gsteinb

I meant that to justify getting out of the city it doesn't make sense to do a short ride once you get out of there so they tend to go pretty far.

dmb2786

Im a 3. I've been doing like 4hrs/wk lately, mostly endurance. That's good right? Can I win races or do I need zipps?

johnybutts

Sorry dude, you're going to need zipps and a power meter. Are you a dentist? You might need a serotta too.

bostongarden

I been doing the endurance thing and most likely topped out at 17.5 hours last week, after several double digit weeks in a row (that's a lot for me). I am very happy camper with some recover this week (off M, 70' or so on T, off W, 68' tonight/Th -- felt good again). JB, after pounding sand for a while, it's good to take a good week way down. At least, it's feeling good for me.

jwible

My volume is spent on work and family right now. I can build base in January and start racing in late March. Right now I'm just grasping at the few last straws of fitness when I can.

brian416

Around 20 hours a week 2 days of intervals and a race pace group ride is a tough week. That would work out to 5 days of riding with 200+ TSS average per day.

For endurance riding without any intervals, I can do 45-50 hour weeks on the bike, but my legs start to really suffer after the 3rd week.

Matt2.8NJ

Wow. Given the volume some of you guys are doing... makes me think I need to quit and take up golf instead.

I'm a 3 and get between 7-12 hours a week, mostly in the 8-10 range. I sometimes wish I had time for a lot more volume, but with a newborn, management job... I can't even get close.

In that 8-10 hours, though, I don't do recovery rides.

cmh

I got forced to upgrade out the the 3's and raced an OK season as a 2 on an average of 8 hrs/wk. I think my biggest week in the last 4 yrs was 11 hrs, and I don't believe I am genetically gifted. My training hours were pretty well targeted, with few or no recovery rides, but they were without a power meter and did include a lot of group rides.

I will say that I did horribly in the couple stage races I entered, and hurt pretty badly in cat 2 races over 70 miles. More mileage would definitely help there. If I didn't have work and family commitments I'd probably ride about 12 hrs per week with the occasional week up to 15 hrs or so.

But each to his/her own. I can't speak to what most people in the area put in, but I know plenty of people that do well and plenty that do poorly on <10 hrs per week, and a few that do really well on 15-20hrs, and a couple that do crappy on 15-20hrs per week. It all depends on what your body and mind can take.

To the OP - it sounds like you are in your first year or two of racing? If that is correct, I'd suggest backing off on the hours (and/or intensity) a bit so you aren't so fatigued all the time (and if you are still fatigued on 10hrs of sleep and less training, see a doc). Each year you train and race your body will be able to handle a higher load of training, especially through the first 3-5yrs of racing. In a year or two you may be fine with 20+ hrs per week of training.

Creatre

How many times are you guys riding each week with that amount of volume?

I've been riding 4 times a week, doing 8-10 hours. Looking towards next year, I've been talking to some cat3 friends about what they did to enhance their riding. They have been telling me to bump up to 6 times a week. Would you guys recommend riding 6 days a week, and if so, do you do 1 extremely easy recovery ride or two per week? Or does it depend on intensity of the rides/intervals for that week? I'm a bigger believer in rest, however I think I'm definitely getting a bit too much rest now in between my rides and would be game to add at least one more ride per week in, and maybe a short recovery ride with that.

gsteinb

to be good, the volume on golf is much higher (and much more expensive).

bostongarden

Haha, so true on golf with respect to time. The one season I went after it most earnestly had me playing 2-4 times per week (average 5-7 hours including driving to/from and waiting time) plus 1-2 times on the practice areas (3+/- hrs including driving to/from).

carpediemracing 

I booked my flights yesterday. I'll be flying over Jan 26, returning Feb 8. Based on that Jan 27-28, Jan 31-Feb 5, and Feb 7 will be "long day eligible" pending my health (I seem to get sick out there) and weather (I try not to do mega miles in the rain). I hang out with my hosts on the weekends so typically can't go very far. I may venture out for a group ride on one of those days - we did the Celo Velo? ride once, and the couple I stay with both ride so sometimes we go do a ride together (Palm Springs a couple years back). I plan on doing Red Trolley but depending on how I feel I may bag it. I have no idea how I'll be going when I get out there. If all goes well I want to slaughter myself until Thurs Feb 4th (including a Palomar or two), then do a final Palomar on Monday Feb 7th.

