So if you do 40K time trials and road races up to, say, 50 miles, your longest training rides don't need to be longer than 40-60 miles. Early-season long rides build aerobic conditioning. But once the season is underway, distance may detract from the power and speed you need to do well in your goal events.
That said, there's an important psychological factor at work here, too. Centuries and tours can fit into a recreational race schedule. After all, we're into cycling to have fun, and variety keeps it that way. Just be sure to recover well and don't ride over-distance too often or too close to competition. And remember - long rides won't make you faster!
Q.I've gone over your web site articles for training and I have a question. From reading, Max VO2 occurs at 90% max heartrate. On intense training days, how long should you keep pedaling at MaxVO2?
I have a limited training time schedule and I want to maximize intensity for my 2 intense sessions, but I am unsure how long I should pedal at MaxVO2 rate. I am using an interval based approach for my intense days to control heartrate. On other 2-3 days of training, I just keep heart rate in the target range based if I am doing a long ride or recovery ride, or some days I just cross train instead.
This is sample intense session:
Currently, I am in decent shape (resting HR 56), but I am trying to increase overall fitness. Not trying to become elite cyclist, but want to maximize effort. I've also noticed that as I do intervals, my recovery heartrate seems to increase over time. For example, if I am on the first interval and then go to recovery for 5 minutes, the HR may dip back to 130ish, then on the 4th interval the same amount of recovery time the HR may only go back 140ish. I am not sure if this is normal or I need to pedal longer a recovery rate because I am getting fatigued.
There's probably no right or wrong answer here, but any advice would be appreciated. - JR
A.I would say your are doing everything just right. You can fill in the "x" with any length interval you'd like. Depends on the event you are training for and personal goals. Getting better will happen as you put in the time - and if you increase your training (not frequency of each type of ride, but length of each). But don't forget to take off a day or two each week - that often takes more discipline than riding every day.
And yes, it is normal for subsequent HR recoveries to be less. the important HR is the next morning when you get up (to assure you are recovering and not approaching overtraining.
Using a training log
Keeping track of your training - and using the information to improve - is an improtant part
of any training program. How do you use the information?? I'll reprint the comments of
Fred Matheny (from www.roadbikerider.com - an excellent on line resource). I'll emphasize what
resonates with me in bold.
From RBR's 12/21/06 Newsletter: Motivation & Inspiration: Best of Coach Fred. " How Do You Analyze a Training Diary?"
Coach Fred Matheny Replies: Good question, Mark. Not many riders keep detailed training logs, which is a shame, and even fewer know what to do with a year's worth of information. Analyzing a training log is crucial to learning from your mistakes, understanding your successes and getting better each year. I'd like to see you and all RBR roadies start a cycling diary for 2007.
This task is easier now that computer-based diaries can be used instead of paper-and-pencil logs. (For an example, see http://www.cyclistats.com) With electronic diaries you can pull out average miles, average heart rate, number of hours at or above lactate threshold and much other potentially useful data.
But having said that, I admit to still using an old-school paper diary. I've gotten comfortable with this type during three decades, although I still find that turning all the data into actual improvement is more art than science.
You asked about my numbers. With two weeks to go in 2006 I've done 527 hours on the bike, 227 hours of other aerobic exercise (mainly hiking and snowshoeing) and about 50 hours of weight training. That adds up to around 800 hours of exercise. My totals have been pretty consistent in the last 17 years, averaging 650-800 hours annually.
But lump-sum hours aren't as meaningful as the hours spent near or above lactate threshold. In other words, quality is more important than quantity. And in this area my ability to analyze my training falls short. It's difficult to pull that information from a handwritten log. I rarely wear a heart monitor, and although I do have a power meter on a bike, I'm not always riding that one when I go hard. So quite a few power profiles of hard rides aren't recorded.
Periodically through the year, I read back over my diary to make a subjective analysis. I check the number of interval sessions I've done and their spacing. I look for rides that were hard even though no formal intervals were scheduled. Examples are spirited group rides, races and courses with lots of climbing.
I also check my body weight, looking for fluctuations that could indicate dehydration or overtraining.
But more important to me than intensity or hours is a subjective rating of my well-being. I find my mental state to be the best indicator that I'm on the right track or doing too much. Do I feel vigorous or flat? Am I eager to ride or am I going through the motions? Do rides feel so good that I extend them longer than I'd planned, or do I plod through a lackluster hour and head home?
Hard training doesn't, by itself, lead to improvement. Rest and recovery are the essential catalysts. If I don't rest enough, everything goes downhill. So for me, charting my mood against the objective numbers produced by my training is the most useful aspect of diary analysis."