- Arg! I lost a whole long post....second attempt, using notepad to type it up, instead.
I wanted to start a discussion about racecar driving specific training. Specifically, who does raceing specific training? What types of training do you do?
I've been looking for information regarding this topic, and have found a few general "the internets" type things (hard to validate, zero referenced literature stuff), and the publicly available videos from Jim Leo/Pitfit/safe-is-fast folks. I've also found a few general public books, that are or varying quality. If anyone has looked into this in more depth, and has found some reasonable scientific research that corelates various skills training to actual race-driving performance I'd be interested in following that rabbit trail further.
At the moment, really all I have is a fairly obvious set of skills that are necessary for driving a racecar and ways to train those skills, but nothing that validates that the training modes demonstrably translate from the "gym" to the racecar. For example, does being able to balance on a wobble board / balance board clearly (measurably) improve your ability to sense the balance of the race platform on the racetrack?
At the moment (until I locate reseach to validate or alter my plan), I'm taking it on faith that training the various skills in the gym CAN translate to the racecar. the way I see it, the following are the skills (and methods for training them):
Balance (in order of difficulty)
- Balancing on each foot (one the ground, on a beam)
- Balance Board - Standing
- Wobble board - Standing
- Balance Board - seated
- Wobble board - seated
Hand-eye coordination
- Juggling
- Reaction Ball
- Racing/flight Simulators
Reflex/Reaction (hand-eye specifically)
- Reaction ball
- Computer reflex trainer
- video games (1st person shooters are good)
Strength
Shoulder/Arms
- lateral raises
- shoulder press
- push ups
- pull ups
- seated rows
- internal/external rotation
- steering
Core
- planks
- bridges
- leg raises
- back extensions
- ...lots of options here to keep things varied...
Neck
- flexion
- lateral flexion
- extension
Focus/concentration
- juggling alternating with intensive exercise
- reaction alternating with intensive exercise
- juggling for extended durations following cardio workouts
Heat tolerance
- cardio workouts in the heat of the day (or indoors witout a fan)
So, that's all fine and dandy, but it's not a detailed plan that tells me "what am I doing tomorrow?". To that end, my current approach is:
Monday/Wednesday/Friday:
- AM: Stationary Cycling 50 minutes, basic continuous Juggling for 5 minutes
- Lunch: Computer based Reflex training
- PM: Strength (excluding Core work), Reaction ball 5 minutes
- PM2: Race Simulator at upcoming racetrack, 1 hour
- PM3: Balance board while watching TV
Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday:
- AM: rowing machine 50 minues, basic continuous Juggling for 5 minutes
- Lunch: Computer based Reflex training
- PM: Strength (excluding Core work), Reaction ball 5 minutes
- PM2: Race Simulator at upcoming racetrack, 1 hour
- PM3: Balance board while watching TV
Sunday:
- AM: Long Outdoor bike, at 1.5 times the duration of longest race
I look at the above as "base training":: Developing most of the skills in general isolation without much regard for translating them to the racecar. As the season progresses, a typical training program would then work towards more "sport specific" aspects and begin trying to bridge the gap between the isolated skill and the racecar.
Once each area is developed to a sufficient level (I haven't really set any benchmarks to obtain, yet), I'll begin combining them in various ways (circuit training, juggling while standing on balance board, alternating balance/reflex/coordination/simulator training with intense exercise, etc).
I'll post those up here (if there is interest), as I develop and refine my thoughts and the training season progresses.
If you are still reading, cool. I'm interested in anyone elses thoughts or other experiences. I know dstevens said that he has actually trained with PitFit.