Training this winter

Ok guys so what are you planning to do over this winter to make you a better rider for 2010?

I'm going to ask this new bloke who's just joined our club as a second claim what he reckons I should be doing for training this winter, then try to do it.

lets hope he has a clue, I hear a lot of these coaches are over rated.

Im going to ride my bike quite a lot, hopefully get a few more weekends up at my mates in Leeds as I feel it's made a massive improvement in the level of effort I can maintain without going anerobic and also when I do to my tolerance of lactic acid in my muscles.

Also I'm going to try to do a proper sprint efforts on my way home every day, I have a safe area to do it as I cross blackheath ts about 200m long t is slghtly down hill but it is traffic free, nice surface and should be perfect to work on my technique and leg speed.

Will gear down for the winter to be kind to my knees and improve my ability to spin.

Other than that I'm going to take it easy, try to loose weight as although I'm a stone down on this time last year, I still want to get down to 11 1/4 stone from my current 12 as I'm carrying too much weight. Then hit the roads to run come the spring.

I'm going to ask this new bloke who's just joined our club as a second claim what he reckons I should be doing for training this winter, then try to do it.

Doesn't that cost money? ;)

Club runs for stamina,
MTB for strength
Fixie fixie for spinny spinny

i would like to take things a little more seriously next year.... at the moment my track riding is just a hobby..... i'm never going to be super fast, but it would be nice to be able to train, and have the odd race with some of the faster guys like yourselves.

i think i will be getting in more road miles, and going to Richmond to do at least four laps most saturdays, instead of my saturday track sessions.

i think i also need to get stronger all over, not just in my legs, as i have quit poor upper body strength, so i guess this means joining a gym... which is a place i have avoided like the plauge since i stopped playing rugby 10 years ago.

Will you be doing you Richmond park saturday sessions again this winter Rob?..

i'm going to seriously pay attention to this thread and take notes

................and get the miles in.

I'm hitting the gym quite early on to gain back some strength that i lost from "junk miles".
Then very similar to Ed, I'm going to gear down and get some spin into my legs.

i'll be hitting RP Saturday mornings fixed, followed by a club run Sundays as much as I can.

17mph average will be yours; oh yes, it will be yours.

I'm going to shadow BMMF.

• Failing that... fuck off to Barbados and go diving, then Japan for some boarding.
  

Im going to be spending most of the winter in the pub watching the footie. I may also take up smoking

I would like to do some sessions at Calshot and/or Newport.

I will also be doing some long runs, some hill reps, and some indoor stuff. I will also try to starve myself.

I am going to work on the step machine in the gym to make my bum nice and tight for my Lycra shorts

one thing I won't do this winter is too much training early on, so I peak in february and am dead by the time the spring omniums start.

weights for grrr
club runs for stamina/base miles
rollers/road fixed for whizzy
turbo/overgeared for power

question is, when and how many of each? I'm pretty lazy when it comes to road rides, but have no problem doing weights and rollers because I can usually find time to fit them in at short notice.

Not sure about RP saturday mornings as I don't feel they did me any good last winter at all, maybe they were too short and too fast although the one time we did sprint efforts seemed brilliant. Perhaps some longer geared rides at less of a pace would be a better base.

Last winter I did lots of regular training, I had begun doing weights (albeit light ones as e beginner) which helped with strength no end, and rollers which helped with core stability and leg speed, but I neglected any on-bike power work, like overgeared climbs and turbo. When the season started I felt out of puff and slow immediately. After riding indoors quite a lot over winter the big, windy outdoor track at Herne Hill seemed incredibly hard work and I felt I was no fitter or stronger than I was at the end of the last season, bit of a gutter really.

This winter isn't looking quite as bleak workwise as it may have done, so I doubt I will have a huge amount of time for training, my goal should realistically be three sessions per week: 1 a road ride, 1 a weights session and 1 a roller or turbo session, but with active recovery for each of these that's a pretty full week, for instance the road ride might be on a sunday and I should do an easy roller session on the monday as recovery, the weights session will need rollers afterwards, or an easy road ride on a fixed gear the next day maybe. One also has to consider the increase in volume or intensity leading up to the start of any competitive things you are planning for, and the gradual climb up towards that. At the moment, I am two days into a two week rest period, but after that I have no real idea how hard I should go and for how long, need to break out the calender.

If you think too much about this shit, you go mad.

Get yourself a coach.. I've heard this guy helps trackies in particular..
http://performancecyclecoaching.com/

our ISP fail

Last winter i just did the miles and around january started going to the gym and did a bit of weights and resistance work for 10 weeks or so and that worked well alongside my commute which is nice fast.

I'm going to try something more structured this winter and will be getting a turbo and I have already started back at the gym.

Quality not quantity will be my watchwords this time. And periodisation. Although it's not really a word.

Here's a personal training summary from the blog of a guy who rides at Kissena for inspiration. If you can follow it it's very interesting.

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^^ Therein lies my main problem. Just opening that spread sheet makes me feel nauseous. How can people be so organized? My brain just will not take that stuff in!

Im sure its very interesting though

i'm with mike on this one. i stare at shit like that at work all day...

I'm going to try something more structured this winter and will be getting a turbo and I have already started back at the gym.

Quality not quantity will be my watchwords this time. And periodisation. Although it's not really a word.
.

I got mysalf a turbo trainer a couple a months ago. I did about 3 x 45 min sessions over a week or so before my last race (on top of other riding) and felt so much stronger in the points race, especially recovery, which Im usually shit in. It may not be related, but was the only differnce in my training.
I think the quality over quantity thing is true. I did a 10 min warm up, alowly buiding up to 'vaguely out of breath riding' (I dont have a heart rate monitor as yet).,
then over the next 10 mins I rode as hard as I could, really fucking hard untill I thought I would die, for 50 seconds, then span for 1min 10, then repeated this cycle for 10 mins.
After 10 mins of that, I rode a gentle to 'vaguely out of breath' for 10 mins, then 10 mins of the sprint interval training thingy again, then 5 mins warm down.

It seemed to work, and I couldnt be bothered with charts and shit. Like you's above, it makes my head hurt, where as Im looking for my legs to hurt!

I will also try to starve myself.

Weight loss FAIL.

Your body goes into starvation mode, metabolism slows drastically, then when it's time to eat, WAAAAAYHEEEEEY shovel shit down your gullet like your life depended on it.

Getting some aerobic stuff done before breakfast (but after coffee) is the only thing close to 'fasting' that actually works. Then eat a decent breakfast. Then graze little/often/healthy between meals. Carbs at lunch. Don't eat dinner too late. Be moderate with booze. Save those treats for after the week's long ride.

Lose no more than 1lb per week, or be prepared to put it all back on again. 1lb per fortnight is enough, anyway.

"Be moderate with booze."

Fail.