Matt2.8NJ

Aaaarrrgghhh. I will only be able to do mini-golf then with my volume! Is putt-putt the 4 corner crit of the golf world?

gsteinb

damn I love me some putt putt

kensuf

6 days / 15-16 hours a week on average. Three days have intensity, and two of them include a recovery ride about 5 hours later, the rest of the days are zone 2 or 1. One of the days is 4-6 hours long (Saturday), and usually leaves me pretty tired after.

Typical schedule right now:
M - off
T - 2 hours w/3x20's, evening 45-60 minutes zone 1 recovery
W - 2 hours, zone 2 or easier
Th - same as Tuesday
Fr - 2-2.5 hours, zone 2 (I've been mountain biking, but will stay on the road today)
Sa - 4-6 hours with at least 90 minutes of intensity (at least SST level)
Su - 1 hour recovery ride.

My recovery rides are typically in the 100-120w (~100 hr) range. My "zone 2" rides are really the low end of zone 2, except last weeks mountain bike extravaganza went a bit nuts with the other guys in the group, which is why I'm staying on the road today.

kensuf

putt putt is great for working the core.

at least that's what I tell myself...

rkwaki

That being said what is your race season training plan?

kensuf

Recovery M, off T, hurt myself W, easy Th/Fr, race Sa/Su. We start up in 6 weeks and will run full bore through June, then take some time off until the end of August when we'll fire it up again until November. There's really only one event I care about, and it's in "season two" next year so I'll probably shut down at the end of May and take a couple of weeks off the bike before going back to work.

How about you?

Grumpy McTrumpy

I am going to pump up the volume today by riding to and from the gym. Figure almost an hour out, and 1.5 back (mostly uphill)

does the gym count?

rkwaki

I think I posted this before but can't remember exactly:
This was when I was getting ready to go to Europe
Monday - Easy spin day
Tuesday - short intervals
Wednesday - long ride (whatever the weekend's road race is)
Thursday - long intervals
Friday- off/easy/spin/travel

NOW
Monday - Short intervals (depending on what went on on the weekend)
Tuesday - rest/easy spin
Wednesday - race (we have a 12 week crit series here) and about a 1/2 hour spin
Thursday - tempo ride or long intervals depending on how Wednesday night went
Friday - easy spin
SAT/Sun - race
I also weight train approx. three days a week (Mon/Tues/Thurs)
If there are no races that week I will do several (Wed,Sat,Sun) tempo rides.

As you can tell I am very unscientific and often go by how I feel (no powermeter and often leave my computer at home - just started wearing a HRM ). My rest/spin days probably aren't exactly that either - I seem to have two speeds (go/no go) most of my training is by feel. If I'm tired I ride easy or not at all.
If I am racing weekend after weekend I might train 6-9 hours during the week - usually in the heat of the day (@1:00) for three reasons:
1. I am a heat rider (there have been many days that I am doing a tempo ride by myself and the thermometer say 100+ degrees
2. I believe that you get better conditioning as it is harder to ride in that type of heat
3. Most of my races start late in the day (in the heat of the day) and you must be heat acclimatized to race in those conditions

Before I take a bunch of heat over this post remember I am old school (old coach was an old Italian who didn't believe in gadgets just hard work) and everyone is different when it comes to what works for them.

rkwaki

I count it Grumpy - when I work with my trainer it is an hour of pure hell - imagine a 14% climb for an hour with someone punching you in the gut just for kicks.

Grumpy McTrumpy

sounds like cross

kensuf

There's nothing to take heat over, you've got the results to show for it. As I recall, and please correct me if I'm wrong, you had one hell of a base too from training for RAAM and other insane endurance events, correct?

Grumpy McTrumpy

I thought that was spookykinkajou

rkwaki

No I just have years of base
Never been a RAAM rider but I had years of 20+ hour weeks under strict supervision of my coach.