what's your off-season training like?

[Climb01742]

swoop's post yesterday that he's riding 4 hours before work has me feeling severely inadequate (not that that's a new feeling for yours truly.) it also got me wondering: what are people doing this off-season? i'll get things rolling:

m: 60 minutes of pretty intense rehab strength training with a coach
t: rest
w: 60 minutes rehab (see mon)
th: 60-90 min endurance ride, about 17-18 mph, recovering from gym
f: 60 minutes rehab (see mon)
sa: 90ish min ride, seeking out a few hills just for kicks
su: 2 hrs easy distance

this off-season is about getting healthy, stronger and more balanced muscle-wise. rehab is focused on getting glutes to fire more and stronger; getting the hump out of my upper back by strengthening the scaps; core strength; and range of motion. 8 weeks into strength rehab the results are really starting to happen. rehab ain't fun and i miss riding more, but i figure, wishing ain't gonna make me better. gotta suck it up and do it.

so how about you? is swoop kicking all our butts? :rolleyes:

[swoop]

oy, i'm a shrink. i work in the afternoons.
i'm in base 3 this week but having a rather bruised taint is making me keep it simple. normally it would look like this:

m: off
t: z1 recovery 2 hours w/ 4x5minute cruise intervals at z3
w: z3 endurance 4 hours
th: 2 hours z2, 40 min of tempo
f: 1 hr recovery with sprint spin up drills
s: z4 sub threshold 5 hours
s: z2 3 hours.

next week would be 19 hours and the week after 21 and then a week off the bike. all that and i'm still slow. supposed to go the gym three days for a couple of hours but i'm just running stairs instead.

[Bill Bove]

Mon, Wed, Fri. 40 miles at moderate pace.
Tue. 40 miles with a couple of mild intervales
Thurs. 65-80 miles.
Sat. 50 miles with the middle 25 being a fast group ride/training race.
Sun. 75-85 miles, sometimes with the middle 50 being a hard group ride.

Man, I love living in Florida :banana: :banana:

[William]

M: Weights & footwork training/Power striking.
T: Aerobic (Rowing Erg or Ride), heavy bag work.
W: Weights & footwork training/Power Striking.
Th: Aerobic (Rowing Erg or Ride), heavy bag work.
F: Weights & footwork training/Power Striking
Sa: Erg and or long ride
Su: Rest or easy ride

I vary the intensity and duration depending on how I feel and what my goal is for that session. Some days I'll ride instead of weights and do some interval work. I'm also instructing four days of the week and get some form of exercise in those sessions as well. It may seem like a lot, but I know how to listen to my body and adjust my training intensity accordingly....or take a day off when I need the rest.

I've written of these here before. The triple threat that will blast your lower body developing explosive strength, power, and balance.
Jumpees
Those with no name
Heidens


William

[stevep]

get out when i can.
usually a 3-4 hr group ride sat
3 hr sunday softer
try for 1/2 rides during the week... maybe 40m weather dependent
or a mt bike ride on occasion low key
no specific training
if its nice out im probably out.

[Fat Robert]

i'm doing something different this year - which will work, if done properly, and which will blow up, if not done properly.

as a swimmer back in the reagan years, i was used to this program:

october: low-intensity endurance training, technique work, medium-intensity strength training

november: lactate threshold, technique work, high-intensity strength training, power

december: VO2, threshold, technique work

two week active rest

january: same as november

february: same as december

march: competition

april: peak, then two week active rest

may: same as november

june: same as december

july: competition

august: peak


after reading some of kirk willet's thoughts on the biketechreview board, and some e-mails to the coaches who do the q&a on cyclingnews.com and pez (geesh..the internet..either a great resource, or its all wack), having a 30-second conversation on the bike with a kind of famous rider from greenville, and listening to greg lemond's comments about intensity before endurance, i decided to go back to this old swimming periodization model for my winter training this year.

