How to Start Training?

[li10up]

There is no easy answer. You have to make it work for you. We could all tell you what our training routines are, but ultimately, you have to make yourself get there. Change come from within.
V.

Isn't that one of the main purposes of this forum? To help others learn from our experiences? Telling me that I basically need to figure it out for myself isn't really all that helpful...even though I believe you were trying to be helpful.

Why are you training? What are you training for? I find that a concrete goal is the first step to beginning a training plan. You say you just don't want to be the slowest rider in your group - that may not be specific, achievable, etc. enough to be a real goal. How about finding a ride you want to do - a century or metric - and use that as your inspiration. Or if it really is just "be faster", how about a goal of doing a usual ride in a specific time - and then work on that?

I didn't realize how difficult this question was. Why isn't wanting to be able to keep up on group rides a specific enough goal? When I ride on my own I don't have others to help push me. So my rides are slower than when I ride with others. I'm hoping to learn a way of riding by myself that is productive without seeming a chore. Isn't there a way to introduce recreational riders to training without getting into all the technical aspects of it?

[li10up]

SnappyPix-you and I must have been posting at the same time. You and the others are right about motivation. It's just that so many things are learned in life by making games or making it fun somehow. I guess I was just hoping for something like that to translate to this. If I could just find something to make it fun at first I might see improvments in my riding and that would then generate more motivation and make me wanting to train in a more serious way.

I guess I'm just not making my thoughts clear...or maybe there really isn't any easy transition into training.

[SnappyPix]

Telling me that I basically need to figure it out for myself isn't really all that helpful

To be fair, lots of people seem to have taken the time to give you advice, just because it's not the advice you particularly want to hear, doesn't make it unhelpful.

[SnappyPix]

Oops, slow on the uptake again!

I think that to make it fun you have to focus on the good stuff. I honestly do understand how hard the lack of motivation is. Just making the conscious decision to start a training programme can be a boost. You don't have to go the whole hog of intervals and power blasts, keep at it in small doses and the gradual improvement WILL become fun. Honestly.

[RoadRaven]

OK... fun factor...

Sorry if I misunderstood... I just associate my cycling in a different way I guess.

So... why do I do it and how?

FOCUS
Getting fit I guess is one major. My parents are both obese now, my father morbidly. I get a strange satisfaction knowing that I am fitter than either of them have ever been. Thinking about my mum's figure (sorry mum) really motivates me onto the bike and I relish being able to feel the intensity in my muscles and breathing.

ROLE PLAY
I am motivated by my partner and sons, and although I do not ride often with them, we talk about it often - their cycling, mine, our bikes, loacl cyclists, the elite guys and gals in NZ, pro-tours... that makes what I do fun and what I think about sometimes on the bike. Sometimes I am Floyd or Lance, or Onoene Wood, or Sarah Ulmer and that makes it fun.

GAMES
I set myself tasks and try to race myself - and a few of the gals have given some good ideas... try to climb a hill faster than before... try to stay above or below a certain heart rate... try to reach that cyclist ahead before the next corner...

ANAL RETENTIVENESS
A good deal of my pleasure comes from my training diary... and while all in my family record distances and times, mine is affectionately called by the others retentive! Not only do I have time, speed, distance - I also have who I rode with, weather, wind, temperature, bike, ride type, course, plus an extra column "just in case". In my log book (a large hard cover A4 book) I also have two threads from this forum printed and glued in, I also have print-outs from tests done in science labs, AND, to just confirm it is truly retentive I have several excel spreadsheets of various race/TT courses with the times of the top ten women in my cat, overall top ten times... and spreadsheets also of various courses or bits of courses I measure myself on... and these are all printed and glued in my journal so i don't have to wait for a PC to boot...
As soon as I get back home from a ride - before getting changed or showering or eating, I write in my training log - I just get so much pleasure from adding more kms in there.

So... to sum up...

Focus and be anally retentive but always make time to role play and play games...

[spazzdog]

Rent (buy) American Flyers... race someone in your head.

and li10up... lighten up

You've very obviously improved. You may just be at one of those infernal "training plateaus" where nothing changes in performance for a while.

Or, as tough as this one may be, you may have hit your "performance" high point.

