sound like a decent off-season plan?

[pearcem]

well, my season is through. i've taken about three weeks off and am ready to get back onto my bike and start my winter training (even though it's not really winter). here's my plan, tell me what you think. For my base training/strength training, i am going to the weight room 2 or 3 times per week. i have always lifted for my upper body and core, but since i can take some time off for recovery now, i am trying to strengthen my lower body, too. I am doing my old upper/core routine in addition to calve press, squats (regular, not machine), and leg curls for my hamstrings. I am spending about the first 2 or 3 weeks getting my squat form down before adding significant weight to prevent injury. I am going t focus on lower weights with higher reps. After the weight sessions, i am doing a fairly low intensity (65-75% MHR) hour to two hour rides. i am also doing a longer 4 or so hour long endurance ride on saturday or sunday at a similar intensity to the other rides. pretty much all of this is low intensity, in the small ring. i will also be doing drills (ex -one legged drills) to help to develop proper pedal technique. My collegiate and USCF(cat 4) seasons begin in the first week of March, so i was planning on sticking to the above routine through about x-mas time. Then, i am going to bump up my riding time, frequency, and intensity with some intervals, hill drills, training races with buddies, etc. I will probablly be riding 5 times a week, six when my school schedule will allow me. I have a friend who helps me to construct intervals and in season workouts, but i'm a little more on my own during winter. Hopefully i can get some good input and suggestion based on other posters' winter plans. Also, when should i lay off/cut out weights? should i wait until my season starts, or taper it off before and then continue with small sessions in season? Also, i do have a trainer at my disposal, and my school has some spin classes. thanks for all the help, if i've been unclear about anything, let me know, and if part of my plan sounds dumb, sorry, i'm new at the structured workout. thanks!

[DannoXYZ]

That all looks good. You want to break up the weight-training into three phases:

1. low-weight/high-rep (form & ligaments/tendons) 2-3 weeks
2. high-weight/low-rep (strength) 2-3 weeks
3. speedwork (power) 2 weeks

Do a max-lift baseline test in the beginning so you know what your max-strength is, similar to determining max-HR. That max-lift weight is then used to select weights & reps for your workouts. You'll find that by early Jan. your strength will have double or tripled. Should be done with weights by early-mid Jan.

Dec.-Jan. is endurance/base so you're fine there. Although 4 hours is a bit long, C/D/cat-4 races aren't usually over 2 hours long, so I'd do 3 hour rides max in your case. Better if you can do 2 days of 3-hours on the weekend at a steady-brisk pace you can maintain the whole time.

Jan.-Feb is transitions into hillclimbs and intervals (hills & flats) with sprints in the last couple weeks.

Feb.-Mar. cuts out the hillclimbs and adds more sprints. Intervals are more on flats, less on hills.

Note that there aren't sharp transitions between these phases. The shift is done by adding 1 more sprint to your sprint day and cutting back maybe 1-2 hill intervals and adding 1-2 flat intervals. You should still be doing 1 day of 3-hour endurance. You really don't need more than 8-10 hours of training to win in cat-4s and D/C-collegiate races. Learning strategy, tactics, bike-handling is an important part that makes just as big of a difference as physical training and a lot of people forget about that... Do practice-crits as much as you can if you have them in your area.