basically, i'm going to do 3 VO2 cycles this year (december, march, july) and have two competitive peaks (april and august). i did one month of long slow miles -- october -- and that's it. everything else is going to focus on specific workouts -- recovery, VO2, LT, leg speed, strength endurance. except for one 2-hour ride a week, 90-95rpm steady aerobic training is out of the picture.

using a powermeter last year taught me one thing i already knew -- i have a modest cat 3 engine -- and one thing i didn't know -- i recover stupidly well, and can handle a good workload as a result. based on the latter, i've gone to doing a lot of two-a-day, 1 hour workouts, and cut my winter rides down to no more than 2-2.5 hours in duration. theoretically, if you can maintain 80% of your 20MP (average power in a 20-minute TT) for an hour, you can do it for three -- so you just have to accustom the body to burning the 2400kjoules of the 3-hour ride, as opposed to the 1600 of the 2-hour ride. easy. do a couple of 3-hour rides in the weeks before that long RR, and you have it.

here is what my november weeks looked like:

m -- :45 easy
tues -- AM: 1:00 with intervals giving 20-25 min of LT work
PM : 1:00 with intervals giving 20-25 min of LT work
wed -- AM: 1:00 of endurance with high-rpm intervals
PM: 1:00 of endurance with low-rpm strength endurance intervals
thurs -- AM: 1:00 of endurance with high-rpm intervals
PM: 1:30 with 6-10 big gear, trackstand-start jumps
heavy strength training in gym (sets of 3-5 reps to failure on
squat and hamstring curls)
fri -- :45 easy
sat: 1:30 with 3-4 x 10 LT intervals
sun: 2 hour steady ride
heavy strength training in gym (sets of 3-5 reps to failure on
squat and hamstring curls)

i felt great doing that for 3 weeks. even though the quality was high, the duration of the individual workouts was short, so i was able to recover fully from each session. i'd say that 2 1:00 workouts with a total of 40 minutes of interval time is easier on you than 1 2:00 workout with 40 minutes of interval time. cut out the junk -- if you're training 10 hours a week, you have the endurance to handle cat 3/master events. its warm up, do the specific work, cool down, get off the bike and start resting, for this fat man.

here is what the last two weeks have been

m -- :40
tues -- AM: 1:00 with intevals giving 16:00 of VO2 (in the little ring on trainer -- 115+ rpm on the ints)
PM: 1:00 with intervals giving 25:00 of LT
(this combo is a killer, but it can be done)
wed -- 1:30 steady
thurs -- 1:30 on TT bike, 3 x 10 min LT intervals
fri -- :40 easy
sat -- 1:30 with intervals giving 16-20 min of VO2
sun -- 2:00 steady, maintenance strength training in gym
(two sets of 80% of 1RM)

after a week of this now, i feel ok. the tuesday double-dip takes it out of me, but i'm recovered in time for sat's VO2.

i'm taking a two-week active rest starting december 18, after the recovery week of dec 11-17. that should help me maintain the gains i've made this winter, while giving me ample time to recharge before the jan-feb period of race preparation, to prevent burnout. it worked when i was swimming -- we'll see now.

i'm leanng to thinking of "base" as not how many miles or hours you put in, but what your baseline levels for three things are:

aerobic baseline: watts at 20MP
strength baseline: power for a :15 jump from a trackstand
speed baseline: highest cadence you can maintain smoothly while at LT/VO2 intensity*

i'm thinking winter is about sustaining/improving these baselines while scheduling enough rest, and reducing the volume, to keep the batteries fresh for the spring and summer seasons.

you can always do longer rides when the time changes in april....



* ref those shaun wallace posts that were linked here -- where he said that real smoothness comes from pursuit work (high watts and high rpm), not noodle spinning. it makes sense - high watt/high rpm places greater demands on the CNS....

[davids]

I'm not in your league, guys.

As a moderately fast recreational cyclist, my goals are pretty modest: Try not to lose too much fitness, refine my pedaling technique, strengthen my upper body, and work on balancing my left & right sides while enhancing the flexibility of my right side. All between 6 & 7 am, while living the rest of my life.

