training without overtraining - Triathlon Week

Shyrie · 11-25-2006, 11:43 PM

I currently bike commute to work 10 miles (each way). The ride is halfway in the suburbs (on a pretty busy road), and halfway in the city (on a road with a bike path, and a lot of intersections). It's mostly flat, with a 2 block somewhat steep hill/valley (at the bottom of which is, of course, a busy intersection). No real "challenges", and only one decent stretch without intersections to worry about.

I can opt for a longer trip, which is mostly on a car-free bike route. It's about a 5 mile ride to the start of the route, on a fairly busy, windy road, with a really icky hill on the way home (fun trip down, though). Then, I think it's a 14 mile ride to work using the mostly bike/jogger paths (with a street-break in the middle). No street lights on the road or bike path, but I have decent lights (not sure how long the battery will last).

My gym is somewhat close to work.

I feel kinda like I ride a lot, but I don't ride very fast. I think I average 10-11 mph. I really don't know what the best way for me to get faster is. I'm spending almost 2h/day riding to/from work.. and soon I'll be doing a trip on the weekend so I can start swimming at my gym (pool should open in a week or two).

I don't know a way to train on the bike, without over-training, and having to take days off of riding. Above the 2 sprint triathlons, I also will be doing a 150 mile, 2-day bike tour in the autumn. It kicked my butt (ouch!) last year, and I would like it to be less painful this year. So, I need to train for that, too. (again, without really losing too may commutes to work - I _can_ take the train, but I'd rather not).

Shyrie · 11-25-2006, 11:51 PM

Just some additional stuff. I ride a Trek 7500 (it's a hybrid). I'm currently having it's drive train replaced (for the second time). It's my commuting bike, so loaded down with lights, fenders, rear rack, etc. During a ride/race, would it be better to remove the fenders and stuff (Does it make so much of a difference)?

I use a Camelbak system, too.. But, I notice most people that ride, don't. I don't like bottles since I feel like I spend too much time fumbling with them when I'd rather have my hands on the wheel. I used it since my commute is 10 miles, but maybe it's time to switch?

pyschosyd · 11-26-2006, 06:13 AM

Shyrie
As far as speeding up goes, you need to take yourself out of your comfort zone. THere are many drills/workouts you can add to any of your rides.

On that will really help is intervals. What this will require of you is to ride hard for short periods of time.
On a ride home for example, one workout could be to add a number of hard efforts for a couple of minutes at a time.

In addition Focus on spinning fast, 90 plus cadence (right foot pedal strokes). This is a major limiter for a lot of beginner riders. take a smaller gear but spin fast. Use your aerobic base.

Another way to get faster is to improve your strength. Doing calf raises, squats ,lunges and core workouts will strenthen your legs. You can also do strength excercises on your bike by taking a really hard gear that you can only turn over at a low cadence, and pushing it for a minute(repeat).

and if you are comfortable looking a little silly, a great drill for improving your cycling is using one leg at a time. This drill trains you to eliminate the dead spot in your cycling stroke. Take one foot of of the pedal and only use the other one to pedal with. Focus on making your stroke as smooth as possible.
I would try this a few times around home first. Take it easy with this one.

These will help with speed, and will also be very valuable for keeping you fresh on the long rides. Unfortunately there is no replacing riding long for getting used to it. Good news though is that you only need to do one longer ride a week. Don't worry about distance, just worry about how long you are riding for. Build this up towards your long ride. (Every week add 5-10 km to your longer ride) You also don't need to ride the full distance of your tour riding. Just get close to the longest distance.

Regarding the camel back. I use one when I MTB. I used to use it on my longer rides, but I stopped because of hte extra weight on my back when I'm riding for 3hrs in the aero position. If it works for you use it. Eventually, if you start racing more you will probably give it up because it takes time in transition to put it on and take it off. There are some people I have seen that even run with it on. Your choice, I just don't like the extra weight.

I would recomend that you take off as much of the extra gear on your bike as possible when you are racing. The extra 4 or 5 pounds can make a big difference over a race.

Hope this helps
Syd

Shyrie · 12-02-2006, 05:19 PM

Ok, I made a training schedule, which includes my bike commuting:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Overall, it's 5 regular (10.2) trips to work in the morning (a little further for the trip to the gym on saturday).

Then, 5 trips home, including 2 that I'll make "longer". The longer route (which I haven't really tried, yet) will include an icky hill. I think they're about 5 miles longer, but since it's on a bike path I can add to it indefinately within reason (I think the path may have grown to 60 miles long, and I'd start within blocks of one end).

Is training best if I just ride my normal (slow, 10.3 mile avg) pace most days, and just add a few "training" days? I can probably go faster on the longer trips since I won't have those icky things like cars and lights to get in my way.

Is doing strength riding (low gears) and cadence riding best when done in the same trip or different ones? And how many/week would you advise? If I have 10 rides/week, and 2 of those are longer. I think I have more ambition to do stuff in the morning (which is also overall downhill).