establishing my base

[Dogmama]

I think I would want to put a non-riding day between your tempo/LSD and your LSD/Interval rides. So it would be:

Tempo
Off bike or weights
LSD
off bike or weights
Interval
Recovery
Off bike or weights

Your weights days after temp & LSD should be fairly easy days - just enough to maintain. Your weights day after recovery could be heavier upper body, and lighter lower body, since the next day you have a tempo ride.

Do not increase your mileage more than 10% in any week. So, if you're doing 50 miles/week this week, next week you'll do 55 miles, then 60 miles, 66 miles, 73 miles, etc.

[weesara]

This was helpful. I tried to do a "recovery ride" today, but I'm not sure I succeeded. It's very hilly near where I live, and the less hilly ways have a lot of cars. But I did go for a shorter ride, about 8.5 miles. Plan to go to the gym tomorrow and will focus on upper body as you suggest.

As for a log, what should I record? Any tips on this?

[tulip]

The easiest way to build up miles is to ride to work, if that is possible for you. Have you considered it?

[weesara]

Yes, I have considered riding to work, and live within biking distance. My main issue has been that I have to pick up my daughter after work, and coming back home first cuts into my work day. But I think that if I prioritize finding a soluation, I can overcome this problem, and can find ways to bike to work at least 2-3 times per week. Thanks for the reminder on this....

[tulip]

Yes, I have considered riding to work, and live within biking distance. My main issue has been that I have to pick up my daughter after work, and coming back home first cuts into my work day. But I think that if I prioritize finding a soluation, I can overcome this problem, and can find ways to bike to work at least 2-3 times per week. Thanks for the reminder on this....

For me, riding to work actually saves me time. I don't have to go for a ride or work out after I get home from work, because I've already done it going to and from work. Almost 900 miles and 76 hours on the bike since January just commuting.

Is there any way you could ride to work 2-3 times per week and incorporate some sharing of kid-picking-up with another parent? That way, you could ride to work a few times a week while another parent picks up your daughter, and the days when you pick up your daughter you would also pick up the other parent's kid.

[bouncybouncy]

i have a suggestion (if there is a feasible way)...

can you incorporate your daughters pick-up with riding? is she old enough to ride? is the distance short enough for her? could you tow her?

i have heard of others doing this...and the kids seem to love it!

not quite $0.02....maybe it was a penny-thought offering?

[weesara]

These are all great ideas. I have to work on it. My daughter is too young to ride on her own (4), and the traffic on the streets near her school make me quite wary of trying anything like a trailer. I think the carpool idea is best. But all of this has to be on the back burner as her school is closing for the summer and she will go to summer camp. I'm getting inspired, though, to try to make something like this work.

As for the log, I am overwhelmed. Do you keep a notebook, computer file, or what?

One last thing: just as I am getting going on this, we're going on a 3 week road trip to see family and friends in NY and New England. Any advice on keeping up your training while on the go?

[Dogmama]

This was helpful. I tried to do a "recovery ride" today, but I'm not sure I succeeded. It's very hilly near where I live, and the less hilly ways have a lot of cars. But I did go for a shorter ride, about 8.5 miles. Plan to go to the gym tomorrow and will focus on upper body as you suggest.

As for a log, what should I record? Any tips on this?

You can spin slowly up hills to try to get a recovery ride in.

Logging - if you're new, you might want to log everything. How far you road, any unusual circumstances (e.g., 30 mph headwind ), what you ate before & after & how you felt. That way, you can see if (for example) oatmeal is a better pre-ride meal than eggs, or orange juice & protein powder is a better post-ride refuel than a power bar. If you have a cyclometer, watch your average speed. If it starts to decline, you need a day (or two) off the bike.

In the gym, I always log my exercise and then number of sets X amount of weight used X number of reps. For example:

Bench press 3 X 70 X 10 (three sets, using 70 pounds and 10 reps for each set.)

I watch this closely because if I'm stagnant or sliding backwards, I'm probably training too much.

Also log any aches or pains, e.g., "rode hills - sore lower back" will be a cue that you need to spin on the hills - or maybe eliminate core/glute/leg work in the gym the day before a hill ride.

[Starfish]

You can spin slowly up hills to try to get a recovery ride in.

Ummm, I can't!

It is quite hilly where I am, and I have found that, unfortunately, I'm just not fit enough to spin up hills as recovery. I'll either drive my bike to someplace flat, or ride the trainer. I recently put my ancient, old, un-road-ridable mountain bike on the trainer, and I am leaving it there for the summer for recovery rides. I have found that by leaving a bike on the trainer, I find it easy to jump on for an easy spin, followed by a rolling-pin massage on my quads. It is really helping my recovery.

As for bike journal, I'm pretty geeky (Lise, I said geeky, NOT non-eecky! ) and record a lot. But, I'm finding that it does help over the long haul to see trends. I record:

Non-biking workouts
Bike maintenance/repair records
Route
Weather
Nutrition
Mood
Notes about how my body feels, soreness, burn, nausea, etc.
Riding partners
Mileage
Time (actual riding time)
Time (total time)
Avg. Speed (actual riding)
Elevation Gained
Heart Rate Average & Max
Time spent in 3 HR zones (plus time spent above & below)
Each week I total: time riding, elevation gained, miles, time in HR zones

It kind of seems like a lot sometimes, but I find that the picture of time, mileage, climbing and HR intensities helps give a much more complete picture as to why I feel great, or exhausted, or whatever. And, I'll realize that, oh, what looks like a stagnant few weeks in terms of mileage might not really be if my elevation gain per ride really increased, or if I did twice as much steady state HR work, etc.