Fragile Fitness

[stephenmarklay]

Over the last month I have been ramping up my trainer time. I worked up to about 11-12 hours the last week but I have come to the conclusion that it is just to difficult mentally and time wise for me. I work 10 hours a day so I train at 5:00am and its a big push.

Therefore, I am going to do more tempo and less endurance pace. I will strive to get a long ride in on the weekend if weather permits.

Training for 2 hours is doable most days for me but at an endurance pace I won't get a lot of fitness or push up my FTP.

I started "sweet spot" base training using trainer road.

Any advice?

[sandyrs]

Get rollers.

I'm not being snarky. I started riding rollers instead of the trainer for the bulk of my indoor riding last winter and ended up starting off the spring with a much smoother pedal stroke, no burnout (you can only work so hard on rollers before you spin out unless you're using the tiny Kreitler barrels), a solid base, and no worn out tires. I still mixed in the trainer for variety or longer rides during a weekend blizzard (I, at least, can't ride for three hours on rollers under any circumstances).

[christian]

Be careful.

I was doing 8-10 hours of training per week in the spring and early summer, combined with long hours at the job (and lots of sitting) and not enough sleep. I managed to injure my lower back and have been on the bike twice since July, and the lowest miles I've had any year since 1995.

I'd urge caution. You're not getting paid to ride your bike, so keep it fun.

[Hank Scorpio]

What the heck?@!? You are 50% of our team!!!!!!!

I hurt my right calf last weekend so I am laying off the trainer for the week. Probably hit the rollers though.

[TMB]

I opted not to go the gym this morning, even though was scheduled.

I am cross training with a snow shovel.


Fitness comes from all sorts of places.

[stephenmarklay]

Originally Posted by Hank Scorpio

What the heck?@!? You are 50% of our team!!!!!!!

I hurt my right calf last weekend so I am laying off the trainer for the week. Probably hit the rollers though.

That's right. TOO funny. I am not giving up Hank I am just setting groundwork for a good season not being to burned out

[stephenmarklay]

Originally Posted by christian

Be careful.

I was doing 8-10 hours of training per week in the spring and early summer, combined with long hours at the job (and lots of sitting) and not enough sleep. I managed to injure my lower back and have been on the bike twice since July, and the lowest miles I've had any year since 1995.

I'd urge caution. You're not getting paid to ride your bike, so keep it fun.

I raced about 5 years ago and almost rode myself into the coffin. I had a coach and damned if I didn't stick to the schedule.

I was up to almost 20 hours at the end of base. That was all on the trainer. Doing 4-5 hour trainer rides is not happening this time around.

At that time, I was not sleeping much at all and I looked pretty bad. I was skinny and looked pale. I had good fitness though and did well in racing out of the gate.

I recovered from that just walking and getting my life and head normal again.

I learned that when I start to get overtrained my sleeping goes out the window. It actually is a good indicator for me now.

Thanks for the warning. Having fun is important and if I am doing nothing else but training it won't be.

[stephenmarklay]

Originally Posted by sandyrs

Get rollers.

I'm not being snarky. I started riding rollers instead of the trainer for the bulk of my indoor riding last winter and ended up starting off the spring with a much smoother pedal stroke, no burnout (you can only work so hard on rollers before you spin out unless you're using the tiny Kreitler barrels), a solid base, and no worn out tires. I still mixed in the trainer for variety or longer rides during a weekend blizzard (I, at least, can't ride for three hours on rollers under any circumstances).

Thanks. I do actually have some great Inside Ride rollers. I use them also. I used them exclusively when I was training really hard and they were great.

[dekindy]

Do the Intermediate Build I training program and work on FTP. 3.5 hours total time in 3 workouts per week. Work on base outdoors in the Spring. Workouts are intensive but you can scale them down if needed. 10 hours on a trainer with your work schedule might be counterproductive; at least it would be for me.

[Mikej]

That's a heavy load - you are northern hemisphere, right? I'd look more into a different sport until March - then hit it. You're gonna be burned out before the season starts.

[shovelhd]

Originally Posted by stephenmarklay

Over the last month I have been ramping up my trainer time. I worked up to about 11-12 hours the last week but I have come to the conclusion that it is just to difficult mentally and time wise for me. I work 10 hours a day so I train at 5:00am and its a big push.

Therefore, I am going to do more tempo and less endurance pace. I will strive to get a long ride in on the weekend if weather permits.

Training for 2 hours is doable most days for me but at an endurance pace I won't get a lot of fitness or push up my FTP.

I started "sweet spot" base training using trainer road.

Any advice?

Doing more tempo at the same rate is just going to burn you out faster and make you very good at riding tempo. You're going to have to add intensity in order to push (threshold workouts) or pull (VO2Max workouts) your FTP up. At the same time you will have to add more rest. When is your first event?

