Det kanske inte är helt kosher att lägga upp artiklar som man inte har skrivit själv men jag tar inte credit för det iaf;). Artikeln är från Bicycling och skriven av Chris Carmichael...
Just shy of his 38th birthday, Lance Armstrong won the Leadville 100 mountain bike race in record time. Like so many ultraendurance events, the race tends to be dominated by older athletes. Only five of the 20 fastest riders were younger than 30—and four were over 40. Leadville, then, was a reminder that there are habits and techniques all athletes can learn from the "fast old guys."
DIVERSITY TRUMPS SPECIALIZATION Longtime cyclists all seem to have off-the-bike athletic interests. In fact, participation in other sports enhances your riding—in terms of both quality and longevity. The Leadville 100 happens in mid-August, and already some riders were looking forward to using their skis, or to indoor soccer and ice-hockey leagues.
SLEEP IS THE BEST ERGOGENIC AID Because their lives tend to be more settled, with stable careers and families, older athletes often go to bed earlier, and those extra hours of sleep make a huge difference in the quality and rate of postworkout recovery. Over time I've discounted the theory that older athletes need more recovery time than younger ones; this is because of their improved sleep habits.
GO HARD AND GO HOME Experience has taught us older folks to be time-efficient. This means 60-minute weekday rides with a short warm-up, some hard intervals, a cooldown, and you're done. High-intensity, low-volume training, as described in my new book,
The Time-Crunched Cyclist, is emerging in cycling now because for some people it's the only way to attain high-performance fitness without losing your job and family.
BETTER RECOVERY IS FREE TRAINING Older athletes tend to be more open to focusing on new recovery tools like compression technology. Many people noticed that Armstrong wore compression socks between Tour de France stages. In the winter I also had him wear pneumatic compression boots. There's still a lot of research to be done here, but the idea is that compression improves recovery by helping to circulate blood and lymph fluids through tired muscles.
Then there's active-recovery footwear from MBT. After I tried a pair for a week in 2008, I partnered with the company and put my coaches in them. The curved sole spreads the pressure of walking along the length of your foot, lessening the impact on your feet, knees, hips and spine. The balance point under the middle of your foot also forces you to constantly engage muscles in your hips and torso as you stand and walk, and lightly engaging muscles on a consistent basis is one of the primary tenets of active recovery.
DON'T ALWAYS FOLLOW THE LEADER Many times you'll have to make a choice between following a young and strong rider, or an older but slower one. The choice is easy. Whether it's avoiding crashes, getting into position to stay out of the wind, or deciding it's time to put on a rain jacket, there are reasons old guys reach the finish line despite lower power outputs and VO2 max values than racers half their ages.
TRAINING IS CUMULATIVE Experienced riders need less time than novices to return to optimal fitness. Following six months off the bike, it will take a cyclist who's been riding for two years about 1.5 times as long to return to top fitness as a cyclist who'd been riding consistently for five years. The more years you ride, the greater the advantage. So there's a benefit to continuing to ride at any level— even if your performance drops off for a season or two. After this year's Leadville 100, Lance said he could imagine racing there when he's 50, at which time I'll be 61. At least there will be a good chance we can both win our age groups.
