Hours a week

if it helps, here are my stats:

central indiana
5'9"
153lbs.
230W FTP
Cat 4/5
13-16hours/week
2 days endurance, 2 days tempo, 2 days FTP and up, 1 day off
5 TTs this year
4 RR this year
3 crits this year
500 hours this season (goal)

how long are your races?

don't train over your race distance....train 4/5 days a week, including 1 recovery day.

if all your races are 1.5 hr crits then 4 hour endurance rides will actually damage your performance.

if it helps i race Cat 1 in holland on 12-14 hrs a week.

pro guys who train 20 hours a week do that to prepare for multi day long distance stage races. it doesn't follow at all that spending as long as they do in the saddle will make you a good lower category rider. A sensible structured training schedule of varied intervals and focus, and as many races as you can manage will.....There are guys here in Cat 1 who are top 10 in every race, 40 years old and train 8 hours a week - but they train smart, and race even smarter.

going out and doing 16+ jours per week on top of work, famikly etc is a big undertaking.....without proper supervision, rest and diet you can really run yourself down and get ill.

vio765 said:

if it helps, here are my stats:

central indiana
5'9"
153lbs.
230W FTP
Cat 4/5
13-16hours/week
2 days endurance, 2 days tempo, 2 days FTP and up, 1 day off
5 TTs this year
4 RR this year
3 crits this year
500 hours this season (goal)

cdy291 said:

I just turned Cat4. I pretty much slammed all the Cat5 riders and would like to see Cat3 by the as soon as I can get there. My question is how many hours of training a week should I be doing to be competive in your average Cat3 race. I'm shooting for around 10- 10 1/2 now. The most I've ever done was 12 1/2. Should I be slowly working my way to 15 hour weeks?

The most important thing is to do the right training, not the volume per se. Nosing around on these forums won't hurt, but the best thing you can do is get a good coach with an exercise physiology background to answer these questions for you.

I have raced Cat 2 and won prize money in p/1/2 races on 12 hours a week.

My next race April 15 will be Raccoon Mountain Road Race in Tennesse. Cat4 will do two 27 miles laps climbing the 2 mile climb up the mountain both times. Then when I get done I will have ~2 recovery before I go do the juniors race witch is one 27 mile lap.

As Roadie said, its the type of training more than the hours, 10-12 should be sufficient with a proper training schedule. Again, as was posted, the best approach is a good coach, or at the minimum a good training schedule. The main lesson I learned from 2 1/2 years of CTS coaching is that "JRA" (just riding around) doesn't do it, each day (and we worked on a 5-days-per-week schedule) had specific objectives in terms of the number of intervals, the time in each power range, cadence, etc. When I was being coached, my hours of riding actually decreased, we used the hours more efficiently.

As you know-the jump from 4 to 3 is quite large. I am not saying dont do it by any means what so ever. Just that winning a 5 race doesnt take much tactics at all and only a bit more for most Cat 4 races. At the 4-5 level its about having a good sprint or at least a good enough jump at the end. NO flaming if your a good Cat4 and have really hard Cat4 races in your region because it probably means your sandbagging as are a bunch of others!! [censored]-totally not making a point here-my point is Cat5 to 4 then 3 requires a larger and larger jump in tactics as well as fitness.

I am training 10 to 13 hours and between 140 to 175 miles a week and I am racing 3/4 races so far. I am a 41 year old Cat4, but I was a Cat3 in the 80's and 90's and then quit riding for 15 years so I asked to be reinstated as a 4, but now wish I had asked for cat3 because I cannot sign up for Masters at the Nationals till I upgrade to 3!!

palewin said:

As Roadie said, its the type of training more than the hours, 10-12 should be sufficient with a proper training schedule. Again, as was posted, the best approach is a good coach, or at the minimum a good training schedule. The main lesson I learned from 2 1/2 years of CTS coaching is that "JRA" (just riding around) doesn't do it, each day (and we worked on a 5-days-per-week schedule) had specific objectives in terms of the number of intervals, the time in each power range, cadence, etc. When I was being coached, my hours of riding actually decreased, we used the hours more efficiently.

What he said!! a coach is huge!!

it is my philosophy that new racers (Cat 4-5/Citizens) spend the hours devloping a strong aerobic base. this means spending lots of hours in the endurance range. this does not mean at the expense of higher intensity work. for example, i am a cat 4/5 racer and i spent the last 4 months averaging 13-15 hours/week building a base while slowly adding high intensity intervals. i did the same thing last year. i frequently ride 2 times the distance of any race ill have this year. i do this because not only are weeks, months, etc periodized, but so is my entire ameteur cycling carreer! for next season and beyond, i plan to "mello out" and not spend so much time in the endurance range. because my aerobic base is so huge after 2 complete seasons that i can build upon all the boring work. i like to think of it has building a house on top of a solid foundation. the stronger the foundation, the bigger and better the house.

This is a basic training week for me.

Mon- Recovery 1 to 1 1/2 hr about 16 average
Tues- some type of interval. TT, Sprint, Climbing, ect... or Group Crit practice, 50 min+ 3 laps
Wen- Fast group ride. 11 miles to the start and then the ride of 30 miles, 23mph average. Sprint finsh. Then about 6 miles back.
Thurs- off the bike
Fri- 1 1/2 moderate pace with a few sprint to losen up for the weekend
Sat- Race or Fast group 52 mile ride. 19- 20mph average
Sun- Race or Long solo endurance ride 60 - 70 miles.

cdy291 said:

This is a basic training week for me.

Mon- Recovery 1 to 1 1/2 hr about 16 average
Tues- some type of interval. TT, Sprint, Climbing, ect... or Group Crit practice, 50 min+ 3 laps
Wen- Fast group ride. 11 miles to the start and then the ride of 30 miles, 23mph average. Sprint finsh. Then about 6 miles back.
Thurs- off the bike
Fri- 1 1/2 moderate pace with a few sprint to losen up for the weekend
Sat- Race or Fast group 52 mile ride. 19- 20mph average
Sun- Race or Long solo endurance ride 60 - 70 miles.

Cdy291: I will repeat my suggestion of finding a coach - you may not need to look further than a high-cat racer in your club (and if you don't belong to a racing club, please find one!) My instant reaction to your schedule is that it is exactly what my coach forced me away from! Most of us love group rides, we enjoy the sprints and king-of-the-mountain games, etc. Except that that is NOT what structured training is about. Typically I was allowed two group rides per week max, one mid-week semi-race (i.e. just a lot of egos trying to prove something, but by my power meter, very race-like results) and a hard longer club ride with my fellow racers on Sundays. All the other training days were solo, with very specific interval workouts, all based on FTP (Functional Threshold Power, the max you can hold for about an hour). The actual choice of intervals, the number of reps, duration, gearing, etc. is what coaching is all about. But the point that my coach stressed (over and over) is that group rides are fun, and can be hard, but since they are not "planned efforts" they are not as good for specific training as a structured plan. Now that said, many (probably most) racers work off a schedule much like yours, both approaches work, but in my experience the structured approach gets the same or better results with less time spent in the saddle.