jmp66

Some riders on local teams are working with a coach who tells them to keep their HR down and
limit their riding this time of year. I understand the general concept of long, slow training rather than
intensity in the early offseason. But given the reality that for many of us amateur racers the limiting factor is time to train, not endurance, what is the benefit going so easy (assuming one has taken a little time to recover from the season)?
I and my teammates have been doing 60-70 miles, just riding for the enjoyment of it rather than paying too much attention to a HR monitor or a power meter. Assuming 10 hrs a week training, why keep a lid on it?

I saw Elvis

FWIW I think taking it easy at this time of year is a good thing, kick back enjoy life. If you've taken a hammering over the season (and most of us do) it will take longer than you think to fully recover. But you also need to retain a base fitness for work in the new year and if you're enjoying your riding and you're keen it's a tough call. 10 hours seems about ok to me, but at this time of year I'd try not to go over that.
Training to monitors and power meters at this time of year can be a little misleading, there are a lot of variables in affect - long racing season, changes in conditions, eating / drinking too much. I'd leave them alone for a few weeks and just enjoy yourself, pick it up again round about Christmas week.

YMCA

Depends where you live. Here in Florida, USA, we start training crits Jan 1 and have full fledged weekend warriorism early Feb through early June. Makes more sense, if you are rested, to be playing a bit harder in an unstructured way, even during the "off-season" months. What's more fun than pressure free club rides in the winter? Who cares if your HR goes above 80% of max sometimes. Once racing starts, you'll be missing those long fun days with the teamies out sprinting around the farmlands just for kicks.

EventServices

I go by the old Russian mantra: winter is for fitness; summer is for fun.

Or this one: the bigger the base, the higher the peak.

Find what works best for you.

Tennessee

EventServices: when you say "winter is for fitness" are you more concerned with the amount of miles or do you also do some intensity as well?

I have been riding quite a lot and also incorporating some high intensity stuff. I really have just been having fun on the bike since race season has ended. I got a new bike and just want to ride all the time and ride hard. I don't see how this could be detrimental to my 2006 racing season but some people say it can.

I am probably stronger right now than I have ever been in my life and it feels good. I want to carry this strength into my 2006 racing season but at the same time I don't want to over do it and burn out.

Any ideas?

EventServices

I use winter to slowly ramp up toward race season (begins April). Everything I do from now until then is geared toward the goal of peaking for my season's objective.
I'll include some intensity in December/January, but only as a means of keeping my skills sharp.

Whereas during the summer (especially after season objective), I don't worry about every little detail. I eat anything I want. I'll skip rides altogether. I'll chase bad women and drink ugly beverages. And vice versa.

jmp66

I guess to be more specific about it, the thinking is...it's better to ride 80 miles at low intensity than hammer for 20 in the offseason. But assuming that you have X hours to ride, why is going slow for that time any better than going at tempo pace?

btw i'm in the northeast so racing season is april-august.

zakk

my coach has me doing LSD rides on the weekends then trainer/stregth stuff during the week. in the end its only 6-8 hours on the bike, 2 hours of weights and 2-3 hours running so its not bad.

Having those butt miles will help you when you need to dig deep and recover for the big kick or have the endurance to take a flyer of the front and make a go of it.

just my 4 cents, adjusted for inflation.

flyefisher

I train about 10 hours a week and am a pretty decent cat 3. You don't need much more than that unless you want to actually be competitive in the 123 races. The key is to train right on a macro and micro cycle.

The reason you do base miles is best explained in an article I read a while back on bike.com, that is no longer available.

It goes something like this. Mitochondria are the little energy producing elements of cells. Capillaries are the blood deliverers for the muscles. The more of them you have, the better. When you go hard, you destroy many of them. When yoo go aerobic, they increase in quantity and quality. So the idea is to put in a lot of moderate riding all winter to allow these elements to grow. Then when you go hard in the spring, you have a very dense network of caplillaries and mitochondria. Bottom line is there's a lot more for your muscles to work with. You burn them over the summer which is why you need some transition and good base to regain it. Your hard training peaks much higher in the spring/summer as a result.

I've done winters without much base training and I've done them with a lot of well-planned base training. I can tell you the difference is night and day.

I did a really good base last winter. I came out of the spring in great surprise to my wildest expections. I was a struggling cat 4 the year before and I was flying to top 5's in every race with relative ease this year...

