Summer Training!

Great news frankie, we sucked in another runner!

There will likely be some good answers to follow, but I would recommend at this point just enjoying your new bike, getting out and riding at least 4 times a week (this is the key) at your current 25-30 miles a pop. Maybe add a longer weekly ride of about 50 miles (sounds like you are already in decent shape). Speed is relative - hills, headwinds, even humidity, play a part. I'd ignore this metric altogether and focus on things like HR and rate of perceived effort (RPE) etc.

Then try and find some guys who ride a lot and ride with them. Nothing like group rides to build a nice initial base and understand where on the totem you currently sit.

Typically the 'traditional' road racers training model goes something like this:

Sat: Race or fast group (tempo) ride
Sun: Longer endurance ride (3+ hours)
Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: Fast ride or short intervals - After 45-60 mins endurance pace to warm up thoroughly, 4 x 3 mins (3 minutes of rest easy pedaling between efforts) close to as hard as you can manage for the full effort. ie. if your last rep is significantly slower than your first, you went a bit too hard. If you finished the 4th easily you went a bit too easy. These help increase the ability to recover after the yoyo'ing speed so common in racing. After awhile you can add sets, spilt them up (ie. 2x[3x3min]), etc. For the first couple of months I'd just stick to fast rides and fun stuff like sprinting to telephone poles or chasing hard after your riding buddies 3 or 4 times during the span of 20 minutes.
Wednesday: Rest day or easy ride
Thursday: Longer intervals to help with your threshold - can start with 2x12 mins at a relatively hard pace (where conversation is possible but difficult), eventually graduating to 1x20 mins, and then 2x20 mins after a few weeks. Effort level should be just under your latate threshold or a RPE (Rate of perceived effort on a scale of 1-10) should be around 7, just under time trial pace. Rest for half the duration of the interval. This is good for developing time trial speed and efforts experienced during breakaways, and just being an effective road racer. These are arguably the most important type of "interval" for one's progression through the racing ranks.
Friday: Rest day or easy ride

At your age every 4th week should be a "rest" week, just do your 4 weekly endurance rides or whatever and skip the intervals altogether. You will likely see great progression in the initial months.

Training strategies for TT's, Crits, Long RR's will involve an appropriate variation on the above.

Joe Friels Training Bible is a great book to start on. Also, Cyril Guimard (Lemond's and Hinault's coach) said something profound many years ago... most riders train too hard on "easy" days, and too easy on "hard" days.

Good luck!

I think one needs to be much older than 19 to be a decent distance runner. I also think one needs more than a month of bicycling before a training program is necessary.

17-18mph is not race pace. But it is fast enough to ride with the faster group rides. Find some group rides and ride with the group. You will learn to ride near people and you will get a bit faster. Saturday and Sunday mornings are popular times for groups. Less popular times are Tuesday and Thursday and these rides tend to be shorter than the weekend rides.

By the fall you should be strong enough to race.

Being comfortable riding close to several other riders, and getting the hang of drafting, are the priority. Beyond that give it a go whenever you think you're ready. Make finishing upright your primary goal. Don't sweat getting dropped, but try to complete the race if it happens.

A healthy base of miles is always a good idea before a training plan, and the plan I mentioned is just an example. You'll make a lot of progress while developing a good base just riding regularly with others. Try to ride at least 4 days a week, and rest at least 2 days a week.

You got a good bike for the job btw.

Thanks guys for the input! I don't really plan on competing for a while, and I agree with getting used to drafting and such before deciding to race. I have a few buddies of mien up at school who go riding during the week so I'm starting to get the hang of things. It comes pretty naturally to me already, it's just that I am a really competitive person haha so I always tend to want to jump the gun and train to hard. But I am going to take both of your advice and just stick to getting some more miles and riding 4-5 times a week which I have been doing so far. Maybe at the end of the summer I will do a race or two for fun and focus more in just completing. Today I did 25 miles at roughly 20mph and it felt pretty good so in another month or so I think I will start up with a more routine training program. Thanks again!

-Frankie

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by frankie3792 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Hey everyone, I just recently bought a Fuji Roubaix 3.0 ( about a month ago) and I have been putting some decent miles on it as a beginner. I am 19 years old and I used to be a decent distance runner. However, I decided to pick up cycling now instead! I already love the sport and riding in general. I was hoping to get advice concerning a possible training routine. The past month I have averaged about 25 miles per ride and I have gone as far as 40 on a ride at average speeds of 17-18mph. I definitely feel like I am improving but I just feel unorganized about my training as a whole. I hope to enter my first race later this month and I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions on how to best train myself the rest of the summer. Thanks 🙂

keep it up bra... i know you legs are though for being a former runner... just keep it up... your doing a great job...