Could use some training advice
 

I have a 90 day goal of losing 20 pounds and increasing my average speed by 3 miles per hour. These goals are arbitry and I don't know how achieveable they are, but I will give it a try.

My plan is to ride the trainer during the week and do two rides on weeks.

Saturday ride will be a 30-45 mile group ride with medium intensity

Sunday ride will be a 18-20 mile intensive push it hard on the flats ride.

Monday will be a 30 minute recovery ride on the trainer

Tuesday, intervals on the trainer

Wednesday - Off

Thursday, 20 Time Trail on the trainer (Or I could do hill climbing on the road in the early evening)

Friday - 30 minute recover ride on the trainer.

Does this seem like a workable plan or am I going at it all wrong?

Any advice would be appreciated.

May be a bit ambitious, depending on your previous activity/exercise level. The last thing you want to do is be all gung ho, get burnt out and quit after a few weeks. The actual plan looks ok if you're up to it, but I'm guessing that if you need to lose 20lbs you may not be. If you can do it, great, but don't hesitate to back off some and add some rest days if it seems necessary. Lasting change comes form lifestyle changes, not brief flurries of intense training programs.

Thanks for the input. Not sure if I am up to it or not. I have been cycling for four years but needed to take a year off to recover from a surgery. Before the surgery, I was riding a 120 miles per week although not particularly fast. Since recovering from the surgery, I am much faster and stronger. My major concern with the training program is that I might need more days off.

As for the weight, I am 6'3" and 215, I think 195 is about has lean as I can get without being skin and bones. When I started riding, I was 235 and did manage to get to 210 before going in for surgery. My main motivation to lose weight is so that I can be faster, stronger and feel better.

Avg speed is a lousy metric, and 3 mph is a whole lot.

Consider timing yourself on a climb or TT and looking for a improvement there. That will show your improvement in power/weight ratio, or power if you do a flat TT.

Thanks, a power meter would be great, but they are still a little expensive. I will use your suggestion.

No, yes

Second the notion that timing certain climbs or routes is a much better metric of your improvement then average speed (which has so many unpredictable variables it is practically useless).

The plan looks pretty tough to me, but it depends what you mean by intensity and how you're measuring it. And like everyone else, I absolutely would not use average speed as the measure. If you aren't using power get a cheap HRM, then look at one of the numerous guides on the web for which zones to train in.

It's really hard to lose weight and train for performance at the same time. To lose weight, count calories. Underestimate your calorie burn from your training, overestimate your calorie intake. When you are training hard, you need fuel, so make sure to fuel your rides beforehand, rather than "saving" your daily calorie allocation for after the ride. This can lead to being starving after your ride but not having enough calories left in your daily allotment to feel not-starving.

Was it bariatric surgery? If so, you might want to head over to the clyde forum and see if there is useful info there.

You don't say anything about your diet, current activity and current fitness before instituting this plan, or how you came up with that plan, so it's not really possible to evaluate it.

On a separate note, you live in SoCal, why so much trainer time?

You make an excellent point about losing weight and making gains at the same time. Yes, you are correct. Coming from a weight lifting background, I have never been able to cut body fat and gain muscle at the same time. My primary goal is to cut body fat so, I will turn down the intensity of my work outs and increase the duration.

My surgery was a Hiatel Hernia and a really bad one. My diaphragm had torn a hole the size of a grape fruit and my stomach, part of my Colin and small intestines went through the hole and collapsed my left lung. Hill climbing sucked before the surgery but not so bad now that I have two working lungs.

The reason that I use the trainer so much is just because of time. I work long hours and I go to the gym a three times a week in the evenings. I have lights that I put on my bike and can train at night but working the trainer early in the morning fits my schedule better.

Ugh, that sounds awful. Glad you are healthy again. I don't really have anything else to offer, but good wishes on your recovery/weight loss/training.

Thanks, I feel much better and I can ride much faster. So, I am glad the surgery is behind me.

What is (was?) your average speed that you want to bump by 3?

I ride the same route which is a combination of flats and hills. Currently, I ride it at 15.5 mph. Before my surgery, I was at 12.5 for the same ride. I would like to get to 18 MPH on the same route. I think if I drop 15 to 20 pounds, that will certainly help make me faster.

It's achievable. Not in 90 days, I don't think. Depends on your ability to recover. Varies a lot. You'll find out about the program. Probably too hard. Might do better to go easy after the long ride instead of hard, but if you go easy enough on the long ride it might work. Try it, see what happens, and modify to suit.

Thanks, I might just ease into it and see if I get faster and lose weight. I am thinking if I lose weight, I should be faster unless I lose strength too.

This seems like it will work out very well! Just remember if you approach a hard day not feeling good, don't be afraid to just get out and ride. Your body will tell you what to do. It seems so simple but even elites ignore their body sometimes.

And

+1 on timing a TT and marking improvement instead of upping average speed. As I've read on here, "just get out and ride, the speed will come."


Edit: GOOD LUCK