Inertianinja

I train every morning from about 5:30am - 7am, high intensity, trying to get ready for my first race. I've been doing this since January. I do longer rides on weekends.

BUT still....on a day when i stay at the office from 9-6 (which, honestly, is shorter than it should be)...after my 1-1:15 hour commute, lunch at my desk, 1-1:30 hour commute home, chill with fiancee until bed, and then sleep...on a regular day i'm seated or laying down for 18-20 hours per day.

That is shocking to me.

Granted, this does not count weekends or days when i'm more active, but this is generally the pattern that my day is *forced* into. Luckily, even with this small amount of daily weekday biking, i'm in the best shape of my life.

So i'm thinking of adding time on the trainer before bed, but I'm worried about overtraining.

What do you think? should the nightime be relatively low or medium intensity? like "2" or "3" heart rate zone for 30min-hour?

Psimet2001 

Training time should be targeted. Riding just to get more time in can help to a point, but in this case I would question it's effectiveness.

Inertianinja

well part of the point is that my free time is short, so i get up extremely early to get that high intensity training in.
but i'm not satisfied with just that time, so i'm thinking of adding the end-of-the-day time in just to spin. i'd go harder, but i'm worried about overtraining. that's my issue.

Polar Foil

If you're training to be a sprinter rather than long, long distance rider then short training time is fine but if you let your free time dictate how you train then it will probably be reflected in your performance.

Also, personally, I find it difficult and/or detrimental to do hard workouts right after waking or right before going to sleep for the night. Can you get away from work for an extended lunch to ride? Or run? Or use a stairmaster in the company gym?

Is your hour commute in bumper to bumper traffic? Could you bike all or part of it (as in bike part, take a bus the rest)?

Inertianinja

i tried doing lunch workouts - but it's a cultural thing at work. I'm an attorney, so long hours are how people judge your value.
with changing and showering (must), i wouldn't have enough time to do a real workout.
but i tried - i got a bike specifically to keep at the office, thought i'd just go around the area and pedal. didn't work for two reasons - first, i got too sweaty. second, everyone else is working through lunch or eating at their desks, and i'm going off to play on my bike. just didn't work out.
and even if it did, longer lunch means i'd have to stay at work much later, which means i get home at about 8 or 9pm, which means i barely see my fiancee at all.

when i voiced these concerns a while ago (before i started training daily), i was told that if i want to train, i have to make time. so i did, every morning i'm up at 5am.

hence the before work/after work thing.

Psimet2001 

Maybe i didn't explain it correctly...you can train effectively on little time. Getting up early and going hard just to go hard .....you need to make better use of the time in the morning. With limited time....i would sell that extra bike you had for the office and pay for a coach to come up with a training plan with the available time you have. It's extremely effective and you won't find yourself "wanting more".....

Polar Foil

Well, sounds like you could do a couple things. You could try going into work earlier. If you're the first one there, nobody knows when you got there and they can't as freely judge you for leaving "early" or earlier than they do. Then you could work out right after work. Maybe leaving earlier would get you home earlier due to traffic--if you could add 30 minutes of training time that way, great. Another idea would be to train while "chilling with the fiancee" as in ride on a trainer or other stationary equipment while watching tv or talking....but it depends on what you do when you curently "chill."

Another thing you could consider is "training" yourself to live with 30 minutes less sleep, if you haven't already done that--you don't mention when bedtime is--in order to workout 30 minutes more. Everybody's different though. Do you snore? (Ask your fiancee to be sure.) If so your workouts could be more productive if you take care of that problem.

But I think if you do decide to train at night, within a couple hours of bedtime, it should be less intense or at least a very short workout (like 30 minutes).

Overtraining is when you train so much your body can't recover. Only you know when that point is. If you think you've palteaued now, maybe you just need to vary things rather than add training. Eat 30 minutes before your morning workout, or shift the workout from morning to night. Do it for a couple weeks and see if there's any improvement.

Inertianinja

the office bike is currently on craigslist (it's a shame. '09 masi speciale. beautiful bike.)
i may look into coaching. I joined a local club that apparently has coaching, i just missed a lot of it because coaching tends to happen early in the season, and i didn't know back then that i wanted to get into racing.

Inertianinja

i'm already getting up at 5am, averaging six hours of sleep. I can't sleep any less than i am.

and yea, as i said, the idea was to get on the trainer at home before bed/while i'm with the fiancee. just worried that i'm going to overtrain and start screwing things up.

Psimet2001 

^ This,.

twilkins9076

You don't say whether you're using a structured training plan or not, but "every morning" for 1.5 hours and longer rides on the weekend sounds like a lot to me. Junk miles don't do any good if you're training for racing. IMO, your time in the evening would be better spent planning your training for the next week to include appropriate levels of high intensity, strength, and rest.

brandonobrien

Jesus man, what the hell do you put yourself through? That sounds like one of the worst work environments I've ever heard of. Holy crap.

Get a new job and a better quality of life and ride more. I'm not sure why you'd think that kind of work culture is a good one to pursue.

Honu

Some doctors think the solution for all of the sitting we do at work is... to stand at work. You can stand while talking on the phone or reading documents. There are even "standing" desks.

