15 Proven Ways to Ride Faster by Bicycling.com

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Here are 15 tips from top experts, recent scientific research and our own savvy staffers that will turbocharge your training without taking more time.

1. HIIT it. Swap a leisurely midweek cruise for a short session of high-intensity interval training (HIIT). A slew of studies from the past five years shows that a few brief, gut-busting sessions can improve your endurance as well as much longer rides do. Going hard can prep your muscles to go long. The metabolic magic happens on two fronts. One: Endurance rides tend to hit only your slow-twitch muscle fibers, but HIIT training also recruits your high-speed fibers so you develop a bigger engine. Two: Your body becomes better at tapping into your fat stores to refuel for the next hard effort, so you become a more efficient fat burner.

2. Do the uber exercise. The simple decline push-up helps you get aero without the ouch. It not only makes your arms, shoulders and chest strong so you can hold that tuck while you hammer, but it also activates as many abdominal muscles as do crunches and sit-ups. Now drop and do 15: Lie facedown on an exercise ball with both hands on the floor. Walk your hands out, allowing the ball to roll beneath your legs until it is under your shins. Your hands should be directly below your shoulders. Keeping your torso straight and abs contracted, bend your elbows and lower your chest toward the floor. Stop when your upper arms are parallel to the floor.

3. Start with a sports drink. You may not need the carbs and calories from that Gatorade until mile 25, but sipping a sports drink with carbohydrate, rather than plain water, from the start of a long ride can help spare your precious muscle glycogen stores by about 50 percent in the first hour alone, according to a study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. This means you'll have more energy for the long haul.

4. Use some emoticons in your training log. Nothing slows you down like getting stale—that persistent feeling of heavy legs and fatigue that plagues most cyclists at some point during a season. The best way to stay fresh: Monitor your moods, says John Raglin, Ph.D., a professor of kinesiology at Indiana University, Bloomington. This can help you detect creeping staleness before it becomes full-blown overtraining. Like a canary in a coalmine, your feelings are an early indication that these biological factors are heading south.

5. Stretch--but only at the right time. Tight muscles can slow you down, but so can stretching--when it's done at the wrong time. A growing body of research shows that preexercise stretching causes muscles to relax, reducing force and power output for more than an hour afterward. Avoid stretching before you ride. Instead, stay strong and loose by stretching right after you rack the bike, when your muscles are most pliable. Hit cycling hot spots in the hamstrings and glutes with these two moves; do each stretch twice, holding for 15 to 30 seconds.

5a. Step and Bend
Place right heel on a step in front of you, leg extended and foot flexed. Place hands on hips for support and, with your back straight, bend forward from the hips, feeling the stretch down the back of your right leg. Hold, then switch sides.

5b. Figure-Four Stretch
Sit in a chair with your legs bent 90 degrees and feet flat on the floor. Cross your right ankle over your left knee so your calf is parallel to the floor. Keeping your back straight, lean forward from the hips until you feel a stretch deep in your right glute muscle. Hold, then switch sides.

6. Anchor your ankles. Improve your pedaling efficiency and put more pushing power directly into your pedals by keeping your ankles in a neutral, or pillar, position. A recent study discovered that when riders pedaled with their ankles dorsiflexed, or with the foot flexed upward, their pedaling efficiency dropped nearly 3 percent. Worse, their calves expended 37 percent more energy while pushing the pedals in that position. Keeping your ankles straight gives you a more solid platform on the pedals and can improve efficiency, reduce muscle fatigue and help maximize your power output.

7. "B" faster. Recent research suggests that active people who are low in B vitamins such as B6, B12, folate and riboflavin don't perform their best and may have trouble building muscle and producing oxygen—carrying red blood cells. During hard training, load up on B nutrients, which are essential for converting protein and carbs to energy and for repairing cells, by eating plenty of whole grains, dark-green veggies and low-fat dairy. Pop a daily multivitamin or start the day with a fortified cereal for extra insurance.

8. Begin with a bang. Want to crush a short time trial? Shoot off the line. You may be rewarded with a faster finish than if you use a more even pace or a slower-start strategy. In a small study of racers, British researchers found that those who started a little faster than their average pace increased their time to exhaustion by 25 percent compared with those who started slowly or used a more even pace.

9. Perfect your taper. If training is money in the bank, tapering is interest earned—the bonus speed you gain for the hard work you've invested. One recent study found that a seven-day taper improved cycling performance in a 20K time trial by 5.4 percent—more than a minute if you typically cruise at 20 mph. To rest and recover without feeling rusty on race day, cut your volume in half, but maintain or increase your up-tempo training intensity to 80 to 100 percent during your taper period so your legs don't forget what it feels like to go hard.

10. Eke out a few more. To finish strong, train your muscles to produce power even when they're pooped. Next time you're at the leg press or squat rack, don't stop after your last rep. Instead, drop to a slightly lower weight and squeeze out three to five more. "Your fast-twitch fibers are cooked after 10 reps," explains Wayne Westcott, Ph.D. But they account for only about half of your muscle fibers. The other 50 percent, slow-twitch fibers, still have untapped strength. Immediately lifting a lighter weight leaves no fiber unfatigued, for more complete muscle conditioning.

11. Jump to it. The more power you can put into your pedals, the faster you'll go. Plyometrics training—explosive jumping and hopping—is the ticket to training your muscles to move on demand and developing more strength at speed. Include jump squats and split jumps (above) in the speed phase of your training to explode off the pedals.

11a. Jump squat
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, arms at sides. Sit back into a regular squat until thighs are about parallel to the floor. Then jump up explosively, swinging your arms upward and reaching toward the ceiling. Bring arms back to sides as you come down and land with your knees soft to absorb the impact. Immediately perform another rep. Continue for a set of 10 to 14.

11b. Split Jump
Stand with your right leg forward and your left leg behind you. Bend your right knee and dip your left knee toward the floor, so you're in a lunge position. Place your arms out in front of you or out to the sides. In one motion, jump up and switch legs. When the back knee

12. Add aminos. Long rides can lead to muscle damage and next-day soreness--not to mention slowness on your next ride. Adding some amino acids to your usual energy drink can help reduce the damage and ease the aches, according to a study from Florida State University, in Tallahassee. BCAAs seem to work best when blended with carbs, so choose an amino acid mix with carbs, such as Amino Vital's Endurance, or mix an amino supplement with your usual sports drink.

13. Give your muscles a squeeze. Research shows that the right post-exercise massage can cool inflammation and reduce next-day soreness by 30 percent. That's why the pros have soigneurs to keep their legs flushed, fresh and ready to go fast day after day. No money for a masseuse? Go DIY by slipping into a pair of compression tights after a hard ride. Two manufacturers, 2XU and Skins, offer gradient compression garments, which are snug-fitting base layers that promote circulation to speed recovery and reduce post-exercise soreness.

14. Banish the burn. The right sports supplement can make every day feel like a good day on the bike. Two bicycling staff favorites include SportLegs and Acid Zapper. Both are a blend of primarily calcium and magnesium that pushes back the point at which your legs start to burn during hard efforts, allowing you to ride harder, happier. It's not just us saying so: During a 2003 clinical trial at Ohio's Kent State University, 12 cyclists were able to ride against steadily increasing resistance 11 percent longer after popping SportLegs capsules than when they took the test after taking placebo pills.

15. Fry more fat. Shed unwanted pounds faster by training all your major muscles twice a week. When a group of seven men did just 30 minutes of total body-strength training, including moves like the squat, leg press and deadlift, that hit big muscle groups, their fat-burning metabolism remained elevated more than a day and a half (38 hours) later, according to a study from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse.