Unusual Training Schedule

I am not sure if this works for you, but when I am away for a week at a time (usually happens about 1 week a month lately), I always try and book into a hotel with and exercise bike. The exercise bike is useless for intervals but you can get your endurance time in. It is not the same as riding outside but not that much different from riding on my trainer at home. If there is no bike I try and get my endurance in running on a treadmill (yuck!!). Make sure you bring your heart rate monitor because you will encounter lots of different exercise equipment and will need to target your workout by heart rate unless if you are good at estimating yourself.

The one thing you will notice is that you will see many people come, exercise, and leave all while you are still riding 🙂

The guys whom I know with your situation do best if they get a coach. That way their weekly training approach can be tailored to the days and times available. If that won't work for you, then read up and learn how to craft your own training plan.

Can you tell us what level of training you are at?

Are you trying to maintain your muscle endurance, max power output, general fitness or a combination of all three?

Is is possible to attend a gym while away?
Is running an option?

I'd recomend training very hard while at home, and using the week away to stretch and improve your flexibility while recovering. How this works for you will depend on your current ability and your body's recovery rate after hard training.

Quoted post said:

Can you tell us what level of training you are at?

I just took the training wheels off my bike! Well ok, not quite, but have only been cycling seriously for a few months. 2 weeks ago I did 2 tests in accordance with Carmichael’s instructions in his books. I didn’t have any suitable terrain available so did them on my trainer, a Travel Trac Century, using resistance level 3. I have no idea how that compares with level terrain (I suspect it is higher resistance, and if anyone knows the correlation I’d appreciate knowing as I been unable to find calibration data). The results of the tests were 3 miles/4.82 km 9:23 and 9:20 for a speed of 30 kph. My average heart rates were 162 and 166. As I write this post I’m quite sure the resistance was nothing like flat terrain as my training rides average over 25 kph for the 40 km and my average heart rate is between 130-140. Anyway that’s all the objective data I have sorry.

Quoted post said:

Are you trying to maintain your muscle endurance, max power output, general fitness or a combination of all three?

I want it all baby, I WANT IT ALLLL!! No seriously, as mentioned I began cycling as cross training for skiing however as I do more cycling I’ve found I’ve become quite hooked. So far my objectives are to ride 100 miles (160 km) under 6 hours, and hopefully go over to Italy to ride in the Gran Fondo Campagnolo (short course) next year. I’m ultra competitive and wouldn’t be too surprised if I pursued racing later, but concentrating on the basics just now.

In addition to my skiing, I have been weight training for 23 years (I’m 40 now), and my whiz-bang scales tell me I’m made up of 11% pure fat. I’d say my strengths are … well just that, leg strength, and commitment. My biggest weakness would be aerobic endurance.

Quoted post said:

Is is possible to attend a gym while away? Is running an option?

Yes I try to go to the gym but hate running. I used to do it when I was younger and it caused leg/knee problems. Often I'm skiing when away, the 60 days on snow is both northern and southern hemisphere winters.

Quoted post said:

The guys whom I know with your situation do best if they get a coach. That way their weekly training approach can be tailored to the days and times available. If that won't work for you, then read up and learn how to craft your own training plan.

Yes if I continue at this rate I will almost certainly get a coach. having said that, if I have a student/athlete come to me (skiing) the first thing I ask is what they want to achieve. I would expect to be asked the same question from my cycling coach. I'm not sure I can give a satisfactory answer to that question at the moment. I'm just trying to lay good foundations for what may come, hence the reason for my post. Also, at my current ab initio level I would prefer my coach to have some idea of where I live and the conditions around here. As I gain more experience I can fill in the blanks by myself. In skiing I would suggest it's the difference between a ski instructor and a coach. At the moment I feel I need an instructor.

You've told me where you are at and I think I can assist you with training methods to help you decide what you may want to work on in the future.

It sounds like you wish to work on your aerobic endurance and your muscle endurance. The rowing machine in the gym will help with the aerobic endurance.

Muscle training. I'm glad to hear you have done weights in the past as you will know how your body/muscles respond to training. No coach can know this as well as you.

