Originally Posted by
wens
But what about a new racer with an endurance sport background?
I dunno. I would guess it would depend.
Originally Posted by
dmalvarado
So you'd recommend, every time I go out, to just ride pretty hard? Like in Zone 4/5a?
Originally Posted by
mattm
I don't think it's quite that simple, even for beginners.
Base rides shouldn't be done in hard zones (e.g. 4/5), and if they are long enough they can't be anyway.
There are times for riding hard, and times for riding soft.
1+ If you know what zone 4/5a is, you'll also know that you can only do interval training at this pace a couple times a week.
At this point, you need to get miles into your legs and hours on your bike, that's one thing. The other thing is you need to learn what a threshold effort feels like and then train at that level of effort (this is your zone 4/5a). You obtain the former by doing lots of long (>2 hour) rides at moderate effort (at this time of year). You obtain the latter by doing long threshold intervals a couple times a week.
The natural competition of a group ride is good training as well. A good group will combine the longer hours you need with the hard efforts you also need and will teach you to handle your bike in a close pack.
Another way to say this is: when you ride easy, ride easy. When you ride hard, ride hard. There's little benefit to riding "pretty hard". If you ride only "pretty hard" all the time, you just make yourself tired. You aren't improving your base fitness; for that you need hours, not intensity. You aren't improving your power output; for that you need to push your limits. Spend lots of time at either end: long/easy and short/hard; that's the way to start training to race.
And then remember, once the season starts, race everything and often.
Originally Posted by
Keir
Why would you not suggest a new rider follow a specific plan? Does a weight lifter just "lift a lot" because they just started? No. That leads to nothing.
I have no idea what a weight lifter does. A bike racer does quite a bit of "riding a lot", particularly when in the off season. Intervals are an integral part of training as well, but a newbie racer will find limited use of these (basically the only ones which are important to the newbie are intervals at threshold) until he has the aerobic base under him to support the interval training. Jumping from recreational cycling into heavy interval training is begging for injury and burnout.