"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Trainning.

Hi.
I need an advice on how to improve my trainning. First I should mention daily 60 miles rides are just out of the question, unless it's Saturday. I just don't have the time. Usually I just have time to ride about couple hours on Monday, Tuesday, around an hour on Thursday (two if I wake up around 5:30 in the morning), long ride on Saturday, and maybe 2 hours on Sunday.
Any recomendations on how to optimize my work out? I went on a 50 mile ride today with some descent hills, by the end of it I felt tired. My legs won't really hurting, but they felt week, as did I in general. True I made a mistake of not eating anything substantial in the morning, was running late, so that could have contributed too.

Place I usually ride just isn't that good for cyling, with traffic stops. Only place in my route that doesn't have them is pretty hilly. I can hit 40 going down, without even pedalling.
Thanks.

Just be consistent and replace quantity with quality. You should be able to get really fit and fast with 10 hours per week. I know of a pro who raced with Webcor last year that trained 15 hours per week. That doesn't sound like a lot by pro standards...but you go out and train 15 hours per week(stressing quality) consistently for 2-3 years and you will make incredible progress merely because of the consistency. One thing that many may not know is that quite a few pros out on the domestic circuit actually have jobs. Not the Chris Horner's or the Gord Fraser's...but many of the lesser names do.

Perhaps some others will come in and give you more specific training advice. You really need to find a few hours a week out of those ten or so hours where you really go hard and bury yourself...that is if your goal is to go fast and race. Also you'll need plenty of rest and a sensible diet. Someone once said that there is no such thing as overtraining...just under eating and under sleeping.

Someone once said that there is no such thing as overtraining...just under eating and under sleeping.


I find this very hard to believe and swollow...

Someone else said that as your training time decreases your training needs to become more like racing. You can do some really awsome training with 10 hours per week... I do. I get in 1 hour on monday, 2 on tuesday, 1 on wednesday, 2 on thursday 3 on Friday and 3 on Sunday (sorry that is 12 hours). When time is short I do high intensity stuff... i.e. intervals. When I have more time I do things that are more anarobicly based (like endurance rides, group rides, etc.)

If you keep a good schedule you will improve... it is just a matter of doing what works well for your time. You also need to be very careful about burnout... it is more than loss of sleep etc. I have been there finding my limits and it is not fun at all... listen to your body is all I can say.

Books like the cyclist training bible really detail periodization and show how you can really plan a schedule with the time that you have.

Goo dluck with your endeviours...

I would even say that you can train to race competitively in 8 hours a week. I used to focus on an Eddie B style training of long LSD rides with mid week intervals. Now I am focusing more on the intensity. It certainly can't hurt to do the 90 mile weekend training rides but if time is short then you need alternatives. Most of the cat 4 races I do are 60 miles tops so doing the long marathon rides may not be necessary.

btw I am by far no expert on the topic in fact I am probably offering a worthless opinion but at least this is going to be my approach this year.

Of course it depends on what you are trying to accomplish, this advice probably applies a bit more to racing than to fitness. Two basic pricipals, esp if you are short on time:

1. Ride at either High Intensity (Intervals, hills, ect) or at low. Stay away from the Mid Intensity stuff (most group rides) as there is little Training Effect from these efforts for the time/energy put in. I could define this as a % of AT, but to simplify train at either > 80% of your max HR or < 60%. Most people waste more time than they realize.
2. Cycle your training. There is the commonly understood principal of a weekly cycle or alternating hard and easy days. You can also cycle week to week, a very effective way to do this is to increase weekly training time for 3 weeks, followed by a shorter week w a little higher intensity. This allows you the rest needed to take advantage of your time as well, most people do not rest effectively enough over the course of a year.

my biggest issue is time as well. not enough of it. however, because i feel crunched for time, i really think my rides are better.

i try to reduce junk miles, avoid coasting too much, do intervals, and push more than i would if i had more time. however, with less time to train you have to rely on natural talent to make up for it. if you aren't particularly talented AND don't have time to train well, it's pretty much a lost cause as far as being competitive.

i'm one of those guys who has a good work ethic but little natural talent. for me to be truly competitive, it would require more training and dedication than most racers.

Thanks everyone for great advice.
I have another question. I heard something about not riding on thursday and doing an easy ride on riday before weekend race. How important is that?
Thx.

Thanks everyone for great advice.
I have another question. I heard something about not riding on thursday and doing an easy ride on riday before weekend race. How important is that?
Thx.
It's important not to overcook yourself right before a race so do your hard work like intervals on Tuesday/Wednesday and ride easy the day before the race whether it's Friday or Saturday, you simply don't won't to kill yourself right before the race.