Training Advice

Hey, so I've decided that I want to try my hand at track racing but I haven't actually done any competitive sports for years and I'm wondering what would be the best way to get myself into shape for it as I'd like to actually try and train for it before I try my hand.

I wouldn't be in the best shape I've been in but I'm not too bad and I was wondering if anyone could recommend some good training regimes or where I might find one...also I was wondering...and this may be a stupid question but...would it be more worthwhile to focus on fitness or strength, obviously it depends on the kind of races you intend to do but in general which would be a better use of my time as I've not tried it yet so I'm not sure what kind of races I'd like to try...

Sorry if this is a really stupid thred or if it's already been done but I'd really find it very helpful to get some advice from any of the racers on here...

Cheers...

Erik

well it's the end of the season..

first thing to do is just ride your bike, a lot. if you've already been doing this for a year then people might suggest the gym, but you haven't even raced yet, have you any track experience?

then start going to training next year and see where you fit in

well it's the end of the season..

I was hoping to maybe get some sort of training recommendations for over the winter, anything that might prove good preperation, I've never been on a track, I live in Dublin, think there only is one on Sundrive road but the way I see it is even if I train for it and don't like it when I try it I'll at least have done some good exercise... I know it sounds naive but I love cycling so I'm prepared to give it a good shot rather than just arriving at a track day and arsing around it would be nice to get some of the hard slog over and done with... I have started riding a lot more though and getting in longish rideds when I can...

hook up with a club that rides the track in your area, talk to them, train with them.
ride lots.

Find somewhere you can ride at a constant high speed with no interruptions for long periods of time and chuck in some 100-200m sprints every so often.
A track is very actually the best place to do this but you might be able to find a circuit you can work with. I was doing lots of 50+ mile rides fixed and thought they would be good prep for pitching up at Herne Hill but it really is something else entirely.

Cool, sounds good guys, luckily the guy who's chairman of Irish track cycling commission (or he was) is from my town so I'll have a talk with him and see what he recommends

Not going to claim that my advice is the best, but I've found cardio work - peak output and endurance - to be very helpful, plus is tranferable to other disciplines. Fartleks - alternating medium intensity with very high intensity work - are great, I think.Can be done on bike or in gym.

Yep. Nothing can beat getting in the miles. More fun often to join a local road club to train with over the winter. Track events tend to not last much more than 30 minutes so you can train quite effectively for events like these by riding at a high tempo for an hour, 2-3 times a week which is good over the winter as its too cold to be out longer than this. One big long ride every week isn't really an effective way to train as it can be quite a strain on the body and metabolism. Good luck and enjoy

Epo.

Go to Herne Hill tonight if they're still open (and if you're London based), try it and if you like it THEN get fit.

get the Pumping Iron movie and a bunch of steaks. Should sort you out.

Not going to claim that my advice is the best, but I've found cardio work - peak output and endurance - to be very helpful, plus is tranferable to other disciplines. Fartleks - alternating medium intensity with very high intensity work - are great, I think.Can be done on bike or in gym.

You shouldn't be doing any "very high intensity" work during winter if you want to race track. You should be doing your aerobic component and maybe weights to throw on some muscle mass. As the season nears, you reduce the weights and distance and increase the speed work and actual track drills. Same principles as road with more emphasis on strength (upper, core and lower - not just legs!) and leg speed.

too cold to be out longer than this. One big long ride every week isn't really an effective way to train as it can be quite a strain on the body and metabolism. Good luck and enjoy

Too cold? Roadies don't seem to have a problem with this. HTFU

The point of doing one long ride a week is so that you recover from it.
Recovery is key!

If you're not doing any aerobic work you are missing out. Increased blood flow through muscles, improved heart/lung function (you need to breath bitches!), increased red blood cell count (move oxygen from heart to muscles) and decrease (or maintainance) of body fat.

