Reaching the crusing speed

[bryanquinn]

Hi All,

I've become frustrated with my cycling. I want to reach a certain level of fitness but I'm not sure how to get there. Assuming I have a fairly strong base as I've been riding 160 to 180 miles a week now for a few months.

I want to ride with the fast guys at the local club. I'm assuming that means being able to maintain an average speed of 24 mph. I'd also like to be able to have the power and speed to stay with the sprints, at least hanging on to the back.

Can someone give me a schedule to ride figuring on peaking in a month?

Assuming I have 5 days to train, what workouts would be recommended for each day?

I really would appreciate any help. I have reached a slump and it's bugging me alot not knowing how to progress from here.

Thanks,

BQ

 

[Jace1283]

whats your training look like now?
has your speed been increasing, how much?

 

[bryanquinn]

Hi Jace,

My speed has been increasing somewhat slowly at this point.

Last Saturday before I hit that clump of concrete in the road and ate the asphalt I was crusing at around 20 to 22 mph or somewhere there abouts. Still recovering from that one. This was on my usual Sat group ride of about 44mi. Around 19 mph for average. In the upper heart rate zone 85 to 90%.

Other then that I've been riding 25 to 30 mi on Sun. Usually 65 to 75 % max HR (no power meter).

30 mi on Mon around 16 to 17 mph avg same on Tues. 22 to 25 mi. on wed. short easy ride some times on Thurs. (sometimes I rest thurs and fri)

BQ

 

[swampy1970]

Hi Jace,

My speed has been increasing somewhat slowly at this point.

Last Saturday before I hit that clump of concrete in the road and ate the asphalt I was crusing at around 20 to 22 mph or somewhere there abouts. Still recovering from that one. This was on my usual Sat group ride of about 44mi. Around 19 mph for average. In the upper heart rate zone 85 to 90%.

Other then that I've been riding 25 to 30 mi on Sun. Usually 65 to 75 % max HR (no power meter).

30 mi on Mon around 16 to 17 mph avg same on Tues. 22 to 25 mi. on wed. short easy ride some times on Thurs. (sometimes I rest thurs and fri)

BQ

You'd probably be wise to mark two days a week for doing short hard efforts. Personally, I found 2 minute efforts at a pace I could maintain for about 1min 50seconds and spend the last 10 seconds chewing handlebar about as effective as any other length of 'interval'. 2 minutes on - 2 minutes rest, repeat until you see God, revisit your lunch or just can't plain ride anymore.

If you had a bit more time to incorporate this into a meaningful structured plan then it'd be a different ball game.

Ride in the position you intend to ride during your ride and maintain good form. If you're riding fatigued and at your limit the last thing you want to do is start riding in a position your not used too using a pedalling action that you have to resort to in order to finish a very hard effort.

 

[bryanquinn]

You'd probably be wise to mark two days a week for doing short hard efforts. Personally, I found 2 minute efforts at a pace I could maintain for about 1min 50seconds and spend the last 10 seconds chewing handlebar about as effective as any other length of 'interval'. 2 minutes on - 2 minutes rest, repeat until you see God, revisit your lunch or just can't plain ride anymore.

I think I read about this method in an issue of Bicycling magazine last year some time. LOL!

I hadn't been brave enough to try it but I've gotten to the point that my desire to exceed my present level of fitness is out weighing my fear of God.

So would you say that these 1 min 50 sec efforts are at 85 to 95% max HR? Then the last 10 sec are at your all out max?

 

[Jace1283]

if you don't workout you should do some squats and leg presses

 

[Tim Lamkin]

Hi All,

I've become frustrated with my cycling. I want to reach a certain level of fitness but I'm not sure how to get there. Assuming I have a fairly strong base as I've been riding 160 to 180 miles a week now for a few months.

I want to ride with the fast guys at the local club. I'm assuming that means being able to maintain an average speed of 24 mph. I'd also like to be able to have the power and speed to stay with the sprints, at least hanging on to the back.

Can someone give me a schedule to ride figuring on peaking in a month?

Assuming I have 5 days to train, what workouts would be recommended for each day?

I really would appreciate any help. I have reached a slump and it's bugging me alot not knowing how to progress from here.

