Help Me Create a Numpty-Proof Training Plan

CakeLovinBeast

OK, so I'm new to this. I'm only four weeks into riding a road bike and most people I've spoken to have said that time in the saddle is most important right now. The thing is, I like targetted effort and would like to come up with something a little more structured. I don't have a specific goal in mind - I just want to increase endurance (so I can up the distances that I'm riding) and strength (so I can go faster). Anything over and beyond that is a bonus.

Currently I'm doing a bike-train-bike commute twice a day, Mon-Thur, which is just over 2 miles at one end and just over 4 at the other. Once a week (usually), I do a full commute from work to home - a hilly 17 miles. Finally, I generally get out once over the weekend for a longer ride: I'm currently doing 30-40 miles for those, alternating hilly and flat.

Time-wise, things aren't great, but I do have a certain amount of flexibility. My girlfriend has a little girl and so I like to be around in the mornings/evenings that she's with us, so that I can help out. Mornings are pretty set, but I have enough wiggle room with evening routes/trains that I can steal an hour here and there for a bit of a longer ride (albeit with a rucksack full of clothes). I'd like to incorporate some hill training & interval training into my routine to build strength & technique, but I'm not really sure what I should be doing for them. Here's what I'm currently thinking:

Monday (am): 6x mile commute easy. 34T only, gentle spin at high cadence. This is to refine technique as well as provide an easier workout.
Monday (pm): Same as AM ride.

Tuesday (am): Same as Monday AM ride.
Tuesday (pm): Warm up 15 mins easy. 5x 1min high intensity sprint, 2 min recovery after each effort session. Cool down 15 mins easy.

Wednesday (am): Same as Monday AM ride.
Wednesday (pm): Full commute home. 17 miles (hilly route) at "normal" pace. On days where full commute isn't possible, some sort of hill training here??

Thursday: Same as Monday.

Friday: Rest day.

Saturday/Sunday (depending on family plans): Longer ride at comfortable pace. Currently 30-40 miles, but with a view to increasing this over coming weeks.

If you've made it this far, then well done! How does that sound for a relative newcomer who's wanting to improve with no specific goal in mind? What should I be looking to do for intervals (whether flat, or hills) - is a minute enough, or should I be looking for longer times?

amaferanga

My advice would be to ditch the intervals for now at least and do the full commute distance more often. Shouldn't take long to build up to the 34 mile round trip.

If you really must do intervals than do some threshold intervals - ride as hard as you can for about 20 minutes, rest for 10 minutes then do it again. This will be of more benefit than 1min intervals (which are a waste of time IMO unless you're racing).

CakeLovinBeast

Nice one, thank you.

If I'm going to do 20 minute threshold intervals, how many repeats should I be looking at? I imagine that I'm going to struggle with any more than 3!

amaferanga

Normally two. Pacing is important though - you want to be able to finish at the same intensity (power output) as you start.

ut_och_cykla

Definitely ride as much as you can for the moment - look at building the total time you cycle as much as you can without running out of steam. Which means gradually increasing both time spent on bike and now and again working harder /faster than feels ok.The 2 x 20 intervals are good ones and can further be varied by doing them on hills or in heavier/lighter gear than you would normally use.
perhaps you and the GF & daughter could get out together (on their terms!!) at the weekend as well as your own ride - which would give you a twirl /recovery without lying on the sofa. When winter arrives you might need to change your plans a bit - or at least get lights and good clothing!

huuregeil

CakeLovinBeast wrote:

The thing is, I like targetted effort and would like to come up with something a little more structured.

I second amaferanga's comments. One thing you might like to think about though (in light of the above) is to do some regular testing so that you're able to chart your progress, as this might help with motivation, etc.. A 10mile time trial is a useful and easy measure of performance - find a suitable route of approx 10 miles, with e.g. no traffic lights or tricky junctions so that you can keep a constant pace going. Try to ride it as fast as possible (subject to pacing!), record your time and repeat every few weeks. There are organised time trials too, but these will be coming to an end in September (typically) - however, you might be able to find details of your local time-trial courses (e.g. from a local club website) that you can use as your testing route.

CakeLovinBeast

Thanks all... I do have a habit of always trying to run before I can walk, but I don't think it will hurt to keep an eye on techniques that will help.

ut_och_cykla wrote:

...Perhaps you and the GF & daughter could get out together (on their terms!!) at the weekend as well as your own ride - which would give you a twirl /recovery without lying on the sofa. When winter arrives you might need to change your plans a bit - or at least get lights and good clothing!

The young 'un is still a bit too young to try and get involved in any real way, though I'm sure she'd be up for it from time to time. The GF has already said that she'd be interested in going out on more gentle rides sometimes, though she only has a heavy, purple BSO, so I don't see her picking up the bug in the same way I have! We're off to Center Parcs in a few weeks time, so I daresay we'll get to all go out then, if not before.

