Training & Nutrition - Any advice?

I just got into riding this past week, and was wondering if someone could answer a question for me. (If a similar post has already been answered, I apologize for the repeat).

Anyway- when starting out, would it make more sense to work yourself harder on the bike for shorter durations or ease up and ride a longer time? I'll be riding mainly on the road, if it matters.

I ultimately want to be able to ride for a reasonable amount of time without passing out <g>. Thanks in advance.

Nope. The best thing to do is to start easy. For a couple of weeks, do rides of about an hour at a relaxed pace. This will give your cardiovascular system time to adapt to the demands of cycling. It will also strengthen the muscles you need for the sport.

After a couple of weeks, start increasing your time by about 10-15 percent every week. Take more rides and go for longer rides at the same, relaxed pace. Once you reach a comfortable time commitment [it varies... I have 20-25 hour weeks at the peak of the season, sometimes more], then start increasing the intensity of your rides.

In other words, what you should be doing now is base training. It's what we call LSD -- long slow distance -- riding. Once you've got the base training under your belt, you'll find that you can do almost any intensity. The bae is the most important training you can do.

Always remember, though, take rest days -- at least on day a week and more if you're just starting out. Exercise doesn't make you stronger. Rest makes you stronger.

I think doing a little each day or each time you get a change.
going hard can cause pain that may take a while to go away.
if you can ride a few days a week you can set goals.
have one day where you ride hard then have one day where you take it easy..
if you can join a bike club. most clubs have members of all skill levels. remember to rest. resting is how your body gets stronger.
by that I mean rest after a hard day. to give your body a change to heal. but get out and ride the more you ride the better you will get. and listen to your body drink, eat and rest..
have fun .


.02

The first rule, above all else is ENJOY YOUR RIDING. Do things that increase that enjoyment - going places for a treat, seeing friends, getting ready for cometition, enjoying nature - what ever turns you on.

Not too strangely, unless you enjoy what you are dong in riding, you will just stop doing it.

Let your body set its own pace. Listen very carefully to your body. It will speak to you. If you just relax and get into it slowly, you will be amazed at the progress you will make, and how much faster and longer you will ride without even thinking about it.

Later, when you have a number of miles under your wheels (say about 1,000), you will be ready to decide is you want to specialize in some aspect - more intense training, long rides, centuries, tours, organized events. Or, perhaps, you wil sayy, "The absolutely most enjoyable thing I can do is to just ride at my own pace where I want."

We each find our own niche in riding, which is the neat thing about the sport.

Enjoy (most of all)

The above advice is pretty good. I'd concentrate on the enjoyment factor myself. It's funny how most people talk about making sacrifices and so on to get fit. I really don't see riding as a sacrifice at all. Quite the opposite in fact.

Yes, start easy. You have to get used to the riding position, and accustom your butt to staying in the saddle. Make sure your riding position is good.

Cycling is unlike any other kind of sport in that you can (if you have the time) do it for hours. Few runners run for more than an couple of hours, gym bunnies and swimmers generally only last 40 mins to 1 hr. Its quite usual for regular non-athletic leisure cyclists to go on 5-6 hr rides. That is a kind of aerobic workout that you cant get any other way.

An American coach once said that you don't train to get fit, you get fit to train. If you are interested in competative racing, then, when you have some endurance riding under your belt, you would start a training program aimed at improving speed. For a leisure cyclist interested in longer rides, structured training "programs" are a bit heavy. If you really enjoy riding, then you just get out and ride.

Not to start a flame war, but I thought I'd offer my expierences as evidence of possible alternitives. I started riding more frequently about a year ago, and at the time I didn't know anything about periodization or building aerobic fitness through any other means than riding as hard as you can. That's not to say that I went out on every ride got my heart up to 200 and then went home after a half hour, but most of my rides were around 1 hour to 1:30 in length. As I kept riding my fitness ski rocketed and none of the people that usually buried me could keep up. By the end of summer my rides were between 1:30 and 4:00 hrs, all of which were at full speed.

The point of interest in my view, is that this sort of output is neither recomend or safe for a year round schedule, but because I was just getting into cycling and getting fit in general, my body was more than willing to take the abuse day in and day out. If I had read Joe Friel's training bible before I started training, and targeted my rides around easier zones (HR), I probibly wouldn't be at the physical level I'm at now.

Please also consider that it is most important to listen to your body, and rest as hard as you train/ride. Ignoring the pain, so to speak, is asking for trouble no matter what.

In closing I guess my answer to the original question would be ride hard AND long, but do it because it's fun, and you might see dramatic improvments.

Well, I tend to keep most of my rides about the same duration. It is important to vary intensity. If you ride flat out every day, you will probably not get fitter, you will just beat yourself up. If you ride easy each day, you will not achieve the fitness you could easily obtain. The trick is to vary intensity. You can do long hard rides, short rides with intervals, long slow rides, etc. It all depends on what you want to achieve of course. Remember, for the vast majority of riders, we will never ever make a dime riding so performance is all a matter of vanity which is not to say that it is useless but you do want to keep thing in proportion.

Take it easy at first and use the small or middle ( if you have one) chainring for the first 1,000 miles of the season. In other fwords don't "go Hard" until you have a good base and your "spin" is (re)developed. After you're used to the bike, short hard workouts will do you more good than long easy ones.

Ride Right
Pat

Originally posted by DnvrFox
Listen very carefully to your body. It will speak to you.

My body speaks to me. It says "What the heck do you think you're doing? You're not as young as you used to be."

;)

You don't have to ride all that hard to improve your fitness.

I would suggest mixing things up to keep things interesting and maintain your interest. Generally, I ride the way I feel. If I don't feel all that well, I do a short easy ride. If I feel fine but not like hammering, well I do a long easy ride. And if I feel like a hard workout I do that. Varying your pace and distance will give you good results. The main things though, is do what you enjoy. Any form of exercise that is actually done is a lot better than a "superior" form of exercise that is not done. Also, starting out, don't work on hammering. Go out and get some miles in and get your legs into condition before you really push things.

As a new rider, you might think of several different things. Work on maintaining a high cadence. Most new cyclists ride at about 60 rpm and it is more efficient and easier on the knees to ride at a cadence of 80+ rpm. It will cause you quads to burn a bit at first, but it is well worth working on. Of course, you don't have to get up to 80+ rpm tomorrow. And if you don't have them get some sort of clipless pedal - they give much better attachment of your feet to the pedals and more efficiency.

Have to agree with Chris L.......enjoy your riding. I started riding about a year and a half ago to lose weight.....now I ride for the fun of it. It just sort of grows on you. The more you do it, the more you like to ride and the more you really want to get out there and ride.
I hope that you start slow, build up and go from there.