To add to this, I almost doubled my training once I stopped racing for the season. It's because "going to a race" is much more involved than "going on a training ride". There's the drive there, registration, warm up, race, cool down, hanging out, often a food/social thing after (restaurant, visiting someone, etc), etc etc. I might net an hour or so of riding for a 6 or 8 or 10 hour trip. When I'm at home my net riding time will be about 30 minutes shorter than the amount of time I was unavailable for other things.
My monthly hours:
"Preseason" Jan - Feb: 34, 8 (I was sick most of Feb along with Junior plus I had to get ready for the races I promote in March/April)
"Season" March - August: 13, 15, 16, 16, 13, 17 hours (each month)
"Postseason" Sept - Dec: 26, 27, 21, 17 (holiday stuff in Dec)
I hope to do some bigger hours in Jan/Feb of this year, in the 30-40 hour range. I expect my hours to drop off in March/April due to the race series.
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"...during the Lance years, being fit became the No. 1 thing. Totally the only thing. It’s a big part of what we do, but fitness is not the only thing. There’s skills, there’s tactics … there’s all kinds of stuff..." Tim Johnson