Training books.

Tonymufc
Tonymufc Posts: 1,016
edited September 2011 in Training, fitness and health
I plan on racing next year so I'm after some recommendations for any decent training books.

Cheers, Tony.

Comments

  • Bronzie
    Bronzie Posts: 4,927
    Joe Friel's "Cyclist's Training Bible" will help you draw up a training plan, although it's not rocket science. Probably take his recommendations to partake in weight training with a pinch of salt too bearing in mind the recent 16-page weights thread.

    Another good resource for putting a training plan together is "The Road Cyclist’s Guide to Training by Power - Part I: An Introduction" by Charles Howe. Obviously written for powermeter users but it should give you an idead of what sort of sessions you should incorporate into your plan and the basics of any decent plan (consistency, progressive overload, specificity).
    http://www.freewebs.com/velodynamics2/rcgtp1.pdf
    It's a Lifestyle! -+-+- Coggan Training Levels
  • Tonymufc
    Tonymufc Posts: 1,016
    Cheers Bronzie. Is some/a lot/most of the training sessions done on a turbo or on the road? The reason I ask is I have a very basic Elite Mag turbo and just wondering if this will suffice as buying a new one is a no no. There's 5 resistance settings on it. At which setting would the training be done on? Or would that depend on my fitness/strength?
  • Bronzie
    Bronzie Posts: 4,927
    Neither of those 2 sources are "prescriptive". If you want a "do these workouts this week" type of plan, you'd probably be better off with Carmichael's "Time Crunched Cyclist" or even better, get a coach or a 3-month one-off tailor made plan.

    Rather they suggest building up your own unique periodised training plan based on the maximum weekly training time available using workouts at varying intensities progressing from lower intensity to higher intensity as the plan progresses. Friel's book (or at least the copy I have) uses HR as a guide to intensity based on Lactate Threshold HR (average HR from a ~1h TT). The Howe guide obvioulsy uses power meter data, although it's possible to target the same zones using HR or "feel".

    You can train on road or indoors, provided you are spending sufficient time each week targetting the correct zones, you should make good progress if your training to date has been largely unstructured. Personally, I find it hard to do interval workouts in the dark, so tend to use the turbo in the winter for the harder workouts and do the L2/3 rides on the road.
    It's a Lifestyle! -+-+- Coggan Training Levels
  • Tonymufc
    Tonymufc Posts: 1,016
    I have plenty of time to train, the turbo question was just one of suitability. Since I joined a club this year I've made some real good gains in speed and strength and I feel like racing is the next step. I will be doing some race training with the club in the new year but obviously there's a requirement for me to train by myself for the specific goals.
  • doyler78
    doyler78 Posts: 1,951
    Training and Racing with a Power Meter 2nd editioin has a lovely section of workouts in the appendix which would fit very well with the Cyclists Training Bible training plan that you draw up. I'd buy the book for the workouts alone :lol:

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