what intermediate goals you need to hit to meet your season goals. This will help keep training interesting and efficient.
 
Structured workouts start in May. Be prepared!

OSI's Lauren Loberg provides first aid support during all Thursday Night Lights events.  She also shares her wisdom on injury prevention and recovery.  Here's her advice on managing soft-tissue injuries:

Management of chronic soft-tissue injuries can be a frustrating experience for an athlete.  Past medical care has focused on the treatment of the symptom of pain, with rest and inactivity being a common recommendation.  This model was successful for acute injuries, but was not a welcomed method of treatment for an athlete in season or for chronic injuries.  Athletes, in particular, want to know how to treat pain without sacrificing valuable training sessions.

After surgeons reported finding thick scarring, adhesions, and fibrotic tissue during surgeries for chronic tendonitis and fasciitis, manual therapy in which therapists use their hands to mobilize the soft tissue and trigger the healing process became a more common treatment of choice.   Recently, this mobilization of soft tissue has been augmented by the use of tools designed to aid in the detection and treatment of soft tissue scarring.  This tool-assisted soft-tissue mobilization technique offers even more promising results then manual mobilization.  Graston and ASTYM are two examples of this.

The tool-assisted soft-tissue mobilization is not a treatment in and of itself.  It frees up the tissues and allows for the retraining of movement.  Because healing occurs best under conditions of controlled tension, it is vital during new tissue formation that the tissue remains active and responsive to the demands that are placed upon it.  Therefore, customized exercise programs are required.  Physical therapists can identify causes for the abnormalities in tissue loading and form specific exercise programs to correct these areas, ultimately the main correction to the chronic injury.

A typical treatment consists of soft tissue mobilization, stretching, strengthening, and most importantly functional stabilization exercises. Through out the treatment, patients are encouraged to continue training and if needed modifications to activity may be recommended.

Conditions that typically respond well to this treatment include: tendonitis (wrist, rotator cuff, patellar, Achilles), trochanteric bursitis, plantar fasciitis, carpel tunnel syndrome, golfer's & tennis elbow, muscle strain, IT band syndrome.

Visit OSI at www.osipt.com.

 

The NSC Velodrome is located on the campus of the National Sports Center, a 501(3)c non-profit organization located in Blaine, Minnesota.

Contact Bob Williams at 763.785.5614 for more information about cycling at the velodrome.