Thanks,

BQ

Are you over training?

 

[bryanquinn]

Nah I doubt that I am over training.

 

[swampy1970]

You'd probably be wise to mark two days a week for doing short hard efforts. Personally, I found 2 minute efforts at a pace I could maintain for about 1min 50seconds and spend the last 10 seconds chewing handlebar about as effective as any other length of 'interval'. 2 minutes on - 2 minutes rest, repeat until you see God, revisit your lunch or just can't plain ride anymore.

I think I read about this method in an issue of Bicycling magazine last year some time. LOL!

I hadn't been brave enough to try it but I've gotten to the point that my desire to exceed my present level of fitness is out weighing my fear of God.

So would you say that these 1 min 50 sec efforts are at 85 to 95% max HR? Then the last 10 sec are at your all out max?

The two minute effort should be a constant effort. You should NOT have anything left for a "sprint" in the last 10 seconds if you did it properly.

 

[bryanquinn]

The two minute effort should be a constant effort. You should NOT have anything left for a "sprint" in the last 10 seconds if you did it properly.

Hey Swampy, would you mind sharing your training schedule with me?

You mentioned a meaningful one and as I have never actually trained using one I'm curious.

I think that this is what has held me from reaching my potential. I'll never actually race more than likely because of my age, but I would like to be able to keep with some faster riders.

Thanks!

 

[Albert 50]

I'll never actually race more than likely because of my age

C'mon now, you're only 48. What has age got to do with racing anyway? My first race was 18 months ago at 50. I compete in the lower grades of a local club & I love it.
Keep off the fags though

 

[bryanquinn]

C'mon now, you're only 48. What has age got to do with racing anyway? My first race was 18 months ago at 50. I compete in the lower grades of a local club & I love it.
Keep off the fags though

Thanks for the vote of confidence Albert!
I actually was able to quit fagging awhile ago!

(I'm sure you must mean cigarettes)!

 

[swampy1970]

Hey Swampy, would you mind sharing your training schedule with me?

You mentioned a meaningful one and as I have never actually trained using one I'm curious.

I think that this is what has held me from reaching my potential. I'll never actually race more than likely because of my age, but I would like to be able to keep with some faster riders.

Thanks!

My old, and effective, training schedule was:

Winter:

Saturday: 2hrs at 5 to 10 bpm under best 50mile tt pace.
Sunday: 2hrs at 5 to 10 bpm under best 50mile tt pace.
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 2hrs at 5 to 10 bpm under best 50mile tt pace.
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 2hrs at 5 to 10 bpm under best 50mile tt pace.
Friday: Rest.

Rest = Easy pedalling in 42x19ish or nothing at all.

Late spring:

Saturday/Sunday: Race or 2hr's as above.
Tuesday/Thursday: Intervals.

10 x 1min
5 min rest
5 x 2 min / with 1 minute rest in-between each
5 min rest
10 x 1 min / with 1 minute rest in-between each
5 min rest
15 x 30seconds w/ 1 minute rest in-between each

That'll get you ready for anything a race can throw at you.

Oh. The most important thing. Sleep lots, rest whenever possible. If you don't feel up to wrestling with bulls or fighting Mike Tyson equiped with a razor sharp set of false teeth, then you're not fresh enough for the intervals.

That was 12 years ago though

These days I do:

Sat/Sun: 90 minutes, 175/180bpm
Tues/thursday:
55 minutes 175/180bpm.
1 minute very hard, 2 minutes rest x repeat 10 times.

I've been off the bike for almost 3 months, with respitory (was thought that it could be cardiac) issues which seem to be getting better. However, now that I'm on industrial strength meds, my lungs are 'seemingly' working better which means that my legs are now becoming more the bottleneck and are getting worked over nicely. LOL. I couldn't do 2 minutes at a very hard effort without running into coordination issues on the PowerCranks..... 50x12 at 88 to 90rpm is bad enough for 1 minute thankyou very much, this rolls out to about 28.5mph-ish. It really doesn't help that I dropped my stem 1" recently - low stems and PowerCranks do not go together well I tell ya. Feck. But maintaining form is important, IMHO. I could up that to 92rpm but the cranks go out of whack at about 55 seconds....

