Training/Riding frequency for Newbie

[bighead_9901]

Hi, I know that there have been dozens of posts from new riders about training and it seems like the general opinion is to not worry about training in the beginning and just get in a good amount of riding. This makes sense to me and I understand this from being a runner for several years.

However my question is what should a new rider be shooting for as far as mileage and frequency starting out? Should I aim for specific distances or ride for time? How many times per week should a new rider plan to ride without risk of overtraining or injury? (I tend to push to hard starting out)
What would be considered a good base of mileage/time riding before it is benificial to begin specific training?

I really have no knowledge about cycling at all so please don't use sport specific terms as I won't have any idea what you mean.

Also to give you an idea about myself I have only been riding for one week. I rode 4 times (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat) and rode for an hour each day. I really have no idea on the distances but I am in love with this sport!!!

Thanks in advance for any feedback you can provide.

 

[BullGod]

Hi - depends on what you want from the sport.

If racing is what you want to do then you need to start off with some base training - riding an hour or so 4/5 times a week and gradually upping the speed and intensity over a few months until you can ride at 30 km/h and above for a reasonable duration.

Then you need to work on your speed - interval training, and sprint training. Try top speed 5, 10, 30, 60 second intervals repeated as often as you can until you can't hack it any more. On another day you could also do some longer efforts of 4, 8 and 10 minutes for example. Try and get the speed you put out to be of sufficient intensity that the moment the interval is over you couldn't go on any longer. Take yourself to your limit, ride easy for a few minues to recover and hit it again. Repeat until you hurt.

Do this in combination with your endurance work, and add a session of recovery (easy riding for 90 minutes) after a hard interval session. Also important to get 1/2 days of rest a week. Remember it's the rest and recovery days where you actually get fitter from the work that you did before.

You could also ride with a group at this stage to gain experience.

When you can generate some serious speed - (short bursts at 45km/h, minutes above 40km/h, and sprint speed over 50km/h) then you're ready for racing competitively in the lower categories.

 

[RACING RANDY]

Hi - depends on what you want from the sport.

If racing is what you want to do then you need to start off with some base training - riding an hour or so 4/5 times a week and gradually upping the speed and intensity over a few months until you can ride at 30 km/h and above for a reasonable duration.

Then you need to work on your speed - interval training, and sprint training. Try top speed 5, 10, 30, 60 second intervals repeated as often as you can until you can't hack it any more. On another day you could also do some longer efforts of 4, 8 and 10 minutes for example. Try and get the speed you put out to be of sufficient intensity that the moment the interval is over you couldn't go on any longer. Take yourself to your limit, ride easy for a few minues to recover and hit it again. Repeat until you hurt.

Do this in combination with your endurance work, and add a session of recovery (easy riding for 90 minutes) after a hard interval session. Also important to get 1/2 days of rest a week. Remember it's the rest and recovery days where you actually get fitter from the work that you did before.

You could also ride with a group at this stage to gain experience.

When you can generate some serious speed - (short bursts at 45km/h, minutes above 40km/h, and sprint speed over 50km/h) then you're ready for racing competitively in the lower categories.

You might also want to seriously consider hiring a Coach as I did this past June. The results I have experienced since I hired my Coach leaves little doubt that they know what they are doing.

One other item I would like to share with you. Since colder weather has settled in and with winter just about here, I am at gym 3X a week now working on hamstring excerises, calf raises and ab crunches. When I am not at the gym, I actually am on my bike (weather permits) building up on my edurance. And at least 1X per week, I am at the bike shop on the Computrainer working on my pedal stroke.