Lights & winter gear are already on my list. I have a decent enough selection from when I was MTB'ing, so I'm not struggling, but I keep updating/upgrading as I go along.

huuregeil wrote:

...One thing you might like to think about though (in light of the above) is to do some regular testing so that you're able to chart your progress, as this might help with motivation, etc.. A 10mile time trial is a useful and easy measure of performance - find a suitable route of approx 10 miles, with e.g. no traffic lights or tricky junctions so that you can keep a constant pace going. Try to ride it as fast as possible (subject to pacing!), record your time and repeat every few weeks

My local club (that I've not joined yet) has a "practice" TT on a Thursday night. It's only 8 miles rather than 10, but I know the route and I've had it in mind to try for a while now. A part of my trying to put a proper training plan in place is because I want to have a go, but I can't really stand to turn up and be rubbish!

I'm using Endomondo on my iPhone to track most of my mileage, which is definitely a great motivating tool. Clearly, I've not gone out with a view to specifically doing a 10TT yet, but I know that my fastest 10 miles to this point has been 35 minutes (and some of that probably wasn't flat). I'd really like to be able to ride sub-30 before going and trying anything with a club. In my head, that's the upper limit of what I should be aiming for... I suppose that's one of the "problems" with Endomondo and apps like that... I look at my weekly stats and think, "I was faster last week", or, "I did more miles" and so I end up chasing numbers rather than training with a real purpose.

Cheers again for the comments

ut_och_cykla

I was thinking maybe if little girl is still small enough - on a child carrier seat or in a trailer. Or perhaps even one of those tandem like 'hang on' bike trailers. Would even out things between you and GF too!
With practice and the right rewards/bribes you can travel long distances with quite small kids and they usually enjoy picnics, swims, icecreams etc and watching the scenery fly by. Obviously you can't bomb along for hours on end in horizontal rain but it gives a nice family aspect to cycling

CakeLovinBeast

I was thinking the same thing TBH. Mountain bike is currently stripped for overhaul, but I figured that as soon as I have the time to rebuild it then it would make a decent "family" bike. I'm leaning more towards a trailer at the minute... As much as I hate the idea of the extra weight, the idea of being responsible for pedalling AND balancing frightens me!

huuregeil

Re clubs and TT's. There's a lot to be said for just getting stuck in as soon as possible. There's no point standing around saying, "I want to do this", when you could actually be doing it! Reasons: tomorrow never comes; you'll get a massive boost by working to a specific goal; other people can help you out; TT's, while competive, are ultimately personal and people respect a genuine have-a-go effort; the feeling of "I'm not good enough" never completely goes away, the best thing is to learn to ignore it and get stuck it! Plus TT's are fun :-)

Re goals and data. Yes, you have a point, particularly if collecting data on a per-ride basis. However, doing a specific test effort once every month or so, if you're training well, is a long enough period that you should see a clear effect, rather than daily noise.

CakeLovinBeast

Thought that I'd just follow this one up with a quick postscript:

I kept Monday & Tuesday to my normal bike & train commute. Monday easy, whilst yesterday was miserable weather so I pushed a bit harder. Another easy one in this morning through the grey murk... This afternoon the sun threatened to shine through, and I'd already negotiated a pass for a ride home should I feel like it, so I took my opportunity. I've got two routes home: 17 and 21 miles respectively, though the shorter ride is basically up one side of a hill and down the other; the longer route is gentler in terms of overall elevation, but more undulating. I took the long way.

I pretty much impressed myself! I took the first few miles pretty easy - mostly leaving it in the 39T as I negotiated the traffic out of town. Soon as I hit the quieter roads, I got my groove on and just let my legs do the talking. It was one of those rides where everything seemed to come together nicely: the legs felt great, the mind was in the right place, the sun was shining... I kept thinking to myself that I was going off too quick and that I was going to pay for it later in the run, but like normal, I couldn't rein myself in. I worked to keep my technique smooth and just went with it.

Ultimately, I hung it back in less then 75 minutes - nearly 16.5mph average, and Endomondo tells me I've a new 10 mile PB of 29:35 (though I daresay there was some gravity assistance with that!). The best part of it all was, although I was pushing myself along at a decent clip, I was never pushing it too hard. I was aware of lactic starting to build in my legs, but it was always just a dull ache of "almost there" if that makes sense (is that what they mean by lactic threshold??).

One of the most enjoyable rides I've had in ages... Be doing that one again soon, I think! Cheers for all of the advice folks!

RedRyd3R

Perfect ride, somtimes everything goes right. usaully i get that perfect ride feeling just after a couple of rest days.
i think that feeling keeps us all on are bikes.

very impressive doing the ten miles under thirty minutes :-) well done
i have yet to achive that milestone.......