cut my 10 TT time

HillClimber101 · March 2009

sorry, you've probally hered this before, but:

I have done a couple of TT's this season, my first season, and i have hovered around 30 mins - 29.33 and 30.14 - but i was wondering if by the end of the season i could do a 25 or less.

is it possible and if what do i need to do. i could ride an hour for 3 - 4 week days and one long weekend ride, 40 miles ish.

what should i work on, climing - is there a benifit, speed - will that grow musle or something else, is there also a way to get faster by changing my pre race routine

any advice, help

Bhima · March 2009

Hills are good for time trialists as long as you stay seated. They force you to give everything you've got! Hills just make you get tired at half the speed you would, so going 15mph up a hill would make you as tired as you would get going 30mph on the flat.

shockedsoshocked · March 2009

If you can get out for an hour nearly every day make em flat and fast, same with the longer weekend one. Avoid the hills to train on (unless you're doing hilly TTs) in which case add one hilly ride a week. Lots of climbing makes you good at climbing and will blunt your speed on the flat.

markos1963 · March 2009

I found tempo training really helped my TT performance. I do 2x20 at least once a week. Last year I went from 31mins down to 26'58". I hope to go under 25 this season. Another thing is to ride as much as possible on the drops and to keep your legs and arms in, this will help you get more aero.

cougie · March 2009

Buy a cheap turbo and do some interval drills - a session would be less than 40 mins including warm up and cool down and will make you feel ill, but will give you some speed.

As to pre race - have a good warm up and do some work to get your HR closer to race pace. It helps with the jelly leg syndrome that ou sometimes get at the start of the race.

garetjax · March 2009

I'm fairly new to time trialling. This will be my second "proper" season now. Some things I found that helped:

1. Clip on some aero bars onto your bike. Stay in the aero position during the TT. Also get some lighter wheels with lighter tyres( eg michelin pro2/3s). Aero bars plus lighter wheels & tyres knocked at least 90 secs off my time!

2. Don't go off to fast! Keep the first couple of minutes or so steady. Try to maintain a constant output over the time trial rather than going off to fast, blowing, recovering and then going too fast again ( i speak from miserable experience). Again, you can knock a minute off with correct pacing.

3. I warm up for the TT by doing some moderate cycling for 10-20 minutes with 2x1 minute hard efforts. The hard efforts really prepare the body for the time trial effort.

4. Do a couple of time trials a week. Just doing them you will slowly but surely get fitter.

Doing the above I got my time down from 28mins to 25:15 in my first season.

Most of the guys and gals I know prepare for the time trial season by doing alot of higher intensity efforts on a turbo trainer during the Winter months. E.g. 20 minute efforts at time trial pace. 3-5 minute efforts above time trial pace.

Simon Notley · March 2009

Do periods (anything between 10 mins and an hour) at just below TT effort. If you're doing shorter efforts, repeat a few times... do this for 2 or 3 of your weekly rides.

dennisn · March 2009

garetjax wrote:

I'm fairly new to time trialling. This will be my second "proper" season now. Some things I found that helped:

1. Clip on some aero bars onto your bike. Stay in the aero position during the TT. Also get some lighter wheels with lighter tyres( eg michelin pro2/3s). Aero bars plus lighter wheels & tyres knocked at least 90 secs off my time!

2. Don't go off to fast! Keep the first couple of minutes or so steady. Try to maintain a constant output over the time trial rather than going off to fast, blowing, recovering and then going too fast again ( i speak from miserable experience). Again, you can knock a minute off with correct pacing.

3. I warm up for the TT by doing some moderate cycling for 10-20 minutes with 2x1 minute hard efforts. The hard efforts really prepare the body for the time trial effort.

4. Do a couple of time trials a week. Just doing them you will slowly but surely get fitter.

Doing the above I got my time down from 28mins to 25:15 in my first season.

Most of the guys and gals I know prepare for the time trial season by doing alot of higher intensity efforts on a turbo trainer during the Winter months. E.g. 20 minute efforts at time trial pace. 3-5 minute efforts above time trial pace.

I agree with most of your ideas, with the exception of #4. I'm a race at the races sort of person and have found that in order to be fresh, feeling strong, and ready to go that you
need to apply this "race at the races" theory. I don't believe that hammering yourself 2 or
3 times a week and then trying to race on the weekends, or whenever, will result in
good results(other than a good case of burnout). This applies to most of us that work for a living, have other things in our lives than cycling, and have limited time to train / race.
Now IF you're a Pro and all you need to do is eat, sleep, ride, repeat, well, that's another story. You won't last long without quality rest. I believe that knowing how to rest is the reason most Pros are such great riders. They put rest above all.

