8hrs A Week
skavanagh.bikeradar
Posts: 1,097
I've been trying to read all the other training posts and work out what training to fit into an 8 hour training week. I can't work out what is best. So I thought I'd ask the question I'm trying to answer.
Background
I can train 1 hour a night 3 nights a week, 3 hours on a Saturday (perhaps 2 during the winter) and 2 on a Sunday (perhaps 1 during the winter)
What should I be doing to help with something like the Fred Whitton Challenge - I'd like to go faster than this years 7.49, and take as much time off that as possible. Really I'm asking what can I cram into 8 hours in the chunks above to improve a hilly sportive?
Background
I can train 1 hour a night 3 nights a week, 3 hours on a Saturday (perhaps 2 during the winter) and 2 on a Sunday (perhaps 1 during the winter)
What should I be doing to help with something like the Fred Whitton Challenge - I'd like to go faster than this years 7.49, and take as much time off that as possible. Really I'm asking what can I cram into 8 hours in the chunks above to improve a hilly sportive?
0
Posts
I’d go for two more-intense sessions in the week, one 2-hours if possible, rather than 3 less-intense 1-hour sessions.
If you’re really limited to 8 hours per week, and have to drop something in order to match the above, drop one of the weekend rides or reduce its duration, rather than cutting the week-night sessions or compromising the weekend rides to each only 2 hours.
Then get out for some good rides on the weekends as suggested above.
Someone called RapDaddyo on Cycleforums came up with a 90% rule a few years ago. Basically you make a 90% (perceived exertion/watts) of your best effort for the ride. This will be easier for experienced riders...Also without burning your self out (monitor tiredness) keep riding at a relatively moderate pace throughout the winter. That means keep those slow social rides to a minimum
Soooooo.....varying advice so far especially about the midweek rides. 8hrs really is the absolute limit I've got. I'm not going to be able to squeeze 4hrs in at the weekend and in the week it is an hour or nothing. So the prescription really is 3x 1hr, 1x2hr and 1x3hr sessions.
I ditched the HRM this year and I don't have a power-ometer, so PRE is my guide. So 90% PRE would feel really quite hard. Last year I did outdoor 1.5 - 2hr rides at this level in lumpy terrain. I think I underdid longer rides in terms of effort and over did them in terms of time. 5hrs dawdling. So a reduction in time increases the focus somewhat.
The midweek turbo sessions are a condundrum though. Last winter I tended to make them no brainer sessions of riding at a steady state at a medium aerobic effort, a smidge under tempo, but not easy. I would need concentration but wasn't over taxing. Reading this forum has convinced me that 2x20 would get me more bang for my buck. But can you do that everyday 3 days in a row? If not how can you mix it up?
The longer ride at the weekend I'd intend to do at tempo pace in hilly terrain using bigger and bigger gears on hills as the winter progresses. The success of the 90 - 120 minute hard tempo rides have convinced me that 3hrs at just below that would be good for me.
I think after a year of getting to know my PRE well and riding when I felt like it, having to target sessions properly in the coming year means I can focus on quality - I have to. Might put a turbo with power measurement on the Christmas list (of course I can cycle less darling, I just need a tool that allows me to be more focussed when I'm training.....).
For your mid week work I would recommend breaking it up into various workouts to keep the variety and interest levels up.
Include sessions where power output varies up and down. Ride tempo and every so often throw in a short hard effort, do some shorter harder efforts every now and then and so on.
The trick when training with limited objective feedback is knowing when to have a recovery period, since you keep going hard (it still feels hard) but need to know when going hard = less power. Experienced riders who know their body well and are smart know the signs and take action but it is a common mistake to keep going or not know the signs. The "I'm going slower = must train more" crowd.
Having said that, if you have a solid training history behind you, it's almost impossible to overtrain on 8hrs/week.
I know it sounds an oversimplification but there is nothing wrong in just going out and riding your bike. At the same time incorporate learning some new skills like spinning low gears, whilst keeping the body still on the bike (not bumping up and down on the saddle).
If you ride over a few hills then you will automatically lift the effort on the climbs, but keep it in a low gear @ 90rpm and then see how long you can keep pedalling in that gear down the other side and only change up when it gets too difficult. Riding a gear @ 85rpm or less will do nothing for your pedalling technique. I read somewhere recently that new studies show that high cadences plus core strength give greater efficiency. I've always known this but it's nice to see a bit of balance from the boffins at last.
P.S. This is where I read it:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/sports- ... g-training
1 x L4 session / week is plenty. Keep it sub-threshold and it won't wipe you out so much, yet you'll get good gains and be able to back up the next day and do it week in week out. As fitness improves, so does the turbo speed/power required. Maybe do a harder test type effort every 4-6 weeks following an easier few days.
Nevertheless, we tend not to pedal at the most efficient cadences anyway (which are generally very low) as they don't correlate with good performance.
Producing power and being efficient in the power we produce are two different things.
I also note from that abstract that the impact of the torso stabiliser was really only a factor at low cadences <=60 rpm and once you got to 80rpm it was negligible. Which suggests to me that the core is not typically a limiter at normal pedalling rates.
That makes sense and suggests that you don't need to do anything particularly special to work the core for on bike performance, other than riding the bike. Starts and sprints will do this quite effectively as will steep climbing and technical MTB type work. Anything that engages the upper body on a bike really.
But a little extra core work certainly won't hurt.
The demands for a sprinter/kilo rider would definitely suggest core work is vital. But that's a whole 'nother ball game.
When you mention 'core work', Alex, what are you specifically aiming at? Are there 'cycling specifics' for this type of training?
Sorry to be a pain :oops:
If you want to do extra, go for it. It's not going to slow you down (unless you forego limited bike specific training time to do it).
I can imagine swiss ball routines or some expensive forms of stretching and core work like yoga or pilates would do similar.