10m TT training

Infamous

I made a thread last week about not spending enough time on the bike, and most people were suggesting that I should get a goal. I think I agree with them, as I do often find it tough to get motivated to ride a lot. So I have thought about a goal, now I don't enjoy the idea of a century or sportive (or even club rides) but I quite enjoy doing 10 milers, so that's what i'll concentrate on.

So what I am looking for a weekly plan that is 100% dedicated to 10M TTs. I can ride every day, the only ride set in stone is my thursday morning long ride (2-3 hours of high aerobic work). So feel free to add you suggestions, or even make a complete plan. any questions ask away.


cheers.

SteveR_100Milers

here's 2 very simple approaches, assuming you are starting from a lowish base:

You could do worse than just riding 8 miles every other day absolutely on the rivet as if your life depended on it. You won't notice the extra 2 miles in the event, but you will when training
Set a target time that you want to achieve, calculate your average speed to achieve that time, then practice riding at that speed starting at say 5 miles and gradually increasing it, until you can do it for 10.

Neither needs a HRM let alone a power meter, and will give you a noticeable improvement over 6-8 weeks. Probably won't work for anything longer than a 10TT though.

richa

Infamous,

Have you done a 10mile TT already?

What time did you do? What time are you targetting?

Infamous

thanks for the replies.

Steve R, I rarely ride for less than an hour, so 8 miles is probably not long enough. Nice idea though.

RichA, done a few, not club ones or anything, I have a course measured out to 10 miles (according to my computer), it's not really flat, a lot of ups, a few downs and 2 slow turns. In the rain and wind today (I went out after I posted) I did it in 27:50. Hardly ground breaking I know, but better than last week when I blew up after halfway.

Dunno what time I am targetting, under 25 minutes on this bike would be a good medium term goal.

mjhale

SteveR's approach of breaking it into chunks and teaching yourself to ride at race pace is a very good one. You can even just try 2.5 mile chunks at first.

If you need to incorporate it into a minimum hour long ride then have a warm-up and warm-down either side of your "actual" training part of the ride.

SteveR_100Milers

Infamous wrote:

thanks for the replies.

Steve R, I rarely ride for less than an hour, so 8 miles is probably not long enough. Nice idea though.

RichA, done a few, not club ones or anything, I have a course measured out to 10 miles (according to my computer), it's not really flat, a lot of ups, a few downs and 2 slow turns. In the rain and wind today (I went out after I posted) I did it in 27:50. Hardly ground breaking I know, but better than last week when I blew up after halfway.

Dunno what time I am targetting, under 25 minutes on this bike would be a good medium term goal.

Why? a 10TT takes less than 30 minutes - its outright speed youwant and quickly with least amount of time. You cant ride for an hour at 10TT pace. You might find that training for shorter events helps longer distances as you progress, not vice versa. In other words, get your outright aerobic speed sorted out, and then increase it to the distances you want to race

milton50

So what I am looking for a weekly plan that is 100% dedicated to 10M TTs

If that's what you want then SteveR's advice is excellent. Speaking as someone who a couple of weeks ago had a pathetic amount of power in his legs I can tell you that riding at high intensity for several short periods of time really boosts your TT performance.

Infamous

thanks, I understand about intervals, I'm really asking about how I fill up my week.

eg, 2 fast rides, 2 long rides and 2 easy rides, and how they should be spaced out.

SteveR_100Milers

per first reply - simple approach is alternate hard / easy days. smash yourself, then do a gentle spin (this is the time to do an hour long ride if yoiu must, but take it really really easy if outdoors on the road).

Alex_Simmons/RST

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

Infamous wrote:

thanks for the replies.

Steve R, I rarely ride for less than an hour, so 8 miles is probably not long enough. Nice idea though.

RichA, done a few, not club ones or anything, I have a course measured out to 10 miles (according to my computer), it's not really flat, a lot of ups, a few downs and 2 slow turns. In the rain and wind today (I went out after I posted) I did it in 27:50. Hardly ground breaking I know, but better than last week when I blew up after halfway.

Dunno what time I am targetting, under 25 minutes on this bike would be a good medium term goal.

Why? a 10TT takes less than 30 minutes - its outright speed youwant and quickly with least amount of time. You cant ride for an hour at 10TT pace. You might find that training for shorter events helps longer distances as you progress, not vice versa. In other words, get your outright aerobic speed sorted out, and then increase it to the distances you want to race

Because there are still some useful physiological adaptations that arise from including longer rides in the plan (if the rider has the opportunity to do so). When I say longer, I don't mean easy though.

Infamous

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

per first reply - simple approach is alternate hard / easy days. smash yourself, then do a gentle spin (this is the time to do an hour long ride if yoiu must, but take it really really easy if outdoors on the road).

When I do a TT, I will warm up for 10-15 mins and cool down/take it easy for 10-15 mins. And when doing intervals, I make the session last an hour including warm ups.

Are you suggesting I ride for only 40 mins or something?

Alex_Simmons/RST

And I should have added, just to take the logic further, even pursuiters (which are effectively 2km, 3km or 4km TTs depending on category) need to have longer rides in their training, indeed even track match sprinters typically schedule a ride of a couple of hours duration each week.

There are some adaptations that simply need time in the saddle.

This is not to say you can't ride 10s without longer rides of course but if I had the choice, I would certainly want to include them in training.

Infamous

Right, I've come up with a draft plan, any input is greatly appreciated, so tell me what you think.

Monday: intervals, 5-10 mins each, to fill up an hour.
Tuesday: Medium ride, slightly higher pace than a long ride, minimum of 1 hour.
Wednesday: 10M TT
Thursday: Long Ride, mainly aerobic with the odd hill thrown in, minimum of 2 hours.
Friday: none
Saturday: short intervals, less than 30 seconds, for an hour. (There will also be weight training on this day)
Sunday: none

Is there too much of anything? or not enough of something? thanks.

mjhale

You seemed to have ignored most of the input that people have already given you!

