I need some input on training. I have (delusional) aspirations of becoming a decent club mountian biker (maybe cat 2 level) and maybe decent road cyclist eventually (maybe cat 3) with great sprinting power. I am older, 35, and have just begun riding after an 8 year lay-off. Currently 6'1- 213lbs or 1,85 and 97kgs. For the last 2 months I have been riding weekly getting stronger and fitter on every ride. I can tell this by my times and how I feel eg almost puking or just thinking about it and how much my quads are burning on the same hills in the same gear. After 2 weeks of starting I was able to hit a little over 36mph on flats. I think I am a little stronger now, but can't test this because I only have a mountain bike at my disposal. It's a decent older Cannondale with full XT-R so I can't blame the bike if I am not doing well. This week I road 3 times instead of once. The problem I encountered on the third ride with a day off since the second ride was that my energy was super low, so I am going to keep working on quality instead of quanity for another month.
I have devised 2 bike rides and am planning a third. The first one consists of a brutal approximate 13 minute climb followed by a fairly hilly section for another 20 minutes add the warm up and this equals 47 minutes of elapsed time, the downhill section that follows takes about 8 minutes so it is a total of 55 minutes. I can and have occasionally added another section which would add another 45 minutes of fairly strenuous terrain. The other ride is a 5km loop which currently consists of 10 minutes of climbing followed by a 3 minutes descent. I did 3 laps last week in the rain. It took 38:37. I plan to work myself up to 5 laps in an hour, and go from there. I like this ride because I can monitor how much I am falling off the pace or if I could have pushed harder early on etc... The third ride I would like to incorporate would consist of easy riding, a max sprint for 50-200 meter, relax, do another and so on until I have done maybe 5 sprints while my body is adapting. Eventually I plan to get in a serious 2-3 hour ride once every week or so too. Lastly I am getting a indoor trainer so I can ride first thing in the morning to burn off some of my excess baggage I am carrying around my waist.
Please comment on my plan. The one thing I think would perhaps help me would be a HRM. Any thoughts? Thanks for your input.
If anyone has a quality older road bike or track bike they woundn't mind parting with for not a lot of money, please let me know. I probably would need a 57-59. Please PM me. Thanks.
I have devised 2 bike rides and am planning a third. The first one consists of a brutal approximate 13 minute climb followed by a fairly hilly section for another 20 minutes add the warm up and this equals 47 minutes of elapsed time, the downhill section that follows takes about 8 minutes so it is a total of 55 minutes. I can and have occasionally added another section which would add another 45 minutes of fairly strenuous terrain. The other ride is a 5km loop which currently consists of 10 minutes of climbing followed by a 3 minutes descent. I did 3 laps last week in the rain. It took 38:37. I plan to work myself up to 5 laps in an hour, and go from there. I like this ride because I can monitor how much I am falling off the pace or if I could have pushed harder early on etc... The third ride I would like to incorporate would consist of easy riding, a max sprint for 50-200 meter, relax, do another and so on until I have done maybe 5 sprints while my body is adapting. Eventually I plan to get in a serious 2-3 hour ride once every week or so too. Lastly I am getting a indoor trainer so I can ride first thing in the morning to burn off some of my excess baggage I am carrying around my waist.
Please comment on my plan. The one thing I think would perhaps help me would be a HRM. Any thoughts? Thanks for your input.
If anyone has a quality older road bike or track bike they woundn't mind parting with for not a lot of money, please let me know. I probably would need a 57-59. Please PM me. Thanks.
