Winter training

[jeffg]

When do you folks start a winter regimen, if at all? Now that I am facing winter (soon, I would suppose), I am wondering when most folks start their regimen of easy rides, weights, etc. It seems a bit early for me to give up any hard riding yet, but I want to be flying in April. Any thoughts?

[Dr. Doofus]

your Doofus is planning on peaking in April/May, so your Doctor has already started for next year with a general preparation phase...if one wishes to fly in april, then Foundation training begins in November...which means prep in October, and hopefully you took September as an active rest month....

[bostondrunk]

Does drinking and smoking count as active rest (I did ride 3 times, and raced once...)???

[coylifut]

I have a teammate who's flying all the time it seems. He wins a lot of Cat 2 races starting in late February all the way through the end of September. He wins in a variety of ways as well (breaks, field sprints, solo attacks...) about the only thing he can't do is win races with very long extended climbs. He's built similar to Thor Hushovd. He claims that the typical weekend warrior doesn't need a long drawn out plan to peak. He goes on to point out that riding 15 hours a week of base miles in December, with limited daylight is very a hard task to accomplish for people with jobs and families. His schedule is a bit different. He gets in about 10 hours of total training a week during the winter. 1 day of sprints, 2 days of running, 2 weight lifting sessions, one club ride on Saturday and an easy day on Sunday. He does far less volume than others in his category, but a bit more intensity. During the season, his running and lifting are replaced by longer days on the bike and his weekly hours go up to about 15. He is a firm believer of racing into shape. When he wants to peak, he'll take some rest, then follow it by racing twice a week for 2 weeks straight, then race the important race 7 days later. He gets in about 5 mini peaks a year and more than his share of podiums.

[Andreu]

This is an interesting question as training regimes are so personal what works for one person doesn´t for another etc etc. I had a hard cycling winter with good training through October to December last year (with short crit races tucked in the back end of the year) then some more races in February - March. I was flying all the way through to April then had to ease back. Then really long races in hills in June then - fried. I think year round fitness for me is almost impossible (genetics and age don´t help me). This year I am taking October and November off and starting in December. With the old fashioned slow, long miles then start shorter intense stuff in February to see if that works.
The "problem" is that here the weather is good and it is difficult to take a break when the sun shines and it is 15-20ºC even in December. In northern Europe the weather gives you a good excuse to replenish for a month or two. I have never had two consecutive years the same with training for one reason or another (work commitments, injury etc etc.)
Well we'll see!
A :beer:

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . through the end of October, when daylight savings time ends. This will include the MTB with a light. But after DST ends, it is just not possible for me with my work schedule to get weekday riding done with any daylight left. So starting in November it will be back to the gym for weightlifting and spin classes 2-3 times per week. Not perfect, but it does keep a very good base going through the winter, since I'm not a skier.

BBDave

[jeffg]

your Doofus is planning on peaking in April/May, so your Doctor has already started for next year with a general preparation phase...if one wishes to fly in april, then Foundation training begins in November...which means prep in October, and hopefully you took September as an active rest month....

Doc --

What do your prep/foundation phases look like?

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . (the Poster Formerly Known As TomfKB2) since he has a rather interesting winter regimen. He has a trainer set up in his basement with a DVD player, buys all the WCP DVD’s, and rides all the major tours all winter, an hour at a time--EVERY DAY.

Yep, he spends an hour on that trainer EVERY DAY. Pretending he’s Lance. EVERY DAY. Sweating all over everything and mumbling to himself wondering where the team car is. For a whole hour. EVERY DAY.

Gotta have a talk with that boy . . . :crap:

BBDave