baraka said:;imerick man this is not as "windup"..and by athlete..so the person is pretty fit...
On the basis that this person is reasonably fit here is a year plan :
Initial 4 weeks : the person needs to get out on their bike and simply allow their body to be accustomed to the motion of pedalling and getting their
muscle groups used to working.
Training during these weeks should be confined to perhaps 3 times per week,
1-2 hours per session.
The next eight weeks should be the building process :
this would see a rider getting out 3-4 times during the week for 2 hours per session.
This process is the building block for gaining cycling fitness.
This process would see a rider staying on a reasonably flat or rolling course
where the body is stressed but not burdened.
Recovery is essential during this phase : the cyclist will need to tailor his sessions to allow his body time to recover as he trains.
The next phase lasts 10-12 weeks and will involve taking the 8 hour per week training sessions and increasing the hours per week up to 12-16 hours per week. It is a conditioning phase.
This might well involve maintaining the 3-4 2 hour sessions and then doing
a three hour session on Saturday and Sunday.
This intensive phase would see a cyclist doing intervals (short intense periods
of cycling very quickly, followed by slower long "more steady" riding).
The secret here is to combine interval and deep training.
By now, we're at week 30 of the year.
Weeks 30-52 should see the cyclist getting long 4-5 hour sessions in.
Depending on the length of the race (is it a one day race or a stage race ?),
one needs to adapt training to the objective.
If it's a one day race - weeks 30-52 should be all about getting the body used to cycling 4-5 hours with an average speed of 20mph.
If the race is a stage race, the body doesn't need to train at 20mph for
4-5 hours, it will need however to train for 5-6 hours at say 18mph.
Different races, different requirement.
Endurance for stage races - power for one day races.
For tapering puposes, the rider will taper down with 10 days to go before the race.
The rider should minimise the number of hours cycling during this period.
Ideally, the rider will be only going out to "keep the legs fresh" perhaps an hour per day.
