winter training

ozzzyosborn206
ozzzyosborn206 Posts: 1,340
edited October 2011 in Training, fitness and health
Hi all its that time of the year where i am starting to think about what training to do over the winter and thought i would put it to you guys to see what you think,so far i am going to do similar to the last few years up until the new year with a
long hilly ride on saturday
long flatter ride sunday
gym/core session monday
turbo speed tuesday
run wednesday
turbo power thursday
rest day friday

But i am thinking about sacking off the wednesday run for maybe an extra gym session or a couple of hours on the road. What do you guys do? do you think there is much benefit from running, i went for my first run the other day and my legs are still sore from it now

Comments

  • dave35
    dave35 Posts: 1,124
    Depends on what you're training for-t.t's or road races?
    I'm no expert but for me from now until Jan. i'll be doing something like this-i do t.t's
    Monday.to Friday 35 mins.rollers sessions-all done at 90-100 rpm-nice and easy on the legs.
    then a 30 to 40 mile ride saturday or sunday-mostly all in the small ring.
    Then i'll start speed/power work through until my season start, upping the intensity-downing the duration and Monday/Friday/off the bike
    I would knock the running on the head-no good for cycling,schedule in a rest day-monday maybe-do your core work then if you must-can of worms!!!
  • ut_och_cykla
    ut_och_cykla Posts: 1,594
    Runnings great for fitness, bone density, effect for time etc. But its not cycling. Choose according to goals.
  • StorckSpeed
    StorckSpeed Posts: 291
    Last year we had 2 feet of snow outside from mid-October until mid-January.
    Cycling outside was impossible and I had to think of a new regime.
    I became all scientific and started using my power meter to get little gains. My winter training became all about increasing my power. It was the best winter I've ever spent on the bike and I ended up beating my T-T PB by nearly a minute and my 100 mile sportive time by 20minutes. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Bradley Wiggins so there was a lot of room for improvement, but I'm definitely going to repeat this training scedule for the next 16 weeks, only thing is it's pretty tedious and boring.

    Each week I would do 2 TT days followed by weights (gradually increasing the watts and weight repetitions each week)
    2 easy riding days of 1 hr + running to keep the weight down.
    2 hill climbing days of 45 minutes.

    eg week 1 - 230w for 10 miles (approx 25minutes)
    week 2 - 232w for 10 miles
    week 3 - 234w for 10 miles
    week 4 - recovery week 225w for 10 miles.
    week 5 - 236w for 10 miles
    etc.

    Just remember that you won't see the benefit of your winter training until spring and try to enjoy the miserable winter as best you can.
    There's warp speed - then there's Storck Speed
  • SBezza
    SBezza Posts: 2,173
    I personally would not do the same week in, week out. Keep the body guessing, whether this be by different interval lengths, or different intensties within a specific session. If you do the same, you are likely to stagnate. Stops you getting bored as well, if you get bored there is a likelyhood to give up.
  • StorckSpeed
    StorckSpeed Posts: 291
    I do think you make a valid point about boredom. Some people like to shake their training up a bit and some people like routine.

    I made a 16 week plan in Excel and followed it to the letter. I found it quite liberating to look at my plan and know exactly what I had to do that day rather than decide when I sit on the bike etc.
    I also found that looking back in the plan to see the progress I'd made inspirational and motivational.


    Horses for courses I guess, and choose what suits you best.....
    There's warp speed - then there's Storck Speed
  • ozzzyosborn206
    ozzzyosborn206 Posts: 1,340
    each week my weekend rides get longer, and the turbo sets change to have less rest, and more intensity so while similar no two sessions are ever the same. Storckspeed i would like to do something like you did on a Wednesday when i train on my own (Tuesdays and Thursdays a group of us train in a greenhouse, and weekend rides are always group rides) however i do not have a power meter and they all seem pretty pricey, what kind do you have?
  • StorckSpeed
    StorckSpeed Posts: 291
    Don't laugh.
    I bought a second hand Mavic Open Pro wheelset with CycleOps hub from ebay last October for £200. I suspect it had done more miles than the seller admitted to but it didn't need much attention which was lucky. Then bought the cheap CycleOps CPU from CRC, all up about £340.
    Liked the Power meter so much I then got my good racing wheels rebuilt with a Powertap Hub so it's cost me a bit of money.

