Training Plan for first season racing

Slo_Rida

Hey all
I decided I was going to take up racing in 2013 and so this is my plan in action! If you're interested, this is a "continuation" from my thread: Training plan for 2013 road racing
Please throw in advice and comments if any come to mind as this is my first season and I would really appreciate any pointers.
Regards,
Slo

Slo_Rida

I decided I'd pick a flat route and do a reasonably long spin. So 70km on Sunday afternoon (16th Sep) in about 2hr 40mins. Dunno if this is really reasonable or not but I must note I got very hungry in the middle and ran out of food so had an emergency nutri-grain and a can of coke on the go (warning, crushing a can of coke against your thigh so it will fit in your pocket is NOT the way to go).
Felt like sh!t during it but coke picked me up. Lesson learned on eating before cycling.
One down...

Slo_Rida

Tuesday 18 Sep
Knowing I ouldn't cycle during this week, I decided to go running...a modest 5km in a shameful 23 minutes...yup, that'll really stand to me in March.
Lesson: must get on bike regardless.
Slo

Slo_Rida

Spent the weekend visiting "home home" with the intention of getting out on the bike there. Discovered I had no cycling shoes :-(
Drove the 100+miles home on Sunday evening, fed and changed the baby, shipped the wife and said baby off to the in-laws and hit the road.
It was getting late so I had to make it a short one. 44km with a significant hill, 1hr 28mins and felt really good on the hill and the flat. I think the cycling Gods rewarded me with a bit of extra energy for making the effort after travelling.
When in doubt, just do it and then it's done.

ratracer

Hi Slo,

I'm a bit like yourself in that I hope to do some racing next year for the first time. I've exams next month so the training is gonna be hit and miss til after that. Are you a member of a club or intending to join one, or are you training by yourself? I'm not a member of a club because the nearest one to me is half hr drive away, which puts almost another 60-90 mins on top of any training spin and thats just a pain. So I reckon i'll be going it alone, for the winter at least.

Good luck with it.

Morrisseeee

Just my 2c :

Slo_Rida wrote: »

Oh, apologies. There was a significant climb that I was dropped on, I just couldn't possibly live with their pace up the hill. And for my dnf it was on the first lap of Fermoy and I just couldn't get comfortable in the main bunch. I fought and was dropped and fought and was dropped
If I can say this...my lungs seemed to cave before my legs...definitely the lungs.

I was in almost the same predicament as you Slo_Rida. I got a bike in Aug 2010 (after many years of GAA & soccer) & after alot of km's I eventually gave racing a shot, but alas couldn't match the pace for the entire race, I'd usually get dropped on a drag that required putting the hammer down and then I wouldn't have the recovery/fitness needed to hang-on (was it the legs or the lungs, I blame the legs).

It wasn't until this year that the I eventually got up to speed, got used to conserving power, drafting, etc. It then (magically) became easy(ish) to hang in the bunch !

So I guess for me it was a case of putting a year in where I did alot of training, especially hills, it really takes time for the legs to get strong and if your legs are strong it's half the battle, eg. on a tough drag, the legs are your engine and the aerobic system isn't under as much pressure, hence your recovery is quicker & you're ready for the next segment.

Actually what race in Fermoy did you try, that circuit has a few drags and can spit you out the back easily enough. I did a good few Fermoy league races this year also and I found them harder than A4 races, mainly due to being in a small group, ie. your turn at the front comes fairly lively, and then after a few laps the A1's catch you & the pace goes up :eek:, it really is full-gas for the entire race.

Note : If you have a smart phone with GPS you can try out www.Strava.com and upload your routes/training-spins.

Slo_Rida

"it was a case of putting a year in where I did alot of training, especially hills, it really takes time for the legs to get strong"

This type of honesty is not overly common in my cycling experience. I've played GAA and rugby to modest but respectable levels and people always ALWAYS divulge as much help as they can. Be it through experience or knowledge or their own hard work I always found peers to be encouraging. Cyclists tend to keep their info to themselves.

Rant over!

Edit: I have a garmin gps watch but wasn't sure if I should put a link to my data on here. Sure I suppose I've got nothing to lose!

