Training plan vs. Adhoc Riding

Furious_g said:

Had my first ever road race on the weekend (www.colerainetour.com)

I entered my self in C grade and I came 12th out of 50 including a 2nd on one of the KOM's.

I was speaking to some people there and most were amazed that I had no coach or training program.

Basically what I do is ride to work about 4 days a week (30kms each way in heavy traffic) and ride about 80~100km each day on the weekend (roughly about 420kms for the week).

I don't do intervals or anything, I just go out and ride hard from the start to the end. Not flat out but about 8/10 for effort.

My question is: would a specific training program wirtten by a coach / pro make me a better cyclist than what I am doing now? Bear in mind the traffic I ride in (and traffic lights) make it near impossible to do much of anything useful whilst commuting. I always ride by myself and not in a group.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

If I were you I'd consider these points:
Do I have dedicated time to training instead of commuting? (From my own experience commuting in heavy traffic might be exhausting but it doesn't allow to perform any prescribed interval workout except sprinting).
How am I going to incorporate my commuting into any training plan if I don't have time for training?
Is it worth changing approaches to training without seeing results from the current "commuting and racing" regime?

Spend one racing season riding as you like, gain experience, read books on training. And then you'll be able to decide do you need a coach or not.

Furious_g said:

Had my first ever road race on the weekend (www.colerainetour.com)

I entered my self in C grade and I came 12th out of 50 including a 2nd on one of the KOM's.

I was speaking to some people there and most were amazed that I had no coach or training program.

Basically what I do is ride to work about 4 days a week (30kms each way in heavy traffic) and ride about 80~100km each day on the weekend (roughly about 420kms for the week).

I don't do intervals or anything, I just go out and ride hard from the start to the end. Not flat out but about 8/10 for effort.

My question is: would a specific training program wirtten by a coach / pro make me a better cyclist than what I am doing now? Bear in mind the traffic I ride in (and traffic lights) make it near impossible to do much of anything useful whilst commuting. I always ride by myself and not in a group.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

You have two issues : you have your daily commute and you have ambitions to race.

The daily commute that you do will maintain/improve your fitness levels.
But to improve your racing - you need to train specifically for race purposes.

If it is your intention to race - I would suggest that you join a club first before shelling out money for a training plan.
You'll find that most clubs have knowledgable coach's who can advise on issues of nutrition/training plans/race strategy.

I joined a club (a few months ago) and did a few crits before doing this road race. I won a D-Grade race so I moved myself up to C-Grade. My best result in a C-Grade crit is 6th.

Becuase of where I am (Melbourne, Australia) I am already leaving for work in the semi-dark and returning in dusk so more riding outside these hours is out of the question.

Can you guys reccommend a training program that is based on my
2 x 1 hour commutes (about 4 a week)(in traffic) (31km)
and
2 x 3~4 hour weekend rides

I have a Polar 725i with cadence, speed, heart rate, altitude, but NO power meter.

All input is welcomed. 🙂

A couple of things that spring to mind are there any bike paths that you can use to commute on they may be longer but less lights and traffic. The other is when do you do recovery rides? There just as important as going hard.

Time your self between two locations that are about 5k apart and try to better the time and rest for 1k and go all out again for 5k (no traffic lights if possible). It good to be able to TT well but with road races surging is always happening and you have to be able to to go with it when needed. Don't just sit at 8/10 all the time, ride at at 9/10, 10/10 and even 11/10. But don't forget to sit at 6/10 to recover.

When I lived in Melb, the morning ride was easy but the ride home was training mostly at LT level like yourself and sprinting form the lights. The yarra trail was my main route as you know, you don't go far for the time taken due to the winding of the river always on the MTB for added load and the tram tracks. The weekend where race on sat, and sun 4h endurance ride over Mt Dandy.

Furious_g said:

I joined a club (a few months ago) and did a few crits before doing this road race. I won a D-Grade race so I moved myself up to C-Grade. My best result in a C-Grade crit is 6th.

Becuase of where I am (Melbourne, Australia) I am already leaving for work in the semi-dark and returning in dusk so more riding outside these hours is out of the question.

Can you guys reccommend a training program that is based on my
2 x 1 hour commutes (about 4 a week)(in traffic) (31km)
and
2 x 3~4 hour weekend rides

I have a Polar 725i with cadence, speed, heart rate, altitude, but NO power meter.

All input is welcomed. 🙂

Excellent comments in this thread.

Buy the Cyclist's Training Bible (Friel). I have the MTBing version and developed my own program. I think it helped but who knows. Heck, it is 30 or so dollars and is a good read.

woodchuck said:

Excellent comments in this thread.

