How Many Hours Do You Train Per Week?



meowcatz

New Member
Apr 27, 2010
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I'm interested in seeing what other people do for training.
How many hours do you train per week (on average)? (If you go by miles, or km, state that if you'd like). What does your weekly training consist of (i.e. what types of rides do you do)?
If you race, state your category.
Thanks!
 
~15 hrs/week.

cat 4

T/R/S = intervals (sat interval workout sometimes replaced by endurance ride)
M/W = moderate-paced or recovery rides (15-30mi)
F= off the bike completely
Sun = endurance ride (50-100mi)
 
well, I just re-read my above post, and realized that the schedule I gave you is for a non-race week. The racing schedule changes things a bit. Weekend workouts are often replaced by races and when that happens, "pre-race rides" are sometimes scheduled in . . . Thus, during the season my training schedule isn't set in stone. It works best when races are on saturdays and then if it isn't a target race, I'll train through the race.
 
My hourly training in the spring time is around 6-10 hrs a week. Once you have endurance, you should focus on strength and power. I do have a real job and family, so my time to train is limited like others. However, to stay competitive, I do some very tough hill repeats lasting 4-6 minutes each.

Cat 1

Cameron Hoffman
Pure Endurance
 
Just checked my log chart. For April, I avgd 8hrs/wk on the bike. That's ride training time. Not inlcuding the 10min or so after every ride that I use to wind down or cool down. Usually a few laps in my hood. As the weather is getting nicer, I have a feeling I'll be increasing it just to be out on those nice days/nights.
 
Category 3...likely changing soon though. I train 10-20 hours a week. Most of it is L2 or L3 with one ride in excess of 4 hours and one ride hitting L4-L6.
 
i just started cycling a lil over a month ago and i try to ride atleast 30-36 miles a week and a 10 mile ride on the weekends.some times less,depending if my wife is here to watch my son wile i go out,and depending what time i get home from work.

i usually do 12-15 miles on tuesdays and thursdays usually less than a hour.
a quick 3 mile or more if i can on mondays and wednesdays
and a 10 mile ride on either saturday or sunday morning.

i try to ride as much as i can. i enjoy every bit of it,and feel great after .
 
LB CYCLIST said:
i just started cycling a lil over a month ago and i try to ride atleast 30-36 miles a week and a 10 mile ride on the weekends.some times less,depending if my wife is here to watch my son wile i go out,and depending what time i get home from work.

i usually do 12-15 miles on tuesdays and thursdays usually less than a hour.
a quick 3 mile or more if i can on mondays and wednesdays
and a 10 mile ride on either saturday or sunday morning.

i try to ride as much as i can. i enjoy every bit of it,and feel great after .

Good for you, LB. Keep after it!

I try to get in at least 6 hours per week. I try to ride at least 100 miles per week and sometimes as much as 150 miles when I have time.

I'm not training for anything, just riding for fun and fitness.
 
choffman said:
My hourly training in the spring time is around 6-10 hrs a week. Once you have endurance, you should focus on strength and power. I do have a real job and family, so my time to train is limited like others. However, to stay competitive, I do some very tough hill repeats lasting 4-6 minutes each.

Cat 1

Cameron Hoffman
Pure Endurance
Nice post Cameron, and for folks that still think big events require big training hours Cameron's understated post fails to mention his 3 consecutive wins racing the 206 mile, one day LOTOJA in the pro/1/2 field.

I'm currently training 7-9 hours per week, a bit down from previous years but with more intensity including a lot of 4 to 5 minute hills. I'm holding my own in Master and Senior Cat 3 races, no wins so far this season but several last year and on track for a good season.

-Dave
 
choffman said:
My hourly training in the spring time is around 6-10 hrs a week. Once you have endurance, you should focus on strength and power. I do have a real job and family, so my time to train is limited like others. However, to stay competitive, I do some very tough hill repeats lasting 4-6 minutes each.

Cat 1

Cameron Hoffman
Pure Endurance

Yeah, some people (ahem, Cameron) can win Lotoja 3 times on 6-10 hrs a week. What does that tell ya? :eek:;) I do the same (indoors, outdoors, LSD, SST, VO2max intervals) and can't even upgrade to a Cat. 2. Well, maybe if I raced more... :rolleyes:

P.S. I'm not really back, just lurking once in a while. :p
 
CalicoCat said:
~15 hrs/week.

cat 4

T/R/S = intervals (sat interval workout sometimes replaced by endurance ride)
M/W = moderate-paced or recovery rides (15-30mi)
F= off the bike completely
Sun = endurance ride (50-100mi)

Nice! My sched exactly. Although, Sat. and Sun. are most often long (3-5hr) endurance rides with Sunday being the fast group ride.