Slo_Rida

So my latest spin was an 80km with a buddy. It involved mostly flat-ish terrain with a decent 6km climb. I missed the first 8km on my gps and 2km in the middle so I only have 70km recorded but anyway. We didn't go hard up the hill but didn't go too soft either, I THINK our average speed for those 6km was 18km/h. Total average speed was 26.3km/h. Oh and my max speed was a season best at 62.7km/h!!
I'll try put up my gps data or else just add a link.
Felt really really drained after this spin but recovered quite well and did a 4.4km run the next morning and a dip in the pool. Perhaps the legs are starting adapt to this cycling lark...positive session in any case.
Slo

Slo_Rida

I had to start someday so last night I broke out the baby blue Tacx Turbo trainer. I have a basic book on turbo training which tells me what sessions to do when. So I chose the first one on chapter one, Building base miles.
It says 40-45 minutes of around 80% of max heart rate at a cadence of around 100rpm.
Not sure what I was capable of and not sure how to get my heart rate right, I did my warm-up and just went at it...fairly hard-ish!
Avg HR of 153 and avg cadence of 93 for 40 minutes and 1 second! Delighted my stats are close to target. I really struggled after about 6 or 7 minutes and again at 34 minutes, which I hope is normal.
Turbo trainer = hot stuff.
First session done, onwards and upwards!

PS Here's the link to my stats:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/230094116
Gonna start posting these more regularly,
Slo

Slo_Rida

While I'm at it, here's the link to the previous road spin:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/227510653
Good times. Off again tomorrow hopefully. Starting to get into this training I think.

greenmat

Hi , Started cycling for leisure in 2010. Joined a club at the start of this year to experience club league racing, well worth it. Put in a lot of miles late last year and the early part of this year including plenty of hill climb repeats (Howth). Was a hard slog, times i wondered why i bothered. The combination of that and joining a club brought my fitness levels up to a surprisingly good standard for a 43 year ould lad. First race was a real eye opener, the ave speed was something I thought I could only dream of achieving but you quickly learn to stay in the group or die. Doing the club spins with experienced riders is a must. Another thing that helped motivate me was buying a Garmin 500 and uploading to strava.com , would highly recommend that too. Your own Garmin watch will do the same. Best of luck.

Slo_Rida

Did 91km today with my training buddy.
Legs started feeling funny after about 40km, strong but "funny".
Then at 50km I got a wee tingle and though this is gonna hurt. Got to the hill and the pain was awful. Definitely the worst I've felt on a bike. I sucked the wheel up the hill and got through it and got a bit of relief on the descent but holy **** the whole way home was horrid.
I'm hoping it was just a bit of lactic from Thursday nights turbo but I don't know, well weird. Here are the stats:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/230625594
Not as bad as I expected but got a lesson today. Recovery spins/runs might be used in the future.
Goodnight.

Slo_Rida

Managed to sneak an hour in the gym last night. 5 minute warm up on the bike, 3km on the treadmill, some flexibility exercises and light weights before a very light dip in the pool.
Felt a little better after it but Saturday still haunts me!
Good times.

Slo_Rida

Decided to notch it down for this one as my previous turbo session left me a tad tired on the Saturday. 35 minutes at 75% MHR at a cadence of 97.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/231636666
I sneaked out for a 5km recovery jog on the Tuesday evening and went pretty well. Battery in gps died half way round:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/232303218

No shame in going easier on this turbo session, I might have jumped the gun a bit and gone in too hard too early.

Another day down and moving forward all the time...except when on turbo

Slo_Rida

Took Wednesday off work to do some family stuff until lunch and intended on doing some cycling after. Started feeling tired at about 12.30. Ate dinner at 1.30 and by 2.30 couldn't move with tiredness. Don't know what came over me but just had to sleep. Possibly the new training scheme, I don't know. I didn't think I was going that hard!
So did nothing except tip around the house for the evening, no training.
Not happy.

Slo_Rida

I couldn't have another day like Wednesday or I'd be going backwards so I was determined to do something.
So an easy session on the turbo while watching the prison break boxset from the start (again) ensued.
35 minutes, 65% MHR, cadence = 90. Worked up a sweat but didn't come under pressure:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/232423386
First group spin Saturday. The plan is 60 miles with 3 proper hills.
Bring it on!

