Ygduf

hmm. november was my biggest month ever.

82/1448/80k and 90 seconds of running.

Gramercy

November - 8 hours, 136 miles. Maybe 450 TSS? Riding once a weekend doesn't do much for gains at all. Shocker, I know.

abhirama

This month has been great - almost 940mi, 57h, 44k ft climbing. The last couple of weeks has been without my PT wheel because the rim cracked. I miss power.

aaronmcd

My rim was cracked on Monday, and that left me without a bike/power for 3 days.

The bake shop had a spare Open Pro, and the other bike shop carries lots of spokes.

rkwaki

Did you get a cookie or a muffin?

spdntrxi

I vote for muffin.. because he can use the spokes to check to see if the center is done.

gsteinb

700 on 10 less hours

jsutkeepspining

2 hours z1 to kick off the start of the month. It's time to start putting in some big hours, and lose some of my fall/winter chunkiness.

Ygduf

Doing Chris Carmichael proud!

gsteinb

I don't know what you've heard, but I've never doped juniors.

grolby

I made a training plan spreadsheet and put some workouts on it.

TheKillerPenguin

20+hr weeks ad nauseum. It is time to stock up on granola.

bmcphx

These are the types of things that would ruin cycling for me. If it gets structured, it is no longer enjoyable. I want to win, but not at the cost of losing the pleasure of riding/racing.

gsteinb

some folks find winning pleasurable.

mattm

3.5 hours this morning, first hour in the dark.

Pretty exciting with my ****ty light, but little to no traffic meant I could take the lane and avoid the invisi-rocks on the shoulder.

Base 3 has begun, get ready!

grolby

That's fine and all but it's basically the only way for to track my actual work with any accuracy. Plus, what gary said. Not that I win ever, but I at least want to be competitive and I simply do not have the talent to be a competitive Cat 3 without some semblance of structure.

Besides, it's really not that complicated. Or unpleasant. Because of where I'm at right now, three of the slots on my spreadsheet currently say "1-1.5 hrs Z2." That's it. The others are slightly longer versions of the same thing, or marked as a day to rest and recover. Anyone who thinks what I'm doing sounds intimidating doesn't know how I actually train.

bmcphx

I would never win if I didn't find riding a bike pleasurable

rkwaki

That's a good simplistic approach.
I realized that (much like Matt) for me to come back for 2015 that I'll have to add a little structure due to the fact that the USA Crit/NCC guys are fast and getting faster...
But it doesn't need to be over complicated.

rkwaki

You're still in the honeymoon stage...

cmh

25 hours, 37 minutes in November. An OK month for me, but a pittance compared to most of you...

gsteinb

The problem really is in the subtle passive aggressive thing that goes on in that particular framing. You have structure, so you can't possibly be enjoying what you're doing. Really it's a subtle form of something that looks like 'suffering isn't fun, structure means suffering, therefore structure can't be fun.' It's not a very far leap from "group rides are fun, because I can hide from the wind." For most guys who train with structure the fun part is following a plan you know is going to give you the ability to ride like you imagine you can in the time period you want to.

A lot of guys train a lot of different ways with a great deal of success.

rkwaki

Great post g.
I have said many times that I train by feel and that is the truth. Then not long ago I told my buddy that I'm not sure why I even have a PM as I never use/look at it. Then I rode a few times without it...
Truth is I stare at that damn thing more than I thought I did AND though I don't have things formally written out I have a heavy structure that is permanently written on my brain...

TheKillerPenguin

I love charts. Structured training gives me a lot of charts to look at.


...my charts.

Also, training without structure is like going to the gym and not knowing how much you're lifting during your workout. It's great cuz you feel swole 'erry day but feelings aint got much to do with how much weight you pick up and put down or making progress. Not to take a steaming dump on your romantic view of cycling and training in general, but I tried it that way and it was fun but entirely unproductive after the initial new to the sport gains.

edit: i'm coming off as a know it all here, which isn't what I mean. Different things work for different people, I just find structure is entirely necessary for me to be good at this two wheeled crap.

bmcphx

I think it's more like the "I ride bikes because I enjoy an outlet to break up the monotony of work and daily routine" phase.

rkwaki

Not going to minimize what you are saying but if you take a look at the guys racing at a little higher cats (not sure what cat you are) the motivations are different and owing to that the goals/structure and discipline are different.
As you rise through the categories there are few that race that don't have that sort of structure/discipline. That is why you will hear guys call Cat 3 the Ultimate Cat as you can race there without complete life commitment to the sport.