Dennis Noward

SBezza · March 2009

I think you should easily be able to recover from a mid week 10m TT before the weekend, in fact treat the mid week 10mTT as a training session in itself.

Some of my training has been as hard as a 10M TT to be honest, so it is possible to do a mid week TT and then a weekend one, and be recovered in between.

roadrider84 · March 2009

I'm doing two TT's this weekend! (Levens L105 on Saturday and the V718 Team Swift on the Sunday) I'm 24, young, fit and very enthusiastic!

I will be disappointed if I don't record good times in both rides!

You ride / race as much as you want. But make sure you have a good recovery period to ensure your body apapts to the training / intensity.

Above all though, enjoy it!

dennisn · March 2009

roadrider84 wrote:

I'm doing two TT's this weekend! (Levens L105 on Saturday and the V718 Team Swift on the Sunday) I'm 24, young, fit and very enthusiastic!

I will be disappointed if I don't record good times in both rides!

You ride / race as much as you want. But make sure you have a good recovery period to ensure your body apapts to the training / intensity.

Above all though, enjoy it!

I used to think like you(back in the good old days - way back). I would pretty much hammer daily and race twice a week. I had no control over my training and was pretty
burned out most of the time and never seemed to be really UP for races. The answer was that I needed to get into better shape, or so I thought. Only problem was my solution to this "problem" was to try and train harder and faster. It worked. It got harder to train and I burned out faster. There is only so much you can do and so many pedal revolutions in your storage bin(so to speak). Even if all you have to do is eat, sleep, ride, repeat, there are limits.

Dennis Noward

garetjax · March 2009

I agree that resting is very important, but most of the folk i see are doing two club 10s mid-week after work. I'm not sure if in addition to that they race at weekend, though I think one or two do. I know they have rest weeks to avoid burn-out.
For my part I did two a week and every 4th or 5th week I had a rest and did some fairly mellow Mountain Biking, just for a rest and a change.
I just think that jumping in there and doing some 10s is a good way to learn how to pace the ride and get fit.

Harp · March 2009

roadrider84 wrote:

I'm doing two TT's this weekend! (Levens L105 on Saturday and the V718 Team Swift on the Sunday) I'm 24, young, fit and very enthusiastic!

I will be disappointed if I don't record good times in both rides!

Two of the fastest course you can do !

HillClimber101 · March 2009

thanks for the advice

roadrider84 · March 2009

Harp wrote:

roadrider84 wrote:

I'm doing two TT's this weekend! (Levens L105 on Saturday and the V718 Team Swift on the Sunday) I'm 24, young, fit and very enthusiastic!

I will be disappointed if I don't record good times in both rides!

Two of the fastest course you can do !

Yep, lots of travelling this weekend but it should be fun. Just hoping for two float days!

Dennis, I note what you have to say and I respect your comments. I don't train 5 days a week and race every weekend. I train three days a week with Thursday and Friday as my rest days. I don't normally race Saturday and Sunday but as mentioned above, these two courses are the fastest in the country and setting a PB on both courses is an early season goal of mine (currently 23:55 after only TTing for the first time last season).

I assume from your comments that you were riding pretty much everyday. If so, burnout is something which you would expect to happen. As long as you enjoyed your time and don't look back with any / many regrets then that in my opinion is the most important thing. You just need to listen to your body every now and again.

dennisn · March 2009

roadrider84 wrote:

Harp wrote:

roadrider84 wrote:

I'm doing two TT's this weekend! (Levens L105 on Saturday and the V718 Team Swift on the Sunday) I'm 24, young, fit and very enthusiastic!

I will be disappointed if I don't record good times in both rides!

Two of the fastest course you can do !

Yep, lots of travelling this weekend but it should be fun. Just hoping for two float days!

Dennis, I note what you have to say and I respect your comments. I don't train 5 days a week and race every weekend. I train three days a week with Thursday and Friday as my rest days. I don't normally race Saturday and Sunday but as mentioned above, these two courses are the fastest in the country and setting a PB on both courses is an early season goal of mine (currently 23:55 after only TTing for the first time last season).

