Training after accident

mat*46*

Hi. I've got back on the bike again this weekend after 5weeks off following an accident and I'm sooo slow.

Question is, should I start traditional winter training of lots of slow miles or do I need to really go at it to get back to where I was?

Before I crashed I was averaging between 18 & 19 mph on a 30 mile ride but this weekend barely managed 16!

I havn't got a broken leg or anything so it's just lost form 5 weeks off.

Wooliferkins

Don't thrash yourself, work in your training zones and it'll soon come back.

mat*46*

Ok.

So nothing [articular then, just a case of jumping on and getting back to it rather than specific winter training?

Cheers

SBezza

You have just lost fitness, by riding you bike again, you will regain your fitness. I believe you can't rush it, but try and increase the pace a little bit each time.

Those of us that do winter training, normally periodise our training based on our goals during the season. If you just enjoy riding, there is no real need to have set periods, just do what you enjoy and can manage.

dulldave

It seems to me that a lot of people do long winter runs because that's what the pros do.

If you've not been racing every week and you've still got plenty of room for improvement then why rest up so much?

Pros can race up to around 100 days in the year. They're also fairly close to being the fittest they're ever likely to be.

So why do chubby weekend warriors who do a handful of sportives a year see the need to rest up for the winter? Surely they could still be improving over winter.

Quick edit - to include myself in the comment about being chubby and still being able to improve.

mat*46*

Good point thanks.

The only reason I mentioned it was because the training booked I've read mentioned training your body to burn fat instead of energy. Slow rides do this?

dulldave

Slow rides perhaps burn more fat than carbs as a percentage of total calories burnt. But faster rides burn more calories for the same time period. So you won't necessarily burn more fat because you took it easy (as far as I understand)

SBezza

I do long rides, as I have a very hard season racing, so rather than burn myself out, and be tired before the season even starts , I tend to take it easier in the winter.

None of the rides are easy though, and not slow by any means (unless compared to racing speeds). I do different intensities as well rather than just one type of riding.

If like DD has said you don't really have a racing/sportive season as such, then there is no need to ease back on the effort. I would suggest mixing up the riding with differing intensities so you don't plateau.

As DD has said you will burn some percentage of fat at most intensities. If you have plenty of hours available to train, and want to do lots of lower intensity rides over the winter, you will get lean if you eat right the time you are not riding. You need to be spend lots of time on the bike, and not many people have this luxury (if you can call it that in the winter LOL), hence why some intensity is good all year round

mat*46*

Cheers gents, makes good sense.

SteveR_100Milers

There is some logic to the argument made elsewhere that unless you are an elite athlete, then there is less or even no point in trying to peak by deliberately taking it easy in the winter. Most amateurs have full time jobs and demanding family lives, and are therefore time constrained, and I cannot see that I am somehow going to burn myself out by just riding 8 hours a week no matter how hard I go.

I'm not arguing this is the right way, nor the wrong way, just a possible other way. I guess I will soon find out.

SBezza

I don't agree with taking it easy during the winter, but I do take it easier, and have a very structured build up to the next season. I just wouldn't be able to keep up with the level of intensity I do in the spring/summer all year round.

I will admit I do more than 8 hours a week training, and can get to the end of the week quite tired. Then again I train hard for most sessions, just not the intensity of intervals.

It is not just the hours spent training, if you have other stresses in your life, this will affect recovery and general stress levels within the body, the body can only cope with so much stress, and it doesn't care where that stress comes from. You might not get burnt out physically, but you might mentally, and to me that is just as bad.

But like I say a mixture of training intensities is the best way to train, no matter what time of the year it is, keep the body guessing.