Need a bit of advice

First off. Hats off to you for being in the service. This coming from your neighbour to the north. I've always respected people in the military.

Glad to hear that you're getting back on the horse on your way to better shape. Slow and easy would be my recommendation. I'm like yourself. Hard not to go full speed. Increase your distance a little at a time. Maybe set a goal of say 25 miles in a month. If that's possible?!? You've already done 15miles. I think 25 is definitely within short reach. Having done marathons. You already have the mental background for endurance. Increasing each outing by say 10%. Each wknd, do a longish ride. Start again on week 2 etc. I think You'll be able to do 25 in a few weeks or less.

You should probably invest in a bike computer. 20-30$ will get you a decent ome these days. Excellent way to track your progress too. I chart and log all my rides personally.

Guess it comes down to this. Don't push your body too deep into the pain zone too soon.

Good luck.

You're on the right track. With 2 weeks of riding, the most important thing for you to do is more riding. The computer is a great idea. Try to measure your basic fitness level, and make some short and long term goals based on that.

For example, your long term goal, you mentioned the Ironman, but a Century ride could be great as well. A short term goal could be something like completing 50 or 100 miles in one week.

Find out how many miles you can handle comfortably in one ride, and at what speed. Based on that, try to gradually increase your numbers by about 10%.

There are a million different ways, and billion different training plans. Each one might be good or not good for you. Just keep riding, and everything else will fall into place.

Good luck,
-Greg

[lang=de]i have checked it’s really great[/lang]

Thanks for all the help everyone. I made an account at mapmyride and downloaded the application for my iphone. Seems like a good program, and being free is never a problem.

I also purchased a computer as suggested. I did a bit of research and ended up getting the Sigma BC 1909 HR. It has cadence and heart rate as well, lots of useful info I thought and the software program that can be purchased for it this month at 50% off looks pretty useful.

I think I am going to start off doing 50 miles a week and increase by 10% a week. I've now done 35 in the past 4 days so hopefully starting at 50 a week isn't to much. Will see how that goes, also need to look into finding some riding friends, definitely not in a bad city to be riding so that shouldn't be to hard.

My goal plan:
50 miles a week increasing by 10% a week until I am riding 100+ a week.
This is my 10 week short term goal plan starting this week. Does this seem too aggressive?

Wk 1) 50 (May 31 - June 6)
Wk 2) 55
Wk 3) 61
Wk 4) 67
Wk 5) 74
Wk 6) 81
Wk 7) 89
Wk 9) 98
Wk 10) 100+ (August 16-22)

Mid Term Goal:
Complete a Century ride by June 2011

Sounds good to me. Mapmyride is a nice tool, and the computer is a good choice as well, because cadence will be one of the more important tools for you. The average rpm is around 80-90 rpm.

Just keep getting those miles under you and you'll be just fine.

+1 Sounds like a good plan to me, too.

MK, just listen to your body. If something starts to hurt, then ease off a bit. If everything feels good, then just keep going. You know how to do it, you've done it before.....evaluate and adjust.

Keep us posted on how things are going for you! 😎

64Paramount said:

+1 Sounds like a good plan to me, too.

MK, just listen to your body. If something starts to hurt, then ease off a bit. If everything feels good, then just keep going. You know how to do it, you've done it before.....evaluate and adjust.

Keep us posted on how things are going for you! 😎

Sometimes I just hate to listen to what my body is telling me!! those times where your mind is stronger than what your body can deliver. BUT....you really have to get to know the signs of what your body tells you. there's a reason why certain parts/muscles hurt. i'm sure i'm not the only one here who's injured themselves on being too eager or excited. and basically ignoring the signs.

good to see that you've made yourself a plan. well done. makes training so much easier when you set goals. i log all my rides on an excel spreadsheet that i've made up. pretty cool to see the progress happening. if you want, i can send you a copy of the template. just plug in your own numbers and you're set to go. let me know.

Did a 20 mile ride today, trying to get the hang of this cadence idea and test out the computer. My ride data:

Trip Distance: 19.91 miles
Average Cadence: 80
Trip Time: 1:35:47
Average Pulse: 149
Max Pulse: 174

Should I try and keep things at this level, lower or higher on certain things? My main concern was seeing a max pulse of 174 that seems very high.

I will say I'm not sure yet if keeping my cadence at 80 was good or bad. It definitely was more difficult in some areas and easier in others.
What is the point behind keeping it in the 80-90 range? Less injuries? More weight loss / muscle growth?

Well, I think it looks okay. Did you feel like you were really gasping for air at anytime, or just really struggling to keep riding at any time?

My guess is no, but I better let you answer that. 😄

You averaged 12.5 mph on your ride today, so you are off to a really good start. If you aren't having any negative side affects tomorrow, then I would say stick with your plan.

