Training & Nutrition - Training Plan for recreational rider

Can anyone suggest a book or online plan for a year round training schedule or system designed for a recreational rider like me who currently just rides as far, as hard, and as long as the spirit moves me on a particular day? What I've seen so far, Training Bible, Training Peaks, etc, seems way too structured and geared towards more experienced racers. I need a plan that will gradually ease me into a structured routine while still allowing for some flexibility.

I'm in my second year of riding and am interested in improving to the point that I can easily complete a century and/or enter a crit next season. I ride 80-100 miles a week, usually near LT and often above. I think I have alot of potential as I am strong, lean, and quick. I just need to develop some skills.

TIA

You can already easily enter a crit, just sign up and pay the money. :D

Seriously, if you are just wanting to be a recreational rider then just go out and have a good time. Join a bike club so you can get used to riding in a group. This helps you get used to doing longer rides. This will also help you get used to handling yourself in a pack which is very important if you are going to enter a crit.

You also need to cut back on the intensity of some of your rides, they definitely should not all be near lt or above. I very rarely train at lt levels. Remember, you have to have a decent base before you start going out there hard all the time. Make sure you get some 3 - 4 hour rides in as often as possible at a decent pace but nothing too difficult.

If you want to get fast, do some intervals. Do some city limit sprints, do some two minute intervals, five minute intervals, etc. If you want to be able to do a century then try to do at least one or two 40 - 50 mile rides a week. If you do a search machka has an awesome century training schedule on here somewhere.

One of the greatest cyclists of all time, Eddy Merckx described his training philosophy as "Ride Lots".

As someone fairly new to the sport, you should follow that advice. Set goals for yourself (centuries are great, as are weekend or week-long cycling tours).

Go our for longer rides to build up your endurance. Try and get in one or two interval sessions each week to help increase your lactic threshold.

And, enjoy the journey.


FWIW, I've been riding pretty seriously for the last 17 years, and have become involved in racing over the last few years. And even though I enjoy training and racing, I still find the training plans from Friel to be overly complex. They might make sense if I was at the top end of the pyramid, and was trying to squeeze out that extra 0.05% that could mean the difference between third and first place...but, I'm not, and I prefer to "listen to my body" and employ a more flexible approach to training.

Thanks for the advice. However, I still need a resource/training plan for moving from "having fun" to making improvements. A little structure/periodization, advice on technique, the basics of interval training, etc. geared toward a novice like myself....

BudFox,

I've been on a bike since I was 7 or 8, and have kept riding my whole adult life (I'll be 42 in Feb). This summer I bought a heart rate monitor and ended up having the best riding year of my life (most total miles, most 50+ mile rides, first-ever century [and it wasn't that hard]). The biggest difference? I cut back on my intensity. Turns out that by riding as much/as long/as hard as I felt on any given day I was riding too hard and not giving my body a chance mend, catch up and grow. The HRM helps me keep things in check on what should be easier days and push harder on high intensity days. It was a little frustrating to dial things back for the first few weeks I paid attention to it; but then I started riding longer and faster at the same heart rate as earlier.

I don't have a specific reference to give you, but I got my information by browsing this forum, spending time in the library and book stores, and reading quite a number of internet searches. As a recreational rider, you need to find out what works for you, keeps things fun and works in with your schedule.

But don't ignore or discount the books that are geared towards racers. The basic methods will be the same (endurance rides, recovery rides, intervals, rest days), you just might be putting in fewer miles and fewer hours in a given week. And as a recreational rider, don't worry if you skip a hard intervals day and instead do a twenty mile easy ride with a stop at the coffee shop along the way. It ain't going to kill your training in the long run.

Thanks for the advice. However, I still need a resource/training plan for moving from "having fun" to making improvements. A little structure/periodization, advice on technique, the basics of interval training, etc. geared toward a novice like myself....

OK - the short version.

Each week, try to get in:


One or two "interval" sessions. Early in the season, do shorter intervals (1 minute). When you can do 5 or 10 one minute intervals, switch to doing 2 minute intervals. After a month or two, you'll be doing 1 or 2 20 minute intervals. I like to get in my first interval session on the first day of the week that I ride...that way, it won't get skipped.

One or two "endurance" rides - longer rides of 2-6 hours. During the season, it's easiest if you schedule these as centuries. It's also good if at least one of these longer rides is done with a group.

One session of hill repeats or hill climbs (this can replace one of your interval sessions because the effort level will be about the same).

A few recovery/easy rides - on these, focus on technique issues (work on cadence, one-legged pedaling drills, downhill cornering techniques, aerodynamics, paceline skills, etc.).



Assuming you're doing 100-200 miles per week, and adding in some skills drills and intensity, you will improve.

FWIW, they say it takes about 3 years of solid cycling to reach your potential...I've found this to be generally true.

Fitness Cycling by Dede and Michael Barry might work for your purposes. It's still structured but not so hardcore like some of the other training guides. It has beginner, intermediate, and advanced training plans of 26 weeks. The book is put together in an easy to understand way, so there's not as much detailed info about the "whys" of the training program.

Why do you need a book? Just "make up" some training rides. You just said you don't like "real training" - so don't bother. Your biggest improvement will come from just exercising the "easy/hard" rule.

You can't ride every single day "hard" - you have to mix in recovery days.

You can't ride every "hard" day - hard all the time. Some hard days should be "hard/easy" interval days.

End of training/book story - the two lines above are all the info anyone needs to improve.

http://www.pccoach.com/products/software/index.htm

Base program, plus the Cycling Plan.
Been using this for many years. Using a Polar HRM with the download function makes this software even more useful. For the money, this combination will make you faster than go-fast bike goodies.

If you buy, I can give you some useful pointers.

Some tips for riding a century: http://www.machka.net/century.htm