Slo_Rida

Did the 82km group spin with 4 hills. They were powering up the hills much to my disgust! So for the first 2, I went up them at a similar speed to the fast guys but on the third one I said this is not what I want to be doing in mid October so I tipped away up it nice and handy and then did some time trialling to catch the group (which I did). They said they were going back around to do the first hill again so I went with them to the base of the hill and turned back and headed for the car. Now maybe I am just very weak on the hills but I think they were going hard.
I'm no expert but given that it's my first season, I just want to build base miles. December or maybe January is time enough for hard climbing IMO.
Anyway, here's the gps:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/232834055
Slo

Slo_Rida

After Saturdays spin I was hoping to get out for a recovery cycle. After some research (especially on boards) I found out that a handy, very slow, flat ride is the way to go so here's what I did:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/233446351
Dead handy, should be fit for the turbo on Monday or Tuesday evening now.
Getting a bit stonger...

Slo_Rida

Very busy week this week so only got one turbo session in:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/234567110
Avg cadence finally into 3 figures! 46 minutes, slightly longer than normal...building it up gradually.
One more week of base building sessions then onto power building...higher gear, lower cadence. That will bring me to November when I start doing bigger efforts on the hills (not racing them). Then in mid to late December increase the intensity. That's the plan anyway!!!
Slo

Slo_Rida

Decent session Wednesday on the turbo so Thursday I did a 5km lunchtime run:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/234617379
Atrocious time for 5km but it was for recovery purposes mostly.
Only 2 training sessions this week unfortunately but a long flat group spin is planned for Saturday morning so if I can do that and another spin Sunday then it will still be a good weeks training.
Slo

Raymzor

Slo_Rida wrote: »

Decent session Wednesday on the turbo so Thursday I did a 5km lunchtime run:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/234617379
Atrocious time for 5km but it was for recovery purposes mostly.
Only 2 training sessions this week unfortunately but a long flat group spin is planned for Saturday morning so if I can do that and another spin Sunday then it will still be a good weeks training.
Slo

how ya finding the turbo? im thinking of getting one now that evening spins are gone. what kind of training time on average have you put in since you started?:o

Slo_Rida

Raymzor wrote: »

how ya finding the turbo? im thinking of getting one now that evening spins are gone. what kind of training time on average have you put in since you started?:o

I'm mad busy these days so I don't get on the turbo til after 9pm often. I aim for 45 minute sessions usually but sometimes only have time for 35. If it's shorter then I'd make it more intense ie higher heart rate or higher cadence. 2 per week I think is the minimum to do. I have an old tv and dvd player for entertainment which is a must imo!
I'll be upping my sessions to 50 minutes this week.

Best of luck!
Oh by the way I'm no expert!!!!!!

Slo_Rida

Did a 100km flat spin with the group Saturday morning. Super spin, a bit tired after it but not cooked. Average speed was over 20mph (32.9km/h to be exact!) which is good IMO.
Unfortunately I didn't get out for any training/recovery on Sunday so I intend doing an 8km jog Monday lunchtime.
Keep rolling!

michael196

Slo_Rida wrote: »

"it was a case of putting a year in where I did alot of training, especially hills, it really takes time for the legs to get strong"

This type of honesty is not overly common in my cycling experience. I've played GAA and rugby to modest but respectable levels and people always ALWAYS divulge as much help as they can. Be it through experience or knowledge or their own hard work I always found peers to be encouraging. Cyclists tend to keep their info to themselves.

Rant over!

Edit: I have a garmin gps watch but wasn't sure if I should put a link to my data on here. Sure I suppose I've got nothing to lose!

you are right: cyclists keep a lot to themselves, but i feel it is more out of a lack of knowledge to share: what is there to know only cycle cycle cycle....harder harder harder ? type of knowledge base. how many have realy been trained by top class riders ?


there is a seasonal aspect to learn, what to do when, that many miss:

the mentality around demonstating strength in november -december only to die in january -June, takes many out of the racing equation when it matters.


to that end it is interesting to observe 'accomplished' riders through 'strava' and the likes, to see what their schedule of training looks like .


when there is a lack of flow of knowledge in a club from a1 towards a4's, that is when club coaches come into play.


guess you always have to observe those who are demonstrating in autumn and see how they are getiing on in mid april the following year !!!

on a sportive recently , turned into a race..... no points for races in october -november-decembers-


there is alot to learn from those who know. little to learn from those who dont !!!

Slo_Rida

"the mentality around demonstating strength in november -december only to die in january -June, takes many out of the racing equation when it matters."


