Originally posted by J-MAT
Mali:
What Memphmann is trying to say is you need to lay down a base, but if you are already riding an hour a day for 5 months, it's time to start doing more.
If you know what you are doing, you can build/maintain very high levels of power output with 5-8 hours per week of proper training. Most top amateurs, especially master's athletes over 30 have to juggle a family, professional career, and elite-level riding. They have no choice but to train hard. 2-3 hours every day is not an option, yet these riders have very impressive levels of power output and performance.
Basically, you can ride long hours at lower intensity or you can ride harder for shorter periods and get the same aerobic benefit. If you are short on time, you have no choice but to work harder for shorter periods.
Most riders train inefficiently, wasting a lot of time. Years ago when I was in school and worked part time, I rode about 13,000-15,000 miles a year. My fitness was real good, but I had time for nothing else. It's not until you get more in your life that you start to become an efficient time manager and start riding for results with the time you have.
You can get championship performances with 60-90 minute workouts. On the trainer or road, warm up and cool down for 10-15 minutes. That takes care of 20-30 minutes and is important. That leaves you 30-40 minutes for work with a 60 minute workout, and 60-70 minutes for work over a 90 minute ride.
The most productive thing a rider can do is increase aerobically produced power. Generally speaking this means working around 83-92% of maximum heart rate. Well trained riders can time trial around 92% of maximum heart rate for about an hour. Training at lower aerobic levels (80-83%) is also quite beneficial.
You can do short blocks like 3-5-8+ minutes with a few minutes of recovery/easy riding in between, or you can ride continuously for 10-30-60 minutes. There is so much overlap between the heart rates, don't worry about being too specific for now.
If you are going to train at 80-85%, it's probably best to focus on continous efforts of 2x15 or 3x10 minute blocks on the trainer since it is mentally harder to keep going longer indoors. If you can stand it, ride for longer (20-30 minutes) on the trainer. Outdoors shoot for 30-60 minutes continously.
The idea is to maximally stress the heart without generating very much lactic acid. The higher the heart rate, the more acid you will generate. Shoot for 3 times a week at 80-85% as an ideal minimum.
If you are going to race, you need higher training intensity, like 86-92%. The higher the intensity, generally the shorter the effort. 3-6 x 5 minutes at around 90+% is common, although if you can do that for 10-20-30 minutes that's even better.
Do more of your training at the lower end (80-85%) and less of it at the high end. Mix things up from time to time. Don't always do the same workout every ride. Once or twice a week (weekend?)ride longer, and do some hills.
You might get tired by jumping into more intensity than you are used to. Build up gradually, but steadily. Keep a training journal and log intensity, duration, cadences and subjective thoughts on the ride (good ride, bad ride, etc.).
Ride easy between hard workouts, around 60-65-70% of max heart rate. Recovery rides should feel very easy and not like work. If you are too tired/not recovered just ride easy or maybe take the day off. Don't skip meals, and get plenty of sleep.
Put a cadence meter on your bike and pay attention to your legspeed. Cadences of 90-95-100-105 rpm stress the heart more than lower cadences like 70-85 rpm which stress the leg muscles more. Work on both. It will provide variety and make you a better rider.
Happy training!!!
