Winter velodrome training advice

othello

With the clocks changing soon (boo!) I'm looking ahead to the winter and making use of the excellent outdoor velodrome we have in Reading. I went along a couple of times last year to the open sessions on Tuesday/Thursday nights last year, but I want to make it a regular thing this year and use it for winter training. It also beats sitting on the turbo!

Has anyone any tips for how to make best use of a 1hr track session? I only got my first road bike last October, and in that time I have just worked on getting some fitness and loosing some weight. I really want to push on over the winter and get a good base fitness as i want to tackle some sportives next year.

Rather than just going as fast as possible for an hour, how would I best split it to make best use of the time? I'm new to training so any basic pointers would be much appreciated!

Oh, I do have a Garmin 705 with cadence and heart rate monitor (though I've not used the heart monitor yet).

DaSy

You get a couple of hours at Reading on Tue/Thurs nights in the winter, 20:00-22:00hrs.

I tend to warm up gently for 15 mins, then hard as I try not to, I join the fast paceline and hang on to the end.

It's good tempo to threshold training, and with the amazing reverse whirlwind in that bit of Palmer Park, you seem to ride into a headwind all the way round the track, so your laps on the front are good interval training.

It can get busy, especially on a Thursday, so it can be a bit difficult to stick exactly to your plan if doing intervals. After about 21:30 it thins out, so you can get some sprints in, but I'm usually too knackered by then!

I tend to just go with the flow of the evening, sometimes it's quick other times a bit more sedate.

othello

Thanks DaSy.

What I meant about the time, was I will usually only get to ride for about an hour rather than staying for the full 2 hours. So I wanted to make the most of the time I have!

I guess the thing is to take a regular turn on the front and not just sit in the group and get the benefit.

aguillar

You are making me miss the times I lived down there and attended Palmer Park! Fast paceline and a lap each, don't quit however you feel..
That said I now have the pick of the Welsh mountains and tried out the Shrewsbury equivalent of palmer park last week - there is a hairpin!