I'm sure lots of trackies only start riding nearer the season start but if you actually want to win shit, this is a poor option. You will need to train TOO hard to catch up to other riders who have maintained and improved over winter.

yep you got to get the miles in 1 or 2 long steady rides,mix it up with road and mountain bike,if you cant be arsed to do core work at a gym join a thai boxing club,boxing,mma club they all work hard on core stuff and you cant beat a good session on the pads to keep your cardio up,just mix it up,also x races are great for the lungs to,but dont listen to me ive never done a track race

turbo work does help lots, going to a local Spin class will ease the boredom factor- some aspects not what you need but overall a good thing. Suggest see if local clubs do turbo sessions.

Basic fitness is the building block, ride ride your bike, swim, use weights, run, step aerobics etc- you have all winter to build up. Learn to sprint for sign posts when out on the road!

If you can get over the water there's Newport Velodrome to go and play at, or Manchester may be easier, if really crackers go to Calshot. All do bike hire, so no need to lug a bike over unless fussy

rollers are very good not the turbo ones and im going to join vcl to start the circuit training there i dont think ill be doin an ironman ever ,so i want to reach a basic good level of fitness
ironman triathlon....4km swim,then hundred mile odd ride then run a marathon after.. these guys are super fit doodes

You might say there are two basic schools of thought - ancient and modern.
Modern:
In a nutshell this is the Peter Keen/Chris Boardman approach. It involves lots of measuring, gym work, turbos etc. It works (see olympic results). However, it is expensive and doesn't sound much fun.
Ancient:
Just do lots of miles. Then do some more: every mile pays a dividend.
Historically far more races have been won with the old method than the modern technique, but this may not always be true in the future. However, I hope the reason anyone reads this forum is because they actually like riding their bikes, and this seems to fit in better with the traditional way of doing things.
Just a few suggestions to help with all those miles.

• Join a club. If you find one that suits you it will change your life.
  
• Be flexible about the discipline you want to take part in. Track has been on the TV a lot recently, but its not suitable for all. If climbing is your strongest suit you won't be able to show it off on the velodrome. Everyone should aim to do some road racing, but if you can only measure improvement by going from DNF to FMB, you won't find it very encouraging. For this reason I suggest everyone should do some time trialling. Virtually all the big names in British cyclesport,from Leon Meredith to Boardman himself have had an involvement with time trialling; the improvement in your personal bests give you something concrete to put in your training diary (you'llneed one of those).
  -I'd say for most people 5000 miles per year would be a absolute minimum for racing fitness.
  That's quite enough for one post.
  

good post wayfarer.

I think at the level most if us are at here, all this gym stuff is probably not going to make as much difference as getting some solid plain and simple riding in.

Thanks for the favourable review, RPM.

There is one thing that must be added to my comment about time trials.

Time trials are the most dangerous discipline in cycle sport.

I don't like having to say this and I'm not going to go on about it, but it's a fact and must be mentioned when encouraging anyone to take part. Road racing and track feel much more risky(or exciting) while you're actually taking part, but riding alone, often on a main road, can result is worse injuries than road burn and broken collar bones typical of road race crashes.

There, that's it, I've said it. On the other hand if you never take any risks you're not going to do much bike riding of any sort, and if you go to a time trial you'll see plenty of riders who've obviously survived quite a few seasons.

Yes I agree, the best thing is just to get on the bike and cycle and cycle. You also need to push yourself more, go up steeper hills. Cycle faster for longer.
Get on the track. Everytime you race on a track, you get fitter basically. As long as you keep at it your body will respond. Also, I thought I had reached some sort of plateau in my fitness level ( due to not having the time to cycle more ) however, I started swimming pretty much every morning before work 2 months ago and the effect on my stamina has been outstanding.
I find now that I do not tire on my bike. When I get out the pool, it sometimes feels a though I am going to have a heart attack! But this must be a good thing. Right?

you need to do a certain amount out of your "comfort zone" to improve stamina, or even to build muscle mass after a certain point.

for example: some people may commute for 100 miles a week, but always at a pace they feel comfortable with, and with lots of stopping. it's essentially "trash" mileage. Far better to do two hard 50 mile club rides.

