Training for this season

sparknote_s said:

I heard that in the winter lots of cyclists do plyometrics and/or weight training, but not a lot of riding. What point in the year should you start to do a lot of riding?

How 'bout now? Seriously though, I'm sure you'll get your fill of 'weight training is a waste of time', but leaving that aside, the longer you ditch the bike, the longer it takes to gain your bike fitness back - I speak from experience. Keep riding - maybe less volume - but you need to work at keeping your bike fitness intact.

in.10.city said:

How 'bout now? Seriously though, I'm sure you'll get your fill of 'weight training is a waste of time', but leaving that aside, the longer you ditch the bike, the longer it takes to gain your bike fitness back - I speak from experience. Keep riding - maybe less volume - but you need to work at keeping your bike fitness intact.

I concur. There are numerous approaches, but a minimal amount of on the bike work, of moderate intensity, will go a long way in maintaining that fitness you worked so hard to develop over the course of the season. The longer you wait, the longer it takes to come back.

I AM NOT going to get into a debate about the value of weights, but there can be no arguable value in the absence of on the bike training. So, you need to be on the bike. The questions then become, how much riding is tolerable in your locale? Or.. how much indoor riding is tolerable?

Steve

After taking a two month break from running 4-6 miles 6 days / week, how long do you think I should be riding each day, and making sure to not overtrain?

sparknote_s said:

After taking a two month break from running 4-6 miles 6 days / week, how long do you think I should be riding each day, and making sure to not overtrain?

I'm not sure you can base your cycling training distances on how much your running training distances were. They're two different animals.

Although I will say that it should be much easier for a runner to convert to cycling than it is for a cyclist to convert to running because a cyclists' body isn't conditioned for the impact of running even though they may be extremely fit cardiovascular wise.

Last year I ditched the bike and just did gym work, especially squats. When I took to riding agian in Spring my fitness had gone completely. I was gasping and wheezing as I ascended a small hill.
This year I'm keeping up with the cycling. I was out last night in 50 mph winds and freezing cold. Got back home soaked in sweat.
Till I get my hernia sorted out, I figure I'm better off cycling in Winter and will be out there riding no matter what the weather.

sparknote_s said:

I heard that in the winter lots of cyclists do plyometrics and/or weight training, but not a lot of riding. What point in the year should you start to do a lot of riding?

Carrera said:

Last year I ditched the bike and just did gym work, especially squats. When I took to riding agian in Spring my fitness had gone completely. I was gasping and wheezing as I ascended a small hill.
This year I'm keeping up with the cycling. I was out last night in 50 mph winds and freezing cold. Got back home soaked in sweat.
Till I get my hernia sorted out, I figure I'm better off cycling in Winter and will be out there riding no matter what the weather.

I have to say that a well designed indoor training session on my rollers and trainer with heart rate monitor at hand does quite a lot to keep what I've earned over the year without a lot of boredom. I'm the first to admit that riding indoors can be a bore. But after creating a few indoor training regimes where I never do any one thing for more than 3 minutes, I find I'm training better indoors now with little or no boredom.