Can a 100 miles a week beat 200 miles p/w? & my new training
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Just curious I ride with friends that are some of the faster guys in my local area. They seem to ride 150-200 miles a week. I can only see myself riding about a 100 miles a week. Is it possible with smart training to improve much compared to those doing more miles. Has anyone had personal experience making big gains on a training program doing less than a 100 miles a week?
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IIRC Michael Hutchinson managed to be one of the bigger hitters in the UK timetrial scene on very limited training (less than 10 hours a week, almost all on a turbo I think.)
So you could always be faster, its just a matter of discipline, 100 miles of very very high quality, focused training. No junk miles, no doing other peoples training (means riding to your pace, not someone elses).
TBH, it'd ruin the enjoyment for me, unless i was doing for a specific goal or event, rather than just being faster on the club run/chain gang.
So you could always be faster, its just a matter of discipline, 100 miles of very very high quality, focused training. No junk miles, no doing other peoples training (means riding to your pace, not someone elses).
TBH, it'd ruin the enjoyment for me, unless i was doing for a specific goal or event, rather than just being faster on the club run/chain gang.
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jekyll man
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Depends what your goals are, i guess.
Rather than looking at how much distance a week, look at time?
You can gain a lot for short durations (upto 2hrs) by making each session count if you want to ride the turbore all week,enough recovery time between sessions and use 1 or 2 rides a week to build endurance.
Thats where i find the extra mileage pays off- you have enough confidence that there's enough fuel in the tanks to cover any eventualities
Rather than looking at how much distance a week, look at time?
You can gain a lot for short durations (upto 2hrs) by making each session count if you want to ride the turbore all week,enough recovery time between sessions and use 1 or 2 rides a week to build endurance.
Thats where i find the extra mileage pays off- you have enough confidence that there's enough fuel in the tanks to cover any eventualities
Official cafe stop tester
If you are doing intervals (alternating between all-out sprints/climbs and easy rolling) for your 100 miles, you'll improve much much more than someone doing 200 easy flat miles.
As has been suggested spending more time doing intervals or very taxing exercises may increase the amount of oxygen you are able to put out and thus your power output.
It all depends a bit on what your weaknesses are.
If you have a very high ability to provide your muscles with oxygen already (say you did a lot of such training during puberty, just have good genes etc), at some point you will see diminishing returns from training it further. In this case other exercises may be better invested time.
Most people have not spent their teenage years in cross country skiing camp etc. nor do they spend a lot of time close to their threshold (since it is so unpleasant) so chances are there is a lot of room in your training schedule for these types of exercises.
Someone more knowledgeable can suggest suitable exercises and how much time you should spend doing them.
If you train more efficiently, also consider how you rest and eat and drink (alcohol).
It may very well be that you find that for instance doing hard hill training, Tabatas, 4x4 or whatever on your trainer just plain sucks and is not worth it to be faster than those guys.
If you are just worrying about being fast enough to be able to ride with your mates who put in more miles, some intervals or training with a similar effect may be worth it.
It all depends a bit on what your weaknesses are.
If you have a very high ability to provide your muscles with oxygen already (say you did a lot of such training during puberty, just have good genes etc), at some point you will see diminishing returns from training it further. In this case other exercises may be better invested time.
Most people have not spent their teenage years in cross country skiing camp etc. nor do they spend a lot of time close to their threshold (since it is so unpleasant) so chances are there is a lot of room in your training schedule for these types of exercises.
Someone more knowledgeable can suggest suitable exercises and how much time you should spend doing them.
If you train more efficiently, also consider how you rest and eat and drink (alcohol).
It may very well be that you find that for instance doing hard hill training, Tabatas, 4x4 or whatever on your trainer just plain sucks and is not worth it to be faster than those guys.
If you are just worrying about being fast enough to be able to ride with your mates who put in more miles, some intervals or training with a similar effect may be worth it.
Figured I'd post a new topic to keep track of my progress. After hearing from some of you out there about riding a 100 miles a week sounded like a good interval program is needed for the short rides I can fit in. I have a g3 powertap so I'll be documenting the data so you guys can for one see how weaksauce I am and two hopefully keep me committed to the process.
I did a baseline TT the other day for. 38 min at 208 watts on the river trail by my house . Made it a segment in strava so I can recreate it.
My goal is at the end of the 4 weeks is to redo that same TT but hopefully with a higher wattage threshold my goal is 10% improvement.
Here's my new 4 week program I found online
Week 1 - 5 days training each day 5x6 mn intervals with 3 min rest between each interval basically as hard as I can sustain consistent for 6 min. In each interval I'm alternating one day hill climbs one day flat. And on hill climb days I'm alternating sitting one interval and standing horner style the next .
Week 2-4 5 days training 4 days of easy riding under 150 hr for me and 1 day of the same HIIT 5x 6
This plans got serious front loading then last 3 weeks easier endurance with one hard day.
I plan on doing an avg of about 20 mile rides so a 100 miles a week.
So far this year I've only ridden about 250 miles so am not in the best shape I've been in for sure although I am a slow rider
I'll update with each days results
I did a baseline TT the other day for. 38 min at 208 watts on the river trail by my house . Made it a segment in strava so I can recreate it.
My goal is at the end of the 4 weeks is to redo that same TT but hopefully with a higher wattage threshold my goal is 10% improvement.
Here's my new 4 week program I found online
Week 1 - 5 days training each day 5x6 mn intervals with 3 min rest between each interval basically as hard as I can sustain consistent for 6 min. In each interval I'm alternating one day hill climbs one day flat. And on hill climb days I'm alternating sitting one interval and standing horner style the next .
Week 2-4 5 days training 4 days of easy riding under 150 hr for me and 1 day of the same HIIT 5x 6
This plans got serious front loading then last 3 weeks easier endurance with one hard day.
I plan on doing an avg of about 20 mile rides so a 100 miles a week.
So far this year I've only ridden about 250 miles so am not in the best shape I've been in for sure although I am a slow rider
I'll update with each days results
Last edited by Bantamben on Wed Feb 26, 2014 3:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ok first day training
I kinda skewed the results by doing each side of a local climb one side took about 4 min or so other side took nine but I figured close enough I still got in the same amount of Time doing hard intervals next hill climb ill just do one side and stick to the 5x6 program
1st interval 4:28 254 watts standing
2nd interval 9:44 215 watts sitting
3rd interval 4:49 237 watts standing
4th interval 9:37 212watts sitting
5th interval 4:37 244 watts standing
I kinda skewed the results by doing each side of a local climb one side took about 4 min or so other side took nine but I figured close enough I still got in the same amount of Time doing hard intervals next hill climb ill just do one side and stick to the 5x6 program
1st interval 4:28 254 watts standing
2nd interval 9:44 215 watts sitting
3rd interval 4:49 237 watts standing
4th interval 9:37 212watts sitting
5th interval 4:37 244 watts standing
Pretty much sounds like you're trying to replicate the Block Periodization group from this study:
http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2013/04/an ... study.html
http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2013/04/an ... study.html
Time VXRS Ulteam (7.16 kg)
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=120268
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=120268
Were you not pushing yourself hard enough on day 2?
Time VXRS Ulteam (7.16 kg)
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=120268
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=120268
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Well actually I felt a little more tired on day two than today but, I'm also alternating each day between a flat ride and a hill ride. Day 2 was a flat ride and My flat really is flat 0-1 percent grade riding along a river trail. The hilly ride is a hill repeat on about a 9 minute climb at an avg of about 6% grade with some spots at 11% so I've noticed naturally I tend to make power on the hills not sure if its my muscles my style or just the fact I have no choice on the hill
