Why winter train so much? - Page 3

I agree with so many points made here:

1. For some of us, riding and training is fun, therapeutic and part of who we are, even if it takes place on a trainer. I've often said that I know that I'm lucky because I look forward to a 2-3 hour ride (and I REALLY look forward to a 5 hour ride), while most people dread their 20 minute uphill walk on their treadmill. Obviously this applies somewhat less when talking about a trainer in winter, but...
2. Being Canadian I love the seasons (hockey and construction, winter and July, snow shovelling and mosquitoes, insert Canadian stereotype here). Cycling-wise, I try to race as much as a 42 yr old father can from April to September which sometimes means passing up a long ride on a beautiful summer day to race a day or two later. I actually like the fact that I can ride as much as I can in winter, even if it includes slushy commuting on a 35 lb. bike, countless indoor km, etc., all in the name of base-building.
3. As ACoggan and Kopride, among others, alluded to, racing fitness is a series of peaks and valleys but hopefully with an overall upward trend (you know, like the stock market), and I do actually look forward to getting on my Computrainer come this time of year, and training with power again (no PT on my road or mountain bikes) in an effort to build a bigger and more powerful base than the year before (as measured by km, CTL, FTP, 20 min power, etc.).

__________________
HSCoach2 on other cycling forums

I to have a heart murmur (born with it)... My LT HR is 180... and highest I have seen is 204 (and I was suffering). Now...same day....same hill...My buddy was to the right of me, suffering along side with a HR of 185. It's all completely individual....

I wonder if a murmur affects the way the heart rate monitor picks up the impulses/heart beats? Well...I haven't put the monitor on since riding with a PT anyway.

__________________
Do the work...'cause cheeters never win

I can't say what the effects of having a heart murmur are in regards to pain at elevated heart rates but you can be rest assured, should I go over 190bpm it aint no laughing matter. It's debatable whether being dunked in a vat of boiling acid is worse...

... well, maybe.

That reminds me - I should go get an H2S monitor...

Heart murmur doesn't affect the HR monitor, for it detects only electrical stimuli and not noises. I don't know in other countries, but in Italy "to do cycling" (amateur or elite) means to spend neraly 100€ in medical check-ups each year to obtain the needed certificates... often including ecocardiograpy if you have a heart murmur (70€). It's a lot of money... but often our teams pay for us

I never had irregular data/readings while using a HR monitor, so personally I would conclude with your statement. I have routine physicals yearly and see the cardiologist every 4 years (which includes a stress echo). I have been given the OK every time.

But not to hijack the original post.....

In my personal experience, I find that starting around mid Nov/ Dec...putting in base miles (L2-L4) works for me. You'll find me tucked away in the basement on the cold Jan/Feb nights slugging out some SST. It works for me. I know guys/gals who do little untill 8 weeks to the start of the season and do very well. I think you'll find that there is no "cookie cutter" way to winter training and that it is completely individual.

__________________
Do the work...'cause cheeters never win

What's your definition of with "the big boys"? Bear Mountain, Bethel, Rentschler (spelling?) Field or just the local group ride?

You've also told us in other threads that you are 84 kg (6' 1"/185 cm) so as a Cat 2, I guess you might not have finished too highly at Housatonic, huh?

You've also made lots of comments in the past about sprinting and how we don't do our sprint training right. Whatever, dude. But Connecticut is a perfect place for an 80+ kg guy who gets by on natural talent and hiding in the pack as it is the land of the criterium.

Don't get me wrong, I like crits, but at your size, you're better suited for sitting in and getting sucked around that park in New Britain or Central Park than taking on Enyes Freyre in the hills of Danbury. If you've got some talent, you don't have to work as hard to sit in in a crit.

I know a guy who was on his nation's national MTB team as a junior (raced at MTB worlds), switched to the road, came to the US to go to university, ended up racing on a collegiate team and briefly on an elite amateur team here. He did not have to train very much nor very hard to do what he did. He could never understand why I was doing my 3-4x/week threshold workouts in the winter, why I took some weeks completely off at appropriate points to give my mind and body a break and why I never wanted to do a 180-ish km slugfest with him four days before the start of my goal stage race for the year. It never occurred to him because it never needed to occur to him. He is naturally talented and didn't have to work to hard at it and be more careful in his preparation.

