Looking for a training plan for beginners...any suggestions?

[marni]

I have been riding for 4 years, when I started, I struggled to do a mile a day 4x a week. When I could, I doubled it, and so on until I could do 20 miles at whatever speed, comfortably, then I added 5 miles a week and when I could ride 50 comfortably I started working on speed. At first I just roade harder bu then I learned about intervals. At my age I have to accept that I probably will never be able to get much above 18 mph unless I am going downhill with a tailwind but the intervals have made me a bit faster and definitely stronger as far as distance.

Apropos of intervals, I think the podrunner podcasts which are music at specific bpm are great for interval riding on a bike although they are supposedly for runners.

As for the ride-5 days a week, it's all relative. I work out at a gym 2x a week and try to ride 4 days, or 3 if the weather is baad. I mostly go about 5 days and then take a day off. since I am a distance/endurance rider, I tend to think that TITS time (time in the saddle) is my primary goal so my typical standard training is 40-60 miles.

Take it easy and listen to your body.

go you!

marni

[Zen]

Look into the Eddie Merckx training plan.

[tulip]

There's a book that I like by Selene Yeager called Bicycling for Women or something like that. It has several training plans that are very specific. It also goes into the importance of intervals for improving speed.

[nico demouse]

At my age I have to accept that I probably will never be able to get much above 18 mph unless I am going downhill with a tailwind but the intervals have made me a bit faster and definitely stronger as far as distance.

Apropos of intervals, I think the podrunner podcasts which are music at specific bpm are great for interval riding on a bike although they are supposedly for runners.

As for the ride-5 days a week, it's all relative. I work out at a gym 2x a week and try to ride 4 days, or 3 if the weather is baad. I mostly go about 5 days and then take a day off. since I am a distance/endurance rider, I tend to think that TITS time (time in the saddle) is my primary goal so my typical standard training is 40-60 miles.

Take it easy and listen to your body.

go you!

marni

thanks for the encouragement, marni! My new bike makes me feel pretty fast but Eighteen mph sounds pretty fast from where I am! I know I need to build up more base miles and am working on that.

There's a book that I like by Selene Yeager called Bicycling for Women or something like that. It has several training plans that are very specific. It also goes into the importance of intervals for improving speed.

Thanks, tulip. I'll request this from my library -- my personal preference is for a very specific plan. Thanks for suggesting one.

[Jiffer]

Regarding intervals ... I had a professional training session with a coach last fall, who gave me a training schedule, which included intervals. Some of his intervals involved starting in my easiest gear and moving up a gear every 30 seconds (or 60 ... not sure). It took a long time to go through all the gears. Other times he told me to go a mile per hour faster on certain stretches of familiar routes. This was kind of hard since I wasn't sure what my exact speed was on those stretches. I could tell you what my "average pace" was for a section, because I had started using the lap feature on my computer (more on that later) ... but what speed I was going at any given time might change if the grade changed a little, or I might have had momentum going into that climb, so went faster in the beginning.

That was in October/November and I took December off from riding. When I started again in January, I felt slower than ever. After a dismal club ride, I decided to get serious about intervals and decided to come up with my own ... what made sense to me and was simple. There's a particular route I most often do my intervals on and it doesn't matter if I ride with my friend or not. She knows when we hit certain sections, always a climb (though pretty mild), I would take off and ride as hard as I could. I think the first time I did this, I did the first interval for 30 seconds, then realized I could go further, so I did 60 seconds for the next and a few others afterward. The next time I rode I pushed it to 1:30 and now do 2 minute intervals (though I haven't done them in a while). When you read about intervals, I'm sure you'll learn that it is recommended to get a good recovery in between. I usually try to get like five minutes at a pretty slow pace. Feels slow and is kind of frustrating, but it's necessary to fully recover so you can get the most out of the next interval. I also read that the first couple of intervals make the biggest difference in your training, so if you don't have it in you to do more than a couple, you're still getting the benefit if that's all you do.

I actually didn't do all that many interval rides before I saw big results, so I HIGHLY recommend it. The first difference I noticed was in my breathing. I always seem to be the one breathing the hardest at the top of climbs or when going fast on the flat. I remember getting to a red light with the club once and, in between gasps, uttered, "Why am I the only one breathing hard?!" Since doing just a few interval rides, I have noticed a BIG difference. I get to the top of climbs and I am not breathing nearly as hard and can therefore keep going when I sometimes used to stop to catch my breath.

Some of my intervals are distance intervals. There's a specific stretch between two signals, which is a mild climb of maybe 2% or so. It's only six tenths of a mile. My friend and I now routinely push it as hard as we can on that stretch to see how much faster we can do it. I was exhilarated the last time I did with her and stayed right with her the whole way. I only did it 2 seconds slower than her. This is huge.

Regarding laps, if you want to work on your speed, I highly recommend getting a computer that offers this option. I hadn't figured out mine did it and used to figure out laps myself. I'd get to the bottom of a climb and look at what my time was at that point and say it over and over again to myself so I wouldn't forget it. At the top of the climb I'd note what the time difference was and the next time I stopped, I'd enter it in the notes section on my phone.

One day I had a "duh" moment when I thought, "I have a Garmin. Surely there must be a lap feature on this thing that will figure this out for me." And there was. And I taught other people in my riding world how to use this feature, including my "know it all husband", who was not aware of this feature. I have the Garmin 305 (soon to be 500!) ... so I have a screen I can switch to which tells me my current lap distance, time, and average pace.

It's a wonderful way to compare how you're doing. I used to focus primarily on over all average pace, but there are a lot of things that can affect that. Signals, or riding with a group that is riding slower than usual. On my Saturday club ride, I don't worry too much about over all pace anymore, because you never know how fast the group will do the first ten flat miles. But there is a big climb, which I am always trying to improve on. So when I get to that climb, I hit my lap button. It doesn't matter what the rest of the club is doing. Everyone thins out on the climb. I just do my best and compare myself to ... myself.

When I get home I enter my stats on Bikejournal.com (another tool I highly recommend. It's free, unless you add more field options, which I did).

I even go so far as to write previous lap times and paces on my wrist with a Sharpie before a ride. I'm the only one I know that does this and my cycling buddies think I'm nuts, which I am. But when I get to a lap that I want to kill, I know exactly what I'm trying to improve on without trying to remember it. When I beat a previous time, it's a PR ... personal record. PR seems to be more of a runners term. Maybe you've heard of it since you run. But I've yet to meet a cyclist that is familiar with the term. But I'll note in my journal if I PR'd a lap or an entire ride.

So, once again I wrote you a book. Hope it helps.