The scientist who most promotes this has no regular desk in his office, just a standing desk -- at a treadmill.

merlinextraligh

sound like you have little time with your fiance. Taking another hour in the evening to ride is very likely to crew several things up.

One, its going to be hard to do intense workouts at 5:30 in the morning on a recurrant basis, when you're also riding at 10:00pm.

Two, you're likely to screw things up with her. There are other ways to raise your heart rate in the evening.

pdedes

wait 'til the kids come. you need to figure out how to get one longer day in during the week. if sat and sun are your long days, make monday am super short, no more than an hour at a recovery pace. wednesday, go to work way early, and hence, leave early, so you can get a longer 2-2.5hr ride in.

daven1986

Cycle to work. Do intervals on your commute

skol

you really won't know the real answers on your training until the race is over...then you'll know what you need to do and work on and if its "worth" it or even possible with your occupation.

Psimet2001 

Actually pretty normal in my industry as well. I don't fall prey though. A lot of it has to do with your confidence. Around here people show up at 6
and stay until 6 or so at night. They don't take a lunch and/or eat at their desk - unless they are salaried non-exempt then they work exactly what they are supposed to in order to avoid overtime. It's disgusting but the norm.

I "try" to get in by 8 (i am usually in by 7:15 now due to some other changes) I take an hour for lunch and i leave at 4:30 on days with group rides, 5:00 on other days. I have been riding a few times a week during lunch to get the time in (OP - my workouts are extremely structured by a coach and i find that 1/2 hour during lunch is extremely effective) and I get dirty looks and snyde comments. also consider though that my workplace is 99% native Polish and in manufacturing so dressing up in lycra to ride a bike during the mid-day time you should be working for the good of the company and the people is just frowned upon. Meh.....yet i get promoted....

Like I said - it's about confidence. when people ask, "Did you really go ride your bike during lunch?" I usually reply with something to the effect of, "yes. what did you do? sit on your ass staring at your computer screen? sounds like fun." BTW - have I mentioned that I am finally not out to make friends where I work?

I wanted to also confirm what some of the others are saying - you are putting in plenty of time for the "level" you are at. you need to make that time more effective. 2. For every time you make a specific effort to go and ride you should also try to make a specific effort to spend time with your fiance. Trust me. you may not hear it now but after you are married at some point you will hear a verbal rendering of the scoreboard she's been keeping in her head. Also - it will make you happier. Happier makes recovery more effective.

Third - are you trying to "train to get ready to race"? If so - stop! You race, then train to learn how to stay in them and eventually do something in them. Not the other way around. As one of my quotes around here goes it's like not kissing your prom date because you forgot to bring a condom.

Polar Foil

You should read some of the posts at https://thejerkstore.tumblr.com/

Machka 

During the waking portion of those hours, you should be up and walking around for at least a few minutes about once an hour.

MJH2

I'm an attorney, too. It's not all it's cracked up to be. Folks think it's sitting around or arguing like you see on Law & Order, and then taking large checks to the bank. The reality is that it's a lot of time penned up inside and checks that are not worth the hours you put in. I get about one real vacation a year, and if I put in a 50 hour week it must be because things are slow. But, I like what I do...

That crazed culture is also why you can walk into any courtroom in America and see a whole bunch of large, lumbering, unfit attorneys.

Anyway, Inertianinja, don't turn into one of those attorneys. 1.5 hours a day most days in the morning should be enough if you can couple that with a some longish rides on the weekend. I don't ride at all on Monday or Friday (but I do lift on Monday). Saturday or Sunday I'm out the door early for 3-4 hours if I'm not racing that weekend. Something like that should get you to about 10 structured hours a week which should be plenty if you're just getting going.

And 6 hours of sleep just ain't enough.

Polka Dot

Easier said than done, but cutting the commuting time could win you extra couple of hours...

echappist

1.5 hours riding is more than enough time. one other thing is that you will need one rest day a week. make it monday (after long rides on the weekends) or wednesday (to make it easier on yourself)

do your base building for another week or two and get your long weekend rides in. soon enough you'll have the base to do interval works. i normally do about three-four laps in CP for my intervals, including 1/2 of warm up and cooldown. you do intervals 2x a week and recover for the other two days in the week. it shouldn't be hard to do

shovelhd

There are some really good points made here. Two-a-days are OK within reason but have plan for them, otherwise you'll end up overtrained.

Please tell me you're not going to race that beautiful F3SL in a Cat5 criterium for your first race? I've said a prayer for it.

Inertianinja

"change your job environment" - easier said than done. for most areas of law - the ones where you bill by the hour - desk time is like this.

I should make clear - the amount of exercise i'm getting is doing well for me. i'm in the best shape of my life, more toned and stronger than i've ever been. good weight, good nutrition, etc. not that i was in really bad shape before, but certainly not "athletic." i didn't know that i could get decent at something like this. now, I'm just looking for more.

mcjimbo - that's generally what i do. CP warmup, 3 hard laps, then cooldown. recovery days when i need it, longer rides on weekends.

And yea, my first race on my F3SL. i don't have a "beater" race bike to use, though i wish i could afford a BMC Team Machine and have this one be my "beater."