Increasing average speed

wacka

Hi,

What is the best training program to increase my average speed?

dw300

inb4 sarcastic answers ..

jgsi

A 3 year plan.
Thats being serious.

dw300

Yup, and you'll probably want that plan to aim at all aspects of getting faster .. getting leaner, developing power, developing endurance, refining technique .. oh, obviously if you buy a fancy bike you'll look faster too.

You'll need to give more info though if you want good answers .. how many hours per week have you got, do you have a deadline/event to aim for, what kind of riding do you do .. otherwise people are going to tell you to cycle more or enquire if you've tried pedaling harder.

wacka

I currently commute to work 3 times a week 45 mins each way, mainly flat as it's Portsmouth. I also throw in a CTS trainright DVD on a Saturday and then an endurance ride on a Sunday for 3 + hours. My average is 26 km/h on my Sunday ride with a few hills.

Herbsman

Follow this training plan and you can't go wrong:
Satuday: Pedal hard
Sunday: Pedal for long
Monday: Pedal gently
Tuesday: Pedal really hard
Wednesday: Pedal really gently
Thursday: Pedal really, really hard
Friday: Pedal really, really gently

Guaranteed to work, or your money back.

P_Tucker

Have you considered changing your bike computer to show kph rather than mph?

Also, start every ride from the top of an alpine pass. The first 20 mins or so will be at 60 kph plus bumping up your average. You'll need to finish in the valley and hitch-hike back up to your car; alternatively you can leave your car at the bottom and hitch-hike your way to the top before you start. Either works.

The Bounce

Herbsman wrote:

Follow this training plan and you can't go wrong:
Satuday: Pedal hard
Sunday: Pedal for long
Monday: Pedal gently
Tuesday: Pedal really hard
Wednesday: Pedal really gently
Thursday: Pedal really, really hard
Friday: Pedal really, really gently

Guaranteed to work, or your money back.

It must be amazing to have so much knowledge and wisdom that you want to share with new forum members...

Or are you just trying to take over as the resident condescending forum ****wit from P_Tucker?

bahzob

26kph for a solo ride with hills is not a bad average, especially if you havn't been doing any speed specific training.

If you want up it further then:

- If you are reasonably self disciplined and can set/follow a plan buy this book and just do what it says:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Time-crunched-Cyclist-Powerful-Time-Crunched/dp/1934030473

- Otherwise pick a loop ride (the one you are doing atm is a bit long, should be around 60-90 mins as you want to emphasise quality/intensity over distance/endurance) you can do safely at max effort, free of traffic lights or other hazards. (Commute back from work might be opportunity for this?)

A. Ride the full ride as fast as you can note the time.

B. Keep re-riding the route but break it into chunks (say into quarters or between various milestones).
>> Ride each chunk as fast as you can, at the end of each chunk stop (and pause the stopwatch) and recover a bit
>> Note the final total time (should be quicker than A time)

C. Repeat B (you can vary the chunks if you like for variety, indeed thats suggested. At extreme just do it as a series of sprints)

D. After 4-5 Bs return to A.

Keep repeating and your time for A will keep coming down, as should the time for your longer ride as well.

Other thing to consider is find a group to ride with, one with a bit of competition in it, e.g. sprints, hill climbs. You will push yourself harder when racing others and get faster in the process.

Herbsman

The Bounce wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

Follow this training plan and you can't go wrong:
Satuday: Pedal hard
Sunday: Pedal for long
Monday: Pedal gently
Tuesday: Pedal really hard
Wednesday: Pedal really gently
Thursday: Pedal really, really hard
Friday: Pedal really, really gently

Guaranteed to work, or your money back.

It must be amazing to have so much knowledge and wisdom that you want to share with new forum members...

Or are you just trying to take over as the resident condescending forum ****wit from P_Tucker?

I don't know WTF you're talking about - the above is basically a simplified version of my actual training plan.

willhub

I improve 1mph a year, I'm optimistic I can continue this untill I'm 40.

P_Tucker

The Bounce wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

Follow this training plan and you can't go wrong:
Satuday: Pedal hard
Sunday: Pedal for long
Monday: Pedal gently
Tuesday: Pedal really hard
Wednesday: Pedal really gently
Thursday: Pedal really, really hard
Friday: Pedal really, really gently

Guaranteed to work, or your money back.

It must be amazing to have so much knowledge and wisdom that you want to share with new forum members...

Or are you just trying to take over as the resident condescending forum ****wit from P_Tucker?

I wasn't aware that the position was vacant

ShutUpLegs

Herbsman wrote:

Follow this training plan and you can't go wrong:
Satuday: Pedal hard
Sunday: Pedal for long
Monday: Pedal gently
Tuesday: Pedal really hard
Wednesday: Pedal really gently
Thursday: Pedal really, really hard
Friday: Pedal really, really gently

Guaranteed to work, or your money back.

After a Pedal really, really hard day I usually have two Pedal really, really gently days. Looks good though. Thanks.

wacka

Herbsman

I like your plan, simple but effective. Do you train in training zones as I work off my functional threshold heart rate split. Zone 1 - 116-140, Zone 2 141-158, Zone 3 159-177, Zone 4 178 + FTHR being 177. Power meters are a bit above my budget at the mo!

Herbsman

Functional what? I dunno. I just press the pedals with my feet

wacka

Fair one, perhaps I should ignore the scientific approach, which I don't understand anyway, and just go for feel!

nmcgann

Herbsman's plan isn't as tongue-in-cheek as it looks, I use a variant of that scheme too

I think going outside your comfort zone on the hardest rides is very important. The body adapts to the strain you put on it and if you never push your limits you won't progress.

I like Greg Lemond's saying - "it never gets easier, you just go faster". That is very true :?

DavidJB

Wacka wrote:

Herbsman

I like your plan, simple but effective. Do you train in training zones as I work off my functional threshold heart rate split. Zone 1 - 116-140, Zone 2 141-158, Zone 3 159-177, Zone 4 178 + FTHR being 177. Power meters are a bit above my budget at the mo!

What? There should be 5 zones

springtide9

Herbsman wrote:

Functional what? I dunno. I just press the pedals with my feet

Buy a power meter and you'll be no wiser, but you'll at least be able to quote watt figures.
I use a similar plan to yours, apart from my effort is dictated by when I can ride.

What the power meter does give is a value for pedal hard vs pedal harder lol

I know what my 1 min, 5 min, 10 min, 20min, 30min, 60 min power is... but have no idea if it's good or bad :oops:

amaferanga

DavidJB wrote:

Wacka wrote:

Herbsman

I like your plan, simple but effective. Do you train in training zones as I work off my functional threshold heart rate split. Zone 1 - 116-140, Zone 2 141-158, Zone 3 159-177, Zone 4 178 + FTHR being 177. Power meters are a bit above my budget at the mo!

What? There should be 5 zones

Define as many zones as you want - it's just a guide.

Never heard of FTHR before. Someone getting confused with training with power?

wacka

It was in a Cycling Plus training program supplement!

Manc33

I got a MTB in July 2010 and my average at first was 8MPH. Thats not a misprint - eight MPH.

Now 2 years on my average on that same bike is about 11MPH.

So I gained 3MPH in 2 years. The thing is wind resistance. I only gained 3MPH because its such a pathetically low speed to start with. :roll: I think if I were averaging say 14MPH it would be real tough to add 1.5MPH per year, or that is, totally impossible. It is when I am 36 coming off the back of 20 years of smoking (I only stopped that 4 months ago).

My long term plan is to get my CV system running well, then start lifting weights, I am simply using cycling as a means to get fitter (because swimming and jogging are boring and cycling never is!) damn, cycling is hard enough but lifting weights with my CV system is pointless, I am out of breath before my muscle is fatigued. :x

P_Tucker

Er, you're evidently doing so many things wrong here its hard to know where to start. So I won't.