Monday - Active recovery ride
Tues - short (1-4min) intervals or weekly 'up and down' (think hill repeats) club crit race
Wednesday - Active recovery ride
Thurs - long (15-20min) intervals or weekly pancake flat club crit
Friday - off

Cat. 3, strictly crit racer. 12.5-17hrs/week - I could get by on less, but I just like riding my bike. Mostly indoors during the week, and dependent on what my wife allows on the weekends:D...
 
I just started cycling about 3 months ago. I race cat 5.
I have been riding about 8-10 hours per week over the last couple of months.
My schedule usually goes like this:
Monday-off
Tuesday-easy 1.5 hour ride
Wednesday-2.5-3 hour club ride
Thursday-easy 1-1.5 hour ride
Friday-easy-1-1.5 hour ride
Saturday-race or 3 hr club ride
Sunday-1.5-2 hour ride
I haven't been doing much as far as formalized intervals go, aside from some short lactate threshold stuff here and there.
I'd like to get some feedback and see if I should be doing more riding, or if I need to up the intensity by doing more interval-type stuff.
 
You'll want some intensity and ideally some intensity under your own control not only group rides.

Really there's no such thing as 'short lactate threshold stuff' with the exception possibly of some specific HIIT work like Tabatas but you won't do those by accident.

To really target L4 (Threshold) work which is key for building sustainable power, for time trialing, for breakaway and chase power, for recovery between frequent hard bursts in races like crits, etc., you want to do sustained efforts at bare minimum of 10 minutes, 12 is better as a minimum length and most folks do L4 work in 15 to 30 minute efforts. They should be continuous with no traffic interruptions, steep descents where you coast or brake or other things that get you off the gas pedal for more than about 30 seconds along the way. Ride them just below your best pace for that duration, you need to finish the efforts and finish the set if you're doing 2 or more but they should be pretty hard and get you breathing deep and steadily and require focus to complete.

I'd definitely add a day of those each week and personally I do two days of those when I'm not racing on the weekends usually a Thursday and Sunday session. Just adding that to your schedule will make a huge difference but there's a bunch of other focused things you can work on in time like VO2 Max and short anaerobic bursts as well as pure sprints. But try introducing a day or two of focused Threshold work in place of one or more of your 'easy' days and you should see results.

Good luck,
-Dave
 
daveryanwyoming said:
You'll want some intensity and ideally some intensity under your own control not only group rides.

Really there's no such thing as 'short lactate threshold stuff' with the exception possibly of some specific HIIT work like Tabatas but you won't do those by accident.

To really target L4 (Threshold) work which is key for building sustainable power, for time trialing, for breakaway and chase power, for recovery between frequent hard bursts in races like crits, etc., you want to do sustained efforts at bare minimum of 10 minutes, 12 is better as a minimum length and most folks do L4 work in 15 to 30 minute efforts. They should be continuous with no traffic interruptions, steep descents where you coast or brake or other things that get you off the gas pedal for more than about 30 seconds along the way. Ride them just below your best pace for that duration, you need to finish the efforts and finish the set if you're doing 2 or more but they should be pretty hard and get you breathing deep and steadily and require focus to complete.

I'd definitely add a day of those each week and personally I do two days of those when I'm not racing on the weekends usually a Thursday and Sunday session. Just adding that to your schedule will make a huge difference but there's a bunch of other focused things you can work on in time like VO2 Max and short anaerobic bursts as well as pure sprints. But try introducing a day or two of focused Threshold work in place of one or more of your 'easy' days and you should see results.