    My plan is a progressive plan with ever so slight increases in power, in theory, so slight that your legs hardly notice. But over a period of 16 weeks you should, according to the plan, have increased your output power by 24W.

    Worked for me last year, hopefully I can repeat the process this year.
    There's warp speed - then there's Storck Speed
  • McBain_v1
    McBain_v1 Posts: 5,237
    Having missed the entire summer due to a broken right collar bone (knocked off my bike by a lady walking a dog!) I am having to gear up over the winter. Thus far my training consists of a morning ride on the turbo trainer (30-60 mins depending on how early I get up), weights at dinner time at the company gym, and my physio exercises at night. I've no specific goal in mind other than to recover lost upper body muscle as a result of enforced inactivity, lose some weight (already lost 1/4 stone) and get faster on the bike.

    I try and do a different turbo trainer session every day (hill climb, time trial, strength, aerobic, spin, easy day) and then hit the weights at dinner time (shoulders, arms, legs and core). I am going to introduce some jogging when the weather gets truly awful but won't be looking for distances in excess of 8 miles as I am a really crap runner!

    I keep a record of how I do every day in a little notebook and - even though it is not exactly scientific - keep weighing myself on the Wii fit! Quite encouraging to see that my Wii-fit age is down to 23 (given that I turned 40 this year)
    What do I ride? Now that's an Enigma!
  • twotyred
    twotyred Posts: 822
    I personally would not do the same week in, week out. Keep the body guessing, whether this be by different interval lengths, or different intensties within a specific session. If you do the same, you are likely to stagnate. Stops you getting bored as well, if you get bored there is a likelyhood to give up.

    +1. I've been professionally coached this year and that's exactly what my coach says. Do the same routine and your body gets used to it and stops adapting,
  • nmcgann
    nmcgann Posts: 1,780
    SBezza wrote:
    I personally would not do the same week in, week out. Keep the body guessing, whether this be by different interval lengths, or different intensties within a specific session. If you do the same, you are likely to stagnate. Stops you getting bored as well, if you get bored there is a likelyhood to give up.

    I dunno - I like a regular routine through to early Jan when the build starts for the season. Normal life and the weather adds a bit of a randomising factor to the choice of sessions anyway.
    --
    "Because the cycling is pain. The cycling is soul crushing pain."
  • SBezza
    SBezza Posts: 2,173
    nmcgann wrote:
    SBezza wrote:
    I personally would not do the same week in, week out. Keep the body guessing, whether this be by different interval lengths, or different intensties within a specific session. If you do the same, you are likely to stagnate. Stops you getting bored as well, if you get bored there is a likelyhood to give up.

    I dunno - I like a regular routine through to early Jan when the build starts for the season. Normal life and the weather adds a bit of a randomising factor to the choice of sessions anyway.

    It might be nice, but perhaps not the best for performance gains, surely that is what people train for :wink:

    I can't see any real reason for doing the same week in, week out until Jan, and then leave around 3 months to change things. By all means have a easy month to recupurate, but then everything after than should be dedicated to improving performance IMO.

    I know other things can change things very slightly, or hardly at all in my case, but you still need to constantly challenge the body to adapt to training stimulus. Don't change the stimuli and the body will only adapt so far. Upping powers is one way of doing it, but changing days around is also good.
  • KnightOfTheLongTights
    KnightOfTheLongTights Posts: 1,415
    I think for a lot of people club runs structure the training week over the winter.

    I'm finding my two club runs each week tough at the moment cos I'm going out with the fast group and just about hanging in there, which is great training, and I'm only going to get faster doing it.

    But for the moment it means I don't want to do anything strenuous the day before either of them so I can give it loads. Plus it's unlikely I'm going to be up for a crushing intervals sesh on the turbo the day after. It's like having two races a week!

    There will come a point where I can handle the club rides a bit better - then it won't matter so much what I do the day before / after.

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