If you are training for a cycling event, then cycling is the way to practice for it. The best way to get better at riding your bike is to ride your bike.
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It appears from scientific studies that the minimum number of rides in a week should be three. Less than that and aerobic capacity, an important measure of endurance fitness, doesn't improve. The critical frequency, however, seems to be four workouts a week. In fact, one study found that by increasing weekly workouts from three to four, there was nearly a tripling of the average increase in fitness. That's an important lesson to remember when time is short.
Beyond four workouts a week, the improvement rate of aerobic capacity decreases. Note that this is the rate of improvement and not the absolute level of attainment. In other words, aerobic capacity continues to rise at five, six, or seven weekly workouts, but not as fast as it did when going from three to four rides a week.
Other studies have shown that when initially establishing fitness levels, as just starting to ride a bike, it's best to work out five or six times a week to speed the process. It will take 10 to 12 weeks to get aerobic capacity up to decent levels at this frequency.
How long should a ride last if you have limited time to train? If you use the time judiciously, you can accomplish a lot of fitness in 30 to 45 minutes. That allows time for a 10-minute warm-up, 15 to 30 minutes of focused riding (explained shortly), and 5 minutes to cool down.
Don't forget, however, that cycling is primarily an endurance sport. It doesn't matter how fast you are when redlined and breathing heavy if you don't have the endurance to finish the ride. Somehow, you've got to get in longer rides to build this endurance. Ninety minutes is about the minimum for long rides, and longer is better, depending on the length of the event for which you're training. Early in the year, these should be weekly rides. Once you establish aerobic endurance, you can maintain it with an every-other-week pattern.
The difficulty of the ride is the most critical aspect of training for the rider with limited time. Riding at intensities greater than 90 percent of aerobic capacity, which means just starting to breathe hard, brings substantial increases in fitness. Training at this level is typical of intervals, hill climbing, and sprint workouts.
It's possible to ride at these high intensities too frequently for too long, causing injury, overtraining, or burnout. Accumulating 30 to 60 minutes a week of riding with the heart rate near or higher than lactate threshold is about all the high-intensity time you need for good fitness.
So, if you ride long once a week, probably on the weekend, and do three high-effort rides during the week, including some with 10 to 20 minutes of high heart rates and heavy breathing, your fitness will stay high or even improve despite limited time. It's probably best to ride intensely only twice a week and make every third week a period of reduced effort to break the routine.
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No matter what you want from riding, there are three rules you must obey. Breaking any of these means, at best, limited improvement, and, at worst, overtraining and loss of fitness.
The Cardinal Rules of Training are as follows:
• Rule 1. Ride consistently.
• Rule 2. Ride moderately.
• Rule 3. Rest frequently.
These may seem overly simple. Sometimes, however, the most important things in life are the simplest. Such is the case with training.
Rule 1 is based on the premise that nothing does more to limit or reduce fitness than missed rides. The human body thrives on regular patterns of living. When cycling routinely and uniformly progressing for weeks, months, and years, fitness steadily improves. Interruptions from injury, burnout, illness, and overtraining cause setbacks. Each setback means a substantial loss of cycling fitness and time reestablishing a level previously attained. Inconsistent riding is like pushing a boulder up a hill only to see it roll back down before reaching the top — frustrating.
Riders who violate the first rule of training are usually frustrated. The solution
to their problem is simple: Train consistently. "Okay," they say, "but how do I do that?" Good question, and that leads to the other Cardinal Rules.
The second Rule, ride moderately, is the first step in becoming more consistent. This one usually scares highly motivated, hard-charging cyclists. They can see themselves noodling around the block in slow motion and not even working up a sweat. However, that's not what moderate means.
Moderate riding is that level of training to which your body is already adapted, plus about 10 percent. For example, if the longest recent ride is 40 miles, then a reasonable increase is to 45 miles next week. That's moderate. A 60-mile ride would not be moderate and could lead to something bad, such as an injury or overtraining that forces several days off the bike and a lapse in consistency. Another moderate change is steadily progressing from riding flat terrain to rolling hills, to riding longer hills, to riding steep and long hills. Going from riding on the flats to steep, long hills is not moderate.
Consistent riding also requires frequent resting. That means planning rest at the right times, such as after challenging rides or hard weeks. Rest taken in adequate doses and at appropriate times produces consistent training and increased fitness.
Even though the Cardinal Rules of Training are basic, if you follow them, fitness will improve regardless of what else you do on the bike. They are deceptively simple to read about; incorporating them into training is a different matter. At first, it may be difficult to ride moderately and rest frequently. Keep working at it. Old habits are hard to break. When you initially train this way, it's better to err on the side of being conservative with moderation and rest if you're a rider who has frequent breakdowns and missed workouts. With experience you'll become better at determining what is right for you.