All true Michael. Where I'm struggling mentally is how hard should I go now? It's very clear that your heart rate is not supposed to be above 80%MHR for long periods however, if I want to put in a good hard session with a group I have to hit 80% regularly just to keep up. I'm not afraid of the effort, in fact I relish the pain but the advice seems to be to "go easier" this time of year. So on one hand I'm trying to get fitter and stronger as quickly as possible and on the other hand I'm trying to box clever and do things right.

All advice here is appreciated.

Slo

Slo_Rida

I was snowed under yesterday and didn't get any training done. So I made the effort and rose at 6am today, made wifes lunch, had a quick bite through in the turbo session below, made wifes breakfast, made baby's breakfast, made my own prridge and fruit and went to work!
This only left me with about 45mins training time so I only got 30 mins of actual work done. Garmin is down at the minute so I'll upload the stats tonight.

If someone can tell me where to buy some time I'd appreciate it!
Otherwise, any advice on training is most welcome!!
Slo


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/236609040

NeedMoreGears

[QUOTE=Slo_Rida;81405327
.......All true Michael. Where I'm struggling mentally is how hard should I go now? It's very clear that your heart rate is not supposed to be above 80%MHR for long periods however, if I want to put in a good hard session with a group I have to hit 80% regularly just to keep up.........
Slo[/QUOTE]

For what it's worth Joe Friel suggests that people who are training for races shouldn't train too much in groups as they tend to either (i) develop into a mini-race or (ii) not move at the particular pace you need. Perhaps that group on that day was simply at the wrong pace for the base/endurance phase you want to be in now? The idea seems to be to ensure you are not too wrecked to go out training the next time.

He also suggests one of the hardest things to do while training is NOT going out too hard/doing too much.

I'm trying to broadly follow his guidelines over the winter but I'm not aiming at racing - just a few sportifs. I'm curious to see how it works out.

Slo_Rida

Yeah I'm reading his "The Cyclists Training Bible" as I go along. I bought it more so to gather as much info as I could rather than as a training manual. It's only ok. But I do find little tid-bits of info like what you're saying...over training or going too hard is a common mistake. Too much foucs on power metres for me though (I don't have one).
In fact I'm half thinking of ditching the HRM as well and just getting out and riding.
It's about hard work and suffering, maybe the gadgets are only a distraction.

michael196

would advise not to ditch the HR , it will tell u very quickly if u are flogging a dead horse or whether u are realy in from for training.,


if u head out feeling ok, and the HR monitor tells u after warm up that ur HR is just not going above 150, when u want a good burn session, then u are tired any any attempt to get the HR up, will fail. its then telling u to go home and put the feet up.

at the end of a long ride ( while still out there) , if ur HR is not maintaining a steady high HR, then u have overstretched time wise and u are tired, get home and get rested.

low HR during a training spin, ur waisting ur time .

when u get to intervals, the instruction will be to raise HR to 175 or whatever . U need to know if u have already achieved thst somehwere, some time in order to do it agaian in in intervals.

u will also notice after a rest the HR is elevated on the first sin out, max hr is highest, next ride max hr is down 3-4 points next spin down again, untill u are below 150 after a a week or so traiing, and no effort is getting u above 150, then u are tired and need a few days rest to recover.


monitoring the max HR over the summer race season and seeing a very gradual increase in max hr over the summer will indicate increasing fitness.

same after the winter, max hr indicteas where u are in relation to where u can be .

max HR reachable in early season , again indicates fitness.

dont ditch the HR monitor !!.

Slo_Rida

Did a group spin Saturday morning. Played a Gaelic football match Thursday night for old times sake...legs were still aching when I got up Saturday so suffered a bit on the bike but got through it:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/237608886
Took a total break Sat, Sun, Mon and I'm only going to do a bit of light stuff this week. A couple of runs and maybe one bike session. They say one in four weeks should be easy. I've had 6 weeks at this stage and it's all new to my legs so I think I should definitely go handy this week.
We'll see what happens!

Slo_Rida

FFS
I've been down with man flu all week. It's basically a head cold with a touch of a chest infection but I haven't got the energy to wag!
So fcuking annoyed though. I really wanted to "keep her lit" this week with some handy sessions.
I'm hoping that by Sunday morning I'll be back out on the bike. I can't see me being able before that.
Again...SO RAGING!
Any advice on quick recovery/return would be appreciated.
GGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR