Mea Culpa - a cautionary tale

[Catrin]

I am currently figuring out my mileage base schedule for the spring/summer to get my mileage where I need it to be for several key events in late summer/fall. I understand that I don't want to increase my mileage >15% per week for my long ride, or >15% for each month's total mileage.

Just to compare, since I do use MapMyRide, I went back to my log from last summer. I've always assumed that my mileage building was appropriate last summer, that it was a combination of factors that led to my injuries that took me off the bike after the Hope Ride, though, frankly, I should have come off at the end of August.

Numbers don't lie

In June I rode 390 miles, in July I rode 575 In June my longest ride was 34 miles, in July it was 72.5 (a mere 4 weeks after the 34 mile ride).... My short rides got shorter after July, though my long rides did not - that should have told me something.

I am posting this as a caution to other new riders who may be tempted to do what I did. I still think that it was just as related to the large number of activities that allowed my legs no rest as it was building my base too quickly.

Perhaps if I were younger, and didn't start all of this in my 50th year my legs may have taken it better - but I am not complaining. I am back on the bike, and, hopefully, a little wiser.

[DarcyInOregon]

Your story also shows how important it is to keep a training log. I keep my log on Map too. It is important to record notes for each activity also, in case a person needs to review in later months, the notes will be a reminder of what happened. For example, my Saturday training group did a route that was all steep up and down with grades of 11-16%, a 10-mile loop that we would repeat, with the SAG stop at the starting point. I was planning on riding multiple loops for the hill training. At the end of the first loop, I was the 4th cyclist to finish out of 22 cyclists, so felt real good about the ride, but when I came to a stop for the SAG I had symmetrical pain in both of my upper inner thighs, a pain that was new to me. So I was cautious, didn't want to get an overuse injury, and did not repeat the loop. I recorded it to my training log and when I ride that route again, I can go back and remember to be careful, to not do loop repeats if the odd pain comes back.

Another reason why the training log is so important is to see at a glance that oops, better take a rest day, because there have been too many bike rides or too many spin classes or too many weight training workouts or too many hikes.

[Espresso]

A quick question here. I've seen pretty much everywhere that you shouldn't increase your long ride by more than 15% (or 10%), but this is the first time I've seen a mention that you shouldn't increase your monthly mileage by more than 15%. In fact, every training schedule I've come across suggests--if you add up the numbers--that you should increase your monthly total by somewhere in the 20-50% range each month (a couple examples below). I'm following a plan that's basically similar to these, and I'd like opinions on whether I'm doing it wrong. Thanks

http://www.kanbike.org/pages/training.php
http://bicycling.about.com/od/traini.../a/century.htm

[Catrin]

Others may have different advice, but that is what my trainer has advised me and he hasn't proved wrong yet. Younger bones, joints and muscles might be more forgiving. My century isn't until September, and my longer ride will probably also be in September so I've plenty of time.

I preface the following by saying that this is only my second season, but I did learn a lot last year - the hard way

Something to also consider is the body does reach plateaus and it can take longer than we think to get to the next stage. Last year, I had a dickens of a time getting past 25 mile rides, and my next "barrier" was 75 miles. You also have to keep in mind that I just learned how to ride last year, so my body had never been involved with any endurance sport before - or any sport at all The good women of TE warned me about this last year and they were right!

The point is, regardless of your training plan, to listen to your body. I learned last summer that regardless of what plans we develop or follow - if'en we don't listen to our body then we might not reach our goals. Personally, if I tried to ride 6 days a week like your plan on the Kanbike site, I would quickly find myself injured again - but that is me. I will only ride 4-5 days a week - and my two rest days won't be together. IF I ride the day after my long ride, then it will be an easy recovery ride - or I will do something completely different.

I do question the training plan on the "About" page that has your longest ride to be only 65 miles before your century - unless they are really talking about a metric century. 65 miles to 100 miles is one he*l of a leap! As an older cyclist, I want to be able to reach an 85 or 90 mile ride before the actual century ride - I've read advice that younger cyclists can go for a century after reaching the 75 mile mark.

[DarcyInOregon]

The point is, regardless of your training plan, to listen to your body. I learned last summer that regardless of what plans we develop or follow - if'en we don't listen to our body then we might not reach our goals. Personally, if I tried to ride 6 days a week like your plan on the Kanbike site, I would quickly find myself injured again - but that is me. I will only ride 4-5 days a week - and my two rest days won't be together. IF I ride the day after my long ride, then it will be an easy recovery ride - or I will do something completely different.

Catrin gives good advice, and that is listen to your body. The plans for adding bike miles look great on paper, but everyone is a different age with different limitations and riding in a different climate on different terrain and on a different bike.

I can ride 6 days a week, but then I am eventually riding tired all of the time, so what is the point to it. When I do my challenging rides well-rested, either with respect to distance or climbing, I have a better ride with respect to speed, power and stanima. When I do a metric or century, I don't get on my bike at all for the two days before the ride, to ensure that I am rested, particularly if there is a lot of climbing involved.

How I train doesn't relate to the guideline training plans at all because I train for climbs as well as distance, and I keep my riding schedule flexible so as to accommodate any changes to my physical condition. In other words, I listen to my body rather than conform rigidly to a schedule. If I do two days of hill repeats with a lot of elevation gain, and on the third day my intent was to ride 60 miles but I wake up and my legs are still sore from the climbing, then I don't do 60 miles.

To answer your question, look at the training plans as a quideline only, ride your best, and always be flexible with your schedule, take extra rest days if needed so as to give muscles time to heal and recover, and to avoid injury. If on a long ride, one where you just increased the miles by quite a bit, if when you get home all you want to do is crawl into bed and go to sleep, then stop adding miles for a few weeks until your body adjusts and gets stronger. Remember, rest days are just as important as the cycling days.

[Catrin]

... Remember, rest days are just as important as the cycling days.

This was the most important thing I learned last summer - and would have avoided having to be off the bike from September until March if I had done this