Recommended training schedule???

[RoadRaven]

I decided to ask hubs his opinion this morning. For now I feel 20 should be my "long ride" that I may do once or twice a week. In between, he suggested doing 10 to 15 and to just go with how I'm feeling. If I'm feeling strong, do the whole 20 or make myself do some hill work or sprint more, etc. If not, kick back and take it easier. The last time I was "training" for something, was for a half marathon, and he says training for cycling is easier. Your body doesn't need as much recovery.

I agree with 'hubs'. 20 miles is a good place to begin... and increase slow and steady as I describe in above post.
However, I do not agree that with cycling you need less recovery. Every time you do a tough ride, your make little tears in your muscle and it is vital you give your body time to respond and heal with the "new adjustments".

We did a 30 minute tandem ride today, by the way. It was my recovery ride, though I'm happy to say I'm not all THAT sore from yesterday.

This is awesome. My partner and I have often talked about getting a tandem. I'd love to do that sometimes.

~Raven~

[Jiffer]

Thanks so much for all your advice, RoadRaven. I've been debating if I should ride tomorrow, though I really want to. I do think I should probably give my muscle a break. I'll see how I feel in the morning. If I do anything, it will be very light and short since I can hardly stand the thought of not riding at all! Boy, am I sucked into this cycling thing or what?!

Regarding my hubs comment about not needing as much recovery for cycling... he was relating it to running, which he does a lot of in addition to cycling. He does marathons, trail runs, Century street races and MTB races. In regards to recovery, he was referring to the pounding your body takes when running and how when you run, it's a constant impact on your body and use of your muscles. With cycling, your muscles get to recover here and there throughout the ride, requiring less recovery afterward. This is one of the main reasons I love cycling so much more than running. It's not a constant exhaustion of my body and I tolerate it much better.

But what you said makes sense as well. I'm certainly feeling the soreness in my muscles and see how they could use a break. I didn't realize working your muscles caused actual tears. Good to know!

Thanks again for all your advice. I really appreciate it.