Evaluate Your Cycling Season with 5 Simple Questions

It's that time of year again. Many of us are coming to the end of another, hopefully successful, cycling season.

Your first step is to get some hard-earned rest. You can still ride, just take it easy and have fun. This is a great time to ride with friends and family members who can't stay with you during training rides. It is also a great time to take part in other activities you enjoy like running, swimming, rollerblading, hiking and skating.

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Your second step is to honestly evaluate your performance. This is vital in order to set goals and develop a training regimen for the upcoming season. Assessing your performance is a relatively simple process. Just answer five questions and remember to be honest with yourself.

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What Goals Did You Achieve During the Season?

This question is easy to answer if you have goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (i.e., SMART goals). For instance, to complete a 40K time trial in 1-hour and to finish in the top-10 at the state criterium championships are examples of SMART goals.

Likewise, to complete a century in six hours is also an example of a SMART goal.

However, whether you set SMART goals or not, just be clear about how you achieved a particular objective. For example, did you accomplish a goal because of significant improvement in a particular physiological ability such as aerobic endurance or functional threshold power, or did you achieve the goal because it was set too low? Try to understand the specific reason you were able to achieve each objective.

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What Goals Did You Fail to Achieve During the Season?

First of all, don't be discouraged if you fail to achieve some of your goals. This is normal when you set challenging objectives. In fact, if you accomplish all of your goals, there is a possibility you set the bar too low.

Try to understand the reason you came up short in some areas. Were your goals realistic? If they were achievable, what was the missing element? Was there a problem with your training? Were there external barriers that got in your way? Did something cause you to struggle at certain times during the season? The key is to be clear about why you came up short in some areas so you can use this information as you plan for the upcoming season.

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What Were Your Greatest Strengths During the Season?

Think in terms of the six key physiological abilities: aerobic endurance, muscular endurance, lactate threshold, aerobic capacity, anaerobic capacity and neuromuscular power. What was your strongest ability during the season? Which abilities allowed you to accomplish your goals?

For example, if your goal was to finish on the podium at the state criterium championships and you were successful, anaerobic capacity and neuromuscular power were strengths. If your goal was to finish your first century ride and you made it, aerobic endurance was a definite strength. If you set a personal best in a 40K time trial, lactate threshold and functional threshold power were strengths.

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What Were Your Most Significant Weaknesses During the Season?

Conversely, of the key physiological abilities, where were you weakest?

For example, if you failed in an attempt to set a personal best in a century, you probably need to improve your aerobic endurance and boost your lactate threshold. If you wanted to perform well in time trials and fell short of your expectations, you may need to improve your functional threshold power. If you were expecting greater results in criteriums, you may need to improve your anaerobic capacity and neuromuscular power. If you were disappointed with your results in stage races, you may need to improve your ability to recover after hard efforts.

The most important aspect of this question is to be honest about your performance and what you need to do to improve.

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How Do You Feel About Your Performance?

Simply stated, are you excited about how the season went? Do you feel good about your performance or are you feeling some disappointment?

This is a very important consideration because many athletes get discouraged about their performance if they fail to achieve their goals. This can have a negative impact on your preparation for the upcoming season.

No matter what your results are, always try to keep things in perspective. Use these questions as a learning tool to identify the steps you must take to achieve your goals next season.

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