If you don't train in the position you race/ride fast in, then don't be too surprised if you're very uncomfortable after 5 minutes of riding in a tucked position on the drops during a race or fast ride. Given that aerodynamics at 25mph, are just as important as producing 300watts on a road bike on the drops, the you better get good at putting out the power and riding on the drops. But I'll warm you that it will suck to high heaven for the first couple of weeks when getting used to it.

After just a couple of sessions with the 1 minute efforts I can definately tell there's more "gas in the tank" when it comes to maintaining speed - but then I've had a history of a decade or so of racing in years gone by which helps my cause a lot.

 

[bryanquinn]

My old, and effective, training schedule was:

Winter:

Saturday: 2hrs at 5 to 10 bpm under best 50mile tt pace.
Sunday: 2hrs at 5 to 10 bpm under best 50mile tt pace.
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 2hrs at 5 to 10 bpm under best 50mile tt pace.
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 2hrs at 5 to 10 bpm under best 50mile tt pace.
Friday: Rest.

Rest = Easy pedalling in 42x19ish or nothing at all.

Late spring:

Saturday/Sunday: Race or 2hr's as above.
Tuesday/Thursday: Intervals.

10 x 1min
5 min rest
5 x 2 min / with 1 minute rest in-between each
5 min rest
10 x 1 min / with 1 minute rest in-between each
5 min rest
15 x 30seconds w/ 1 minute rest in-between each

That'll get you ready for anything a race can throw at you.

Oh. The most important thing. Sleep lots, rest whenever possible. If you don't feel up to wrestling with bulls or fighting Mike Tyson equiped with a razor sharp set of false teeth, then you're not fresh enough for the intervals.

That was 12 years ago though

These days I do:

Sat/Sun: 90 minutes, 175/180bpm
Tues/thursday:
55 minutes 175/180bpm.
1 minute very hard, 2 minutes rest x repeat 10 times.

I've been off the bike for almost 3 months, with respitory (was thought that it could be cardiac) issues which seem to be getting better. However, now that I'm on industrial strength meds, my lungs are 'seemingly' working better which means that my legs are now becoming more the bottleneck and are getting worked over nicely. LOL. I couldn't do 2 minutes at a very hard effort without running into coordination issues on the PowerCranks..... 50x12 at 88 to 90rpm is bad enough for 1 minute thankyou very much, this rolls out to about 28.5mph-ish. It really doesn't help that I dropped my stem 1" recently - low stems and PowerCranks do not go together well I tell ya. Feck. But maintaining form is important, IMHO. I could up that to 92rpm but the cranks go out of whack at about 55 seconds....

If you don't train in the position you race/ride fast in, then don't be too surprised if you're very uncomfortable after 5 minutes of riding in a tucked position on the drops during a race or fast ride. Given that aerodynamics at 25mph, are just as important as producing 300watts on a road bike on the drops, the you better get good at putting out the power and riding on the drops. But I'll warm you that it will suck to high heaven for the first couple of weeks when getting used to it.

After just a couple of sessions with the 1 minute efforts I can definately tell there's more "gas in the tank" when it comes to maintaining speed - but then I've had a history of a decade or so of racing in years gone by which helps my cause a lot.

Thanks Swampy,
I'm sorry that you've been having such health troubles.
As soon as this hip of mine heals I'm going to get back on the bike and start with a new direction in my training.
It seems as if I'm plagued with small setbacks and such lately.
Last year about this time I was healing from a broken ankle and ribs from a motorcycle accident.
BQ

 

[stilesiii]

Intervals will definitely help improve.

At least twice a week you should add intervals of %90-95 MHR efforts. All out, all you can for a set time, followed by a rest %60-65 MHR for a set time, then repeat.

Your body will adjust and the adjustment will translate in higher MPH averages with same efforts.

 

[Piotr]

Short intervals are good for peaking (which is what you want), but be careful not to incorporate them into an all-year-round weekly plan. The majority of your training should be done at sub-threshold level, eg. 2x20 min, 1x60 min. Short intervals if overdone will take a lot of energy out of you and eventually your fitness will start to decline (you'll be able to push hard, but not for as long). So go ahead try them for a month, but watch out for increasing fatigue.