Getting into cycling seriously

shockedsoshocked

Might sound like a daft title but bear with me.

Got back into road cycling about this time last year, and i've been loving it. Haven't been able to give my full attention to it however due to having to do lots of running for my application to the Royal Marines, but i've been given a chance to work in Aussie for a bit so i'm taking it, which means the running (which I can't bear anyway) is being put on hold for now.

I was just wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction with regards what to do now. At the moment i'm riding about 100 miles a week, in and around the North Yorkshire Moors, taking in a few good hills and averaging around 18-19mph by the time i'm home. I'm pretty much riding and training off my own bat, so I think it's about time I started having some kind of structure to my training. I'm asking you kind people since I have not the slightest idea where to start. My job is mainly on an evening, so I have up to about 2 in the afternoon everday free, aswell as days off (lots of time basically).

My aims for the future are competing in 10/25mile TTs (I have only done 1 TT, a 20miler, which I completed in 53mins 44 seconds, which I was very pleased with considering the weather, only having drops to use and my handlebars coming loose during an uphill effort :oops: atleast I found out what that creaking was every time I climbed ) and doing sportives, aswell as perhaps some proper roadracing.

Like i've said, I really have no idea where to go from, so any help is much appreciated, and I apologise for the long post.

Alex_Simmons/RST

A local club would be a good place to start. Where are you going to be based?

Time trials are most often run by the Australian Time Trial Association (ATTA), typically once a month. A lot of clubs don't run them - it's not quite the same culture as in the UK. We tend to do more road and criterium racing here (as well as lots of track).

Usually some good sportive type events as well, such as the Alpine Classic, so you will be well catered for.

Best thing about riding in Australia - there's no off-season.

Mike Willcox

I'm on my 4th comeback in the last 3 years after injuries and medicall conditions so in a sense I'm in the same boat as you.

There are some basic "rules" in obtaining fitness and reaching your full potentiall, which when understood can help in creating a training regime.

1) You cannot maintain peak form all year round. It takes up to 5 years to reach potential.

2) Endurance

3) Speed

4) Skill (technique)

5) Strength

6) Goals (focus and train towards your goals)

7) Nutrition

8) Recovery

Whenever you ride your bike try and have a purpose to your ride. The rest is down to the number of hours available and the motivation of the individual. How you set about numbers 2) - 5) is open to debate but you could do worse than reading the articles on health and fitness on this web site.

shockedsoshocked

@Alex: I'll be based in Perth. I like the idea its more focused on road races over there, however I won't be going for a few months yet (February/March time) which hopefully means I can get in on a few early season TTs. Do you have any idea what the local area is like around round there? Namely is there any hills?

@Mike: I don't really know what contributes to building up those individual aspects of riding (apart from the obvious like long rides for endurance, surely?). But I was intending on increasing my weekly milage to between 150 and 200 miles, aswell as doing a couple of interval sessions on a turbo trainer.

Mike Willcox

I think you have to be realistic and practical about your training. If you continually go out and ride 3 hours + in the pouring rain and get home frozen to the bones then you will get demoralised. My own phrase for this is "don't be a martyr to the cause ".

Personally until January I will only ride more than 2 hours if it isn't raining and it isn't freezing. I'm doing 3 sessions x 1 hour per week of gym training plus 1 x sessions of speed tempo riding, and the rest is moderate pace at a high cadence of 100+ rpm. depending on the weather that could be 4 hours or 10 hours a week.

I've just had 3 days of no training at all as I felt a bit jaded and needed to consolidate the work I had done earlier. This morning I did 1 hour gym training and this afternoon I will do an hour on the turbo. The way I see it is for the moment to let the weather and the way I feel dictate what I am going to do, it's only November after all.

Now January and February is a different story. That's when the rides need to be more regular and sustained and the gym work takes more of a back seat.

Alex_Simmons/RST

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

@Alex: I'll be based in Perth. I like the idea its more focused on road races over there, however I won't be going for a few months yet (February/March time) which hopefully means I can get in on a few early season TTs. Do you have any idea what the local area is like around round there? Namely is there any hills?

Perth is a really great city, modern, clean, not over crowded but in the middle of a mining boom inspired cost of living push (especially housing). Basically flat to moderately rolling terrain. No hills of any substantial size AFAIK. I've been there many times but never ridden there (it's >4,000km from Sydney!). Weather is year round riding, you'll love it.

