I need training advise for club runs and sportives.

Gav888

Hi,

At the moment my head is all over the place trying to work out the best way to train for my goals, should I be doing intervals, distance, speed, hills and should I encorporate low body weight training... one min im reading that long steady distance riding is good, then intervals are good, lower cadence is good, higher cadence is good etc etc, so I dont know what training to do at the moment...

At present im only getting a few hours a week training, not a huge amount as alot of my time is taken up with family life or work so I would like the max benefits from the time available.

So, my goals are to join a local club and go out for runs with them at the weekend, work my way up the groups as time progresses and I would like to take part in some sportives, which the first one is in May and is 50 miles.

Distance progess to date: 20 miles in 1hr 40.
Speed progress to date: 8 miles in 30 min.

My training consists of:

Monday: Exersize bike - Speed training with intervals. 30 seconds hard pedalling at 110rpm, 3min recovery at 90rpm for 1hr. I also up the level by 1 during the 30 seconds.

Tuesday: Weights, currently its only my upper body. Takes about 30min.

Wednesday: Road bike - Speed training with intervals. 1 1/4 miles at 80rpm then 3/4 mile @ 100rpm, plus I change to a higher gear, for 1hr. (Ive got a 2mile loop I use)

Thursday: Weights as per Tuesday.

Friday: As per monday.

Sat or Sun: Road bike - Distance riding, 80rpm for as far as I can go, which is my progess above.

Is the above ok for club runs and sportives training, or can I change my workout for the better to help get bigger gains quickly for my goals.

I would like to keep my weekly training to 1 - 1.5hrs max, anything more and I get agro from the missus, and I would also like to keep the exersize bike as part of my weekly routine if possible.

Weekend training isnt too bad as I can go out early whilst the missus is still in bed.

Thanks in advance guys, but I feel like I really need some advise here......

softlad

Gav - you need more time on the bike. Drop all of your cross training stuff and get out on the roads - there really is no substitute. Concentrate on getting in some longer sessions whenever you can - like 2-3 hours minimum...

brownbosh

softlad wrote:

Gav - you need more time on the bike. Drop all of your cross training stuff and get out on the roads - there really is no substitute. Concentrate on getting in some longer sessions whenever you can - like 2-3 hours minimum...

Totally agree. This time of year its bike bike and more bike. Save all those other distractions for november!

eh

I tend to agree with the posters above, however, if you really can't add more time in the week then how about:

Mon: Excersize bike 50 mins. 5 min warm up, 15 mins hard, 10mins relaxed, 15 mins hard, 5 min warm down

Tues: 30 min core work/upper body

Weds:1hr ride, hard but steady

Thursday: Excersize bike 50mins as before

Fri: 30 min run or core work

Saturday or Sunday start at 25 miles then add 5 each week till about 55 miles.

The big thing is don't complicate it, forget fancy intervals or worry too much about cadence or whatever, the important thing is to ride often as you need to build a decent base level of cycling fitness

Gav888

eh wrote:

I tend to agree with the posters above, however, if you really can't add more time in the week then how about:

Mon: Excersize bike 50 mins. 5 min warm up, 15 mins hard, 10mins relaxed, 15 mins hard, 5 min warm down

Tues: 30 min core work/upper body

Weds:1hr ride, hard but steady

Thursday: Excersize bike 50mins as before

Fri: 30 min run or core work

Saturday or Sunday start at 25 miles then add 5 each week till about 55 miles.

The big thing is don't complicate it, forget fancy intervals or worry too much about cadence or whatever, the important thing is to ride often as you need to build a decent base level of cycling fitness

I do actually agree that I need more time on the bike, but in my current situation 1 - 1.5 hrs a day is really my max, with one longer session at the weekend.

eh - great, thanks for the advise, I will follow this and build some basic fitness and go from there. I never considered running as part of my training...and should I do lower body weights such as squats?

Ive just got in from a 2hr ride, covered 28 miles (im already trying to add 5 miles a week) and apart from a couple of 'almost' calf cramps it was a good run, however I only drunk 500ml, so I need to up that for next weekends run!!

StrangelyBrown

Ride, ride and more riding.

If you look at any serious research on cycle training, it seems pretty conclusive that unless you are racing at elite or pro level the best thing you can do to improve your riding is more riding. Even 30mins on the bike will be better than a 30 min weight/core session.

Even at the top level, non-bike exercise benefits get questioned.

You need to build up the miles and endurance. Whilst no doubt a very structured programme will benefit at some point, you need to have a base to put it on.

adrianpugh

I bought the Cyclist's Training Bible by Joe Friel and once you get your head around it then it gives a good training plan based on your goals and time. It suggests split sessions in the week (ie morning and night) and a longer ride at the weekend. It emphasises core work and the weights mainly concentrate on legs and core stuff. I am both looking forward to and not looking forward to squatting 1.3 x my body weight! Find a training partner if you can and I found discussing my aims with my significant other helped (a bit!)