Training on only 2-3 days a week

penski

I'm doing a lot of strength work in the gym, it's something I enjoy, and recently have tried to maintain some running and swimming. This means that finding the time for cycling is proving to be very difficult.

Can anybody suggest a training plan or formula for a 2 to 3 day per week cycling plan?

imposter2.0

You have 2-3 days per week to cycle - so cycle those 2-3 days. No need to over-think it. Precisely what you do on those 2-3 days depends rather a lot on what it is you are trying to achieve...

penski

Imposter wrote:

You have 2-3 days per week to cycle - so cycle those 2-3 days. No need to over-think it. Precisely what you do on those 2-3 days depends rather a lot on what it is you are trying to achieve...

Trying to increase speed on the road to put it simply for 20-40 miles, that's all my aim is for now.

cougie

I know of a lot of people who only train one day a week. The Sunday run and they get up to 100 plus miles in the summer.

MiddleRinger

Penski wrote:

Imposter wrote:

You have 2-3 days per week to cycle - so cycle those 2-3 days. No need to over-think it. Precisely what you do on those 2-3 days depends rather a lot on what it is you are trying to achieve...

Trying to increase speed on the road to put it simply for 20-40 miles, that's all my aim is for now.

Then cycle 20-40 miles on those 2-3 days each week. Pedal a little harder each time.

Rest. Recover. Repeat.

neeb

Ride ‘till you puke every time you go out and space the 2 or 3 days throughout the week to allow recovery. Alternate flat rides at as near to FTP as you can manage with rolling ones where you are doing lots of short hard efforts up steep hills. Or something like that.

penski

Cycling seems like one of those sports where long hours on the saddle are required to improve.

I am going to give it a shot, I know what my FTP is, I know what speeds I average on the road, months from now I'll let you know if there was any improvement.

cougie

Really you don't need long hours unless you're taking it seriously.

imposter2.0

Penski wrote:

Cycling seems like one of those sports where long hours on the saddle are required to improve.

I am going to give it a shot, I know what my FTP is, I know what speeds I average on the road, months from now I'll let you know if there was any improvement.

Surely if you were as serious as that, you would be putting in more than three days a week? Your first post suggests that cycling is a low priority, after the gym, running and swimming...

Matthewfalle

neeb wrote:

Ride ‘till you puke every time you go out and space the 2 or 3 days throughout the week to allow recovery. Alternate flat rides at as near to FTP as you can manage with rolling ones where you are doing lots of short hard efforts up steep hills. Or something like that.

Sunday Club runs - in fact most things to do with clubs - are just a bit cliquey and trash. What you gain on fitness (very limited) you lose on brain cell count.

The above is best for immediate gains without dealing with boring people at the same time.

Throw in some turbo training on the side if you can.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Penski wrote:

Cycling seems like one of those sports where long hours on the saddle are required to improve.

I'm happy to be corrected, but I'd argue that long hours in the saddle are only required if your aim is to be a stronger cyclist over multiple hours.

cougie

I think Boardman trained about 8 hours per week when he was just racing domestically. Obviously when he turned Pro he had to get used to much longer races.

sloppyschleckonds

Whereas Chris Froome rode 12 hours a day

penski

Imposter wrote:

Surely if you were as serious as that, you would be putting in more than three days a week? Your first post suggests that cycling is a low priority, after the gym, running and swimming...

My running is poor, I want to improve it! Running is also a foundation sport, I can remain fit for sporadic football, or play tennis.

Swimming, I can't swim, and I want to do a triathalon one day, so I need to devote some time here.

The gym..this one is a personal hobby of mine - helps me mentally, and I like to stay in shape.

Interesting the top pros did 8-12 hours/week.

Matthewfalle

8/12 hours when racing domestically.

imposter2.0

Penski wrote:

Interesting the top pros did 8-12 hours/week.

Not quite. At the winter training camps, they could be putting in 30 hours or more and probably closer to 20+ at any other time. 8-12 hours per week is more like UK domestic amateur level...

Bordersroadie

neeb wrote:

Ride ‘till you puke every time you go out and space the 2 or 3 days throughout the week to allow recovery. Alternate flat rides at as near to FTP as you can manage with rolling ones where you are doing lots of short hard efforts up steep hills. Or something like that.

This is spot on (maybe not literally puking but the point is well made). Applying this method gave me massive gains (ie faster TT times) over the last few years when my time for training has been very limited. The rest days are key to this approach but it really does work.

The alternative, if you're strapped for time, and based on the same principles (ie hard work one day, rest the next) is to sign up to TrainerRoad (other apps are available) and stick to a turbo training plan.

Either way you just need to work really hard in the limited time periods.

Unlike old-school thinking on training (ie long steady distance), you don't actually need that much time or distance to make significant FTP gains.

mamil314

This is what i struggle with. So can only train cycling for 2-3 times a week, that's because on other days i do other training. If go all out with cycling sessions, there is no way my other days will be 'recovery days' because i will go all out with my other training (martial arts) too! Does this mean certain overtraining and 'a man chasing two rabbits will catch none'?

fenix

Probs jack of all trades - master of none.

We've all seen people smashing the training but when it comes to racing - they're shot. Recovery is an essential part of training.

penski

Nearly all of the advice given in this thread is 'go all out' or 'ride till you puke'.

But happened to 80% of cycling is not supposed to be balls to the wall?

neeb

Penski wrote:

Nearly all of the advice given in this thread is 'go all out' or 'ride till you puke'.

But happened to 80% of cycling is not supposed to be balls to the wall?

It depends how much cycling you are doing and what your goals are. Obviously if you are only cycling 2 or 3 days a week for shortish sessions and you want to make meaningful gains then you have to push yourself pretty hard. The reason for not doing this most of the time if you are training more is that you wouldn’t be able to sustain it because intense efforts require significant recovery time. But if you have plenty of time to recover you may as well go as hard as possible to maximise adaptations.

Although in the case of the OP this may not actually apply because he has other non-cycling training goals.

simon_e

Imposter wrote:

Penski wrote:

Interesting the top pros did 8-12 hours/week.

Not quite. At the winter training camps, they could be putting in 30 hours or more and probably closer to 20+ at any other time. 8-12 hours per week is more like UK domestic amateur level...

But that's only after they have logged thousands of hours over a good number of years. Hours per week varies hugely over the year, they will be racing anything from 2 to 7 days a week at times and racing hard some of those days.

If you are relatively inexperienced and wanting to improve then you just need to ride more often, and further/harder. If training twice a week I'd do some intervals / hard efforts one day and focus on pedalling, cadence and so on at middling effort levels on the other. This one should be a longer ride if at all possible (so similar to what neeb said).

@Matthewfalle - I wouldn't tar all clubs with that brush. How many have you tried?

fenix

MF has an irrational fear of clubs.

I'm not sure there's a GB Pro out there who would have made it without Club Support ? Sure they have cliques and idiots too -but they exist everywhere.