M, W, F: About 15 minutes of stretching. 4x25 sit-ups. "Abs of Steel", rotatiing 3 10 minute workouts. Tamilee Webb scares me...

T, Th: 30-45 minutes on the trainer, doing 1-leg drills a la TiDesigns (1 minute each leg, 50 rpm, work on smoothness throughout the stroke. Then 3 minutes at 100 rpm. Repeat.)

Weekend: 90-120 minutes of mountain biking one day. Rest the other.

[bcm119]

i'm thinking winter is about sustaining/improving these baselines while scheduling enough rest, and reducing the volume, to keep the betteries fresh for the spring and summer seasons.

you can always do longer rides when the time changes in april....

I'm in the same camp. I think Kirk Willet makes a lot of sense. I've done winters with long easy miles and it doesn't work for me. My December routine is all about 20MP.

[fiamme red]

I'm in the same camp. I think Kirk Willet makes a lot of sense. I've done winters with long easy miles and it doesn't work for me. My December routine is all about 20MP.What's "MP"? "Mad painful"?

[bcm119]

What's "MP"? "Mad painful"?
Hopefully not, but if it doesn't work, it could mean that.

20 minute power. read about it here. (http://www.biketechreview.com/performance/base.htm)

[bostondrunk]

Man, I love living in Florida :banana: :banana:

bastard!!! :bike:

[William]

If I'm not out on the bike, this is where I spend most of my training time.


William

[petitelilpettit]

Man, I love living in Florida :banana: :banana:

Then you wouldn't want to live in southern California. It's too "dry" for you. Can't stand the Florida humidity. I give you props for riding in the humidity.

As for me, I have no set training schedule. I just get out and ride my road bike when i can (either commuting to work or group rides on the weekends) and riding my fixie to and from school. All in all, about 100 miles a week if i'm lucky. However, once I'm done with college, I plan on getting a coach to help me become a Cat 2 rider, either doing crits or track.

Pettit

[swoop]

there really is no long easy. doing 5 hours in z3 ... staying in that ten beat window is hard. doing powerwork.. climbing in the 53/12 at low rpm and lowheart rate to develop power is hard (these can be over an hour at a time), and doing cruise intervals in the upper reaches of z3 is hard. and in a month comes intensity....

none of this has anything do with all day rides easy. no such luck (i wish).
blame california... it's cold here right now.. which means it's in the 60's.

here's a peak of what's coming (i can only imagine how fast i'd be if i had any talent.. cuz lord knows i don't have a shred).

[SvelteCycles]

I am using CX racing as training for my upcoming road season. Anything over 3 hours on the bike for me is unnescessary at this time but come January, I will be stringing together 4-5-6 hour rides.

M: Active Recovery 60 minutes
T: 3 x 8M Strength Endurance with recovery time of interval. 90 Minutes.
W: Aerobic Endurance 180 minutes max
Tr: See T with an increase of 2 minutes per interval per sesion (I ussually max out at 3 x 25 minute a workout)
F: Active Recovery 60 minutes
Sat: 60M in the AM, PM CX race
Sun: 60M in the AM, PM CX race.

Everyday there is a seperate focus on stretching, core body, upper body not to mention nutritional and supplement strategies.

Justin

[manet]

manet kinda' follows a friend around as he does his program.
and then the friend waits as manet fixes yet another flat.
itsa great time. low key. heart rates come and go, miles click
over.

i feel for swoop, in that friendly west meets east way, 'cause the
other nite one-legged drills were in the program and man-o-man
did my taint not like those.

[Ti Designs]

Training? We don't need no stinkin' training! I'm gonna sit around all winter, watch lots of TV, read Velo Snooze and stuff my face. When I get motivated (or when I run out of Ben & Jerry's) I might go for a ride, but only with young girls or older guys - that way I'm always the fastest one!