Some links for you to check out:
http://www.wa.cycling.org.au/default.html
http://www.atta.asn.au/

shockedsoshocked

Thanks for those links Alex, there seems to be plenty of clubruns going on. I must admit when I was looking up Perth I didn't realise how big the place actually was, haha. It does seem like a great place, my uncles loving it over there. My only reservation is the size of the spiders he's found lurking about the house :shock: Jesus wept.

Alex_Simmons/RST

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

My only reservation is the size of the spiders he's found lurking about the house :shock: Jesus wept.

Don't worry, only some of them are fatal :twisted:

Oh - and stay away from the snakes, not to mention the blue ringed octupus (it's a tiny thing you'll find in rockpools by the beach), see here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-ringed_octopus

I had one float between my legs when I was a kid once. That's when I discovered I had a few fast twitch fibres

nolf

If you're really serious and have little knowledge to fall back on, you could do worse than to ask a coach about a basic training plan- shouldn't be too expensive

www.rutheyles.co.uk
www.cyclecoach.com


For the mo though. Winter is typically the building block stage. You build up a base of endurance to sharpen later with speed work and

If you've got a good base of endurance then lot's of endurance riding isn't essential and so you can stick to more tempo paced sessions, this acts as a decent base, but if you are really lacking in endurance then this may be a good idea.

Few key things I've learnt recently (Thanks Ruth!)
Each ride should have a goal (but only 1) Don't do several hours of high speed tempo, as I was doing over the summer- it doesn't really help.

If you're goals are racing and short time trials, then only do a maxmimum endurance ride of = the length of your longest race +1 hour.
So say you're longest race is 100km ish- that's say 3 hours, so your longest endurance ride can be limited to 4 hours at an easy pace.

Do say 1 endurance ride a week + 2 tempo sessions of up to 2 hours. You can swap the tempo sessions for club runs (if they're fast!) or swap the endurance ride for a club run (if it's a slow!). Don't overdo it!

Just stick with that, and at the new year- have a look at the racing schedule for the coming year and decide where you want to peak for races. Then build a plan around those few weeks of peak performance- or just re-ask here.

As an aside- what do you have to do to become a qualified coach- mainly directed at RST guys/Ruth or any other coaches on here?
A mate just got a qualification as a tennis coach and it's something I'd be really interested in and would like to do a structured study of sports science in relation to cycling. If nothing else I can give some friends some advice.

SteveR_100Milers

nolf wrote:

If you're really serious and have little knowledge to fall back on, you could do worse than to ask a coach about a basic training plan- shouldn't be too expensive

www.rutheyles.co.uk
www.cyclecoach.com


For the mo though. Winter is typically the building block stage. You build up a base of endurance to sharpen later with speed work and

If you've got a good base of endurance then lot's of endurance riding isn't essential and so you can stick to more tempo paced sessions, this acts as a decent base, but if you are really lacking in endurance then this may be a good idea.

Few key things I've learnt recently (Thanks Ruth!)
Each ride should have a goal (but only 1) Don't do several hours of high speed tempo, as I was doing over the summer- it doesn't really help.

If you're goals are racing and short time trials, then only do a maxmimum endurance ride of = the length of your longest race +1 hour.So say you're longest race is 100km ish- that's say 3 hours, so your longest endurance ride can be limited to 4 hours at an easy pace.

Do say 1 endurance ride a week + 2 tempo sessions of up to 2 hours. You can swap the tempo sessions for club runs (if they're fast!) or swap the endurance ride for a club run (if it's a slow!). Don't overdo it!

Just stick with that, and at the new year- have a look at the racing schedule for the coming year and decide where you want to peak for races. Then build a plan around those few weeks of peak performance- or just re-ask here.

As an aside- what do you have to do to become a qualified coach- mainly directed at RST guys/Ruth or any other coaches on here?
A mate just got a qualification as a tennis coach and it's something I'd be really interested in and would like to do a structured study of sports science in relation to cycling. If nothing else I can give some friends some advice.

what if your targets range from a 25TT to a 12 hour???

shockedsoshocked

nolf wrote:

Do say 1 endurance ride a week + 2 tempo sessions of up to 2 hours. You can swap the tempo sessions for club runs (if they're fast!) or swap the endurance ride for a club run (if it's a slow!). Don't overdo it!

