Hello,

I know this is a fairly non descript question to ask,. but could anyone advise me of a 3 month or so training plan, with a view to be cycling well on a trip to Italy in Mid may. I can train with heart rate, and have a fairly ok level of fitness.
I can dedicate about 1-2 hrs a day to train, with a day to do a longer ride, but this invariably changes due to shift work. I could also do with dropping a few kg so am currently using myfitness pal to count and restrict my calorie intake.

Any advice/basic ideas for a weekly plan would be gratefully received.

Many, many thanks

Something very basic would be :-
Monday recovery ride or day off
Tuesday force/ muscular endurance/ speed skills
Wednesday base ride
Thursday force/muscular endurance/ speed skills
Friday force/ muscular endurance/ speed skills
Saturday base ride
Sunday long ride

Do the force or muscualr endurance or speed skills on whatever day suits you and change the Saturday and Sunday ride round if you have to. Up the hours you do every week and have every 4th week off.
Or just do the base rides and long ride and do whatever training rides you feel like the other days. If riding well on holiday is your goal doing whatever you find fun and will do more often might work out better for you than specific training.

I suggest trainingpeaks.com as a resource - you can enter your personal data and data regarding your goal events and it will formulate a pretty sound training program for you for a pretty reasonable price. alternately, they have 'pre-made' training plans for sale - one of them may fit the demands of your trip. I am a customer but not affiliated in any other way Where in Italy are you riding ? The terrain varies widely and thus the recommended training will also. I did the Dolomites during the Giro in 2006 and it was fairly demanding - the fitness needed for these was the ability to climb sub-threshold for long periods - other parts of the country have different terrain. Also, are you riding solo or with a group ? One level of fitness if you're going on a tour of the vineyards with casual cycling enthusiasts, another if you're traveling with one of the tour companies/packages that attracts the hard-core rider/racer. Will you be tasting a fine Barolo or your own blood on these rides ?

Thanks guys this is very helpful.
Im off to cycle the mountains of the dolomites with a group, i expect it'l be around 100km per day or so, for 4-5 days.
I worked out i have about 14 weeks so I printed off a weekly calendar so i can periodize my training plan, any advice on what i should roughly do each week would be greatly appreciated, ie:

week
1 - hard (strength)
2 - hard (aerobic)
3 - hard
4 - easy

etc etc.

thanks beardking the weekly plan you have provided gives me a good starting point. I feel useless having to ask for this advice from you guys but I have never written myself a plan before, i always just cycled aimlessly for fun, but would like to up my performance and try and be a bit more dedicated in how i approach cycling! are there any good intervals i can do? 2x20 and such?

again many many thanks guys!

Day 1: Long easy ride
Day 2: 2x20mins @ TT/race pace, minimum 10mins rest
Day 3: Long easy ride
Day 4: 3 x 3 mins (very hard), 3 mins rest
Day 5: Short easy ride
Day 6: Ultra long ride, include some hills
Day 7: Rest

Continue until progress fails to occur. Then reprogram.

_________________
"Physiology is all just propaganda and lies... all waiting to be disproven by the next study."
"I'm not a real doctor; But I am a real worm; I am an actual worm." - TMBG

Above program looks good. If you're over 45, do two weeks harder/longer and one week easier/shorter to recover. Under 45, try 3 weeks on, one lighter.

The Dolomites are incredible - my trip there was one of my all time cycling highlights. As I mentioned above, the trick is staying below lactate threshold as much as you can, especially on multi-day tour. If you're climbing every day, it can get tough if you've burned many anaerobic matches before. Bring the rights gears (compact with a 28, a triple, or the new SRAM setup allowing a 34-32 for example) as the big climbs (Bondone, Gavia, Passo San Pellegrino, etc) will have you climbing for a couple of hours between 5 and 10 % steady. Other things to remember for a trip like this - work on your descending skills. Road surfaces are great there but descents are technically challenging. Also dress in multiple layers - that time of year folks are swimming at the base of the Dolomites and skiing on the top. 40 degree F drop in temperature not unusual base to summit. Finally, if you live at sea level, you notice that you're starting out at about 6000 feet. You won't get frank altitude sickness at that moderate elevation, but it will knock a little off your performance. Pay particular attention to hydration. Get there a couple days before your bigger rides start, if possible, to counteract the combined effects of this and jet lag.

It's a spectacular trip ! Heaven on earth for cyclists. Enjoy and best wishes.

thank you so much Tapeworm, this looks like a great idea to start me out... I will use this basic template, maybe move the days around to suit for work etc but i really appreciate this! And also thanks to ldamelio for your insight into cycling the dolomites... I am so excited but i am nervous as I have to really do some work on my fitness!

