Train Like You Race

A huge thing in professional sports is the intensity and the quality of training. As I have mentioned before, when your at an elite level the complexity of training jumps way up and things more closely mimic competition. So first what are some of the things you want to mimic in your training on the track? My ideas are these:

• Intensity of a race
• High Stress of a race
• Varying stimulus
• Replicate portions of a race

I wont elaborate on all of these points today, but simply go over some basics. These points will get hit on more in later posts. But for now we'll speak in general terms with at least one major take away.

One of my biggest pet peeves is going to the track and watching some guy who races, riding the same line over and over again on the track. Granted yes you need to develop a fast line because other wise if your slow then you will lose. This hits at the core principle of why most people race, to WIN!! Well if you really want to win then train like you race.

In an Outdoor National for example, you have 40 guys who are all insanely fast, lining up at the gate. 40 guys on a track wide enough to really maybe only line up 3 or 4 wide in the main sections, means things get crowded. Hence when you need to move up fast and have to pass guys but, there is limited space. So how do guys like Dungey, RV, JS7, Reed and other factory guys pass so easily? THEY TAKE DIFFERENT LINES!! Besides the fact that they have faster bikes, they don't ride the same line the whole way. They are comfortable enough to take a new line or pass guys in a way that others aren't used to. So how do you get there?

The big thing you need to do is force yourself to train on different lines. Without question you need to have a fast line and every track naturally has one or two major racing lines. However, you cant always stick in them and need to move forward and avoid playing follow the leader like so many do. The more you force yourself to train hitting different lines, the better you become over all. Think of any other traditional sport. If you were an NFL wide receiver and you ran the exact same line every single play and never changed it, you would get shut down every play and would probably get cut pretty fast. When the coach would ask you to try running a different line and you weren't as good at it most people would then avoid doing what they are not good at.

This is a basic principle in the psychology of human beings. We don't like to admit that we are not good at things. We tend to overly focus on the things that we are good at and avoid those we are not. This simply means that you need to advance your skills on the track in places that you are not as skilled. In a race a lot of things happen and you need to react as fast as possible. If you're the guy that always rides the same line that he's fast in then you cant deal with new situations. However, if you practice taking those slower lines sometimes in order to get faster with them, then you can create some results on the track that may not have otherwise happened. This should be training 101 for most of you truly. But I still see it every day.

Take this to the track with you next time you're training and make yourself a better over all racer. Hit new lines and find ways to become faster in them so that you can force passes to happen in a real race.