Training for Time Trials

[RoadRaven]

Training… I try to make this specific to my race goals (see further on in thread). Each training ride should count and have a purpose.
I find Gale Bernhardt’s “The Female cyclist: Gearing Up A Level” to be a fabulous book. Bernhardt has based the training rides and programmes on Joe Friel’s suggestions in his “Cyclist’s Training Bible” (which is also part of our library).

Training Log… I keep this ‘religiously’. Every ride is logged and dated; the weather, the wind, the temperature, the course, who I am riding with, which bike I am on, my warm-up/cool-down, the ride or race distance, my time, my average, the heart-rate zone I rode in, my maximum heart-rate, my cadence.
This way I can compare rides more accurately because I have more data to see the similarities and differences... and, ultimately, my improvements.

Tapering… this is where the training log is also valuable. Too much riding the week before any race or event you have been specifically building for can be detrimental.
This is truer the older you are sadly, as the older you get the longer your body takes to recover. Some of my best rides have happened after I have been virtually off the bike for a week to a week and a half.