Training goals?

zummerzet-lou

OK - so I know I'm slow, and 2hours in the saddle is about my limit at the moment.

I have my heart set on doing Le Race one year ... so am going to have to start doing some serious cycling.

Question is, what training goals do you have?

Mine at the moment has to be to increase myaverage speed .. but not really sure how to achieve that?

I'm planning on bringing my bike to work for a couple days per week - so that will give me 2 mid week rides, of about an hour each. Perhaps one ride at leisure, then maybe intervals for the other?

Which brings me to another question, how do you do interval training, and what should I be aiming to achieve?

TIA,
Lou

Garz

zummerzet-lou wrote:

Mine at the moment has to be to increase myaverage speed .. but not really sure how to achieve that?

This would be the last goal to be honest. Put in your mileage first and get used to getting on the saddle more often (frequency). Once your body has adapted to this you can begin to mix up the riding with high cadence rides, hill climbs, low cadence rides, interval sprints etc.

You should find after these smaller goals (OK it may take time to build up) that your average speed will now be faster.

bigpikle

TBH, at the start of this year I was in a similar position, and set my goal around total distance ridden in the year. At that time the thought of riding 1000 miles seemed like a huge achievement so I set that as a goal and also signed up to ride a century ride in the middle of the year.

The advantage of that was that it was easy to track and see progress, and the fact that I was riding frequently, and increasing distances, gave me the increase in speed, better hill climbing and better bike handling skills at the same time. You'll be amazed how quickly your abilities develop when you get those miles in as a beginner. I'm now 2500 miles done since Feb and have completed my century ride, and would never have dared dream about the average speeds I'm now achieving over 50 mile rides!

In terms of goals, my next is to ride the Raid Pyrenean next year and to start cyclocross racing this autumn. No illusions about being anything but BoP, but to actually take part and complete a race will be a significant step for me!

zummerzet-lou

Thanks guys,

I have just this weekend gone out and bought a wind trainer (it was a bargain, and hubby is fancying using it too).

Going to try and increase my time in the saddle the next month or two .... and also need to "push" myself a little, rather than just sitting back and peddling.

Will be back in a momth or so, for that "how to do intervals" chat

CarleyB

I'm training for TT's. My goal is to be able to start next season and do my first 10 in under 30 minutes and then steadily improve. I am trying realistic goals so that if I happen to do better than that I will be very happy.

Anonymous

If you have only been cycling a short time, big improvements will come just from getting on the bike and riding. Just riding around and enjoying the scenery, finding new places etc etc. Those big improvements come over about, say, 12 months, then they start to tail off and you may need to start looking at intervals. Even so, just going hard up the hills and going steady the rest of the time will have a similar effect.

The main thing at this stage is to just enjoy your riding.

Have fun!

morstar

CarleyB wrote:

I'm training for TT's. My goal is to be able to start next season and do my first 10 in under 30 minutes and then steadily improve. I am trying realistic goals so that if I happen to do better than that I will be very happy.

CarleyB, I still reckon you should do one this year and set yourself a target for next year. There could be a big difference in a winters tarining with a quantifiable measure of where you are and what is realistically achievable rather than one based on largely unknown variables.

I aim to be back at Petts on Tuesday after a two week lay off following a foot op. Have tri bars installed now.

CarleyB

morstar wrote:

CarleyB wrote:

I'm training for TT's. My goal is to be able to start next season and do my first 10 in under 30 minutes and then steadily improve. I am trying realistic goals so that if I happen to do better than that I will be very happy.

CarleyB, I still reckon you should do one this year and set yourself a target for next year. There could be a big difference in a winters tarining with a quantifiable measure of where you are and what is realistically achievable rather than one based on largely unknown variables.

I aim to be back at Petts on Tuesday after a two week lay off following a foot op. Have tri bars installed now.

oooo i may just do...but what if I am pants?

Anonymous

Don't get worked up about your time on your first one!

If you can ride for 10 miles you can do a 10 mile TT!

morstar

CarleyB wrote:

morstar wrote:

CarleyB wrote:

I'm training for TT's. My goal is to be able to start next season and do my first 10 in under 30 minutes and then steadily improve. I am trying realistic goals so that if I happen to do better than that I will be very happy.

CarleyB, I still reckon you should do one this year and set yourself a target for next year. There could be a big difference in a winters tarining with a quantifiable measure of where you are and what is realistically achievable rather than one based on largely unknown variables.

I aim to be back at Petts on Tuesday after a two week lay off following a foot op. Have tri bars installed now.

oooo i may just do...but what if I am pants?

I've done last place in my first effort. Didn't hurt.

Pross

I do last place in nearly all my efforts Seriously though you can't be pants in a time trial, all you can do is ride as fast as you can and then you've done your best. no-one else's time is relevant at first. After you've done one you'll have the goal to beat that time, then beat it again or get it below an abitrary time. Then you'll be aware of others riding similar times and you can target beating them. I hate TTs but that is the beauty of them, you can race others or just yourself.

Pross

My own training goals are to get to a stage where I can compete in 4th cat races next season (would like to get some points), get my 10 time down below 25 minutes again and get myself fit enough to complete the charity ride I've set myself.

seemunkee

I signed up for a double century in late October in Death Valley Park California. I did the single century 2 years ago and wished I had attempted the double then. I've signed up for 2 other century's leading up to it. The second century has a metric century option so I may try to do both in one day. I have a friend who will do the DV ride with me, but he lives 2000 miles away so we can't train together.
Only been doing ~75 miles per week so far this summer. Time to start spending more time in the saddle.

a_n_t

This season I wanted to go under the hour for a 25 and go sub 24 minutes on our censored club 10 course.

Just need to find 21 seconds on the club 10 to achieve both!


Keep at it, 3 years ago I was getting dropped on clubruns!