[stephenmarklay]

Originally Posted by shovelhd

Doing more tempo at the same rate is just going to burn you out faster and make you very good at riding tempo. You're going to have to add intensity in order to push (threshold workouts) or pull (VO2Max workouts) your FTP up. At the same time you will have to add more rest. When is your first event?

Thank you. My plan was to reduce the overall hours so that I was doing less. The plan I am looking at has workouts that are between 60-120 minutes and that is perfect.

There is some simple endurance in the program too. This would be 12 weeks like a standard pure endurance program.

I would do then do a build from there with more intensity. That would last up to racing.

Since I am just getting back into racing I am not really planning. I will do some local races and Gran Fondo events.

Tomorrow I will lay out a calendar and see how it all falls.

[Ti Designs]

I went on a group ride this past weekend and found that most riders don't know about the old school methods of winter training. They were all on their good road bikes, mostly in the large chainring, riding like it's July. There's a point to winter training, the old school methods may seem stone age compared to power meter training plans, but they still have lots of advantages.

If you ride all season, and you're not getting any faster come September, what would make you think doing the same thing all winter is going to make you faster? The simple answer to that is people equate hard work with results. Before you go putting in that hard work, ask yourself where the gains are to be had?

Old school winter training means the winter fixed gear with fenders - it's heavy and slow, and that's a good thing. For gearing you start with slightly unreasonable, so you can just about keep up on the down hills. When your spin gets smoother and faster, you can go lower. By the late winter you'll be able to hold 130RPM with your heart rate just above rest. You also bring food and make sure you send down 150 calories/hour. Two reasons: First, bonking on a fixed gear sucks. Second, you need to teach your body how to process food and produce power at the same time. Need I remind you that the sprint that counts most in racing is the one at the end?

Riding the fixed gear on the road or doing base mileage on the trainer has another key goal - to make changes in pedal technique second nature. My trainer base mileage workout has a simple format: Large gear, medium gear, small gear, medium gear... To start with there's a gear change every minute. The trick is to match the muscle group used with the resistance at the pedals. Hard gear, get the body weight on the pedals and use the glutes. Medium gear get the quads firing over the top. Small gear just thinking about getting the pedals over the top faster. On the fixed gear hills and headwinds will make the changes for you. If you get this right, it'll be second nature by the time you need to be doing higher intensity work.

[shovelhd]

I'm old school and used to do all of my training up until February on the fixed gear with a front brake. I also had a rule of no big ring every year until I had 1,000 miles on the fixed or on the road bike in the little ring. I don't train like that anymore but I understand the philosophy well. It got me to Cat2.

I replaced that with strength and adaptation work coupled with frequent spin ups. Once I have enough base for sprint work I start sprint workouts using only the little ring to build leg speed and pedaling efficiency.

[stephenmarklay]

Originally Posted by Ti Designs

I went on a group ride this past weekend and found that most riders don't know about the old school methods of winter training. They were all on their good road bikes, mostly in the large chainring, riding like it's July. There's a point to winter training, the old school methods may seem stone age compared to power meter training plans, but they still have lots of advantages.

If you ride all season, and you're not getting any faster come September, what would make you think doing the same thing all winter is going to make you faster? The simple answer to that is people equate hard work with results. Before you go putting in that hard work, ask yourself where the gains are to be had?

Old school winter training means the winter fixed gear with fenders - it's heavy and slow, and that's a good thing. For gearing you start with slightly unreasonable, so you can just about keep up on the down hills. When your spin gets smoother and faster, you can go lower. By the late winter you'll be able to hold 130RPM with your heart rate just above rest. You also bring food and make sure you send down 150 calories/hour. Two reasons: First, bonking on a fixed gear sucks. Second, you need to teach your body how to process food and produce power at the same time. Need I remind you that the sprint that counts most in racing is the one at the end?

Riding the fixed gear on the road or doing base mileage on the trainer has another key goal - to make changes in pedal technique second nature. My trainer base mileage workout has a simple format: Large gear, medium gear, small gear, medium gear... To start with there's a gear change every minute. The trick is to match the muscle group used with the resistance at the pedals. Hard gear, get the body weight on the pedals and use the glutes. Medium gear get the quads firing over the top. Small gear just thinking about getting the pedals over the top faster. On the fixed gear hills and headwinds will make the changes for you. If you get this right, it'll be second nature by the time you need to be doing higher intensity work.

Unfortunately, during the winter my outside riding is once or twice a week at best and none at worst. Nothing can be achieved with that.

So not inlike a lot of folks, the question is what is the best way to spend the limited trainer time during the winter. I don't have the answers but I think it lies somewhere between the time crunched cyclist and the rung out 20 hour per week cave workouts.