monte

Been riding hard for about 3 months now, but seem to be at a wall. If i take 3 days off i can go rip 60 or 70 miles off in a hurry, and still have pop left in the legs to attack hills or buddies on flats Then I have nothing even for a short ride the next day. Now I don't expect to be able to fly 70 miles 2 days ina row, but but a quick 30 should be easy and it isn't. Right now I'm riding 150-175 miles a week, wish i could do more, but alas I need to get money to eat. Is this just a case that to go hard every day, and ride well, i need to quit school and my job and ride 4 hours a day? or am i just expecting too much too soon.

brian

Maelstrom 

Burnout / overtraining can happen with biking to. This state is both physical and mental. IT is also different with everyone. But really if you riding is intense and you are just starting out you won't be able to be intense every ride. I use this method

day 1 - Spinning - easy does high rpm riding without much technical
day 2 - Technical short distance ride. This is more intense but only 10k instead of 20k for example. The rpms don't matter only the quality of the ride
day 3 - Rest or ver light day. A ride with my gf can be included as a rest day
day 4 - Same as day 2
day 5 - long and intense. Usually 25-30k with lots of technical
day 6 - rest
day 7 - restart week

yes I only have a 6 day week this removes the chance for monotony. Now to my point. I can't do long intense rides daily. I need to switch it up and change the focus. This gives you body a chance to recover from the muscle breakdown done by the riding. It sounds like you body a) needs a carb refill after that long ride and possibly a rest day. In all reality the rest day is your best bet.

Cheers. Overtraining is evil, learn to avoid it and live with rest days.

roadbuzz

Probably. Remember, it's actually during recovery that you get stronger/faster/whatever. Working too hard delays progress.

WoodyUpstate

The day after a 60-70 mile ride I'm toast. It's always a day off or a light spin around the neighborhood, 10-12 miles, no more. If I raced or rode particularly hard I may take two recovery days. I'm 42 years old, so recovery is taking longer than it did years ago. Listen to your body. If it's tired, rest it, you'll get stronger. Hammering on a tired body promotes overtraining.

Faster. . . what type of speed do you want? Sprint speed - fast in the last 300 meters. Endurance speed- faster long rides, centuries. Time trial speed - consistent speed over 20 to 40 miles.

Whatever speed you're looking for requires training for that type of speed. Instead of a 50 mile hammer ride, 6 reps of hill repeats may be in order, for example.

Also, after 3 months of hard riding a week of light spinning may be in order to let your body "catch up", rest and prepare for the next period of training.

Also, if you aren't using a heart rate monitor, I suggest you get one and then read everything you can on how it can help you.

lotek 

I'd strongly suggest you pick up
Serious Cycling by Edmund Burke and
Chris Carmichael.
It has some very good ideas about training,
schedules etc. They talk about overtraining
and ways to avoid it.
I'd also suggest one of the many training
schedules that are available.

Hope these help.

Marty