Faster?

[Starfish]

The trick is to keep chasing - don't give up. It took me a long time to listen to my husband who sounded like a broken record "ride with faster people, ride with faster people" but doing exactly that brought me from a 11-13 average to being able to do 21-24 in race and 15-19 on my own. It was really hard for me to get there, but it was so worth it.

Of course, if you do this kind of training, recovery is even more important - one or two monster efforts a week and then ride slow. A lot of coaches say that one of the biggest mistakes cyclists make is not going hard enough on hard days and not going easy enough on easy days.

Wow, what impressive improvement. I hover around the 13 mph average, so this gives me a lot of hope.

A question: Is this kind of speed improvement compatible with training for longer distances with weekly loooong rides, or to see this kind of improvement, would I need to do it when I'm really not trying to increase my long rides much (to get in the recovery)?

[Whip]

Hi,

Okay, so I am not a trainer, and maybe some people with more long-distance experience could better answer this - BUT for what it is worth, I do think they are very compatible - maybe even both necessary together - because I imagine that training long and training hard complement each other. Here's a sample training week DURING TRAINING SEASON from my coach:

Monday-Recover (30minutes-1hour)
Tuesday-Invervals (1-1.5hours)
Wednesday-Intervals or Aerobic (1-1.5hours)
Thursday-Aerobic (2hours) or Intervals 1-1.5hours)
Friday-Recover (30minutes-1hour)
Saturday-RACE or Long Hard Ride (2-6hours)
Sunday-RACE or Long Aerobic Ride (2-6hours)

So basically, this plan tells me that I am both building base and distance while training for strength and speed.

In the winter - almost all rides are aerobic - and longer.

I have been out ridden by women who do not ride fast but are just so darn fit can keep going and going. I poop out in long rides, but when I first started riding, working on speed helped my comfort level and speed in centuries. My first century took 8.5 hours (flat) then I was able to do a century in 5 hours and 20 minutes (flat, too) - and that was while I was training for speed.

Again, I don't want to make a recommendation, but if I were just starting out, I might do one interval day during the week, one fast group ride on the weekend (even if it's longer) and then ride long on Sunday, rest Monday and Friday, and do medium aerobic rides Wednesday and Thursday. If you are new to intervals and such, it's good to give your body a chance to adjust and to avoid overtraining - even the one session a week will help.

[Starfish]

Whip, thanks. I read and read and read training books and so forth, but to hear actual examples from another woman really helps.

I am really encouraged that you are so fast now, and yet your first flat century was 8.5 hours. My first flat century was 8 hours, and I keep wondering if it could be possible to really, really improve.

I know we are all different, with different genetics, lifestyles, etc. But, your examples and personal improvements are very inspiring.

[Starfish]

Hey, after a spring of working on climbing, and after 2 weeks off the bike, I just went out and did 15 miles in under an hour. Cyclometer says 16.4 mph. That's fast for me. This was a flat ride, tailwind out, headwind back. A few stop signs. Not a TT, but I more or less hammered it, just stopping for 2 minutes halfway in to suck down a gel.

Kind of has me encouraged that if I can shake my extra 30 pounds, find a bike that isn't a 24 lb sport-tourer, and keep training, maybe I can get faster!

Sure do appreciate this forum and all the inspiration and knowledge.