Wannabe racer.....

[Dan_K]

The time’s come that I’ve decided to get a bit more serious about this cycling thing and I’ve decided that I want to get a 4th cat licence and try racing next year.

Currently, I’m 28, 5’10”, 92kg but of a stocky build so reckon I’m 15kg heavier than I want to/should be.

I’ve cut out the booze, bread and am watching what I eat more and am gonna invest in a set of rollers for those wet days when I don’t want to ride outside.

Currently, I can manage 60-70 mile rides but that’s about my limit but I’m hoping that will go up with time.

I’m changing my hours at work so that I get a day off in the week to get a long steady ride in and I’ve devised a basic plan of (which may change slightly depending on my day off that particular week):

Mon – Rest day
Tues – 30-60 mins
Weds – 30 mins
Thurs – 4-5+ hours
Fri – 30 mins
Sat – Club run
Sun – 2 hours

We have a gym at work that I can use so should I substitute one day of riding for a cardio/light weight gym workout?
Should I use weights at all?
What sort of rides should I be doing?
Any tips on nutrition?

[quote="Dan_K"]
Should I use weights at all?

[Marek]

I am of different opinion to Toks about the weights, I think it can actually help, and is good to exercise other parts of the body to get some all around fitness. There is a book called weight training for cyclists which you can get off Amazon for pretty cheap. This will give you an outline of the benefits etc, and gives you a load of exercises that you can build into your general workouts.

If you want to lose weight and don't mind doing a bit of running I have found that chucking in a couple of run sessions is actually pretty effective at keeping the weight off or even taking it off, which by the looks of your post is what you want to do.

In terms of nutrition cutting out the booze is a good idea as this will cut out a lot of calories, although depends on how much you were drinking before. When I was serious about losing weight I tended to just avoid the naughty things in life and substitute them with fruit. Also avoiding putting butter on things was another thing that I did.

If your going to be increasing your training load my advice would be to do this gradually, if you are going from a low level to a high level then it is better to do it gradually else you may get ill or overtrain (not a problem I have had for a while).

In terms of rides it does sound like you just need to get your base level of fitness up as you will need to be able to ride 60 to 70 miles comfortably. If you can maybe get out for an hour before the club run and make sure you also take in the longer box hill loop on the way home. Otherwise go and find some other longer routes which have a bit more varied terrain. As you move up the categories into some more hillier road races you will be thankful that you have done some riding around the hills. The best way to get good at hills is to ride them. Over winter get comfortable with the longer distance and then Feb/March time start to up the pace a bit by throwing in some intervals, or even start to brave the ACC training group rides. Interval training on hills is very effective as well, I remember someone saying to me the best way to train to go up hills fast is to ride them as if a Lion was chasing you. This will get you used to riding them quickly, if you go out and ride up hills slowly you will just get good at riding up hills slowly, so absolutely nail yourself on them and you will gradually get quicker.

Hope that you find that useful, and good luck, it is great fun.

Cheers

Marek....

[Paul H]

With the time you have for training, you could become a good 3/4 Cat racer by next year. As Marek said, build up your training slowly to start off with.

As you are starting out, whatever you do will result in massive improvements. Everybody has their own opinion on training and these are my suggestions:

I would get a Heart Monitor to make sure you are training in the right zones. They are also good for racing when you know what your limits are.

4/5 Hour rides are not necessary for building endurance but may be good for losing weight. My longest rides are the CRs.

I would say weights are the icing on the cake and riding the bike should take preference.

Keep a diary of your training.

On the CRs, go in a group that makes you suffer like a dog. If you get dropped, its not the end of the world. Try and get up to the TG group.

If you are trying to lose weight and cutting back on the calories, you may want to have whey protein shakes to make sure you do not lose muscle mass.

Do the type of training you enjoy - you are more likely to keep at it that way.

Cheers

[Andrew G]

Good luck with the training and next season's racing.
[quote="Dan_K"]
We have a gym at work that I can use so should I substitute one day of riding for a cardio/light weight gym workout?
Should I use weights at all?
What sort of rides should I be doing?
Any tips on nutrition?

[Dan_K]

Thanks for all the tips and advice guys.

Based on what you've all posted, i'm going to get the HR monitor for my Garmin edge and start a training diary, making a note of my daily diet too.

I think that i'll target some hill intervals and I like the idea of a sprint box. Where I live would be ideal because there a 2 short rises on each side of the "box".

On days when i'm short on time, i'll try a 20-30 minute run but as i'm quite stocky anyway, will lay off the weights at the moment.

As for a coach, it's something that i'd love to have but may have to wait until my base fitness and finances improve!

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Thanks again,

Dan.

P.s Sean, looking forward to riding your wheel....

[Andrew G]

Forgot to say Dan...

Pedal your bike.

Sounds like a stupid thing to say but the amount of people who spend great long periods free-wheeling is amazing. Use your gears, it's what they're there for, and pedal. A 3 hour ride where you free-wheel 25% of the time isn't a true 3 hour ride is it. Change up gears and pedal down hills, when riding up drags roll the power over as you crest to make a smooth transition to the flat and change up to keep the effort and speed up, don't crest a rise and have a mini break as you gather yourself up again.

EDIT:
Don't forget your recovery rides, looking at the slots you put in your original post Friday would be a good day for them.
[quote] Recovery rides will be at 'village policeman' pace, very slow indeed, and no more than an hour, spinning very easily indeed, with the aim of removing that stiffness from the muscles that even relatively light training seems to provoke. The idea is that it's a kind of massage for the legs.