Rookie training

Sublime99 said:

I am 26 years old I live in Florida, i just started cycling and enjoy it for the 2 months i have been doing it. I ride 4-5 time a week for about an hour give or take each time. My avg speed is 14.5 to 15 mph over 15-18 miles.

What is a good way to start training to build a solid base? I train with a heart rate monitor and my max is 194 and i usually stay between 145-165 thourout my ride. Somedays i stay at 165 the whole ride (i don't know if this is good or bad?) and it is a pretty grueling ride.

What would you guys recommend to start with, i want to train for a century and average a speed of 15-17 mph the whole way. Right now i am dealing with saddle soreness and i am asking on another section what i should do. My longest ride has been 25 miles.

Does anyone have any advice? Anyone?

I would check out Chris Carmichael's book The Ultimate Ride. It has all the information you will need to do good heart rate training. It focuses on periodization - a process to build to peak performance on a schedule. There are different periods and in each period a different heart rate range to use for training. For example in the foundation period you should be training at anywhere from 60% - 80% of you max heart rate.

The link below has some useful information:
livestrong.orgHow To Train.htmOpen ↗

Hi, I'm 49 yrs old, and I will be doing ride of 500 miles in 8 days. 3 yrs ago I did my first centry, but I start, riding 3 weeks ago again.

I would like to know if someone could give me some advice on how to do a faster training for riding 60 miles every day or what kind of training should I be doing when I have less than 9 weeks before my ride.

If you've been riding for 2 months at 75%-85% of MHR, you've built a base. At that intensity, you won't hurt yourself and you will gradually become more fit as a function of how many hours/week you ride. Average speeds of 15-17mph on the flat isn't difficult. That's basically a gravity-drop pedaling effort, or ~100w of power. If you want more speed, you might want to take a day or two a week (non-consecutive) and do some intervals at ~90% of MHR. But, you can achieve your stated objective by just increasing your time on the bike at your current pace.

leon_G said:

Hi, I'm 49 yrs old, and I will be doing ride of 500 miles in 8 days. 3 yrs ago I did my first centry, but I start, riding 3 weeks ago again.

I would like to know if someone could give me some advice on how to do a faster training for riding 60 miles every day or what kind of training should I be doing when I have less than 9 weeks before my ride.

My advice would be to first increase your distance and second increase your speed. You can ramp up to 60 miles/day in a few weeks. You can do ~20 miles/day right out of the gate and add ~10 miles/day per week for 4 weeks, if you keep your intensity down. Try using what I call a gravity-drop pedaling stroke. Basically, you just use your leg weight on the downstroke and then just unweight for the upstroke. This pedaling stroke will produce ~100w of power and ~14-15mph of speed on the flat w/o wind, and is no more effort than walking. Once you get your miles and time up, you can gradually increase speed. You're not going to hurt anything with this training plan, but you may have a sore tailbone until you adapt to the time on the saddle.

Well i weigh 278lbs and 15 -17 mph is work for me, today's ride was a little easier and i maintained 15.9 mph on flats and hills for 1 hr 15 minutes after a 20 minute warm up. I am sure as i lose the weight it will become easier basically i am trying to increase time while keeping up the speed i am currently at now. I was in the army and when i got out my weight went through the roof over the first two years i gained 60lbs and this last 2 years i have gained the other 18. At 200lbs i was at 12% bf which isn't bad now i am at 30% i want to drop my weight to 230 as my first short term goal and then work on intensity and speed. I have changed my lifestyle by eating healthier and tracking my calories on fitday.com (breaks down macros-micro nutrients and best of all it is free.) I am riding a cheap road bike but the way i look at it is if i can do it on this bike then i will be even better on a more expensive bike about 8-12 months down the road.

RapDaddyo said:

My advice would be to first increase your distance and second increase your speed. You can ramp up to 60 miles/day in a few weeks. You can do ~20 miles/day right out of the gate and add ~10 miles/day per week for 4 weeks, if you keep your intensity down. Try using what I call a gravity-drop pedaling stroke. Basically, you just use your leg weight on the downstroke and then just unweight for the upstroke. This pedaling stroke will produce ~100w of power and ~14-15mph of speed on the flat w/o wind, and is no more effort than walking. Once you get your miles and time up, you can gradually increase speed. You're not going to hurt anything with this training plan, but you may have a sore tailbone until you adapt to the time on the saddle.

