Training

Sussed out

I've just retired from high level rowing and now I have some time on my hands whilst looking for a coaching job. I can't face not being good at something anymore so am looking to fill my time with training, do some road races and maybe a triathlon.
I'd like to know what training should I be doing on a daily basis for cycling? I fancy entering some road races and circuit races, if someone could give me an example of a weekly programme I'd really appreciate it.
I don't think I need to start off from low miles, five years of full time rowing training has given me some resilience to mileage so if someone has something I could get my teeth into that would be great.
Thanks very much,
Ben

Buckled_Rims

Well everyone's an individual with training so I can't comment there. The one thing I'd recommend is probably to start with TT (time trial) racing. It's more akin to rowing in many respects. Road races, especially at Cat 3/4 seem to be getting a bad reputation with aggressive riders. Hopefully, I'll be doing a few TT races this year and cyclocross at the start of next year. I can't do it earlier due to an injury at work with my elbow.

Dess1e

Try getting in touch with GS Henley and join their training rides.

Tom Dean

^ this, contact your local club.

Buckled_Rims wrote:

Road races, especially at Cat 3/4 seem to be getting a bad reputation with aggressive riders

Don't agree with this at all!

OP - try the training forum.

Tom Butcher

Once you start getting out on local chaingangs and training rides you should get pretty good pretty quickly - if you are good then you should find it easy enough to hook up with other good riders for training rides arranged between yourselves.

Whether you do track, time trial or road or a mix really depends on your preference. Yes track and TT are probably more akin to rowing - but if you wanted to do something akin to rowing you could just stick to rowing.

If you want to get into road racing then there's more to it than fitness - apart from tactics which you will pick up by racing you need to be comfortable riding in a group - some people take to it straight away and some never do. As a class athlete you should fairly quickly be able to get out of the crash fest 4th cat races (one or two races) and then go straight into 2/3 races which are generally faster and safer.

As far as a weekly training routine - well it does depend on what discipline you go into. Assuming it's road racing I reckon most decent local amateurs are doing ~10 hours a week, some more some a bit less. At the lower 3/4 cat level probably 6-8 hours is more typical. I know people who just stack the miles in and do well off it - others who do quite a bit of high intensity work maybe on a turbo and do well off that - there is more than one way to skin a cat. Be aware that road racing is not steady effort - it's a series of very hard efforts interspersed with some periods where you are almost coasting - if you get in a break it can then become maybe an hour of hard effort - then you are looking to sprint at the end - so you need that top end as well as endurance. You'll find out your strengths and that'll partly inform how you race.

ps - when I say decent amateurs I mean local 1st/2nd cat types - semi pros probably do more training than I've said but as I've never been at that level someone else can maybe comment on that.

LegendLust

Sussed out wrote:

I've just retired from high level rowing and now I have some time on my hands whilst looking for a coaching job. I can't face not being good at something anymore so am looking to fill my time with training, do some road races and maybe a triathlon.
I'd like to know what training should I be doing on a daily basis for cycling? I fancy entering some road races and circuit races, if someone could give me an example of a weekly programme I'd really appreciate it.
I don't think I need to start off from low miles, five years of full time rowing training has given me some resilience to mileage so if someone has something I could get my teeth into that would be great.
Thanks very much,
Ben

If you can afford it get a coach.

Sussed out

LegendLust wrote:

Sussed out wrote:

I've just retired from high level rowing and now I have some time on my hands whilst looking for a coaching job. I can't face not being good at something anymore so am looking to fill my time with training, do some road races and maybe a triathlon.
I'd like to know what training should I be doing on a daily basis for cycling? I fancy entering some road races and circuit races, if someone could give me an example of a weekly programme I'd really appreciate it.
I don't think I need to start off from low miles, five years of full time rowing training has given me some resilience to mileage so if someone has something I could get my teeth into that would be great.
Thanks very much,
Ben

If you can afford it get a coach.

I really can't afford that, I've always had a GB rowing coach for free in the past and lottery funding wasn't enough to save up any money so I'm fairly skint. They don't really prepare you for being out in the real world after sport.
I will join the local club though and get as much knowledge as I can from people there.

displacedaussie

Tom Butcher's comments above are pretty much spot on.

okgo

Maybe look at Zappi's they're near you, and one of their lads was a decent rower and he progressed very (VERY) quickly through the ranks.

Sussed out

Cheers Tom Butcher, very helpful.
OKgo, I know Nick who you speak of reasonably well, I used to race against him as a junior.
Thanks for the tip

okgo

Well certainly worth getting some tips off him I'd have thought, he's done very well. Good luck!