Do you muscles grow quickly or slowly after gym training? Many cyclists grow/repair quickly and this is why you hear of cyclists riding 500-1000km a week. But if you recover slowly this will not be the optimal training for you.

Gym strength is different to bike strength. Theoretically weights should help you improve your max power output, but you will see your performance drop during that training. It's usually used as off season training.

We can use the gym to work on minor muscles used in cycling (I assume you have already built the major muscles), as well as initiate muscle growth while you are away from home.

Being strong in the gym will not nessesarily make you strong on the bike, but if you understand the difference between strength and power I don't see why you can't use the gym for growth and translate that muscle into output on the bike. Pedal stroke and training your legs to call on less used muscles as well as building muscle endurance needs to be incorporated with our gym work.

We need to look at you knee problems to ensure they don't return.

To help you with a program, I need to know how quickly you would recover from gym work, muscle specific bike training, a 100m time trial.

Brian

Ok, not entirely sure I understand all your comments but here goes.

Quoted post said:

Do you muscles grow quickly or slowly after gym training?

In the gym I do split routines (essentially pushing one day, pulling the next to put it in its simplest context) and never the same muscle group 2 days in a row (except abs maybe). I'm good to go again after 2 days but leave it 3 typically. On a bike it normally takes 2 days to recover from a vigorous ride.

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We need to look at you knee problems to ensure they don't return.

I'm using floating Shimano cleats and haven't had even a hint of knee problems since I've been cycling. The bike was set up for me from the Trek dealer using the fit kit. The only thing that feels a bit odd is the reach, feel like I'm stretching a bit but nothing major.

For a competitive cyclist, attending the gym tends to hurt performance until they stop attending the gym. We'll use the gym with longer term gains in mind.

I'm not sure what days you are home, but in general terms, go for a hard ride just before you leave, giving yourself a few days to recover while away from the bike. Do gentle leg excercises if possible. Enough to warm up. Consider this recovery part of your training for the week. Recovery is different to rest.

Mid week go to the gym and use the rowing machine for aerobic endurance (a heart rate monitor might be useful to compare effort levels to cycling).

I'm taking a guess with your previous knee problems, but I'm guessing they may have been an ITB problem which is common for runners and cyclists. Where was the pain?

Yes think I would be happy to sacrifice some cycling performance in order to maintain overall physique ... being the strapping specimen that I am and all 🙄

I use my HRM all the time and will one day upgrade to one of those fancy Polar jobbies that draws nice charts on the screen.
Running caused shin splints when I was doing a lot of it and generally gives my knees hell. Goodness knows I give them enough grief skiing, these days I try show some mercy on the poor things, besides rapidly catching oldmanitis.

I'm not a coach or anything, but just a thought...

Why not buy a used pair of cross country skis and bring them to the slopes with you? Get there a bit early and spend an hour or two with them on varying terrain before letting gravity do the work for the rest of the day.

Won't require a big change to your schedule and from what I've read, cross-country skiing is one of the most intensive cardiovascular exercises you can do.

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Why not buy a used pair of cross country skis and bring them to the slopes with you?

Cross-country skiing is something I would like to do a lot more of, and yes it is excellent low impact training. However I generally can't take skis with me for logistical reasons except when I'm based in an area for a while. Boots etc etc but skis just don't work unfortunately. Besides I don't exactly potter about on the slopes, it's normally 6 hours or hard skiing and I need all the enegy as it is just to get through that. Good idea though.

When you had knee pain, where was the pain and what would bring it on?

Like most serious skiers there's not too many places in my knees that haven't hurt at one time or another. What would bring it on? Crashing too many times at high speed 😄

On the bike the only time I felt any knee discomfort was when I first started cycling on my old bike, and then only when I was going up steep hills at low cadence. From what I've heard hardly surprising. Running tends to jolt my knees and I especially don't like running down hills. From what I've read on ITB that wasn't it at all, my discomfort comes from within the knee joint itself. In addition I have some biomechanical birth defect there which can cause my knees to basically pop out of alignment if I try to stand up from a very deep squat. The solution is to grab my ankle and wrench my lower leg up and sideways. My knee makes all sorts of god-aweful noises as it realigns and off I go again. Once again it doesn't even remotely affect my cycling.

