Masahiko Mifune × Niseko Classic #3: Two important skills for the race!
Have you all managed to conduct training during the Golden Week? During the past years, I have been tied up with many events and the same went for this year – I could not train at all. I was hosting Gravel Criterium in Mukaiyama Koyoto and the first half of holiday was dedicated to this event. The second half – I slept over most of the time to heal the fatigue…But come to think about it, I am commuting with a bicycle more than 3 times a week and each ride is 60km – so I am treating a routine as a part of training.
But to be honest with you, considering the race date, I really wanted to put burden into my body and check how body responds…Less than 2 months to Niseko Classic now. The training that we all need to focus for the next 4 weeks is to – if possible – increase a burden, or usual level of burden but a longer distance. During the race, we will encounter a period that we all need to face situations where we need to put 120% efforts.
As a starter, there is a climb during the beginning of race and it is nice to train in a way so that:
・We can endure a set of time with medium to high burden.
・We can recover while cycling moderately after a high-burden period of run.
Acquiring these two skill sets are very important. When there is a tight race near the finish line, the very first thing is to leave some energy left to the goal and when the time comes – have confidence and go all the way!When I was a professional racer, I was good at the final sprint of race. Some cases, I was uncertain about when to initiate the final sprint and I could not achieve the desired outcome that I wanted.
One time, my team mate told me, “Don’t stay behind the other racers and wait for others to engage – have your confidence and engage by yourself!” This teammate knew that my ability is that I can accelerate rapidly from low speed to high speed.
The race after that, it was 1km remaining – moderate uphill with wind against us – everyone was keeping eye on when to engage the final sprint. 500m to go and albeit it is early -I initiated the final sprint. After that, I was on the position to compete the third position but when we reached 50m to the goal – I stalled and ended up on the 7th.
I was very shocked but the teammate said, “That was fine – the moment you engaged – no one could follow up. You just need to have confidence on your skill set.”
Then Tour of South China Sea 2004 Second Stage. I engaged again at 500m before the goal. 150m to go and some came ahead of me. At that moment, it rushed my adrenaline and I went faster – ended up keeping the first position for not only this stage but the further ones.
More you practice, the better the outcome it gets.Keep training for the rest of weeks!