Three months, that's about 12 weeks.
Split it into three periods of 4 weeks.
Your total work load (volume x intensity) should increase from week 1 through 3. Usually when you're time restricted, intensity is the thing you would be increasing. Week 4 is a recovery week where you really should take it easy on the bike, do some easy spinning and eat and sleep well. At the end of this week is the best opportunity to do a certain test, such as a certain climb or TT to track your progress.

Try to roughly work on specific zones every period. Presuming you have a good base of low intensity aerobic exercise, roughly the following build-up would be good. When you do have time, do some good long endurance training at least once a week.

First period - strength (50-60 rpm) and intervals up to 90% of your anaerobic limit
examples for exercises: 2x15 min, 5 min rest in between. Increase number of intervals or length of interval. When doing strength training keep you heart rate under anaerobic limit, start with 2x 10 min at 50-60 rpm, 5 min rest.

Second period - intervals just below your anaerobic limit, some anaerobic work
examples: below anaerobic: start with 8 min, build up to about 16 mins, half the interval time as rest in between
anaerobic: 3x8min with 8 min in between, build up to 8x3min with 3 min in between

Third period - anaerobic intervals and resistance training
anaerobic: see second period but decrease rest in between
resistance training: very short intervals with a lot of rest in between, e.g. 8x1 min maximum speed, 5 min rest in between. Decrease rest to make training more intensive.

As for losing weight: six days a week, try to keep your caloric deficiency at about 500 calories. During the rest week give your body the opportunity to really recover (recovery is where you actually get stronger) and try to balance out the calories so you don't lose or gain anything.

And last but not least: listen to your body, you should become a little more tired as training becomes more intensive, but you should feel really rested and fit at the end of the rest week (remember, training only lowers your fitness, recovery is where you actually improve!).
Over-training is something mental, if you enjoyed the workout and keep looking forward for the next one, that's good. If you really don't feel like training but do so anyway, it could be fine if it happens only once. If it really becomes a struggle back off and maybe take an extra rest day. You don't want to ruin your fitness by the time you get to Italy!

It is probably no surprise that I disagree with most of the above.

1) I am yet to find any rational reason why the 3 weeks build with one week easy is used in a cycling training program. Seems like a waste of a week and the propensity for over training greater.

2) "Strength endurance" in terms of aerobic cycling is an oxymoron.

3) For someone who has no racing goals per se I fail to see the point of regular anaerobic work.

4) The losing weight by "500" calories a day if oft mentioned and usually poorly executed. Best to make gradual changes to diet, cleaning up the junk for a start. If weight loss is a big issue and has not occurred after several weeks of change then start to slowly tweak amount of food eaten, VERY gradual changes. Remember: you are a cyclist in TRAINING, not an emaciated Euro model.

_________________
"Physiology is all just propaganda and lies... all waiting to be disproven by the next study."
"I'm not a real doctor; But I am a real worm; I am an actual worm." - TMBG

Sorry for resurrecting old thread, but something caught my attention:

@ Tapeworm,

In the post above (the one with the 7 days planned out) you suggest the long ride at the first day and the rest day just before it (or at the end if you like). How come you don't schedule the 2x20@TT just after the rest day? I normally have the hardest workout after the restday in order to be, well, most rested.

Thanks,

Christian

Mainly because a "long easy ride" should not be that taxing and for some reason many find that going from complete rest to hard efforts does not seem yield as good results, similar to a complete rest day before a race. The exact reason for this is unclear at this stage however seems to be a common anecdote.

Keeping in mind the goal is not to continually hit pimping power numbers during efforts, that's for testing days or race etc.

_________________
"Physiology is all just propaganda and lies... all waiting to be disproven by the next study."
"I'm not a real doctor; But I am a real worm; I am an actual worm." - TMBG

What if after taking rest on day 7 I will have 2x20mins @ TT/race pace, minimum 10mins rest first and then long easy ride ?
I mean opposite to what you suggested because after rest TT would be great!

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Yeah, this is not a rigid plan that will cause traumatic failure if not adhered to. There are many ways to "skin the fitness cat" and you could probably shuffle these around a bit. The important bit is the rest.

_________________
"Physiology is all just propaganda and lies... all waiting to be disproven by the next study."
"I'm not a real doctor; But I am a real worm; I am an actual worm." - TMBG

I like Tapeworm.

I'm "stealing" this thread because I'm in kind of the same position. Med school is out for the summer and I want to get some more structured training going on. The plan suggested by tapeworm seems easy to follow and still effective.
If I would like to add some all out (30s) sprint/strength intervals, where should I put it? The intended purpose is to get some more "kick" to my cyclocross racing this fall which is my major goal...

I also like to do at least one gym session per week, any suggestions on which day is most suited for this type of workout?(often full body wo's with deadlifts/squats/bench press etc)

Input and experience of any kind would be highly appreciated!

/Ola, Sweden