Whichever, the most important thing is have fun with it. Ride with the enjoyment of a kid on a new bike.

spazz - who is working on that 2nd (3rd??) childhood

[Veronica]

I'm not telling you to figure it out for yourself. I'm telling you to do it yourself. Your reply to RR makes it sound to me like it's all about attitude and no training plan is going to fix that. You want it to be fun, you have to make it be fun.

I find it fun to keep my HR in my zone. It beeps at me when I go out of the zone. It's a game to see how fast I can get the beep off. But you don't want to wear your HR monitor.

MP is right, you have to figure out exactly what you want.

V.

[maillotpois]

Why isn't wanting to be able to keep up on group rides a specific enough goal?

Because it's completely subjective - how fast are the "others" going from one day to the next? How do you feel v. how they feel on a particular day? V's original idea of working on certain things at different points in one of your usual rides - similar to what I suggested (trying to improve your time on a specific ride you do) - will help you. I find that in order to make myself follow an actual training program I need a real goal: a certain ride or race or whatever. It seems that you may lack motivation more than suggestions for training ideas.

[spazzdog]

OK... dis is da spazz talkin at cha! And I am queen of "having no motivation", "don't like to train", hate to ride by myself", yada-yada-yada.

V. and MP (and others) ARE being helpful in that, in someway or another,we've all been on the short end of the fitness stick for any number of reasons.

RR is also correct that by changing the messages we give ourselves, we can change our atitude.

I finally went out on a ride this past weekend... initiated it, and went with a buddy. In times (recent) past I would not have gone if my buddy had bailed and not come, but I decided in advance that I was doing the ride by myself if need be. The really wierd thing was I suddenly got excited about riding... and had a blast on my little ride (yes my buddy was there).

The point is I changed my message... I decided the ride was important to ME.

If it's important to YOU, it's amazing how much training you'll suddenly want to do. And the gals are right; having a goal (arace, a particular organized ride) makes the training all that much more fun and rewarding.

As for "keeping up", perhaps you're ridng with the wrong group, or the wrong part of the group. Ride with a slightly slower bunch every so often... do't beat yourself to death trying to keep up with folks all the time.

spazz-istotle

[li10up]

Ok, this is frustrating...and probably more-so for you ladies who are trying to help me. The thing is I do have goals. Last year my goal was to ride a metric. This year it is to ride a century. But my overall goal is to be able to keep up on the moderate group rides. I keep a log. My rides are faster now over known routes than they were last year. My avg. speed has gone up from 13.9\14.5 to 14.8\15.5. I've even had a 16.x in there a time or two. I am excited about riding. I'm riding 4 or 5 days a week now. Sometimes more. If the weather is bad and I can't ride I get "upset." I am very motivated to ride and I like riding with my faster friends because they push me. It's because of them that I am faster now. But I am still struggling to keep up...especially on windy days or when there are hills involved. Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong, maybe it's supposed to be really hard. Maybe they are struggling more than it looks...to me it doesn't look like they're having to struggle at all. So I AM motivated to start training. Just not in the lactate threshold, TT heart rate, etc. type. I need to ease my way into it. That's basically what I'm looking for. Suggestions for wading into it, not jumping in with both feet and finding myself over my head. Isn't there a Training for Dummies book out there? I just want my solo rides to be productive without being torturous.

Anyhow, thanks to all of you who responded. I appreciate each and every one of the suggestions. I guess I will just have to try to figure out what makes it fun for me but still helps me improve.

[RoadRaven]

So I AM motivated to start training. Just not in the lactate threshold, TT heart rate, etc. type. I need to ease my way into it. That's basically what I'm looking for. Suggestions for wading into it, not jumping in with both feet and finding myself over my head. Isn't there a Training for Dummies book out there? I just want my solo rides to be productive without being torturous.

I am afraid that the only way you will improve your speed is to get your heart working more efficiently.

Go back to my first post in this thread... I didn't mean for you to make every ride a specific ride.

Just choose one... say, you Wednesday ride. Tell yourself something like... "Every Wednesday, during my ride I will ride as hard as I can in the biggest gear I can for 2 minutes, then I will rest and then I will do it one more time."
That's all... after a couple of Wednesdays you will do your two intervals and think - "Hey, I still feel fine, I'll do another one or two..." Voilah... without realising it you will have baby-stepped yourself into a cruise interval training ride.


