I have never trained to get faster on the road, I got faster by riding lots. But I am training for longer endurance and thus faster for mountain bike racing. I can't do anything too structured, it tends to make me anxious. Right now I am focusing on time in the saddle with loosely structured goals. Here is a typical week (usually 4 days, sometimes 5):
Saturday - Long road ride, no real goals can be rolling, can be hilly, can be flat. Goal is just 3-4 hours of saddle time. Usually a 50 miler accomplishes this.
Sunday - Mountain bike. Again long, no goal just time in saddle. Often pre-riding a race course. 2-3 hours generally.
Monday - Off if it was a race weekend or very easy spin on the road.
Tuesday - Short track races, this is actually a fun substitute for high intensity/sprint intervals.
Wednesday - Off although I will probably be changing this to a ball based core training day.
Thursday - Hill Repeats. I use a long hill with several very steep sections. Right now I am tempo climbing (just get up in an easy gear) but after I get more comfortable I will be adding gears or jumps (getting out of the saddle). Goal is builing endurance, you can go faster longer if you have a good strong engine. **You can simulate hills on the trainer, it isn't nearly as satisfying for me mentally but physically it hurts the same. **
My first race of the season I shaved about 8 minutes per lap off my time from last year on the exact same course. I do have a race bike now so that might be accounting for some but mostly I think I am getting faster.
Amanda
2011 Specialized Epic Comp 29er | Specialized Phenom | "Marie Laveau"
2007 Cannondale Synapse Carbon Road | Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow | "Miranda"
You don't have to be great to get started, but you do have to get started to be great. -Lee J. Colan