Greetings, all. I’m posting here because I started cycling a few months ago and after about 500 miles on the bike I’m looking to begin a more structured training program. My intent is to get quite a bit faster, fitter, and perhaps in a year or so try racing some local Cat 5/club rides.

There seem to be a lot of resources on the web intended either for complete beginners or for advanced racers, but not much for cyclists who have a little experience and want to begin some more serious training.

I live in NYC and ride 3-5 times per week by doing as many laps as I can fit in on the 6 mile central park loop (link to route). A few times per month I try to do longer rides outside of the city in NY and NJ. I’m at the point where I can easily ride 60 miles of rolling terrain at 13-15 mph average but haven’t done any rides over 25 miles where I’ve tried to push the pace.

I’m looking for advice on constructing a training program that would eventually meet the following goals:
- Reduce my lap times on the central park course from 22 mins (~16mph average) to 17 or 18 mins (20mph average)
- Lose about 20 lbs, both for general fitness and to help my cycling/climbing
- Work up to completing a century like gran fondo NY with 8-10,000 feet of climbing

I realize these may be conflicting goals and might need advice on what to focus on first. I also realize that simply putting more time/miles on the bike is going to help. But i am looking for ways to make each of my rides more effective.

Are there any resources you could direct me to that would help me construct such a program for my skill level? What exercises or drills (hill repeats, tempo workouts, intervals, zone training etc.) should I incorporate into my normal rides during the week? I have access to a gps computer with cadence and heart rate, a full gym w/ cardio and weights, and hopefully soon a fluid trainer.

tl;dr - I am fat and slow but entheusiatic and want to add more structure to my training

Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

A good start would be to read Friel's 'Training Bible'.

Also read botto's tips on getting into racing: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...s-a-tip-or-two

Congratulations on the best "I'm a newbie; how do I train" post I have ever seen. Normally I'd consider it to be too advanced for someone with 500 miles in their legs but you're ready for Friel. That will have most of the information you're looking for. I got a lot out of the sections on goal-setting and determing your strengths and weaknesses (which you may not know yet; that's ok).

One thing that's not in Friel and which I have experience with is 10k' (or more) climbing rides/races. My training for those is a lot of climbing in the tempo/sweet spot range. If I have time I do repeats on the training climbs. If you want to finish feeling strong, you should be comfortable with rides of 6-7000'. You'd do those training climbs at just a little higher than your event day climbing speed.

As a new rider don't pigeon hole yourself too soon and decide that you're a climber or a sprinter or whatever. Try everything.

Thanks for the quick replies. I had previously considered reading Friel's Training Bible, but was worried it would be too advanced and/or geared toward those who will be racing in an upcoming season.

Any thoughts on something like this book instead? I am assuming my first year of training should look a lot more like a big base building period than a full on periodized program, but maybe that's off the mark. Or is it better just to start with Friel and skip over the parts geared toward those who are currently racing or planning a season around specific races?

I haven't read Chapple's book but it appears to be focused strictly on the building base. That's fine but its target audience is for more advance riders looking to optimize their base building phase rather than those just starting out. The training bible covers base as well and will give you some ideas on constructing a suitable training plan. Or you could just buy both books.

Chapple's book is easier to read. His definition of base includes more than just Z2 and he covers some physiology as well, and the rest of the season (but focused on base of course). It's a good book.

Another one since you are interested in century-type rides is Matheny's Long Distance Cycling. It's 12 years old at this point but has a lot of good stuff about century (and beyond) training and day-of-event riding.


How soon you get into a "full" training program depends on what you want to do, and your personality. If you are very goal-oriented and know cycling is for you there's no reason not to do intervals, race oriented group rides and try racing (as soon as your fitness allows those things). You won't have the base of someone who's been riding for years but that just means that you'll see more improvement over the next few years than they will. OTOH it's possible to get enthused about racing, start training intensely and go past overload into overtrained and/or get mentally burned out in only a few years. If you have an obsessive personality and like to push yourself it's easy to have cycling consume all your free time and then some.

If you're more prone to the burnout side then starting a little slower and working more on goals like metric century, century, hilly century before you get all obsessed about racing would be a good idea. But of course you won't know that's what you're like without trying it.

Hi, Chamois - structured training is really about inducing physiological adaptations, so it's a good idea to get a sense of your own physiology. Determining your true Max Heart Rate and where your approximate lactate threshold is a great place to start because you can then establish and track how your body is responding to certain workouts/intensity levels (i.e., how your body is adapting).

As you probably already know, adaptions also follow a specific progression from building your aerobic capacity, improving your aerobic capacity and developing speed and power. Each adaption is developed at specific intensity levels, which is in essence what "structures" a training program.