Sublime99 said:

Well i weigh 278lbs and 15 -17 mph is work for me, today's ride was a little easier and i maintained 15.9 mph on flats and hills for 1 hr 15 minutes after a 20 minute warm up. I am sure as i lose the weight it will become easier basically i am trying to increase time while keeping up the speed i am currently at now. I was in the army and when i got out my weight went through the roof over the first two years i gained 60lbs and this last 2 years i have gained the other 18. At 200lbs i was at 12% bf which isn't bad now i am at 30% i want to drop my weight to 230 as my first short term goal and then work on intensity and speed. I have changed my lifestyle by eating healthier and tracking my calories on fitday.com (breaks down macros-micro nutrients and best of all it is free.) I am riding a cheap road bike but the way i look at it is if i can do it on this bike then i will be even better on a more expensive bike about 8-12 months down the road.

The weight will come off if you put the time in the saddle. I began riding again on 3/20 this year after a long layoff. At that time I weighed 212 with 28% BF. I have ridden 14-20 hours/week since 3/20 and now weigh 175 with 18% BF. I think I will level off at 165 and 15% BF. I haven't changed my diet one iota, so I know it's due to cycling. Just get the time on the bike and don't worry about speed. Speed will increase naturally as the weeks go by.

Sublime99 said:

Well i weigh 278lbs...

Well, as they say, that's a horse of a different color. If you goal is to lose weight, I'd say you are doing just fine. Lower intensity efforts burn primarly fat as opposed to higher intensity efforts that burn glycogen (blood sugar). I'd keep your intensity where it is and try to slowly increase mileage. Remember, it takes a deficit of about 3K-4K calories to lose 1 lb of body weight. That equates to about 5-7 hours of cycling (if that's the only place you reduce calories from....)

Keep at it, you'll only get better....

kreuzotter.deespeed.htmOpen ↗

I want to lose the weight but my top goal right now is to increase mileage at the same pace and hopefully be ready for the ms 150 in florida next year. 2 day ride 80 the first 70 the second, from tampa to orlando and back. I know the weight will come off, i track calories on fitday.com as i said and i ride a minimum of 5-7 hours a week right now my long ride this saturday will be 25-30 miles LSD and i will keep my heart rate at about 75% 146-155 that is an moderate but managable pace for me.

i want to ride with a group but when i call all the bike shops, they say they don't know of any groups that ride that slow (avg speed 19-22mphon any of their rides) i called 5 LBS in my area.

Sublime99 said:

I want to lose the weight but my top goal right now is to increase mileage at the same pace and hopefully be ready for the ms 150 in florida next year. 2 day ride 80 the first 70 the second, from tampa to orlando and back. I know the weight will come off, i track calories on fitday.com as i said and i ride a minimum of 5-7 hours a week right now my long ride this saturday will be 25-30 miles LSD and i will keep my heart rate at about 75% 146-155 that is an moderate but managable pace for me.

i want to ride with a group but when i call all the bike shops, they say they don't know of any groups that ride that slow (avg speed 19-22mphon any of their rides) i called 5 LBS in my area.

If your schedule permits, I'd suggest doubling your time on the bike to 10-14 hrs/wk. You shouldn't need to gradually work up to 2 hrs/day, you should be able to do that right away and not hurt yourself at 75% MHR. You'll get fit much more quickly and the weight will come off much faster. Within a few weeks, you'll be able to stay with the groups that ride at 18-20mph, because you can go significantly faster if you sit in and draft compared with riding alone. You won't get fit any faster, but it's more interesting to ride in a group.

What is better for fat burning LSD at 75% or all out 1 hour at 85%. The days that i ride at 75% i don't feel like i am trying very hard i.e. breathing hard or feel burn. It seems as though i like to push myself to 85% most of the days i ride it always ends up i am at 85% and reaching my lactate threshhold on some hills and straightaways. Should i really try and keep it tame at 75% and go for longer, or ride at 85% and go longer. When my heart rat reaches 170+ my legs start to burn and i have to back off a bit. my max heart rate is 194 and on most days i ride at high 150's to 165+, if i ride slower or at a more moderate pace i feel as if i didn't try hard enough.

