I really don't know what I'm doing

AntLockyer

It's just dawned on me

This is a normal week for me

Monday light stretching
Tuesday Low cadence high resistance 1 legged pedaling (more on left side to increase engagement) and working on neutral spine riding position.
Wednesday 30 minutes 90rpm no stopping low resistance low HR
Thursday 30 minutes 90rpm HR in zone 4 - 5
Friday light spin for 1 hour
Saturday 35 mile club ride, sedate pace quite hilly hr all over the place find this quite hard
Sunday 5 mile walk (round of golf)

I'm 33, 6'2", 87kg, 18.5% fat with a resting HR of 54

I want to do TTs, Road races, crits and some sportives.

Am I on the right track?

Tom Butcher

Well for time trials it's down to how fast you can go, same for sportives, but I think that unless you are very talented then for road racing you aren't doing anything like enough hard work on the bike even to finish in the bunch in a lower cat event.

Alex_Simmons/RST

Not really. Depends how well you want to go.

e.g. 4 days out of 7 are zero or very easy riding. Make one of those a more solid effort.

Tue looks like a wasted opportunity. We don't race/ride with one leg at low cadences so why train that way?

Wed is OK but could use more volume of this type of effort.

Sat sounds like the classic club group ride - a bit like how John Arlott once famously described the bowling of NZ medium pace bowler Bob Cunis as "a bit like his name, neither one thing nor the other".

Sun - do want to be good at golf or racing your bike?

AntLockyer

Thanks for the replies.

Alex I was advised by Cyclefit to do the Tuesday stuff. My left side was no where near as active as my right and the glutes weren't activating enough. The difference between sides seems a lot less now after a few weeks of doing this.

I was under the impression I needed to build a base hence not doing too many fast/hard efforts.

I have been on the sunday ride but I only made 46 of the 52 miles (very hilly basically every hill in Kent/Surrey) and thought I may have tried that too quickly without a good base.

I want to be good at racing my bike, I'm already good at golf

so do you think hard intervals on Monday would be a good addition?

Alex_Simmons/RST

Anything aerobic is base, including Z4 workouts and some Z5 stuff where it makes sense.

Base is not twiddling along easy.

Include a 45-90 min solid tempo effort in amongst a longer ride. Doesn't matter too much which day of week.

and what else do you think you'll need for racing crits?

Morpeth

I think putting more time aside to ride your bike is the solution. My take;

7hrs

Monday - 90 min training session (general low pace Z2-3, with two 20 min intervals at Z4 allowing 10 mins break between at Z2-3)
Tuesday - 60 mins Z2-3 (dont do one leg drills but put an emphasis on your weak leg when riding)
Wednesday - (off day)
Thursday - 90 min training session (general low pace Z2-3, with two 20 min intervals at Z4 allowing 10 mins break between at Z2-3)
Friday - Light spin for 60 mins to get blood flowing Z1-2
Saturday - Club run
Sunday - Golf (off day)

Others will have some variation on this but i think this would be a strong start.

AntLockyer

Ah that's interesting my understanding was wrong.

I think I'm going to miss the club rides for a few weeks anyway so I'll go out on Sunday and hammer it for a couple of hours (which I actually did this Saturday as I didn't have time to ride with the club).

Crits I think I need to be able to maintain a high pace (for me anyway) so that's the tempo effort. Hard accelerations are the only other fitness thing I can think of so sprints from slow speed then?

Tom Butcher

The sportives could easily see you riding for 7, 8 , 9 hours - I'd be looking to get some 3 hour plus rides in there, and when your fitness allows it a midweek chaingang as prep for the road racing.

AntLockyer

Cheers. I should have added that my weekday riding is all on the turbo at the moment due to it being cold and dark

I am doing London to Brighton with my mates which is supposed to be no problem apart from the Beacon and the other one is http://www.kentcyclosportive.co.uk/ in September

Alex_Simmons/RST

AntLockyer wrote:

Ah that's interesting my understanding was wrong.

I think I'm going to miss the club rides for a few weeks anyway so I'll go out on Sunday and hammer it for a couple of hours (which I actually did this Saturday as I didn't have time to ride with the club).

Crits I think I need to be able to maintain a high pace (for me anyway) so that's the tempo effort. Hard accelerations are the only other fitness thing I can think of so sprints from slow speed then?

keep 'em short so they're not all that fatiguing and do 'em on an easy day if you like. Best done outdoors though and not on turbo.

Just be cautious not to suddenly ramp up your workload a lot as it won't be sustainable. Build in to it.

AntLockyer

Thanks everyone I really appreciate it.

I've started a training journal
http://fauxplat.wordpress.com/

I'll log everything in there.