That sounds pretty reasonable. I do one fast as possible ride that takes me over some of the Moors and back in about 2 hours, aswell as a fast club run on a sunday with a local tri club. As i've said i'm averaging 18-19mph by the time i'm home which is pretty good considering theres a few hills thrown in. Adding another longer ride through the week sounds good.

Is it worth doing any interval work aswell?

@Alex: Do you guys have any animals that are just soft and fluffy?

nolf

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

nolf wrote:

If you're really serious and have little knowledge to fall back on, you could do worse than to ask a coach about a basic training plan- shouldn't be too expensive

www.rutheyles.co.uk
www.cyclecoach.com


For the mo though. Winter is typically the building block stage. You build up a base of endurance to sharpen later with speed work and

If you've got a good base of endurance then lot's of endurance riding isn't essential and so you can stick to more tempo paced sessions, this acts as a decent base, but if you are really lacking in endurance then this may be a good idea.

Few key things I've learnt recently (Thanks Ruth!)
Each ride should have a goal (but only 1) Don't do several hours of high speed tempo, as I was doing over the summer- it doesn't really help.

If you're goals are racing and short time trials, then only do a maxmimum endurance ride of = the length of your longest race +1 hour.So say you're longest race is 100km ish- that's say 3 hours, so your longest endurance ride can be limited to 4 hours at an easy pace.

Do say 1 endurance ride a week + 2 tempo sessions of up to 2 hours. You can swap the tempo sessions for club runs (if they're fast!) or swap the endurance ride for a club run (if it's a slow!). Don't overdo it!

Just stick with that, and at the new year- have a look at the racing schedule for the coming year and decide where you want to peak for races. Then build a plan around those few weeks of peak performance- or just re-ask here.

As an aside- what do you have to do to become a qualified coach- mainly directed at RST guys/Ruth or any other coaches on here?
A mate just got a qualification as a tennis coach and it's something I'd be really interested in and would like to do a structured study of sports science in relation to cycling. If nothing else I can give some friends some advice.

what if your targets range from a 25TT to a 12 hour???

He said his target was 10/25 mile TT's with possible road racing.

Admittedly I focused on the road racing as that's what I know, but he never mentioned a 12 hour and if you are training for (for example) a 100 mile TT then assume that's 5 hours, then add another 1 hour maximum and I would imagine thats just about all of the endurance riding you would need?
(Please someone with more knowledge correct me if I'm wrong!!!)

Mike Willcox

nolf wrote:

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

nolf wrote:

If you're really serious and have little knowledge to fall back on, you could do worse than to ask a coach about a basic training plan- shouldn't be too expensive

www.rutheyles.co.uk
www.cyclecoach.com


For the mo though. Winter is typically the building block stage. You build up a base of endurance to sharpen later with speed work and

If you've got a good base of endurance then lot's of endurance riding isn't essential and so you can stick to more tempo paced sessions, this acts as a decent base, but if you are really lacking in endurance then this may be a good idea.

Few key things I've learnt recently (Thanks Ruth!)
Each ride should have a goal (but only 1) Don't do several hours of high speed tempo, as I was doing over the summer- it doesn't really help.

If you're goals are racing and short time trials, then only do a maxmimum endurance ride of = the length of your longest race +1 hour.So say you're longest race is 100km ish- that's say 3 hours, so your longest endurance ride can be limited to 4 hours at an easy pace.

Do say 1 endurance ride a week + 2 tempo sessions of up to 2 hours. You can swap the tempo sessions for club runs (if they're fast!) or swap the endurance ride for a club run (if it's a slow!). Don't overdo it!

Just stick with that, and at the new year- have a look at the racing schedule for the coming year and decide where you want to peak for races. Then build a plan around those few weeks of peak performance- or just re-ask here.

As an aside- what do you have to do to become a qualified coach- mainly directed at RST guys/Ruth or any other coaches on here?
A mate just got a qualification as a tennis coach and it's something I'd be really interested in and would like to do a structured study of sports science in relation to cycling. If nothing else I can give some friends some advice.

what if your targets range from a 25TT to a 12 hour???

He said his target was 10/25 mile TT's with possible road racing.