Sublime99 said:

What is better for fat burning LSD at 75% or all out 1 hour at 85%. The days that i ride at 75% i don't feel like i am trying very hard i.e. breathing hard or feel burn. It seems as though i like to push myself to 85% most of the days i ride it always ends up i am at 85% and reaching my lactate threshhold on some hills and straightaways. Should i really try and keep it tame at 75% and go for longer, or ride at 85% and go longer. When my heart rat reaches 170+ my legs start to burn and i have to back off a bit. my max heart rate is 194 and on most days i ride at high 150's to 165+, if i ride slower or at a more moderate pace i feel as if i didn't try hard enough.

Here are a few quotes from this forum from members who's views I respect...

From Ric Stern:
while riding at a lower intensity (compared to a higher intensity) will promote greater fat oxidation, the actual amount of energy used will be less than if you exercised at a higher intensity.

To lose weight (fat) all that matters is that you expend more energy than you consume -- it doesn't matter what the 'fuel' mix is.

If you are therefore try to maximise fat loss, you should aim to exercise at the highest intensity that you can for the duration of the time you have available and that, that allows recovery for the next consecutive training session.

From Biker-Linz:
Just a couple of points, forgive me if they've been brought up before. Weight loss due to dehydration is not entirely due to fluid lost through urinary excretion. Plenty is lost through the lungs and via sweat also.
As I've posted elsewhere before, high-intensity exercise is a more effective way of reducing body fat than 'fat-burning' rides, see:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=11319629

and

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=8028502

The science supports the notion that "it doesn't matter where the calories come from, fat or glycogen, just so they are burned."

So the ideal fat loss program would be to exercise at an intensity that is high, but that will also allow you to recover adequately before exercising again.

Sublime99 said:

What is better for fat burning LSD at 75% or all out 1 hour at 85%. The days that i ride at 75% i don't feel like i am trying very hard i.e. breathing hard or feel burn. It seems as though i like to push myself to 85% most of the days i ride it always ends up i am at 85% and reaching my lactate threshhold on some hills and straightaways. Should i really try and keep it tame at 75% and go for longer, or ride at 85% and go longer. When my heart rat reaches 170+ my legs start to burn and i have to back off a bit. my max heart rate is 194 and on most days i ride at high 150's to 165+, if i ride slower or at a more moderate pace i feel as if i didn't try hard enough.

At any given duration, harder (faster) is better for everything (fat burning, fitness), but we're always trading off short/fast vs. long/slow. To lose weight, go as long as you can (in time) at ~75% of MHR. If you push it to 85%, then ride at 75% the next day (recovery day). Basically, to lose weight ride as many hours in the week as you have available, at 75% MHR.

RapDaddyo said:

If your schedule permits, I'd suggest doubling your time on the bike to 10-14 hrs/wk. You shouldn't need to gradually work up to 2 hrs/day, you should be able to do that right away and not hurt yourself at 75% MHR. You'll get fit much more quickly and the weight will come off much faster. Within a few weeks, you'll be able to stay with the groups that ride at 18-20mph, because you can go significantly faster if you sit in and draft compared with riding alone. You won't get fit any faster, but it's more interesting to ride in a group.

2 hours a day, or 10-14 hrs/week is a lot of training for a guy starting out. I think it takes a few years for most of us to adapt to that kind of mileage without injury or burn-out, not a few weeks.

Also, wouldn't bet on anyone averaging 18-20 mph in groups within a few weeks. To be able to just hang on at those speeds takes a full season or two and many thousands of miles. Not for Lance of course, but for us average guys.

dhk said:

2 hours a day, or 10-14 hrs/week is a lot of training for a guy starting out. I think it takes a few years for most of us to adapt to that kind of mileage without injury or burn-out, not a few weeks.

Well, I wouldn't have recommended it if I hadn't done it myself. If you keep the intensity down <75%MHR, you're not going to injure anything although your tailbone might be sore for awhile.

dhk said:

Also, wouldn't bet on anyone averaging 18-20 mph in groups within a few weeks. To be able to just hang on at those speeds takes a full season or two and many thousands of miles. Not for Lance of course, but for us average guys.

