Training Program

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Brett147
Hi
Anyone got a good training program for road cycling.Or any recomended books regarding this matter.I participate in 4 to5 100-150km events per year.
Regards
Brett147

The best book IMHO for putting together your own complete programme is Joe Friel's Cyclists Training Bible. IMHO that's the only book that gives you all the information you need to construct a complete programme.

Chris Carmichael's recent book, The Ultimate Ride, is an excellent complimentary book to Joe Friel's but I don't think it gives you all the information you need to make your own programme. It's an excellent book, but I get the feeling it introduces his methods and tries to sell you onto his coaching. There's too many holes and questions left unanswered to make up your programme. The same goes for Dave Morris' Performance Cycling book.

On the other hand, you do need to do a lot of reading before things start making sense. I think anyone starting out (I include myself in that bracket) will save a lot of time and effort by investing in coaching for the first year or longer.

Quoted post said:

Question about Mountain bike training programs
I'm in search of mountain bike training programs, are the books mentionned below applicable to the specificity of the MB ?

MTB, road, track - its all the same training. What varies is the hours and the intensity.

Strength, endurance and power are all necessary. Cadel Evans won MTB world cups training on the AIS road program.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by xc_gumby
MTB, road, track - its all the same training. What varies is the hours and the intensity.

Strength, endurance and power are all necessary. Cadel Evans won MTB world cups training on the AIS road program.

Um... not exactly. If I were doing a mountain bike program I'd want to look at how my skills shaped up too. Sure, the fitness components are probably mainly similar on the road (although I'd leave out sprint efforts <10s for a start), but MTB has an element of skill - one that can easily be the deciding factor in a race. You need to train your strengths so you can use them to winning effect, and your weaknesses so they don't hold you back. For someone like Cadel, who raced mountain bikes for many years and was exceptionally technically skilled, the AIS road program gave him an edge in fitness noone in the world could match. The rest of us could probably do with spending a fair bit of training time practicing descending and riding technical trails, as well as working on the 'roadie' style fitness components. Aslo, if you want to be serious about it, do your endurance rides on an MTB, preferably on trails. That way you end up being comfortable in the MTB position, and being used to using the power you gain and putting it down efficiently.

I agree on the skills point. No doubt...

And, I guess it makes sense to train as you mean to race (on the XC bike if its an endurance event for instance).

Leaving out sprints - maybe not. That's a power interval and XC is full of short power burst (as well as grovelling climbs).

As far as books are concerned try "Handbook of Competitive Cycling" by Achim Schmidt. Published by Meyer & Meyer Sport. iSBN 3-89124-509-2.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by xc_gumby

Leaving out sprints - maybe not. That's a power interval and XC is full of short power burst (as well as grovelling climbs).

Yeah, but I think the short burst in an XC race is more down to anaerobic endurance and recovery than the 10 second creatine phosphate consumption sort of effort. I reckon 30-60 second efforts are the go. Even though you will occassionally be sprinting for only 10 seconds, these efforts are not the limiting factor, and being fastest there won't really help much. Might be a good idea if your race strategy is to wheelsuck then sprint at the end though... I guess it all comes down to individual strengths and weaknesses, and tactics - using this stuff to win a race.

[font=Arial Black][/font]Does anyone have advice on a simple uncomplicated bicycle trainer workout for someone thats in decent condition. Preferabally a 1 or 2 hour workout to build induarance for the upcoming mountain bike racing season. 😕

TTer said:

The best book IMHO for putting together your own complete programme is Joe Friel's Cyclists Training Bible. IMHO that's the only book that gives you all the information you need to construct a complete programme.

Chris Carmichael's recent book, The Ultimate Ride, is an excellent complimentary book to Joe Friel's but I don't think it gives you all the information you need to make your own programme. It's an excellent book, but I get the feeling it introduces his methods and tries to sell you onto his coaching. There's too many holes and questions left unanswered to make up your programme. The same goes for Dave Morris' Performance Cycling book.

On the other hand, you do need to do a lot of reading before things start making sense. I think anyone starting out (I include myself in that bracket) will save a lot of time and effort by investing in coaching for the first year or longer.

Anyone know of any websites with training programs? I got into road cycling from a running background so I have always just adapted running programs to cycling. For example: 1 long slow ride per week, two recover rides, two interval sessions and a rest day. However I should probably be looking to find a more cycling specific program. Anyone have any ideas?

There are a number of coaches who post here. I am sure Ric Stern would give you good value for money and get you going quite well.

However do you not ride with other more experienced riders who can advise you? Thats the beauty of a club you get all sorts. In our club we have a sports scientest, Level 2 coach, Level 1 coach ex internationals who rode in the states and have more than 250 wins in their career... We are like vampires and suck the info from these guys......and we are only a small club!!(www.ravenscrt.com)

Achim Schmidt (a great guy and rider!!) has indeed a very good book which will certainly give you pointers as to what you should be doing at each period of the year. I read Joe Friels book and this also will give you good info on periodisation etc. Another book is Jeukendrups performance cycling but this is quite technical. Achims book is probably the best though ( i am biased though!)

Cyclingpeaks also has a lot of great coaches available. It is most important to find someone who is experienced and shares the same principles that you do. Coaching is like any relationship, the best ones will tend to produce the best results.Good Luck!

Chad, CyclingPeaks do indeed have excellent personnel and great software to boot!