5-7 Hour a Week Training Program

[shaun]

I was wondering if anyone knows of any training programs for people working full-time jobs that are in the 5-7 hours/week range? I am wanting to start doing some Cat 5 crits this year, but have found that around 5-7 hours per week is the most time that I can spend in the saddle and manage work/life responsibilities. Would purchasing a training program from someplace like Training Peaks (such as the Threshold Improvement plans) and scaling it down to meet my time needs be worthwhile?

[smilingcat]

Hi Shaun,

hmmm. you want to start racing. cat 5 men (no such thing in women. we only go to down to cat 4. just not enough of us to field a cat 5). BTW you are welcome here.

5-7 hour training may not be enough to get you to a point where you are competitive. We used to say that if you want to race, you need to put in a minimum of 200 miles/week.

You might want to look in back isues of bicycling magazine on training. I think they will give you an idea and training schedule for those with limited amount of time.

And you might think about joining a club with a focus on racing. They will help you with do's-don'ts of racing and will help you prepare for a race.

And good luck with cat 5.

smilingcat

[maillotpois]

Shaun -

You've made a handful of posts here asking questions about riding and training, and gotten (so far) only one response. I find folks are a lot more likely to open up and offer suggestions if you tell us a little about yourself, such as on the "getting to know you" thread in "open topic".

Where do you live? How much do you ride? How long have you been riding? What sort of riding do you want to do (you mention racing, but what's your experience here - have you raced before? How'd you do?)
Those sorts of answers will allow us to respond more intelligently to your questions.

[Andrea]

I think that since most cat 5 races are pretty short (crits < 30 min and RR <30 miles) that you could train for 7 hours a week and get away with it. You'd pretty much do a scaled-back version of a more extensive program. I'd recommend doing some interval training during the week and get in some longer base rides on the weekends.

It's not ideal by any means, but it would be sufficient for short races. It's when you get into longer races that you've just got to be getting out & riding a lot to build more endurance & whatnot.

[RoadRaven]

Shaun -
You've made a handful of posts here asking questions about riding and training, and gotten (so far) only one response. I find folks are a lot more likely to open up and offer suggestions if you tell us a little about yourself

What Mallio says is true, it is much more helpful if we know a little about you in order to give you more relevant answers.

Also, try using the search button to look for threads that might be useful in your wonderings.
We have no problem if you BUMP an old thread into life and get discussion going again, either.

[RoadRaven]

Oh, and I meant to say. I work a forty hour job, plus I drive for an hour each day (my job and the kids school is a half hour drive away).

Typically I get in 7-9 hours on the road a week - 2 hours of that will be racing but the rest is training.

I do some 45min -1hour blocks first thing in the morning (6am, before i have to wake the kids for school)
Sometimes I'll do some in the evening after work.
Sometimes I'll do a ride before and a ride after work.
When I can I commute one way - in school hoildays I commute both ways.
On Sundays I try and do a 3 hour ride.

It is possible to get the time in.

My morning rides are either interval rides, hill repeat rides or recovery rides.
My Saturday rides involve and hour or so of warming up and cooling down, with intense riding (the race) in between
My Sunday rides are low-moderate intensity, building my endurance.

My training is for TimeTrialling - which like criteriums involve a high level of intensity but for a shoprt time (my TTs take me just under 40minutes - I'm trying to get it closer to half an hour...)

[tulip]

If you can ride your bike to work and back, you'll well on your way or even be all set for on training time every week. Commuting by bike is the best way to fit in cycling in a busy week.