SCOTT SUMMERS: THE 100-MILE WORKOUT

SCOTT SUMMERS: THE 100-MILE WORKOUT

I’t doesn’t seem fair. If you work really hard and get better at cross-country racing, then your reward is that you have to go farther to get to the finish line. After all, the good news about getting lapped the leaders is that you don’t have to go round the track that last time. So you can turn a 100-mile race into an 85-miler. Still, if you want to do well, you have to go the distance. This isn’t something you can decide on raceday. You have to be in shape before the race starts. I have two rules for training:
1. Make it fun. 2. Make it sweaty.

The first rule probably comes as a relief to most people. If you aren’t having fun, then you probably won’t stick with it. Besides, a workout doesn’t have to be all work. Sure, the old saying, ‘No pain, no gain,’ might have an element of truth, but I think that if pure pain were the only way to improve, then there would be a lot more people watching TV instead of riding motorcycles. The trick is to disguise the pain. Do things that are fun and keep your mind working. If you do the exact same thing every time you work out, then your mind doesn’t have anything to do. You get bored and start thinking about how much your muscles hurt or how hard you are breathing. Pain gets a lot more unbearable if you think about it too much.
On the other hand, if you have a different workout routine every day, then it’s not boring. Additionally, you work out different muscle groups and wind up being in better shape, overall. As for the second rule, that’s a safety valve, in case you are having too much fun. If you don’t sweat, you are not working hard enough.

BREAK IT UP
I have five different types of workouts. 1. Running 2. Bicycling 3. Rollerblading 4. Weight training 5. Riding motorcycles.

1. Running. I think that running is the most effective workout for the time spent. It’s challenging to make running fun, however. I do it by being creative. I try not to run in the same areas or routes twice in a row. In the area around my house in Kentucky, it’s rather hilly. In fact, just to run out my driveway requires six-tenths of a mile of uphill jogging. That’s a great warm-up.
After that, the creativity part comes in. I might run around my motocross course. Sometimes I walk backwards up and down hills. It seems to be easier on your legs than running.

2. Bicycling. A few years ago I got a foot injury. I didn’t want to stop running, so I invented my own kind of workout. I would run pushing my bike. That way, I wouldn’t allow my full weight to come down on my foot. The bike would support me. After pushing the bike for almost five miles, I would ride it for ten. This combination of running and cycling gave me a good overall workout. That’s the problem with either one of those sports: They are great for your legs, but do nothing for your arms.
Other days I will ride to work. I can carry a clean set of clothes in a backpack, so I can really grind and sweat.

3. Rollerblading. This is a lot of fun. Anything that requires a little bit of skill is good for a workout, because you end up concentrating so intensely on the activity that you forget how hard you are working.

4. Weight training. It’s tough to make this fun. If you use your head, though, you can take the monotony out of it. I usually think about what hurts the most on Monday. That gives me an idea of what I should work on.For example, if I had trouble in the late stages of the race with uphills, and the next day I notice that the backs of my arms are sore, I know that I have to work on my triceps. Any soreness from the race is gone by Tuesday, so I can start working on my weaknesses then.
The problem with weight training, though, is that blind, mindless repetition is the only way to get any improvement. I have a Nautilus machine at home that has 15 different functions. I go through most of them three times apiece. You need to remember that you are training for endurance, not strength. I know people who lift weights and have built bulky bodies. That doesn’t help them on a motorcycle at all. I do a minimum of 12 repetitions on each station. I adjust the weight so that it isn’t a strain, even on the 12th rep.
Here’s the routine: I warm up by jumping rope. Then I’ll do an upperbody exercise followed by a lower-body exercise. All of your muscles are interrelated. You don’t want to do two stations that overlap the same muscle group, back to back. These are the stations:

Leg extensions (sitting)
Leg curls (lying face down)
Dips (body weight only)
Peck deck (seated, bringing forearms together)
Dumbbells (straight up from side)
Bench press
Incline bench press
Rowing (seated)
Rowing (upright)
Sit-ups
Reverse curls (palms down)
Lateral pull-down (behind neck)
Lateral pull-down (to chest)
Push-ups

Whenever possible, I try to duplicate a   the motions involved in motorcycle riding. That’s why I do curls with my palms facing down?that’s the way you hold on to handlebars. I used to have a broom handle with a cord tied in the middle. A weight was n   tied to the other end of the cord, and I would wind it up, working on my wrists.
    Lately, though, I haven’t included that in my   workout because my arms rarely pump up any more. Adjust your program according to your needs.

5. Riding. You have probably heard this before, but it’s true: The best way to   get into shape for riding motorcycles is to go ride. I think this is especially important in the early stages of your career. Later on, as you get more specialized, you have to a   train in other ways, because riding simply doesn’t get you tired. For most novices,   though, you can still get a hard workout on the seat of your motorcycle.
      
WORKING WEEK
Monday, I usually will take it easy. My   schedule calls   for racing about 45 times a year, so usually that’s the day after a race. I might be on the road, driving home. If not, I just catch up on paperwork or relax.

Tuesday, I might do some weight training. I will warm up by jumping rope and then go through three complete sets. Afterwards, I usually have to go riding to do some testing of some kind.

Wednesday, I will go for a long run or a bicycle ride. I haven’t got this set in stone. Some weeks this will be my day for weight training, and some weeks I might do both on the same day. The important part is not to get burned out. On Thursday and Friday I will repeat the whole process, plus working in shorter runs and some rollerblading when time permits. I’m not happy unless I have done something every day. Then I’m usually off to the races and it starts all over.
Again, the most important part of all this is not getting burned out. You can outline the most complete training program in the world, but it won’t do you much good if it’s so hard that you only do it for one month. Usually, getting past the first or second month is the hard part. After that, you start seeing results, and that motivates you. The next crisis comes when you stop dramatically improving. That’s where the fun part comes in. You have to look forward to the workout just for the sake of the workout. If you are successful, you will start winning. That’s where the real fun starts.