Good luck,
-Dave

Dave,
Thank you for your response. I will try doing what you said and add in a lactate threshold workout each week. The stuff I have been doing has been 2x10 min intervals with 10 min recovery in between. Would you mind describing what L4 is? I have seen all kinds of "L" zones tossed around on these forums and I'm not quite sure what that means. Is it based on HR or power output?
Thanks,
Ted
 
I just started racing this year at 49YO racing age, and just started riding a few years ago, but for the balance of the year my week typically looks like this:

Tue AM - 90 min, with 2 reps of a hard 5 mile section of rollers that I treat like a simulated break/mini TT
Wed AM - 90 min tempo/SST kind of pace, roughly 91 - 93% of LT intensity
Thur PM - mid week longer ride wrapped around a 35 mile loop with a lot of stiff hill climbs ridden at race pace if I have no racing for the upcoming weekend; this is the hardest ride of the week on those occasions
Fri AM - 60 ~ 90 minutes easy, really easy
Sat AM - 4 to 5 hour with a lot of climbing - jam the hills pretty hard, but otherwise Z2 to easy Z3 pace
Sun PM - 2.5 to 3 hours, wrapped around either a 2x30 at TT pace or 6~8x4min intervals with short recovery
Mon AM - 60 min easy, or just off if rain/work did not interfere with previous week

So I plan on around 12~13 hours, 7 days / week of riding, but usually family, job, weather or just Murphy's Law dials that back to 10 to 12 hours across 5 or 6 days of riding each week. I usually try to get the Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday workout included, even if they get moved around in the week.

Feedback from Dave et al if this is a decent approach? I try hard to have a well thought out, effective training routine, but then just not obsess about whether I make every workout.

Cheers!
 
So flipping through GC it looks like the numbers are...

CTL: 100 (still on the upswing)

Avg Training Hours/week: 10

Category:
4
First year of cycling training & first year racing.
Doing alright, with a couple of wins & podiums to my name.:cool:

Training style/workouts:
SST, all my planned workouts are IF >= 0.85.
Semi-regular sprint sessions during recovery rides.
Occasional L5 & L6 blocks as needed for specific event prep.

No big secrets or formula. It seems to me this game is less about the microdetails (e.g., whether you do your intervals at 20, or 21, or 23.57 minutes, 2.2x per week) of daily workouts and more about consistency, structure, targeting the right energy systems, practicing skills, and patience. It takes time for the big, meaningful long-term adaptations (mitochondria density, capillarization, fibre conversion) to happen.
 
hello my name is Madison and i just got a defy3 last couple days ago, and past 2days iv riden 37miles at a avg 16-20mph top speed 26mph but only for a few then i get drained, and i plan to go ride in the morning again, once im listening to my music and just riding it's fun!! and im a little over weight, so hopefully this will get me in shape. i use to be 250 right now im 185, im 5'11 Male. yes dont let the name fool you.

but i was woundering since i think i wanna do some races next year so this year i'm just trying to get in shape and get my endurance up, what is a good amount of miles to do a week to get in ready to atleast finish the race next year lol, also what is a good diet plan, and any tips.
 
Cat4

8-10 hours a week

For the two or three months leading up to the season, I stay away from intervals and do mostly zone 2/3 stuff: 4 rides a week, 3 of 'em around 25-35 miles, the fourth usually a 50 or 65 miler. Whatever intensity happens, happens on the climbs, I don't fight it. On long climbs I can't seem to help but ride at my limit.

After a few weeks, one of the weekly endurance rides is replaced with 2x20min at just under threshold

A month or so before the first season race, I start doing 4x2mins at 90+%max HR twice a week*. Once the season starts, one of these sessions is replaced with a weekend race.

*Edit: because I don't have a PM, and HR lags, and having ridden as long as I have, these are usually based on feel. I know if I can't complete the set, I need to ease it back a little next time. For me a lot of this is retrospective when I look at my data post-ride. I like going on feel because that's the way it happens in races, and my rent $$ is not dependant on my results. The only time I use my HR monitor during a competitive event is for TT's, making sure I don't start too hard.
 
Originally Posted by meowcatz .

I'm interested in seeing what other people do for training.
How many hours do you train per week (on average)? (If you go by miles, or km, state that if you'd like). What does your weekly training consist of (i.e. what types of rides do you do)?
If you race, state your category.
Thanks!
I just love these guys who claim to race on low hours. The Cat2's I know train on the road 4 days a week: Tue 4h, Thur 4h, Sat 6h, Sun 6h. And then 3 days a week indoors.

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Remember that you only need to beat the guys who show up to race. If they are training less than you, you have a better chance of doing well.

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I don't race. I have obligations: riding with my granddaughter 3 days a week. So I only train 4 days a week 4 hours a day. I usually find the strength to put in 2 hard 20 minute segments each day. I it is getting hot out and I don't see to many guys to chase down this time of the year.