Don't forsake base. It IS the MOST important training of the year.

vladimir102

At the start of last year I was a cat 4. Did a pretty good base and i think it really helped me last year. Not dropped once and a ton of top tens and fives eventually upgrading to a 3. I got a coach this year and since I have the time as I am a college student so have decided to go full bore and see what happens in my quest to turn pro. I want to peak in March hoping to get some fast results and upgrade to a 2 by April. Base 1 is done and I did about 80 hours of riding in that month. The slow miles are alot of fun and easy on the mind as you don't have to worry about anything except keeping it easy. 5 and 6 hour rides are a breeze to me now and the slow miles I feel have already made my legs stronger. I've read the base helps you recover quicker and better once the hard intervals start. You don't wanna peak to soon. Also Doing all out hard rides right now might make you a "christmas star"-one who drops everybody now in meaningless winter group rides and fades into obscurity once the real racing starts.

jmp66

flyefishers explanation makes sense...we haven't been hammering or at all competitive but when you're out in the hills and it's 2 hours from home there's a tendency to pick up the pace a little just to spice things up. but maybe want to slow it down a little for the rest of this month.

zakk

nothing wrong with that. I still win the bunch kick to the city limit sign, but its FULL recovery after that. like coast until the HRM's stop blowing up

Even LSD hills can be good for slow, low RPM stregth building. It just needs to be part of the program.

Eyeseeu

This is a great explanation. The base you do will depend on the type of season you are planning. For example, I do only Ultras, so 10 hours a week wouldn't help me much, my base week 1 is 14 hours and by my first build week I am at 21 hours. The difference is for mine, sprints, cornering, drafting are all things that are no big help. Sprints somewhat for muscle building but that is it.

You might check out "The Cyclist's Training Bible" by Joe Friel. It will help you establish an Annual training plan for your type of racing and is based on periodization training. I have found it to be very helpful!

jmp66

"nothing wrong with that. I still win the bunch kick to the city limit sign, but its FULL recovery after that. like coast until the HRM's stop blowing up"

ironically some of us NYC riders are at some advantage then because its 17 miles of picking your way through traffic, bike paths etc. before we get over the George Washington Bridge and out of town to the good roads. Then another 17 of the same on the way back. So it's minimum 2 hours of easy pedaling. boring and annoying, but there it is.

flyefisher

If you're doing ultras that's a different story, of course. I can only vouch for a crit/road racer. Also, my 10 hours might go to 14 at the end of Base periods. And if you're looking to get to 1 and 2 cats, you'll need more. I think I'll be a 3 for a while till my kid gets a little older and I have more time to train. I know that to compete in 1,2 I'll need like 15-25 hours a week.

Friel's book is great. I recommend it too. I learned a great deal about macro/micro cycle training.

Tennessee

I may get that book.

But let me make sure I am reading this right. What is important at this time of year are miles, just time in the saddle, or butt miles as someone wrote. If you are out with friends and the pace is a bit high, have fun and go fast, but don't make it a priority. The main priority is time in the saddle. Am I on target?

timmhaan

although quite a bit of literature suggests doing short interval training on the trainer as well. so, i'm not sure all your training needs to be endurance. some people still work on jumps and sprints during the off season to build strength as well. there are a lot of different things to do. and remember the winter drags on, so a bit of variety goes a looooong way.

Eyeseeu

I am sure you get alot more done with your training type. For Ultras, it is just hours of pedalling in your Aerobic HR zones and occasional intervals etc. Crit and road has alot more to worry about. I don't have to worry about catching somebody elses wheel, drafting, not much on cornering, etc. Alot less skill in Ultra, I couldn't do your style.

Tennessee

Say I get am riding 8 hours a week at this point. Would it be more beneficial to ride two times a week for 4 hours or 4 times a week for 2 hours? Or is 8 hours, 8 hours no matter how you get there?

tekhna

That's my question too-I haven't had a ride logner than 2 hours in weeks, simply due to time constraints.

Pizza Man

I was wondering the same thing, but I too am new and not qualified to answer.
I have time for one long ride per week, and I usually go for 6 hours, but only have about 45-90 minutes to train on 2-3 other days. I go easy on my long ride, but have been going hard on the shorter rides (to get in as many miles as possible), but maybe that's not the best thing to do this time of year?