I assume from your comments that you were riding pretty much everyday. If so, burnout is something which you would expect to happen. As long as you enjoyed your time and don't look back with any / many regrets then that in my opinion is the most important thing. You just need to listen to your body every now and again.

Believe it or not I was young AND stupid once. Now all I can say is I'm not young anymore. You've got the right idea taking rest days and keeping ahead of burnout.
I don't have any regrets about not training properly. I think everyone does it from time to time. You get carried away and try to do more riding without adding more rest. I'm still out there though and still enjoy the rides. I'm even signed up(again) for 7 days of flogging
myself over Colorado's high passes. It won't be pretty but.......

Dennis Noward.

roadrider84 · March 2009

dennisn wrote:

roadrider84 wrote:

Harp wrote:

roadrider84 wrote:

I'm doing two TT's this weekend! (Levens L105 on Saturday and the V718 Team Swift on the Sunday) I'm 24, young, fit and very enthusiastic!

I will be disappointed if I don't record good times in both rides!

Two of the fastest course you can do !

Yep, lots of travelling this weekend but it should be fun. Just hoping for two float days!

Dennis, I note what you have to say and I respect your comments. I don't train 5 days a week and race every weekend. I train three days a week with Thursday and Friday as my rest days. I don't normally race Saturday and Sunday but as mentioned above, these two courses are the fastest in the country and setting a PB on both courses is an early season goal of mine (currently 23:55 after only TTing for the first time last season).

I assume from your comments that you were riding pretty much everyday. If so, burnout is something which you would expect to happen. As long as you enjoyed your time and don't look back with any / many regrets then that in my opinion is the most important thing. You just need to listen to your body every now and again.

Believe it or not I was young AND stupid once. Now all I can say is I'm not young anymore. You've got the right idea taking rest days and keeping ahead of burnout.
I don't have any regrets about not training properly. I think everyone does it from time to time. You get carried away and try to do more riding without adding more rest. I'm still out there though and still enjoy the rides. I'm even signed up(again) for 7 days of flogging
myself over Colorado's high passes. It won't be pretty but.......

Dennis Noward.

Dennis, do you listen to the Fred Cast?. The chap on there was talking about that ride. I think he's signed up also. Sounds pretty savage! Enjoy!

dennisn · March 2009

roadrider84 wrote:

dennisn wrote:

roadrider84 wrote:

Harp wrote:

roadrider84 wrote:

I'm doing two TT's this weekend! (Levens L105 on Saturday and the V718 Team Swift on the Sunday) I'm 24, young, fit and very enthusiastic!

I will be disappointed if I don't record good times in both rides!

Two of the fastest course you can do !

Yep, lots of travelling this weekend but it should be fun. Just hoping for two float days!

Dennis, I note what you have to say and I respect your comments. I don't train 5 days a week and race every weekend. I train three days a week with Thursday and Friday as my rest days. I don't normally race Saturday and Sunday but as mentioned above, these two courses are the fastest in the country and setting a PB on both courses is an early season goal of mine (currently 23:55 after only TTing for the first time last season).

I assume from your comments that you were riding pretty much everyday. If so, burnout is something which you would expect to happen. As long as you enjoyed your time and don't look back with any / many regrets then that in my opinion is the most important thing. You just need to listen to your body every now and again.

Believe it or not I was young AND stupid once. Now all I can say is I'm not young anymore. You've got the right idea taking rest days and keeping ahead of burnout.
I don't have any regrets about not training properly. I think everyone does it from time to time. You get carried away and try to do more riding without adding more rest. I'm still out there though and still enjoy the rides. I'm even signed up(again) for 7 days of flogging
myself over Colorado's high passes. It won't be pretty but.......

Dennis Noward.

Dennis, do you listen to the Fred Cast?. The chap on there was talking about that ride. I think he's signed up also. Sounds pretty savage! Enjoy!

I have got to plead complete ignorance to the "Fred Cast". From the States you know.
Fill me in.

thanx
Dennis Noward

roadrider84 · March 2009

The Fred Cast comes from the states Dennis!

It's great. It's a podcast about cycling!

Here's the link. http://www.thefredcast.com/

e999sam · March 2009

The best thing to do to improve your performance is to train with some one else who is faster than you. Not to much because it's no good if they drop you but just enough to make it uncomfortable to ride two abreast with them and to be able to sit on their wheel on the hills.

cut my 10 TT time

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