Those of us that aren't naturally talented have to work at it.

Why train during the winter? Good question.

I can be moderately active in the winter and start trainning again in the spring and reach the same level as I did the previous year. Trainning in the winter gives that extra percent, the difference between 6th and 3rd, 30s quicker in a TT, ect... Really little gain for the time.

The big thing that trainning in the winter or year around give is progression. The extra percent that you gain in the winter, stays with you the next year. Over a couple of years those small gains add up to large ones.

What else is there to do!!??


Tony
www.flammerouge.je

I don't really consider myself naturally talented. I was barely average as a junior racer. And I'm probably about average as an experienced 23 yr old. I still take days to recover from a hard race or training ride. That's not good talent.

Yes, I always sucked at Housatonic Hills RR, haha. Even got dropped in the 3s the last time I went there, 04 maybe. So yeah, crits are more my thing, or a non-hilly road race. (Bethel, New Britain, Hartford, and so on) So I guess my definition of 'big boys' is pertaining to non-hilly racing. Why are we talking about this though??? I feel as if I am defending myself because I'm being called out on bragging, when I clearly stated I am nothing special (although I am able to slack off in the winter, train smart in the spring, and hold my own alongside others who likely kill themselves all winter). There really should be no comparison between myself and others. It's just a comparison between myself from years ago, till more recent years. I still raced just as well, or even better during the season, when I took it easy over the winter.

Clearly, my point was missed. All I was trying to say is that torturing yourself on the indoor trainer and being miserable on 4hr rides through slush in January doesn't MAKE OR BREAK your season as a racer. Well, it shouldn't, at this amatuer level. I say this because I when I was a junior I thought it mattered. I thought I had to go through that hell in order to get good. I didn't.

But maybe most others are different? I just thought I'd bring up the IDEA, you guys decide for yourself, and PLEASE don't get so defensive because you feel like I am telling you how you must train.

__________________
"friendship, family, religion. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business!" -Mr. Burns
The faster you go, the fewer passing cars

I thought crit racing was just something to keep the locals entertained on a Saturday afternoon...

I race elites in Europe and I have a heart murmur. Don't really notice it much, and passed 2 medical examinations for the license.

Winter training is a drag here in Holland. Cold, rainy and windy and the accepted wisdom is to ride real slow, real long all winter.

4 hours at 28 km/h in 4 degrees celsius and drizzle is not that much fun.

Before I upgraded to elite I rode in the 1/2 cat and I maintained a steady regime of "hard" interval training (mainly indoor) through the winter trying to raise FTP. Last year I rode LSD all winter (not one minute on the 54) and it felt really strange, like I was taking a big risk.

However, all those hours add up to a seriously big engine and when its time to go hard you really notice a difference.

Cool so how did you get on last season. How much has your FT changed?

__________________
http://theademerckxfiles.blogspot.com/

Well I just started riding last year and living in Canada I have little choice but to use a trainer in th ewinter. I'm not riding my babay in th esnow, slush and salt. I find if I train to a programme the time goes by not to bad but I also spend no more than an hour on the trainer.

__________________
Best thing about cycling is when I'm at work I think cycling and when I'm cycling I'm thinking about cycling

I train in Winter on the road (and rollers) because thats when our ROAD SEASON is.
Here in NZ we have this nutty thing about racing in Winter so that those who can go to Europe (say) can be race fit enough to race there.
Most of us never / will never race overseas so its really stupid to have a race season through the coldest/wetest/snowy-est months.
It does help to keep the weight / lazyness at bay though.
Here in Auckland it doesn't get too cold - its more the rain and wind and dark that'll put me off training

I feel for you guys who get snowed in etc and can't get out on your bike at all - what a drag.

Summer here(now). In Auckland there is virtually no racing. Sure there are Crits (too dangerous and I'm too slow) and mini TTs but thats it apart from two 'fun' rides I usually do.

Summer = beautiful weather for riding but no reason to get anywhere near race fit (unless one is doing the Elite Nationals).

I see something from BullGod a few posts above this. I was wondering what happened to him - I used to enjoy his stuff on racing in Europe but he seemed to disappear for a while.

So tell us about your season........