Training mostly on hilly routes?
Hi everyone,
New road biker here. Thanks for all the info in these forums!
I've loved biking so far and am training for a 65 mile ride in October. One thing I don't enjoy is finding time in my life (with 2 kids) for the increasingly longer rides I have to take as my body has gotten into bike shape. I can usually sneak out for a long ride on one weekend day, but have been trying to ride 3-4 days a week.
I am fortunate, or unfortunate, to live in an area with lots of hills, both short and steep ones as well as some regional classic big ones. I've quickly discovered that I can get a great workout by focusing on hills instead of longer flatter rides. I also suck at climbing, and want to improve. So, I've wound up doing lots of shorter, intense hill workouts (8-12 mile rides with 1,500-2,500 ft of climbing) and the one longer 30+ mile ride on Sunday. It's just easier for me to fit in these 45 minute to 1 hour workouts.
My mileage per week has been around 70-80 for the last five weeks, but the amount of climbing has gone up significantly against those miles. I can feel myself getting much stronger, and climbing faster, so I'm happy so far.
The question I have is whether this is a good training program? Can I just keep pounding at hills in shorter rides and mix in a longer ride once a week, or should I increase mileage more and find time for longer rides? I feel like I get a great, intense workout even with an 8 mile ride, better than what I might get in a long 15-20 mile flatter ride. I'd like to build endurance to get to doing centuries or 50+ mile hilly rides on weekends, but primarily do want to get stronger and faster in climbing.
Any thoughts would be appreciated!
-coasthead