Or maybe Wednesday doesn't work for you, and you don't want to work on surging and keeping up with the group. You get dropped on hills. And, hello, on Tuesdays you happen to have a steady climb in the route you normally ride that day. OK... ride as per normal, but when you get to the top, turn around, go to the bottom of the hill and climb it a second time. Try and do the second climb as quickly as you did the first - or more quickly!
Voilah again... in a few weeks Tuesdays has become a specific hill rep day to make you stronger, give you more endurance and ensure you are less likely to get left behind on hills...

I don't know your rides, or the people you ride with... But just start by setting one day/ride aside as a formal training ride. Don't give yourself a choice. Just decide to do it... but record what you do and you will see the improvements and that will hopefully give you pleasure and help you to approach the next training session with a fun attitude of "hey, wonder how bad I can whup my own *** today!"

[Bike Goddess]

li10up- I'm on medical leave right now,but since I've ridden a lot in the past few years, I thought I'd put in my 2 cents.

You mention that if you make a game out of your training it would be more fun. I can certainly relate to that. Yes, doing intervals between telephone poles, even if you just do one each ride will help you. The point is to get your heart rate up as well as your endurance. Going faster requires both.

Intervals are an excellent way to push yourself. I often do them on my solo rides when I'm thoroughly warmed up which means after about 20-30 minutes. I will do a couple of intervals, and yes, between telephone poles on the way home. I also will see how fast I can go down the last stretch of street before I turn the corner to go into my driveway( about 3/4mile). I make note of these instances in my ride report which I post on www.bikejournal.com a free site for posting rides with lots of good info as well.

I also do hills. I found that if I do hard hills on my solo rides it increases my endurance and speed when I'm riding with my club. I'm one of the oldest riders in the group so whenever I can pass someone who is younger than me on the hills I'm pretty pleased.

I know you said something about hating stationary bikes. However, I will say that spinning class is a fast way to get in shape for road riding. Since you're working at your own pace, you don't have to worry about keeping up with the group. And, you'll find that after a few classes you'll notice a big improvement in your endurance as well as your ability to spin faster on your road rides. The instructors I have make it fun as well as challenging.

Since you mention you want to do a century ride this year, I would suggest that you set a goal for how long you want the ride to take. That way you can begin to see what kind of training you need to do to accomplish this goal.

Hope this helps.

[li10up]

Ahhh, now this is what I was looking for:

Just choose one... say, you Wednesday ride. Tell yourself something like... "Every Wednesday, during my ride I will ride as hard as I can in the biggest gear I can for 2 minutes, then I will rest and then I will do it one more time."
That's all... after a couple of Wednesdays you will do your two intervals and think - "Hey, I still feel fine, I'll do another one or two..." Voilah... without realising it you will have baby-stepped yourself into a cruise interval training ride.

Or maybe Wednesday doesn't work for you, and you don't want to work on surging and keeping up with the group. You get dropped on hills. And, hello, on Tuesdays you happen to have a steady climb in the route you normally ride that day. OK... ride as per normal, but when you get to the top, turn around, go to the bottom of the hill and climb it a second time. Try and do the second climb as quickly as you did the first - or more quickly!
Voilah again... in a few weeks Tuesdays has become a specific hill rep day to make you stronger, give you more endurance and ensure you are less likely to get left behind on hills...

Things I can do without having to monitor heart rate or stay in a particular zone. I think I can do these.

Spazz - you made me cry with the suggestion that I may be at my performance high.

RR - wow, that is one journal! I do list some of the stuff you mentioned; like who I rode with, what route, etc.

I ride about twice a week with the 2000 UCI Masters World Champion and 2003 NORBA National Champion. Yep, rainbow on his sleeve and all!!! This man is amazing! His wife is pretty good on a bike too. I've seen him put the hurt on guys half is age!!! So, I'm honored to ride with him and he motivates me to try to improve. But it's just too easy to just take it easy on my solo rides. I have some things I think I can try that will make it fun. Thank you.

[Pedal Wench]

li,

I do try some of the fun things to train. I have sections on my solo ride that I pretend are group sprints. Just easy flat sections, and I go all out to the red mailbox. Another section that I try to beat a traffic light. Another section that I pretend I'm breaking away from a pack and go as fast as I can to the stop sign. I've never realized that they were intervals. They're just really fun sections. Is there a section on your ride that you like to go fast, and where you actually can go fast? Use them to your advantage.