Training for Time Trial
Suitcaseofcourage
Posts: 7
Hi everyone,
I do a training cycle around where I live. It's basically up and back, 20 miles, straight roads. I treat it as a sort of Time trial, a good gauge of fitness etc, when conditions are taken into account.
It usually takes me about 55 to 60 mins, I don't use TT frame etc, just my racing bike. I would like to get below the 50 minutes, my best time is 52.20, although I pay more attention to average speed as the my start stop are based on me pressing the button!
Now that I have bored you with those details, my question is what is the best way to go about getting the time down. I am not a TT'er, a guess I'm built more like a climber, but believe that with the right training I can achieve sub 50.
Any ideas on the best strategy? As I said, I'm not looking to be a TT'er just want to take it to a new level, and can't seem to get better than the usual 55 minutes or so. I don;t do any specifc training, my perferred ridess would be up the hills.
Thanks
PS, you guys from UK, especailly London, should be very proud of the show you put on yesterday for Le Tour. Amazing crowds. Maybe cycling does have future after all :?:
Suitcaseofcourage
I do a training cycle around where I live. It's basically up and back, 20 miles, straight roads. I treat it as a sort of Time trial, a good gauge of fitness etc, when conditions are taken into account.
It usually takes me about 55 to 60 mins, I don't use TT frame etc, just my racing bike. I would like to get below the 50 minutes, my best time is 52.20, although I pay more attention to average speed as the my start stop are based on me pressing the button!
Now that I have bored you with those details, my question is what is the best way to go about getting the time down. I am not a TT'er, a guess I'm built more like a climber, but believe that with the right training I can achieve sub 50.
Any ideas on the best strategy? As I said, I'm not looking to be a TT'er just want to take it to a new level, and can't seem to get better than the usual 55 minutes or so. I don;t do any specifc training, my perferred ridess would be up the hills.
Thanks
PS, you guys from UK, especailly London, should be very proud of the show you put on yesterday for Le Tour. Amazing crowds. Maybe cycling does have future after all :?:
Suitcaseofcourage
0
Comments
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I did a bit of TT specific training last year with the goal of breaking the hour for 25 miles (I'm not much of a tester!!).
Having got relatively fit road racing (evening series at Milton Keynes bowl although I was still miles off the winning pace) I did basically what you do...............rode a set 25-mile route on local roads as fast as I could twice a week. Over a period of about 4 weeks, my times gradually came down and I felt better each ride. Finally, I rode the last 25TT of the season on a fast local course based on the A1 and beat my previous 1-00-40 to get a 0-59-30...........well chuffed as I'd been trying to break the hour for about 10 years.
So I'd say, fine, carry on doing what you are doing, you will improve your TTing, but maybe consider riding some bunch races or local chain-gang if you can find one. I for one am not capable of improving by riding solo and need someone faster than me to follow to really push myself and improve that way.
Best of luck with your training0 -
Do you always ride your 20 course at a steady pace? If so, don't! Start doing some intervals of varying times so you're pushing your body into the red e.g. 10 mins warm-up, 15 mins effort (at an average pace greater than you can maintain for the 20), 5 mins easy then another 15 mins effort. Then warm-down.
You can vary the intervals from anything between 1 and 20 minutes but the important thing is to ride at a pace greater than your 20 avg.
Apart from intervals, which will increase strength and speed, you should also be doing regular rides over 20 miles to build up endurance.0 -
If you are trraining specifically for Time Trials then you must pay attention in training to pace judgement, otherwise the training is virtually the same as for road racing.
You need endurance to complete the race distance and you need speed to cover the distance in the fastest time that can do.
The mistake that most riders make is to go out too hard all the time, perhaps because of a perceived lack of available training time. The trick or smart way to train is to build a base of endurance rides where you all you need to do is to cover threequarters of race distance. An example of a good base would be to do about 1500 miles or about 90 hours over a period of 10/12 weeks aiming for 16/17 mph average speed.
You can do interval training on the road or rollers/turbo. The rest periods are very important (vital), You should do flat out rides of 5/6 minutes and then once you feal fully recovered then repeat until the effort is too much to sustain. Initially you may only be capable of one or two intervals but after a time you will not only be able to do more but your speed will improve.
It's all about performance. A tip is to not do intervals if you are tired (best after a rest day) and not less than 48 hours before you race.0 -
Not really a reply to your question, but if your looking for a winter training partner, give me a shout, im interested in riding TTs next season and im living in Dublin0