Next season I'm getting carbon wheels, a carbon crank, carbon shifter pulleys and I'm having half my teeth removed for weight savings. Training is so last season...

[christian]

Swoop,

What calendar/program is that? Looks nice.

- Christian

[swoop]

it's friel/periodization based. it's also heartrate based rather than power/wattage... but it can be translated to wattage. it was made for me by an insightful friend and it suits me well. i'm pretty sure this is my last hurrah... i just want to mood ride after this year.

[shinomaster]

Training? I just sit around and drink beer untill my jeans get tight...then I start riding again in January..

One more race this sunday...who is going??

[cpg]

You mean the season ends?

Curt

[Fat Robert]

not to mention nutritional and supplement strategies.

Justin


let me pick your brain about that, man....

[nm87710]

Nov. just L2/L3 and here's what it looks like :crap:
Maybe it's just an ink blot chart...I can't tell the difference :banana:

[OldDog]

I'm motivated to go home tonight, crack open a bottle of red, flop into a lounger in my shop and train my eyes on my bikes. Do long intervals of admiring lugs. Silly me. I'm toast just thinking about it!

Riding for this pup is strictly for fun and a quest for some sort of fitness (like searching for the Holy Grail). Winter training has yet to begin (winter is yet 23 days down the road) consists of some indoor riding of both rollers and a fluid trainer to some tunes and videos. I tried a masters routine in the past from the cyclist training Bible, but that seemed too structured and boring. I also push some weights on a home gym and scoot on the treadmill, but a runner I'm not. Unless I'm chased. Add to that some out door riding weather permiting and some xc skiing, thats my winter routine. I may hit some spinning classes a the local university gym, to take in the view ;) Now there's some motivation...

[pale scotsman]

All I do is lift weights, drink beer, ride once on the weekend, and try to play golf at least once as well.

[Ray]

Off season training? Hmmm, lemme think. Oh yeah, it's just like in season. I ride when I feel like it, how I feel like it, and for as long as I feel like it. Its just that I generally don't feel like it quite as frequently (cause it's COLD - not yet, but it will be), don't ride quite as long (cause it's COLD - not yet, but it will be), and tend to ride the fixie a lot more because I know I'm not gonna be out as long (cause it's COLD....) and its way fun.

8-9 months of the year I seem to do about 150-180 miles most weeks. The other 3-4 months I seem to do between 60-100 most weeks. And there's usually a two week stretch or so when the weather is so bad I don't ride at all. So I eat more, work more, lay around more, etc.

There are two periods to the year under this program. Is this what they mean by periodization?

-Ray

[Matt Barkley]

This time of year I am in a base/strength mode, hopefully my week looks like this with obligatory beers each evening:

Mon - 1-2 hours easy/med tempo - evening stretching ab work / puch ups and beers

Tuesday - group ride with 3x 4x muscle tension intervals (low cadence big gear stuff) - evening stretching ab work and more beers

Wed - off bike with a little speed skating for balance - some stretching and abs pushups and beer, maybe some wine too.

Thursday - off - maybe some stretching, maybe some ab work - beer and probably wine

Friday - off, too much work

Sat AM group Spectrum ride 2hrs

Sunday maybe a good 4 hour ride with climbing and muscle tension intervals - good stretching afterwards and ab work.

Cheers - :beer: - Matt

[Simon Q]

I'm in the same camp. I think Kirk Willet makes a lot of sense. I've done winters with long easy miles and it doesn't work for me. My December routine is all about 20MP.

Another vote for some intensity all year round, every session unless it is adesignated recovery ride. Need to periodise, not be peaking in winter and have rest days but I don't see a lot of improvement in my performance (endurance or power) with just long easy miles. Plus intensity is more fun.

Interestingly, Tyler Hamilton said that the big change he made when he went to CSC and made the step to leader was to train at greater intensity each session all year around and to spend less time training.

[BoulderGeek]

Oh, geez, you motivated guys are impressive.

This is the kind of training I do in the offseason.

