linck said:What would be a good training regimen that could help me improve to racing standards. I have a trek 1000SL can I race on that bike and be competitive. any help would be greatly appreaciated.
First thing is to build up your endurance. You can do 10 miles without feeling tired. That's great but most races are considerably longer than 10 miles. Work on endurance for a couple of weeks. Increase the length of your rides to 20 miles or 30 miles. Build up until you can do 50 or 60 miles comfortably. Don't try to do it all at once. Set up a schedule where you can ride at least five days each week. One of these days should be a moderate day where you ride a medium distance, say 15 miles, at a brisk pace. This conditions your leg muscles to use stored fat for fuel rather than your carbohydrate-derived glycogen which would be used for more intense efforts.
Ride at least one long ride per week to maintain your stamina. Don't worry about the distance just pedal at a brisk pace for at least 3 hours.
The other three days will be used for speed training. You can do this by going all out for 20 miles or so, however, intervals will be much more effective. On intervals, select a route that is relatively flat or slightly rolling and ride a mile at a flat out sprint and then slow down for a mile to recover. Repeat this for 20 miles.
You can also do step intervals where you sprint for 1 mile, recover for 1 mile, sprint for 1.5 miles, recover for 1 mile, sprint for 2 miles, etc, for the entire ride. You will get faster as you progress.
If you have some good hills in your area, get out and do a climb every now and then. Try to build good hill climbing form when you are out of the saddle. If possible, join a riding club so that you will have someone to train with. Most people train better with one or more others. They can show you what you need to know and teach you how to ride in a pace line, etc.
I don't know the TREK line well enough to suggest whether or not you can race on your bike. You probably can but you will probably want to upgrade the wheels. This is where most bike companies usually scrimp to keep the cost of the bike down. Good Luck!
