What kind of training should I do in-between harder sessions?

RowanHarley

I'm trying to get out 6 times a week but at the moment, I'm not sure what I should be doing in between club rides. I'm saving up for a local coach but in the meantime, I'd like to try get my fitness up without him

joey100

Hard question to answer without knowing what you do on your harder rides? What makes up the 6 rides a week? Distance, effort, time. How are you measuring effort - power, Heart rate, perceived effort?

DirkVoodoo

Surely there is someone experienced in your club who could advise you?

Asking the internet is not a great idea, especially if you have no idea what you're doing. You're young and getting the right training balance is really important when you're still developing.

RowanHarley

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Surely there is someone experienced in your club who could advise you?

Asking the internet is not a great idea, especially if you have no idea what you're doing. You're young and getting the right training balance is really important when you're still developing.

Not really, no. One lad did say zone 2 work, but he lives off zone 2 so I'm not sure if it even counts

nialljf

Have a look at this recent 2-post series on creating your own training plan on Velo News: http://www.velonews.com/2018/01/training-center/velonews-training-plan-part-1-fundamentals_454302

I've found these posts quite useful. They don't prescribe a training plan (that approach doesn't work), but instead empower you with the knowledge to build your own according to your goals and strengths/weaknesses.

Miklos

RowanHarley wrote: »

Not really, no. One lad did say zone 2 work, but he lives off zone 2 so I'm not sure if it even counts

Probably not a bad idea if it's in between harder sessions. You can't go hard all the time.

RowanHarley

joey100 wrote: »

Hard question to answer without knowing what you do on your harder rides? What makes up the 6 rides a week? Distance, effort, time. How are you measuring effort - power, Heart rate, perceived effort?

Mainly use heart rate but sometimes I just go with perceived effort

RowanHarley

nialljf wrote: »

Have a look at this recent 2-post series on creating your own training plan on Velo News: http://www.velonews.com/2018/01/training-center/velonews-training-plan-part-1-fundamentals_454302

I've found these posts quite useful. They don't prescribe a training plan (that approach doesn't work), but instead empower you with the knowledge to build your own according to your goals and strengths/weaknesses.

Ok thanks for this! I cant read it now but I'll get to reading it sometime later today

Have you tried Spinning?

Cycle Studio in Stillorgan do some good training sessions.

Edit: oops, just seen you are in Ballinasloe. Stillorgan probably isn't much use to you. I'd still recommend spinning classes though.

Macy0161

Aegir wrote: »

Have you tried Spinning?

Is that not just another hard session?

fwiw, and notwithstanding the point about how hard the club sessions are, the TrainerRoad mid and high volume plans (which are 6 workouts a week), are pretty much 3 hard with 2 easy and one sweetspot - as in hard, easy, hard, easy, hard, sweetspot, day off.

Macy0161

Macy0161 wrote: »

Is that not just another hard session?

fwiw, and notwithstanding the point about how hard the club sessions are, the TrainerRoad mid and high volume plans (which are 6 workouts a week), are pretty much 3 hard with 2 easy and one sweetspot - as in hard, easy, hard, easy, hard, sweetspot, day off.

Spinning can be whatever you want it to be.

You are in control of the resistance, so if you want to make it easier, you can.