Monthly mileage?

Reane_Machine

This is a very vague question and I understand that it's largely a case of horses for courses, but I just wanted to get a consensus of how many miles you do each month throughout winter.

Is there a figure you aim for? Do you just ride and see how you get on? Maybe you have a very strict regime?

My reason for asking is I want to have a numerical target of miles to ride in December, largely to fend off the festive fat that threatens us all. Also I'm getting married in April and don't want to have a gluttonous month over the festive period.

The past couple of months I've managed 400km/month, including 15 days of commuting ten miles per day.

I'm planning on setting a target for 250 miles from 1-31 December, which I think is achievable but more opinions are always welcome.

In case it makes a difference, I'm 5 "10 and 15 stone.

Your advice, tips and/or help is much appreciated.

jamienorton

This month ive done about 360 miles, alot of that is on the Turbo though. 3x 1-1.5 hour Turbo trainer sessions a week, and try to get in a long ride on the weekend. Thats not counting commuting though, only a 4 mile round trip so not much point in keeping track of it.

kamil1891

I always planned to do about 10hrs a week. However, I sometimes did more, usually weather depending. Actually this month I've done 55hrs so far so way above the target and it's been my busiest month during the year. However, mostly base - sweetspot miles and 1hr at pure threshold on the track every week as a preparation for next season.

I plan to do about 12hr a week since now. I've always had time for it but I didn't want to overdo it and increasing the time in a saddle is my next step to keep gradually improving.

Reane_Machine

So do you think it would be better to aim for a time goal?

I could quite happiily aim for perhaps 60 hours riding, I do like to mix it up on the weekends and go on long rides in the mornings when I'm working late shifts.

I guess it helps that I'm not training for a season next year, just to improve myself.

kamil1891

I don't see any point in aiming for distance. When you do hill intervals for example you may just do 20kms or less in 1hour. That would give you very low mileage but a lot better effects compared to 1hr done in let's say zone 3 at 30km/h.

It also depends what your aims are and what would you like to train for.
You will find here a lot more experienced forum users than me but for example if you only plan on doing 1hr crits or 10m TTs then doing steady rides of 100miles are of little benefit.

PS. sorry for mixing up kms and miles I'm not English but sometimes I find it better to express distance and speed in miles when I refer to English audience.

Edited. I've just read again and noticed that you just want to improve yourself. Do you know your strengths and weaknesses then ? For example, if you struggle at riding hills then hill repeats or threshold tempo rides would be of significant benefit.

Reane_Machine

Well I'm on the edge of the Peak District so most rides involve hills, so I would count that in a strength definitely.

Any the shorteest rides I do are the commutes which are 20 mins each way max, anytime I go out on the bike outside of commuting I go for at least an hour, which is a mix of hills, descents and flats.

I see your point about the distance/hill frequency ratio, maybe time would be a better target? Although distance would be easier to track I feel.

What do you all do? Distance or time?

styxd

It depends on the time of year really.

When the weather is alrite, about 200miles per week

But I havent ridden yet this week, its been freezing!

I dont have a turbo trainer.

danowat

Mileage is irrelevent (for me at least), all my training is based on time and power, usually between 10-15hrs a week

okgo

As above.

However on average 833 mi per month.

SBezza

As above base training on hours not distance, distance per hour can vary enormously due to many variables, I will do anything between 800 and 1200 miles in a month depending on how much training is planned however, though my training is based on hours.