A good warm-up is essential to prepare yourself physically and mentally for a race and to optimise your performance. Especially if you're participating in a tough race like a cyclo-cross. Your recovery and adaptation process begins immediately after the race. A cool-down accelerates this process and can be seen as the first preparation for the next workout or race. What is the best thing you can do before and after a cyclo-cross race?
Prepare your body for the race
Each rider has his own warm-up routine. This can range from a passive warm-up to a highly intensive active warm-up. In a passive warm-up the temperature of the body and muscles is increased by an external source, for example the heating of a car, or a warming patch.
The aim of an active warm-up is to increase the body temperature and the temperature of the muscles, this makes your muscles and joints more flexible. It also increases the speed of nerve impulse transmission, allowing signals from your brain to travel faster through your nervous system to your muscles. By increasing the heart rate slowly, more oxygen will be transported to the working muscles and you will 'switch' your anaerobic energy system on prior to the start of the race.
Make sure you're not burned out before the race starts
You don’t want to be burnt out before the race begins. When a warm-up is too long and too intensive your glycogen stores can already be lower before the start of the race. An intensive warm-up in higher ambient temperatures can also raise body temperature too much, making it harder to sustain high-intensity exercise for an extended period. If the ambient temperature is higher, it's more difficult for the body to lose heat.
What does a warm-up for a cyclo-cross race look like?
The shorter and more explosive the race, the longer the warm-up will be. For an effort of half an hour to an hour, such as in a cyclo-cross, a warm-up of about 20 minutes is sufficient. You could do this warm-up on the track, but keep in mind that this is not always possible before your race starts. If it is possible to ride on the track, then ride one or two laps at a lower intensity to explore the track, and then do a proper warm-up on a bicycle trainer just before your race.
Ensure you start your warm-up early enough to allow sufficient time to get to the start line. With bad weather conditions it is important to put on dry clothes after you warm up so that you will appear dry and warm at the start. You may also consider taking an energy gel before you start.
Cool-down after your race
A cool-down after a cyclo-cross race helps remove metabolic waste that has built up in your muscles during the race. Without a proper cool-down these waste products remain for some time in your muscles and will slow down the recovery process. The more intense the exercise, the longer the cool-down should be. A cool-down after a cyclo-cross race lasts about 10-15 minutes. During the cool-down your heartbeat should slowly return to your resting heart rate and you can also take a recovery drink containing protein and carbohydrates.
You should do your cool-down in a dry environment and wear warm, dry clothing—the last thing you want is to catch a cold. If the weather conditions are very bad you could go home first and do some light work on an indoor trainer.
Sample warm-up protocol:
- 5 min warm-up in recovery zone at 90 RPM
- 4 x (1 min at 110 RPM in tempo zone + 1 min at 90 RPM in endurance zone)
- 3 min tempo zone at 100 RPM
- 2 min threshold zone at 100 RPM
- 4 min in endurance zone at 90-95 RPM (with a 15-sec sprint in minutes 2 and 4)
- 2 min endurance zone at 90 RPM
Please note: this is just an example! You are always responsible for your own health and safety!
