Training on limited time

chrisjohnsen

Hi. I am looking for some advice on the best way to train when time is limited.
Because of studies, work and familiy I rearly get more than 6-8 hours on the bike each week.
I have tried to cut down on the number of easy/social rides and do more hard work than last season.
A typical week could look like this, Day 1: 2,5 hours with 4x10 at threshold. Day 2: 2 hours easy with some full out sprints. Day 3: 3x15 hill reapets at sweetspot/threshold.
After doing something similar to this for the last 8 weeks or so I still don´t feel that my general fitness is improving that much.

I don´
t race, but enjoy riding both for the training and the social part. My goal is really to increase my level of fitness so that I am able to hold the pace of those I ride with on the longer rides (4-6) without going to much out of zone 2.

Thanks in advance,
Chris.

jrich

Sounds to me like you're just not going hard enough in the time you have.

E.g. 2.5 hours to complete 4x10 @ threshold is a very long time! You could do the in just over an hour. In addition, I would regard 4x10 as an easy workout to be done after 2 days of hard intervals or racing, certainly not at the beginning of the week when you're fresh. If you've got 3 rides per week I would say you need to increase the intensity of two of those workouts. e.g. do some Z6 or Z7 before the threshold stuff and then maybe some tempo afterwards. A good long Z3 workout would be ideal if you're aiming to keep up with mates on longer ride. Try 2x30 at tempo, then 1 hour and build on that.

Currently I think there's too much threshold in your week. Also, seeing as you've done 8 weeks you should be looking to do threshold intervals of at least 20 mins, so 2x20 and then build up to 3x20. Sprinting is probably less important for you but you can still incorporate sprints into any of your other workouts to make them tougher. e.g. do an hour of tempo but every 10 mins shift up a few gears, come off the saddle and go for 15 seconds, then straight back to tempo.

The main thing is to make your hard sessions harder! i.e walking should be troublesome afterwards

chrisjohnsen

Thanks jrich!
I will try out what you are saying in the weeks to come. What kind of sessions do you recomend i z6 and z7? And when you say before the threshold you meen in the same session as the threshold? If you have an example of 3 diferent training days that would be great.

cougie

Look up trainerroad. There's some great plans there all in your time budget and you'll really come on. You'll see your power improve week on week.

jrich

Are you training with power or with HR? Well either way the book 'Training and Racing with a Power Meter' by Allen and Coggan is a great place to start. If you've not got a power meter there will be better options, but I think a good book is essential. Once you understand the hows and whys of training then you can start to put together your own plan and come up with workouts yourself. The important thing to remember is that you have to keep progressing and varying you weeks. If you do the same thing over and over you body will adapt to that and you will not progress - so you must build your training load up gradually. You should have a pretty solid base to build on after the work that you have done so you can start to really push yourself. A good book will teach you how to do that much more effectively than I will!

Say if I had Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I would do hard intervals on the Tuesday followed by a little bit of threshold or tempo. Then long Z3 on Thursday then on Saturday a really tough ride of 3 hours or more with a little bit of everything. I would make sure I was absolutely knackered afterwards and then get some good quality rest for the remainder of the weekend. But the main thing is to push yourself and progress the intensity of the workout and a good book will help you do that effectively.

Also worth mentioning that joining you local Time Trail club would be a great idea. They will hold a club TT once a week on an evening after work and I find it's a great way of getting a good solid workout and pushing hard. Plus you will be able to see you process with the times you produce and there will be knowledgeable members to give advice on training and stuff.

chrisjohnsen

thanks cougie anf jrich. I have a power meter and will look into trainerroad and the "training and racing..." book.

jrich

If you have a power meter that's perfect! This is the book: http://www.trainingandracingwithapowermeter.com

That contains everything you need to know and has a 16 week plan as well as the many examples of individual workouts for different zones. Every new power meter user should but a copy.

Traineroad is great for winter turbo but really training on the road is preferable now summer is on the way.

herzog

All great advice above (particularly the book ref).

I've found that since my time has become more constrained to around 7-8h p/w (2 kids and a long commute by train), my training has become far more focussed and I'm actually putting out better numbers than I did when I could train for 10-12h p/w. You'll find this is remarkably common!

More focussed sessions, less fluff and you'll be fine.

stueys

Trainer road.com, if you've got a reasonable base then follow sustained power training plan. You can lift the plans and try to follow them outside but to be sadly honest it's very hard to do intensity intervals at a good quality on the road. Traffic, hills, etc, etc, tend to get in the way. Intensity on the turbo and a decent endurance ride at the weekend is normally the best use of limited time

Nick Kanwetz

Hey Chris - everyone!

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blog.trainerroad.com

https://www.trainerroad.com/podcast

Thanks for spreading the love guys!

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