18-20mph in a group is equivalent to ~16-17mph solo and is realistic after 2-3 months at 10-14 hrs/wk. Again, I've done it and I consider myself an average athlete. But, if the OP can't hang with them for 6 months, it doesn't really matter -- he'll still be very fit and will have lost a lot of weight.

I ride for 1 hour to 1.5 hours comfotably at 75-85% of max hr (my hands go alittle numb) but beside that i am comfortable with 2 hours or i should say being able to ride for 2+ hours. I ride mon tues weds- off thrus- friday and long ride staurday sunday off. My longest ride has been 1.75 hours at 80% and i was dead beat after. This weekend i plan to go 2.5 at 75% provide no blow outs or anything out of the ordinary happens.

What about soreness? I am a little sore today in my legs i am taking a prenatal vitamin after rides along with some extra fish oil caps and vitamin c and b complex. I guess it is only natural to get a little sore in the begining huh?

dhk said:

2 hours a day, or 10-14 hrs/week is a lot of training for a guy starting out. I think it takes a few years for most of us to adapt to that kind of mileage without injury or burn-out, not a few weeks.

I noticed that I was tiring out and losing interest after about an hour's worth of riding so I started doing some base training again with hopes that I could increase my endurance. Brought the bike back in the house and hooked it up to the trainer so I could get out of the heat/humidity and watch the TdF while doing a couple of hours worth at 75%. I've notice that 2 hours a day Tues - Fri at 75% really kicked my butt. Much more so than riding outdoors for the same time and intensity. In fact I'm cutting back this week and am only going to do 30 min sessions. Then back to 2 hours 4 days/week for about 3 more weeks.

Quoted post said:

Also, wouldn't bet on anyone averaging 18-20 mph in groups within a few weeks. To be able to just hang on at those speeds takes a full season or two and many thousands of miles. Not for Lance of course, but for us average guys.

I've been cycling for over 2 years now and I'm still struggling. Best so far is 18.3 MPH for 90 minutes. Hopefully, with 6 - 8 weeks of endurance work I'll be able to hold that for 50 miles then I'll be done for the year.

Sublime99 said:

I ride for 1 hour to 1.5 hours comfotably at 75-85% of max hr (my hands go alittle numb) but beside that i am comfortable with 2 hours or i should say being able to ride for 2+ hours. I ride mon tues weds- off thrus- friday and long ride staurday sunday off. My longest ride has been 1.75 hours at 80% and i was dead beat after. This weekend i plan to go 2.5 at 75% provide no blow outs or anything out of the ordinary happens.

What about soreness? I am a little sore today in my legs i am taking a prenatal vitamin after rides along with some extra fish oil caps and vitamin c and b complex. I guess it is only natural to get a little sore in the begining huh?

So, basically you ride 4 days/wk. If it were me, I'd ride ~2.5 hrs/day Mon-Wed and 3-4 hrs. on Sat. I'd hold it back to 75% on Mon/Tues and crank it up a bit on Wed (because you get a couple of days rest after). Due to the length of the Sat ride, you'll probably have to hold it back to 75%. That'll give you 11-12 hrs/wk and you'll see your weight drop and fitness improve as the weeks go by.

RapDaddyo said:

Well, I wouldn't have recommended it if I hadn't done it myself. If you keep the intensity down <75%MHR, you're not going to injure anything although your tailbone might be sore for awhile.

18-20mph in a group is equivalent to ~16-17mph solo and is realistic after 2-3 months at 10-14 hrs/wk. Again, I've done it and I consider myself an average athlete. But, if the OP can't hang with them for 6 months, it doesn't really matter -- he'll still be very fit and will have lost a lot of weight.

Agree it doesn't matter as to the speeds here; that's my point. We're all individuals. Your response to training/progress seems very fast. I'd guess that you're in your 20's, and already had a pretty high level of fitness and athletic ability to start with. Would also bet you're within a few percentage points of your optimum weight.

If the OP takes two seasons or more to come up to speed, it really doesn't matter. In my experience, sometimes the riders who start out slowly turn into lifelong cyclists, while some of the hotshots train hard for a season, race a year or two, and then burnout and hang up their bike when they hit the first plateau.