Maybe I should just ride?

[derath]

So I keep telling myself I need to work on "focused" training. I don't have tons of free time (kids/work/etc) so I always think I should make the most of the time I have.

I have a garmin edge, with HR and bought a book on HR training.

But when I get out and ride it seems kind of pointless. I live in a rolling/hilly area.

I go up a hill, my HR spikes. I go down the other side, my HR drops.

I have actually started just riding without the HR strap. I just ride.

Am I missing something?

-D

[ericgu]

It would help if you told us what your goals are. Is there a group you want to be stronger to ride with? Do you want to do a century, a faster century, a double, or something else?

If you want to do organized training, you have to teach yourself to ride up hills under you lactic threshold. It's boring, and it's slow, and if it's in a group, it sucks to be last, but that's what you need.

I will say, however, that that sort of training works best early in the season when nobody is working that hard. In August, it's more fun to ride hard.

[supton]

I'm sorta in the same boat: not alot of time, kids, other priorities. I only started biking about 6 weeks ago, after several years (and 45lb) of being away. Right now, I'm pretty content with about 45miles/week, at about 15mph average. My goal was to get up to 20miles plus; I'm there but now I want more. :) I've lost the first 5lb already.

It'd be great to use an HRM and train and whatnot; but really, for me, I bike to lose some weight and for stress relief--and for fun. That's my goal for now. This winter, I'll probably back off quite a bit, but try to shift to hiking; and then maybe next summer I'll aim for 100 miles/week and the ability to ride 50miles on a ride.

All the biking bits (computer, HRM, etc) are fun things to have and I'll probably slowly accumulate the them; but for now, it's all about getting some miles in before that winter stretch.

[NomadVW]

So I keep telling myself I need to work on "focused" training. I don't have tons of free time (kids/work/etc) so I always think I should make the most of the time I have.

I have a garmin edge, with HR and bought a book on HR training.

But when I get out and ride it seems kind of pointless. I live in a rolling/hilly area.

I go up a hill, my HR spikes. I go down the other side, my HR drops.

I have actually started just riding without the HR strap. I just ride.

Am I missing something?

-D

Pedal down the hills? I live in a pretty mountainous place in Japan, and I've had to learn that working on the downhills is vital to a steady workout.

Like someone else asked, if we don't know the goals, we can't help you get there. Goal setting is the first step to a proper training plan. Otherwise, anything you do is getting you "somewhere."

[derath]

Well I HAD some goals. As far as "goals" they weren't too detailed. For one, I wanted to try some more difficult century rides (Cheat Mountain Challenge, Civil War Century). Otherwise I just wanted to build endurance and "get better" at climbing.

As of now, I am just trying to salvage what is left of my riding season. I missed all of big rides above. At this point I want to get my base back to where it was back in January so that going into the fall winter I have a base level of fitness that I can maintain through the winter and go from there next year.

-D

[Pinyon]

If you are starting almost from scratch, then you may have to lay in lots of base miles. You should throw in some intervals (hill attacks, sprints, high-cadence, etc.) and drills also (drills for me include things like ultra-high cadence, bike handling on gravel and soil, standing starts, etc.). Make it fun. And if you are trying to lay in base-miles this late in the season, I would consider just breaking out the mountain bike and doing some fun trail riding too.

Like me, you sound like you bike for fun and not for competition, so don't forget to have fun out there. It makes riding more worth while to me.