First Sportive Training

DapperRob

Evening all,

Background: Have been on BR for a while now, and been cycling since Sep-12. Used to be a runner, but a long-standing knee problem means I had to stop the impact, or it would be new knee time.
Due to a mix of weather / light / free time, longest ride I have done is a hilly 25 miles, and got a turbo trainer for Christmas! Dead chuffed with it.

Current Training: 20-25 miles at the weekend, 2 x 1 hour sessions on the turbo during the week.

Plan: ??? I don't have a bike computer so can't measure cadence, but on the road my average speed is generally ~15mph; vague and subjective I understand. However I have a 60 mile sportive booked for April and would like some advice on putting a plan together!

Age: 26
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 9 stone / 57kg


Cheers in advance,
Rob

Dave_P1

Just start building up the miles. If your longest ride is 25 miles, then perhaps aim for 30 on the next ride and go from there.

danlikesbikes

Dave_P1 wrote:

Just start building up the miles. If your longest ride is 25 miles, then perhaps aim for 30 on the next ride and go from there.

+ 1 on that.

Build up your miles gradually to start with but once you have a good level of endurance you should be able to ramp up the miles pretty quickly. Possibly join a local club for one of their weekend rides, or if like me you have family commitments then arrange to meet them somewhere and ride to the place and have a coffee/tea and cake.

DapperRob

One of the main (related) 2 issues I have is 1) I have negligible fat mass to burn, and 'minimal' muscle; I therefore start bonking very quickly.
1) What training is good for building up muscle; interval training perhaps?
2) How much & how often should I be eating?

Cheers,
R

Alex_Simmons/RST

We have Sportive preparation plans available - suitable for riders of all levels (tailored to suit).
http://www.rstsport.com/?event=training ... an=compare

Here's some useful information on diet for an active cyclist:
http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition ... ad_cycling

You can reasonably pro-rata the suggested carb and protein intake for club cyclist depending on your weekly training load, and then adjust from there (each individual is different).

Tom Butcher

Rob - I suspect you aren't bonking you just aren't bike fit. You aren't running out of glycogen after 25 miles let alone fat stores.

At your level you just need to spend time on your bike. If it were me I'd plan some routes for the weekend with a cafe stop half way - psychologically it makes it easier to complete the distance. Now some will say cafe stops have no place in a training ride and yes ideally it's better to do a ride straight through but it's meant to be enjoyable and if you are only doing 25 miles then to up the mileage you may find it easier to stop for a coffee and a cake plus it will give you a bit more energy as your rides do get to the point you need to eat.

For the midweek sessions have some kind of plan - whether you use power, heart rate or rear wheel speed on the turbo have some kind of target and structure for each session.

Also look for some people to ride with. When I started a group of us off this forum met up for a ride and some of us ended up as training partners for a year or two until we went in different directions with our riding - but it was a good introduction to riding with others. You may have a club near you that offers a variety of rides - they aren't all just about racing. A sportive is a group ride so being able to ride with others makes it easier and more enjoyable.

Team4Luke

DapperRob wrote:

One of the main (related) 2 issues I have is 1) I have negligible fat mass to burn, and 'minimal' muscle; I therefore start bonking very quickly.
1) What training is good for building up muscle; interval training perhaps?
2) How much & how often should I be eating?

Cheers,
R

that doesn't mean you don't have to fat to burn or can train more to improve your system to go use more ratio of fat when it can, it's the second best fuel source !
probably going out without enough carbs in your, so ensure a good carb load several hours before, take a gel before you go out, take one with you, take two bottles with several scoops in each and sip every 5mins.
You can't build muscle, you have what you have unless you want to take some steroids, you can make them a little stronger by jusr riding more as people said above and at same time improving your overall fitness level. Interval training - what for ? Just do longer steadier rides and thrown in the occasional blast for a say an hour now and again.

Tom Butcher

Well there's a thread about feeding on the bike somewhere but for a couple of hours it's pretty much irrelevant unless you are smashing it for the whole ride - and even then you don't need much. For a 2 hour ride at this time of year 500ml of water is enough for anyone.

legendary27

Tom Butcher wrote:

At your level you just need to spend time on your bike. If it were me I'd plan some routes for the weekend with a cafe stop half way - psychologically it makes it easier to complete the distance. Now some will say cafe stops have no place in a training ride and yes ideally it's better to do a ride straight through but it's meant to be enjoyable and if you are only doing 25 miles then to up the mileage you may find it easier to stop for a coffee and a cake plus it will give you a bit more energy as your rides do get to the point you need to eat.

+1. Think of it as interval training !

Regards,
Gordon