Riding at the track makes you push yourself, if you want to keep up with the pack you're often made to dig deep to do so, likewise with a sprint for the line. Your endurance increases over the weeks as you find it easier to do more laps at speed. It's structured training to help you improve and it's a darn sight easier in a group because there's always someone to beat (even for mike! )

A cycling life often goes something like this: see beautiful bike, desire it, obtain bike, think you can ride fast, make depressing discovery that there are many others who can ride faster and further than you.
At this point you either give up or become interested in training, and this subject will concern you for the rest of your cycling career. Also, the longer you're in this game the more you come to think that fitness is more important than kit; so perhaps this subject should be a sticky thread, or even a 'category' in its own right?

for example: some people may commute for 100 miles a week, but always at a pace they feel comfortable with, and with lots of stopping. it's essentially "trash" mileage. Far better to do two hard 50 mile club rides.

I thought you didn't believe in junk miles?

Now I'm no expert and I'm certainly not fast on a bike but I read a lot and am very good at repeating what others say.

So the most important thing in training is rest, you can train your ass off and if you don't rest you will not get fitter.

Fitness is never a static state, you are either getting fitter or getting out of shape.

There are three main aspects to cycling fitness. endurance, force and speed skill. You should train your endurance first by doing steady rides for a long time, even for track that is important as you see some quick guys who are toast in an 8 lap scratch race. Speed skill should come quite easily if you ride fixed on the road, jsut lay off the brake. Force comes from either gym work (squats, deadlifts, step ups and leg presses) or seated climbing.

There is a superb bok by Joe Friel called :the Cyclists Training Bible" which will help you come up with a training plan based on the 3 skills mentioned above and helps you identify what are your weaknesses through testing.

It's a serious undertaking and if it all sounds too much then jsut riding your bike really is the answer.

I thought you didn't believe in junk miles?

Hmmmm, depends on who's doing them.

I think it's applicable once a certain level of fitness is obtained, for instance I wouldn't dismiss the value of 50-100 miles a week commuting for a good proportion of people on here who are, to be honest, well off a healthy target. Once you get fitter and lose fat, then the body will always be looking for more and better quality training, esp.if you want to increase muscle.

see the training as food for your fitness, sure you can keep it alive with the basics, but once it starts to get a taste of fillet steak and lobster, it's not going to want to go back to beans on toast.

sometimes, a commute is all you can get, so use it wisely. I try to do sprint intervals now, instead of just the quickest A to B.

One thing I wish I'd known at the start.

It's worth knowning what your resting heart rate is.

Your RHR is a rough guide to fitness. It's another measure like weight. If you know your weight and RHR when you do your best rides, you'll know what you need to get to next season.
A raised RHR can be a indication that it's time to rest rather than go out training: it may mean you are overtired, or that you're ill (viral myocarditis can be fatal to athletes who ignore it).
A typical healthy adult will have an RHR of around 60-70 beats per minute, a racing cyclist will usually be around 45 bpm. Beryl Burton was said to be 37bpm and Big Mig (Indurain) 28 bpm, but he was physically a bit of a freak.
You may need to explain to your doctor why your RHR is low: a clubmate, in hospital after a minor road race crash, woke up to find himself in intensive care surrounded by worried medics who thought he was dying because they'd noticed his RHR was down to 40. He had to explain to them this was perfectly normal for him!
You can check your own rate as follows (you need a clock with a second hand): on waking, before you get out of bed, and certainly before drinking any tea or coffee (stimulants) find your pulse (neck or wrist) and count - probably for 30 secs then x 2. Repeat after a few days to confirm first count wasn't a freak.
If you know your RHR before you start on a training programme it should be a source of encouragement as it decreases, as it will if you're doing it right.
By the way, I'm an unqualified amateur, so bring your own judgement to my advice.