I should probably take several lessons from the austere and dedicated denizens here.

[bcm119]

Oh, geez, you motivated guys are impressive.

This is the kind of training I do in the offseason.

I should probably take several lessons from the austere and dedicated denizens here.
Heres a lesson from the dedicated.

Oh c'mon Bouldergeek, Guinness? Wheres the love for Great divide or Mountain Sun? ;)

[AgilisMerlin]

monday through friday

8:15 - 9:30 ride greater charlottesville before work

saturdays 2 hours............my wifes only day off in the busy season

sunday sneak out for an hour.............

no more group rides. too many chores, and have 2 young chitlin's

a good week is ten hours. A bad week is my dependency upon my rollers.

i have no goals besides making my heart pump large ammounts of blood. racing ended two years ago, if that is what you would call it. i ride some centuries during the summer.

this is my year around sanity schedule. I even ride in the shyut. Why - i have no idea :D


AmerliN

[SvelteCycles]

I'm in the same camp. I think Kirk Willet makes a lot of sense. I've done winters with long easy miles and it doesn't work for me. My December routine is all about 20MP.
THE Kirk Willet? He is on this forum or did I misunderstand your post?

Justin

[Fat Robert]

THE Kirk Willet? He is on this forum or did I misunderstand your post?

Justin

kirk and kraig willet run the biketechreview.com board -- which is going through a spambot crisis at the moment (sleazeball spammers!)

[bcm119]

THE Kirk Willet? He is on this forum or did I misunderstand your post?

Justin
No, I was referring to Willet's ideas as they appear on his website, as Fatmo mentioned. I don't think hes on this forum.

[SvelteCycles]

No, I was referring to Willet's ideas as they appear on his website, as Fatmo mentioned. I don't think hes on this forum.

Ohhhh.... Thank You. I will check out his site.

Justin

P.S. Robert, email me in regards to your post earlier. I would be happy to help.

[Too Tall]

Climb-O, here is my general layout for the next month +

M-thurs - 3 hrs or 40 miles fartin around with approx 1/3 of the time in Z3 no 4/5
*M,W,Th-Sa,Su - 30 to 60 mins. Concept2 Z1/2 a bit of Z3 rowing ~ 2:05 pace
Sat - 4-5 hrs. tempo distance (approx 1/3 tempo rest is whatever)
Sun - 2 hr. blow out group hammer with 1 hr. super easy cool down chat ride.
Tue - adv. pilates mat class

PM and speedo is OFF the bike until Feb.

*I'm getting or rather seeing if I can race Crash-b in feb. Thus all the erging. I'll cut back to 3 long rows / week after that's done

[manet]

HR monitor back soon from service

[Karin Kirk]

I have a disciplined training routine in the winter, but it's all in another sport. I like this approach becuase it keeps me fresh. I would be burned out if I were on the bike all winter.

When I was racing, and I thought that I should be in the weight room and on the rollers all winter (but I knew I didn't want to), I was heavily influenced by an interview with a top US pro (who's name suddenly escapes me). She said her breakthough in racing came when she spent winters telemark skiing and building power. I followed her advice and I feel it works for me!

So here'e the winter training regimen, expressed in pictures...

This is the aerobic part - hiking "the Ridge." It's 15 minutes up steep steps kicked into the snow. The pace is whatever heart rate makes your eyes bulge out of your head, followed by another 10-15 minutes of tempo hiking across the Ridge (pictured here).

[Karin Kirk]

Twice a week we do early morning training. We get on the lifts before they open to the public.

Note coffee in hand.

[Karin Kirk]

The first thing we do is explosive power - hop turns. Only problem with this is that it is only a short time after breakfast.
On the other hand, you get warmed up right away.

[Karin Kirk]

Whee!

[Karin Kirk]

Builds power, agility and is much too much fun!

[Karin Kirk]

... to have some recovery time!

[Bill Bove]

bastard!!! :bike:

Snicker, snicker :p

[mike p]

.