Keeping your pedaling cadence up in the 80 to 90 range is both to keep you from over stressing your muscles and to keep you in a peak performance range.

Just as you would downshift your car (or it will do it itself if it has an automatic transmission) when going up a steep hill to keep from lugging the engine.

You could just stay in the same gear and just keep pushing harder on the gas pedal, but that really adds additional stress to your car's engine and consumes more fuel.

When you are are riding your legs are the engine and the fuel is stored within your body.

I think as you ride more an 80 cadence won't feel that difficult, although that is for you to decide. I pedal much slower overall than I did when I was younger, but I still increase my pedal speed when I climb hills. What I do works for me.

Some of the folks on the forum can really pedal fast.......

Well I wouldn't exactly say I was hurting today. Went and did a 16 mile ride that was a fun event the city put on "Ride the drive" where they closed down 6 miles of street around the capital.

I kept a cadence average of 76 today (I'm assuming it was lower when I slowed down to pass the tents and booths and such to look) Every time I was riding though I watched and it was 80+

Your explanation of cadence makes a ton of sense, thanks for that.

mk33 said:

What is the point behind keeping it in the 80-90 range? Less injuries? More weight loss / muscle growth?

Paramount is right.

My average comfortable cadence now is around 92-96 rpm. It will take some time and practice, but keep working on that instead of trying to mash your pedals. Don't get me wrong, practicing some riding in a hard gear at 70 rpm is good as well, mostly to get better in climbing. But if you stay in low cadence all the time, you will burn out faster.

Think about this, Lance Armstrong keeps his cadence around 110-120 rpm during a race. With that much spin, you don't need much muscle or strength/force to ride fast.

Went for a ride this morning. I think I'm getting accustomed to riding much more. Did a 16mi ride this morning, I can tell the cadence theory is working, as I went up 2 gears higher and kept the same cadence as I was in the lower gear. (I'm assuming this is representing that my muscles are growing / becoming recognized with cycling a bit more)

One thing I did notice is that after a 19mi on Saturday and 16 mi yesterday, I could really feel the burn in my legs the first 3 miles or so of my ride today.

Which brings me to a question of how to decide when you need a day off from biking? I don't mean need a day off because I'm tired or sore but *actually* need to take a day off for recovery?

Anyhow stats from this mornings ride... (Went up significantly)

Trip Distance: 16.41 miles
Average Cadence: 87
Trip Time: 0:56:12

I didn't wear my heart rate sensor this morning, kind of which I had now. I can tell my speed went up significantly being able to maintain that cadence in higher gears.

I try to take 1-2 days off, now that I'm riding back in full swing. Recovery is #1. It will depend on what intensity your rides are at. If you go for a ride today and you give 100% effort, the next day either take a day off or go for a recovery ride that's around 55% of your effort.

Figure out your RPE (rate of perceived exertion), and just judge yourself daily based on that.

Just keep riding, and you will figure it out quick enough.

So, as usual, I guess I'll be going against the grain with regards to the advice. :p

You may be just starting out on the bike but you state you've done marathons, loved running and was a Marine. You may be overweight but you've got some good background in aerobic activities. With this in mind your limiting factors will likely be your past injuries. Cycling is pretty easy on the body compared to most sports but being stuck in pretty much one position can introduce problems of its own.

Rather than setting a mileage goal for the entire week, base your effort on time during the week and at the weekend find somewhere interesting to ride too. Take a couple of water bottles (two 24oz ones will give you a few hours in all but extreme heat) and whatever you like to chomp on (cereal bar, banana, carbo gel goop) and go ride for 30 to 40 miles. Give it a bit of effort but don't go crazy and learn to use the gears properly on the hills. You'll do fine.

Have fun.

Sounds like you're making some quick progress there eh? excellent. keep it up.

don't forget to listen to your body! it'll tell you when you're pushing it too hard. for me, i have a hard time NOT jumping on the bike the next day after a hard ride. I'll tend to get on anyhow, but ONLY do a recovery ride. about a 50-70% intensity. basically a cruise. just enjoying the ride really. no thought of heart rate or training. just a casual ride.

Used today as an "off" day. I did a casual ride only 5.21 miles, perfect day too as it has been raining all day.

Glad I did go however as I learned some valuable lessons.

1. Wet brakes require much longer stopping times.
2. Wet leaves and grass on cement are VERY slippery... (almost had my first spill going around a corner with some wet leaves / grass / flower pedal stuff... slowed way down and still slipped)

and off topic realization...

Getting hit in the chest by a bird freaking hurts... (Yes it flew away okay after I stopped to look it popped up and flew off)

I've been hit by some pretty big bugs, but never a bird. :eek:

I avoid riding in the rain if at all possible, for all the reasons you mentioned, and because it's just messy... 😄