I've now done about 1,000 km of serious cycling training and knees have been just fine. As for my butt ...!

When would it hurt?

ITB pain can be when your pushing hard, or if running when you stop or start.
If it's a muscular cause we need to treat it to prevent future problems. An overly tight ITB will cause pain in the knee (towards the front).

If it's a knee problem we'll play it by ear (cycling can be very good for some knee operation patients).

Hmm, maybe I've giving the wrong impression when I said "hurt". Ache is possibly more accurate, and it's inside the knee joint itself. Cycling doesn't affect my knees, and at the end of a hard day's skiing my knees are tired. I had a knee check done at the beginning of last season by a company doctor before being cleared to work. His only comment was that there was some fluid on the knees; not unusual for the start of the season.

Good to hear.

For those who are reading on to learn about avoiding sports unjuries:

Knee problems are common in cyclists who have done extensive training, have trained poorly or have the wrong bike setup.

Those of us who train hard should remain flexible and aim to "balance out" the muscle groups. Try not to become strong in one area while deficient in another (gym people commonly work their biceps and not their triceps, but the same "front and back" approach applies to cycling).

Ideally we should all be very flexible but while aiming for this, work on muscle balance as well.

How is the training going?

Went for a ride yesterday, the usual 40 km loop up Pacific Highway. Survived the Sydney roads and trucks to write again (that in itself is an achievement as anyone else from Sydney can testify). Very strong ride, as they normally are after a few days rest, but got a bit caried away with the low Perceived Effort so my average heart rate was 149 for an average speed of 27 kph. Seemed to have picked up a bait or something as felt terrible this morning, like a wicked hangover, sadly without the party (doubt if anything to do with cycling, I suspect more with my cooking skills) so not sure if I'll be out today. May show my face at the gym tonight if I feel up to it.

886014 said:

Went for a ride yesterday, the usual 40 km loop up Pacific Highway. Survived the Sydney roads and trucks to write again (that in itself is an achievement as anyone else from Sydney can testify). Very strong ride, as they normally are after a few days rest, but got a bit caried away with the low Perceived Effort so my average heart rate was 149 for an average speed of 27 kph. Seemed to have picked up a bait or something as felt terrible this morning, like a wicked hangover, sadly without the party (doubt if anything to do with cycling, I suspect more with my cooking skills) so not sure if I'll be out today. May show my face at the gym tonight if I feel up to it.

Sounds like you have a terrible predicament. My personal opinion would be to ride quietly, say 24 - 26kph on the flat, for most of the time you are home, doing up to maybe 60km in a ride 2 - 3 times and 30 - 40km on the other rides. When you are away....jog. It sucks but it is the most efficient means of exercises utilizing the least amount of equipment and time. Jogging is generally thought to be beneficial to cycling and certainly general fitness. My last piece of advice...unless you are a pure track sprinter (which is doubtful) DONT do weights, there is no benefit, short term or long, to lifting weights as far as cycling goes. There is great debate over this I know and many people have the "it worked for me" stories but the truth is the evidence stacks up strongly on the theory that weights works for power/speed over a very short period only.

Weights certainatly don't help in the short term (you tend to be rather flat), but in the long term they provide an increase in power (which our rider may already have).

I'd be using weights for minor muscles, but I remember when I was doing heavy weights I still had juniors beating me with better speed :eek: .

I agree, Sydney roads are a bit narrow. I'll stick to your distant car park we call Newcastle.

Sounds pretty reasonable advice, but like a say, not sure I'm prepared to give up the gym. I don't do any leg work in there any more, just very light spinning, though sometimes high RPM, to warm up.
A typical day at the gym may be warm-up (30-45 minutes at HR 125 if I haven't been on the bike, 10-15 minutes if I have) shoulder presses, a couple of other deltoid exercises, and tricep pushdowns. Finish 2 sets 50 incline situps and back extensions. The next night may be lateral pulldowns, seated rows and bicep curls, finishing with core as above.
So you guys think that spending 30-45 minutes doing this sort of thing will have a significant impact on cycling?

Now in the best "double eight" tradition; if it ain't broke, try harder. I'm off for a ride 😄