Buy the Cyclist's Training Bible (Friel). I have the MTBing version and developed my own program. I think it helped but who knows. Heck, it is 30 or so dollars and is a good read.

I personally preferred Chris Carmichael’s book, The Ultimate Ride. I’ve also read Friel’s book and it’s a little too abstract for my tastes. Both of them give some specific workouts that have really improved my riding. The best advice comes from both books, and it’s find a plan and stick with it. You can get either book on eBay or Amazon.com really cheap if you don’t mind a lightly used copy.

Furious_g said:

My question is: would a specific training program wirtten by a coach / pro make me a better cyclist than what I am doing now?

Just by continuing to train by your own, with this club, you should become a better cyclist.

Would a speciific training program writen by a coach/pro make you a better cyclist than you'd become if training by yourself?

- If the coach is good, then yes probably (although there are other important factors as well)
- If the coach isn't so good, then maybe yes, maybe no

Furious_g said:

Can you guys reccommend a training program that is based on my
2 x 1 hour commutes (about 4 a week)(in traffic) (31km)
and
2 x 3~4 hour weekend rides

I have a Polar 725i with cadence, speed, heart rate, altitude, but NO power meter.

All input is welcomed. 🙂

Absolutely. My plan would be as follows:
Monday: Easy commute or off.
Tuesday: Warm up for ten minutes, do 2x20 minute intervals at roughly functional threshold. Functional threshold is roughly the power you can sustain for 1 hr. Since you don't have a pm, simply use trial and error until you find an effort that feels "annoyingly hard" by the end of the 2nd interval. 5 minutes rest between, then 5 minutes cool down at the end.
Evening: Just ride home a moderate endurance pace.
Wednesday: Vo2max workout: start with something like 6x4 minute intervals with 3 minutes rest. Maybe 10 bpm above tuesdays workout. Again, use trial and error to find intensity.
Evening: Ride tempo home.
Thursday: Same as tuesday. If you feel totally smashed, just ride tempo both ways.
Friday: Off or easy commute.
Leave the weekend the same.

As you approach anything considered a big race, if you feel you need to improve short-term power (e.g., 1 minute climbs) do some anaerobic intervals such as 8x1 minute w/3 minutes rest on thursday morning instead of threshold work.

BTW, I've read the Carmichael and Friel books, and the information you can get off of this forum is way, way better. Just give it some time to soak in.😄

whoawhoa said:

Absolutely. My plan would be as follows:
Monday: Easy commute or off.
Tuesday: Warm up for ten minutes, do 2x20 minute intervals at roughly functional threshold. Functional threshold is roughly the power you can sustain for 1 hr. Since you don't have a pm, simply use trial and error until you find an effort that feels "annoyingly hard" by the end of the 2nd interval. 5 minutes rest between, then 5 minutes cool down at the end.
Evening: Just ride home a moderate endurance pace.
Wednesday: Vo2max workout: start with something like 6x4 minute intervals with 3 minutes rest. Maybe 10 bpm above tuesdays workout. Again, use trial and error to find intensity.
Evening: Ride tempo home.
Thursday: Same as tuesday. If you feel totally smashed, just ride tempo both ways.
Friday: Off or easy commute.
Leave the weekend the same.

As you approach anything considered a big race, if you feel you need to improve short-term power (e.g., 1 minute climbs) do some anaerobic intervals such as 8x1 minute w/3 minutes rest on thursday morning instead of threshold work.

BTW, I've read the Carmichael and Friel books, and the information you can get off of this forum is way, way better. Just give it some time to soak in.😄

Cool, well i'm going to get both books and give them a read any way, but until I get them, i'm definately going to try the program you mentioned above.

Thanks heaps for all the great replies guys! 🙂

Furious_g said:

Had my first ever road race on the weekend (www.colerainetour.com)

I entered my self in C grade and I came 12th out of 50 including a 2nd on one of the KOM's.

I was speaking to some people there and most were amazed that I had no coach or training program.

Basically what I do is ride to work about 4 days a week (30kms each way in heavy traffic) and ride about 80~100km each day on the weekend (roughly about 420kms for the week).

I don't do intervals or anything, I just go out and ride hard from the start to the end. Not flat out but about 8/10 for effort.

My question is: would a specific training program wirtten by a coach / pro make me a better cyclist than what I am doing now? Bear in mind the traffic I ride in (and traffic lights) make it near impossible to do much of anything useful whilst commuting. I always ride by myself and not in a group.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

There's some similar type questions in this thread, with my reply here http://www.cyclingforums.com/showpost.php?p=2710220&postcount=5

It's most likely that a good coach will make you a better cyclist and in a shorter space of time. Even commuting can be tailored towards improved performance. Feel free to give me a shout on [email hidden] and we'd love to help you improve,

cheers
ric