Personally I would split up the TT and the longer ride eg TT on Wed and long ride on Saturday.

On the intervals I would concentrate more on getting used to sustained riding at race pace eg you want to achieve 25 mins for a 10 then try 2.5 miles at the necessary pace (or even a bit quicker) ie 6.25 mins and build up through 5 miles, 7.5 miles etc till you can ride consistently at the necessary pace. Maybe start off with a slower goal eg breaking 27 or 26.30.

Mike

Infamous

I see what you are saying, when I said...
"Monday: intervals, 5-10 mins each, to fill up an hour. "

They would be ridden at race pace (or faster), so pretty much what you are talking about really.

Are the shorter intervals not needed? should I just swap them for more of the longer ones?

also, I haven't ignored the advice, SteveR said "alternate hard / easy days." which I have done.

SteveR_100Milers

Infamous wrote:

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

per first reply - simple approach is alternate hard / easy days. smash yourself, then do a gentle spin (this is the time to do an hour long ride if yoiu must, but take it really really easy if outdoors on the road).

When I do a TT, I will warm up for 10-15 mins and cool down/take it easy for 10-15 mins. And when doing intervals, I make the session last an hour including warm ups.

Are you suggesting I ride for only 40 mins or something?

No, but I think you got the point from subsequent posts!

Alex_Simmons wrote:

And I should have added, just to take the logic further, even pursuiters (which are effectively 2km, 3km or 4km TTs depending on category) need to have longer rides in their training, indeed even track match sprinters typically schedule a ride of a couple of hours duration each week.

There are some adaptations that simply need time in the saddle.

This is not to say you can't ride 10s without longer rides of course but if I had the choice, I would certainly want to include them in training.

I don't disagree at all - I was offering a very simple and time constrained plan. I know only too well the ceiling that you will ultimately hit even with short distance events without a decent base fitness, which I accept needs saddle time. Thew old school "get the miles in" approach isn't complete rubbish, just not the complete solution.

onabike

Your time of 27.50 for a ten is better than i got when i tried a few for the first time last year. I was really struggling to get under 28 minutes.

One year on I have achieved a PB of 25.30, and am disappointed now with a 26. Most of my cycling is mountain biking, but I did do some "dedicated" training for 10 milers over the Winter and Spring.

I am certainly no expert, so take my advice with a healthy pinch of salt. But i'd consider the following rides every week:

1. 2-3 hrs cycling at steady pace,. Your should be able to breathe through your nose. As Winter goes to Spring, throw in the odd steep hill. And every 10-20 minutes sprint as fast as you can for 30 seconds. No need to ride more than 3hrs.

2. A shorter, higher tempo ride preferably on hilly terrain. Near where I live there is a steep hill that takes 20 minutes to climb. I do this once per week and try to push it. Early Spring I start doing repeats of the climb, so 2x20 mins. Cycling fairly hard over hilly terrain will certainly add a little pop into your legs, and you may find that doing this alone will give you the fitness to achieve a 25 or 26 minute 10-mile TT.

3. Interval training for improving your speed. Here's a link I have which not only has a cool video of Lance, but more importantly describes the concept of increasing your average speed by interval training. Pretty much echoes the other advice.

http://www.road-bike.co.uk/articles/cyclefaster.php

Maybe start this after a couple of months of 1 and 2?? Not sure. I didn't do many short intervals, but now that I'm wanting to improve further and get under 25mins I intend to get into more intervals over the forthcoming Winter and Spring.

Other general advice:
1. Come race season do two time trials a week. Maybe rest on the fourth week. You might feel like crap for the first couple, but will then start to benfit from your Winters training.
2. Buy a heart rate monitor and a turbo trainer. Turbos are good for rainy days and for intervals.
3. Stretch every other day.
4. Clamp on time trial bars will improve your times. This is the only bit of kit I bought, but it did make a significant difference.


Again, I am only one year ahead of you, still count myself as a newbie and so am still finding my way with this.

Infamous

Thanks onabike, some very useful points

stevewj

Long ride on sunday (53 miles at comfortable pace), easy rec. ride monday and tuesday, 5 to 20 miles, short intervals wednesday (5 x half mile up slight hill getting to above threshold at end of each one, easy ride back recovery), easy short ride thursday and friday, long intervals saturday (5+ x 2 miles on the flat reaching threshold at about 40 secs and holding to the end) works for me. Leave out midweek intervals if racing tues or thurs, and miss sat intervals if racing sunday. The intervals are the only way to improve race pace in the medium term.

Infamous

Thanks steve, your week is similar to my week. this is how it is currently looking...

Monday: 10m TT
Tuesday: Medium ride, slightly higher pace than a long ride, minimum of 1 hour.
Wednesday: Long intervals
Thursday: Long Ride, mainly aerobic with the odd hill thrown in, minimum of 2 hours.
Friday: none
Saturday: short intervals, 1 min on 2 min off (up to 10x)
Sunday: none

Infamous

wasn't planning to update the thread or anything, but I went out today and got a 27:51 !!!

It is absolutely devastating to finish 1 second slower... although, after analysing the ride, I was suffering from saturday's intervals, and it was windier. So still a step up.

Infamous

Just a quick update. I have tweaked the plan a little, split it into 2 weeks, one week of high mileage (6/7 days on the bike) and one week of lower mileage (3/4 days on the bike and one 20 min run).

Last week I got a PB of 26:53, this morning I went out after 2 days rest and got a 25:58 !

That's 1min 52seconds faster in about 34 days!