Admittedly I focused on the road racing as that's what I know, but he never mentioned a 12 hour and if you are training for (for example) a 100 mile TT then assume that's 5 hours, then add another 1 hour maximum and I would imagine thats just about all of the endurance riding you would need?
(Please someone with more knowledge correct me if I'm wrong!!!)

In my experience you only need to train up to two thirds of your racing distance, and I didn't even do that for a "100". Still managed a 3.58. though (on a road bike)

Alex_Simmons/RST

nolf wrote:

As an aside- what do you have to do to become a qualified coach- mainly directed at RST guys/Ruth or any other coaches on here?
A mate just got a qualification as a tennis coach and it's something I'd be really interested in and would like to do a structured study of sports science in relation to cycling. If nothing else I can give some friends some advice.

If you're talking about cycle coaching, most National Cycling Federations have some form of coaching accreditation, with accreditation at different levels available.

It isn't usually that difficult to gain the basic level, which is usually designed to enable you to help out at the club or with kids and others learning to ride a bike. Accreditation may also provide an insurance coverage for coaches. Moving up from there, then the different countries have various levels of accreditation, depending on what sort of coaching you are seeking to do. In general though, when it comes to training people on coaching with power meters, the National Federations are way behind the eight ball. They have a dedicated power meter module in the US for high level coaching quals. It doesn't exisit in Australia or the UK.

I would presume other sports have similar set ups.

Not sure what Ruth does but Ric puts all RST coaching applicants through a very rigourous and thorough series of testing on a wide range of coaching skills and knowledge including but not exclusively: exercise physiology, coaching principles and practices, business principles, use of power meters and so on.

Sports science studies are presumably available at selected tertiary education insitutions in your home country.

Alex_Simmons/RST

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

@Alex: Do you guys have any animals that are just soft and fluffy?

Sure, Australia is the home of the marsupials:
Koala


Kangaroo


Sugar Glider


Pademelon

Mike Willcox

When I stayed in Perth for a few weeks back in the early 70's, I was having a shower and suddenly found a spider as big as a dinner plate on the shower curtain! Later I was told not to worry too much because it was harmless. On the other hand I was told to look out for a small black spindly legged spider with a red back called understandably enough the "red back" spider. It can kill you if it bites; oh and there are also scorpions around by the way.

Have a nice trip

shockedsoshocked

Cheers lads.

I'll have to make sure I avoid rock pools and showers when I go

Alex_Simmons/RST

Mike Willcox wrote:

When I stayed in Perth for a few weeks back in the early 70's, I was having a shower and suddenly found a spider as big as a dinner plate on the shower curtain! Later I was told not to worry too much because it was harmless. On the other hand I was told to look out for a small black spindly legged spider with a red back called understandably enough the "red back" spider. It can kill you if it bites; oh and there are also scorpions around by the way.

Have a nice trip

The big spider was probably what we call a Huntsman. Yeah - pretty harmless. I don't mind the odd one in the house - they eat the insects I don't want around.

The Redback will give you a nasty sting but is unlikely to kill you. A baby maybe. Some of the snakes however - aye yai yai!

The one to watch out for is the Funnel Web spider - it's a nasty piece of work. Lucky for you they aren't found on the west coast of Oz.

http://www.csiro.au/resources/FunnelwebSpiderFacts.html

ut_och_cykla

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! :shock:

shockedsoshocked

Some more good news (I think). My dad knocked about with Hilton McMurdo for a bit, who now apparently owns a bike shop in Perth, so i've been told to go speak to him when I get over there and get a bike sorted.

Alex_Simmons/RST

Yeah - he was pretty awesome at the World Masters track Champs.

See here:
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/north-east ... -20039087/

shockedsoshocked

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

Yeah - he was pretty awesome at the World Masters track Champs.

See here:
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/north-east ... -20039087/

Saw that in the paper, funnily enough I was speaking to one of my dads mates about him the night before. He used to ride with him apparently when they were starting out being sponsored by a local shop.

Also asked about getting into track cycling with the local athletics club. Apparently though when they asked for money to resurface the track (it's an open one) they were refused, which I was quite suprised about considering the strength of the British track team, aswell as the popularity of things like the Cleveland GP when it was on. Closest velodrome to me now is Manchester I think

Alex_Simmons/RST

Well Perth has an indoor 250 m world class track. It hosted world championships about 10 years ago.

http://www.speeddome.wa.gov.au/