It's all relative, and given your experience on the bike, there's no reason why you couldn't take on a full periodization program provided that the program is tailored for your current fitness. Put a goal on the calendar, and build a program from there. Again, it really helps to have some measure of feedback (Heart Rate/Power/etc.) to track your progress and guide your training. And, as Ericm noted above, you shouldn't move along the progression until your fitness allows - and there are other important considerations like learning/knowing how to rest and eat which are important pieces of any training program.

I highly recommend just reading up a bit on some basic exercise physiology - it's not rocket science, and virtually every aerobic endurance athlete uses the principles to make progress for their given event. Personally, I find that knowing what I'm actually trying to achieve with each workout (i.e., build endurance, raising lactate threshold, developing speed) keeps each session on point and effective.

Alright, Friel just arrived and while I’m reading through it and trying to make sense of the massive amount of information inside I’ve started the “Early Base” training plan on Trainer road. I think the TrainerRoad program will be a good start, both because it will let me train with power and because the weather here is now cold/dark enough that it is impractical to train outside more than twice per week.

I did the 8-min power test on TrainerRoad and it predicted my FTP at 157 (~2.1 watt/kg) and LTHR at 169. Not as good as I had hoped, but I suppose I have to start somewhere. Curious how these numbers compare for a basically untrained rider?

One question I have (and maybe the answer is in Friel somewhere) is about developing power versus losing weight. I definitely need to do both. It seems the TrainerRoad plan is a lot of training at/near threshold, whereas I understand I should be riding in lower HR zones for fat loss. How would I balance these goals? Is it enough to throw in 30-45 mins of riding in zones 1 & 2 on my “off” days from the TrainerRoad program? Or is this a recipe for overtraining?

Cahmois, I started about a year and half ago myself for commuting. I am sure my FTP was somewhere around yours and went on similar route you have done. Right now my FTP is at 235W but still going up rather fast. I am hoping to get to about 280W at end of year (one of the goal).
1) Increased milage at chunks I could handle. (I eventually got to do 30 miles+ round trip with about 1500-2000ft climb every weekday). At this point, I remember reading Time Crunched Cyclist and applying that for my daily ride. Not really much of base building but definitely getting enough rest whenever I saw I was getting tired/etc. About 7-9 months of it, I got myself a new road bike. And seriously started reading. I believe my FTP was around 190W at the time.
2) Read the Training Bible. Thought about base building and recovery ride. I did start putting in recovery ride but my ride was split between basically threshold and recovery ride. About 6 months of it continued. I kind of hit plateau at this point. FTP around 205 W at the end of it. Was rather disappointing to find. (Also had a month off bike due to injury/accident combination... portion of it was over training).
3) Read the Chapel's book. Seriously thought about what is going on and decided I will start building base in more meaningful way. About 2 months into base building regime, I gave another power test and... surprise, my power output went to 235W. I also noticed the hill got much easier, etc. It seemed like me staying mostly on Threshold too frequently, etc was actually preventing me from going further. Another month as passed at this point and I am actually feeling like those hills I climb daily bases are a little easier again. Going to bench mark next time after a full recovery which is planned at end of this month and hoping to see some more gain.

One thing I am doing though is, even while building base, I am putting in some solid effort once a week to just keep things interesting. Sometimes, it's the Sub threshold for 2 hours, VO2 max repeat for an hour and half, etc. And when I start feeling tired/etc before the recovery time is in, even when not in schedule, I just spin at recovery level for the day. Better not to have injury, better not to be so burnt down your training turns useless.

As for power/weight, I did lose about 20 lbs while going up to 235W. Not because of any diet really... just was so... unfit...
I didn't lose any power over this for sure.
I do have a century that I am trying this may and in course of training for that one and losing weight now... steady and slow though... Plan is to lose 10lbs more in next 4 months. Losing weight is as simple as amount you eat vs. amount you use. For me, it was definitely easier to lose weight while being able to control the kind and amount of food I am eating while in base training as there are a lot less "craving" moments.

Hope this helps. Honestly though, as people said, anything you do for next year or so as long as you don't over train will help you get better.

You have some choices to make.

One option is a classic periodised training program. This is old school, but great for a novice because it
is just so good at toughening up your knees. I will warn you, it's boring. You spend a lot of time basically cruising.
But it works like crazy.

You could use one of the many coaching services. If you can afford it, this is prob your best bet. The program won't prob
be much different from the classic. But following your progress will allow things to progress nicely.

Next option is to use your computer. There are some sophisticated programs that work with a HRM and/or power meter
and let you turn your computer into your coach. One possibility here is the Suunto T6.
In any case, you're going to want a good HRM, and getting one that can talk to your computer is not a bad idea.

The last, best, and most expensive option is to get a cycling coach.

Spelling "Chapple", and I agree on reading it as well. The book is entirely about the base period (and the different sub-periods within). I'm new to structured training as well and found the book helpful in emphasizing building a schedule backwards based on a target event/date, what you should be doing in the large base building period, and the need for tracking/monitoring your progress day to day (which helps recognize when you're getting too fatigued and need rest).