2008 USA National Champion of Short Track Cross Country and Marathon Mountain Bike, Jeremiah Bishop has the experience to take power-based training and turn it into race winning performances. Working alongside his coach Hunter Allen, Jeremiah has used power-based training to prepare for and win Olympic-distance cross country, short track, marathon mountain bike, 100-mile, multi-day stage races, road racing and cyclocross events. In Jeremiah's latest entry, he writes about the much-feared detraining effects of taking time off the bike.

by Jeremiah Bishop

Despite its invisible interior, a black hole can be observed through its interaction with objects nearby. And though there is no metric for detraining, the effects of not training have a big impact on fitness.

Metaphorically, my rest break was a black hole of training. This space I’m referring to is between the end of a great race season - highlighted with three stage race wins - and my startling return to training with wonder boy Joe Dombrowski.

Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate the chance to unload from training and get some rest. I recently enjoyed a few days with my family at the beach, where I didn’t record anything in my training log other than the amount of beer we drank and the fish we caught. It was great! Though I wasn’t completely inactive. I went for a jog down the beach and explored some sand roads on my mountain bike. But as far as my power output, it could be expressed in beer calories.

It became evident that not training has a dramatic and rapid effect on my fitness. How much? My LT power was a decent 375+ before pulling the plug to rest. Twelve days later I had a 40-watt drop in LT power. Yep, if there were a detraining curve for me it would look like a sliding board at a water park. Gradual for the first 5 days then WHOA!!! That’s steep.

A fun part of coaching is being able to ride with different athletes with a variety of training goals. Joe Dombrowski is training hard for the upcoming cyclocross season. So, when I got back on the bike, I joined in on a big weekend of training I had planned for him. We kicked things off on Friday with LT intervals and motor pacing. Saturday, we hit a local cyclocross race. And on Sunday, we tackled a 4-hour mountainous ride that turned into a 6-hour death-march epic when cold rains set in.

I couldn’t believe how much that cross race hurt. The ride Sunday was a lesson too; the combination of hard riding with the brutally cold rain and stiff pace made me respect the power of training - and what happens when you don’t train.

I’m confident the big training weekend was just what I needed to power up. I rebooted very quickly, and now I can’t wait to hit some classic fall ‘cross races with enough form to enjoy them.

Thanks for reading,
Jeremiah Bishop
Cannondale Factory Racing and CycleOps Powered Athlete