Beginner's Training

IzzyG said:

I know all of these might sound like over enthusiastic talk but I'd rather do a structured plan right off the bat with the needed gear instead of wondering and starting off wrong. Thanks in advance.

Izzy, if I understand correctly, you're in your third week of riding for fitness. If this is the case, your primary focus should be learning to ride safely on the road, and doing whatever on earth you feel like. Your enthusiasm will serve you well, eventually, but for now, ANYTHING you do on the bike will produce such dramatic gains that so-called "structure" would just be a distraction. The most effective structured plan for you at this point is to ride your bike whenever, however, and for however long you feel like it.

As a somewhat general principle, if whatever you're doing now is producing gains (which your numbers indicate), keep doing it until it no longer works. Once you've hit the point of diminishing returns with "just riding", then you can worry about structure, if you're still unhappy with your level of fitness.

Hey Izzy. Most beginners will benefit greatly from any degree of increased time on the bike, and can suffer from low motivation if biking starts to feel too much like work. So, advice to "just do whatever, ride a lot, and have fun" may not be as useless as it first sounds. 🙂

But let's assume you're past all that. You mentioned a structured training program, and asked about what you should be doing. Is there something you're training *for*? Are you just wanting to commute to work faster or do you have aspirations toward longer, organized rides, or races? A program should be structured to do *something* and it's important to have an idea what that something might be before starting to build. You may not have all the answers now (or they may change later), but that's something to think about.

To your specific questions, it's hard to really do anything *wrong* when starting out on a bike. You're at ~17 miles/wk right now, so if that's comfortable then try increasing the mileage by about 10% per week by going longer on some rides. As your rides get longer, the aspects of your form which need help will become apparent by which body parts hurt (neck, back, shoulders, knees, etc.). Regarding cadence, people pedal at whatever they feel most comfortable with, but in general, longer endurance rides are easier with light pressure on the pedals and a cadence between 85-100 rpm. I wouldn't say having cadence on a bike computer is all that important. Count your pedal strokes (one leg) for 10 seconds using the timer function on your computer. If you get 14-16 strokes in 10 seconds then you're in that range.

Hope this helps. If you have more specific questions then feel free to respond.

The best thing that I ever did when I first started training was to read The Lance Armstrong Performance Program - Seven Weeks To The Perfect Ride. It gives a lot of great beginner cycling information and lays out a series of 7 week training plans, one for beginner, one for intermediate and one for advanced.

I learned a ton of how to get started info from the book and started the beginner plan. I rode through it a few times, while evaluating my progress. Next I moved on to the intermediate plan, with the same evaluation approach. I continued to make a lot of solid progress. At that point, I received The Ultimate Ride for Christmas and began using the more advanced training that it detailed. All of this worked well for me. I got fit, avoided injury and learned a ton about cycling, fitness, nutrition, and even about taking care of my bike.

Next time you are at a book store, you might want to give these a look.

Either way, good luck! 😉

Thanks for the replies guys. Well firstly, I'm trying to do the sprint triathlon in my city this July. I'm not planning to just finish but rather do pretty darn well. My background as a personal trainer has given me a mentality of proper workout schedules. Always with a structured program, I'm able to gauge carefully at my progress. Although, you guys have a point. I should just keep logging the miles without overtraining. I'll definitely give that book a look when I'm in the book store next. Thanks guys.

Izzy G.

IzzyG said:

My background as a personal trainer...
Izzy G.

I assume from this that you're not a total couch potato. 4.4miles a day is really not much for a personal trainer with at least reasonable fitness. You can be ramping up your time on the bike in the next few weeks and soon you could look to start spending at least an hour a day on the bike maybe 3-5 times a week-especially on days when you can do this in reasonable weather and sunlight.

Sprint tri is about 2 hours for a beginner? 6 months away. That's enough time to prepare yourself to finish the race.