Road Cycling - Training Question

I am currently in the process of setting up my training regimine and had some questions that i hope you all can help me out with. First off i wanted to do half hour of speed training a week to start of with but i didnt know if i should spread it out into maybe two sections or if i should just do it all at once. Would i get the same benefits either way or is one way better than the other. I also had the same question about my force training. I want to do an hour of this per week and was wondering how to split it up and separate it or keep it together.

Thanx for your help,
Austin

Ausin,

How old are you?

What type of shape are you in now?

How much have you ridden this year?

What are your goals, short term and long?

i am 18 yrs old and am in good shape. i have ridden for about 4 months three times aweek and am looknig to race this spring.

Do you have a good book on training for racing? I think most would suggest building your aerobic base for a couple of months this time of year, and start ramping up speed training, etc., in January.

I recommend "The Cyclists Training Bible" by Joe Friel.

IMHO speed training at the beginning of the end of the year is a waste. you should be in a maintenance mode now with some off the bike weight training to strengthen.

i have wednesday & friday of fast spinning and climbing out of the saddle (spin classes) and tuesday & thursday shoulder/arm/leg training with some core strengthening and basketball thrown in.

speed means nothing if you are limited in your aerobic shape (again, IMHO)

but most importantly, don't push yourself on the bike through the winter because it is tougher to overcome your mental letdown/burnout than a physical deficiency...you guessed it...IMHO.

By speed trainig do you mean leg speed or ground speed? Like RiPHRaPH said, now's the time to work on leg speed not ground speed.
You can do it in 2 sessions if you aren't used to high cadence work-outs and gradually increase the length of the sessions.

well i am using joe freils book to set everything up. and i was looking at the spin up workout. that would be a leg speed or cadence workout. thanx for your input guys.

also i dont have an indoor trainer yet to do this on so is it acceptable to do this on a flat stretch of road?

I just posted this in the training and fitness area:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=40276

I think the definition is leg speed... That is what my training is... Of course I now realize that I forgot to say that I too am taking spin classes (Or I'm sitting in classes as I don't always do what the instructor says... Sometimes I want to work on turning perfect circles when the class is doing something else...)


I'm 42 and I'm now into my end-of-season program. This is a home-made program but it has been working for my high-speed-high-distance-non-race riding.

My off-season consists of keeping my 65+mile/100+k Saturday & Sunday rides with a speed around 24mph/38kph... An occasional 100mile/160k ride is thrown in to build endurance... Some are hill climbing some are mountain passes.

However my weekday rides which are up to 30mph/48kph for 25miles/40k swtich to

25miles/40k (same distance) but the speed drops to a MAX SPEED of 20mph/32kph.

During the next 5 months I will stay in this mode (I time it with Daylight Savings Time) <The Saturday and Sunday programs don't change... typically 3 weekends of 100k/60+ miles followed by a 4th week of 160k/100+ miles>

While I am doing the slow rides I work on bringing up my cadence, watch my legs, check position on saddle and drops, make sure I'm turning circles not squares My goal is to build my cadence to be easy to maintain at 105rpms. I will work on some rides or on parts of these rides to hit and hold 115rpms for at least 2 miles/3k. Usually I can sustain 110rpms for quite some time after a few months of practice.

So when I start the season is that I can hold a 105rpm cadence without trying, and as I crank through the season I see this slowly drop to around 99-101.

After doing my 200K/130mile, 165 mile and my 300k/189mile rides my cadence tends to drop. And toward the end of the season my cadence is in the mid 90s. So now the season is over and I'm working on getting my cadence up again. After 3 weeks I can already feel my cadence going up... Can't wait until April!

My off-season consists of keeping my 65+mile/100+k Saturday & Sunday rides with a speed around 24mph/38kph... An occasional 100mile/160k ride is thrown in to build endurance... Some are hill climbing some are mountain passes.

However my weekday rides which are up to 30mph/48kph for 25miles/40k swtich to

25miles/40k (same distance) but the speed drops to a MAX SPEED of 20mph/32kph.



Just curious... how can you possibly not race? Your weekday ride is TdF-paced time trialing. If you're doing this without aerobars, you should definitely get into racing, as you would simply tear up the field.

When preparing for his hour record, Chris Boardman would ride several hours at around 25 mph. You should have a shot at setting a new record. Personally, I would rather win the TdF but you could do that the following season.

i think your computer's screwed sunbeam. maybe it's 30 kilometres per hour...

I think the confusion is I misllead you folks with the 30mph stuff.

1) that is peak speed not constant speed. Constant speed is more like 24-26mph.
2) that is with a group of 5 guys so I am not holding 30mph constant (or rather I'm not holding the 24-26mph without drafting)
3) It is pancake flat where I live so on a windless day it is easy to hold 22-24mph (by myself) in nearly any direction.

On the comment about racing. Been there done that... It was with a motor-sport. Don't want something I think of as fun and relaxing to turn into a job :) A lot of folks try to tell me to go race the crits and say the same thing but I'd rather just have fun running around in tour rides and getting out into the fresh air.

I think the confusion is I misllead you folks with the 30mph stuff.

1) that is peak speed not constant speed. Constant speed is more like 24-26mph.
2) that is with a group of 5 guys so I am not holding 30mph constant (or rather I'm not holding the 24-26mph without drafting)
3) It is pancake flat where I live so on a windless day it is easy to hold 22-24mph (by myself) in nearly any direction.

On the comment about racing. Been there done that... It was with a motor-sport. Don't want something I think of as fun and relaxing to turn into a job :) A lot of folks try to tell me to go race the crits and say the same thing but I'd rather just have fun running around in tour rides and getting out into the fresh air.


Well that certainly cleared things up. Ride on, you weekend warrior.