pepsi4all

My training is 20 miles to work and 20 miles back home, 5 days.

1st training I do
Say I would train on Monday, I would go full all out with those ride. However, the next day Tuesday, I would see my speed decrease. And then continually bike everyday, either decrease or maintain speed because of much pain. 200miles total a week.

2nd training I do
In comparison with my 2nd training, Monday I go full all out. Tuesday rest, and Wednesday full all out again, I see my speed maintain or increase a little bit. It would be every other day of training. 120miles total a week.

My First question.
I am not sure what kind of should I pick, because they say keep putting mileage on your legs and it will get your stronger. Should I keep the first training or the 2nd?

My Second question.
Or I just need to know how to keep a constant 30mph in 2 miles? For sprinting the last lap.

I have been trying to train in high intensity. I am doing this because I do not have much time. I just am not sure how to get the most of it.


Any help, I would gladly appreciate it.

ptempel

That's a lot of miles in a week. Last summer, I did around 150 miles a week (two days from home and the rest park n' ride) and got fairly burnt out after a month or so. I knew I needed the rest since I still felt tired during the weekend and I don't ride during that time (reserved for the family). I scaled back to 100 miles the week after doing only park n' ride. So my advice so far is to listen to your body and definately take a "lower mileage rest week" once a month. You could also do a park n' ride if you have a car for a few days a week. Then maybe use those days for shorter distance higher intensity or maybe just for easy recovery.

PepeM

30mph for two miles. That is definitely what you should be doing. All about that last lap sprint.

pepsi4all

Please tell me how to train for that....

patrickgm60

20 miles, 10x/week is plenty of training miles, for short races. I would definitely mix up the effort levels, on my rides. IME, too many riders ride at Zone 3/4, nearly all the time, never doing any true recovery riding, nor true intervals. Maybe intervals, Monday morning, easy/recovery Monday evening and Tuesday morning, threshhold effort Tuesday night, etc.

RJM

Riding like that, I would use the to work ride as sort of a base mile thing at a lower intensity and then use the from work as some sort of higher intensity interval training. Switch the duration and intensity level of the interval session throughout the week, but change it up some.

TheKillerPenguin

Going full gas all the time is a great way to become an aggressively mediocre triathlete. You will get good at going one speed, but it won't be the right one

On a most basic of levels hard/easy/hard/easy is going to result in more gains because it will let you go harder on hard days which forces more adaptation. Beyond that, if you're looking to do sanctioned races and be successful at it you'll want to look up what interval training is, what sorts of intervals to do to improve certain parts of your power curve, etc. There is a lot of great information on the Training Peaks website, the 33 here on bikeforums has a workout cookbook sticky thread and an ongoing training thread, the cyclists training bible is out there and is a good starting point when you don't know what you're doing.

If you've got a group ride you can do on the regular that's a great way to gain baby race legs before taking a proper stab at bike race shenanigans.

PepeM

Good advice right there.

Drew Eckhardt 

Neither.

All-out for 20 miles all-out will do less for your lactate threshold and VO2max than shorter intervals past lactate threshold (7-10 minutes is ideal), and once you're doing that more than once or twice weekly isn't going to increase the rate your power increases.

You're also probably not riding slow enough on your easy days - you need to stay below your aerobic threshold (where breathing becomes rhythmic, conversation doesn't flow, and lactate/hydrogen ions start to accumulate) to lift that like Mark Allen did prior to setting his 2:40 Ironman marathon split record in 1989 which still stands today.

There's also the 1 in 4 (perhaps 1 in 3) lower volume/intensity rest week you need for adaptation to occur and to prevent over-reaching then over-training.

Solo on a road bike without a hill or tail wind you'd be looking at a 500-600W 2 minute power which I don't think will happen.

Measure down-hill, get a bike with better aerodynamics (recumbent low racer, time trial bike), or ride in a pace line where you take turns pulling.

A sprint is 10s of seconds which can be powered by your phosocreatine energy system, not minutes.

I like

Monday - 3x10 minutes or 4x10 as hard as possible, 25-30 miles total
Tuesday - short endurance ride, 25-35 miles
Wednesday - recovery pace, 25-35 miles
Thursday - 25 miles aiming for 95% of one-hour power
Friday - recovery pace, 25-35 miles
Saturday - 50-70 mile not short endurance ride

but this year have been neglecting power because I'm enjoying long rides too much.

dim

this has worked for me (I average 120-150 miles per week commuting):

Get a computer that has cadence. Try and aim to cycle at 80-90 RPM the whole way (where possible)

join strava and check the segments on your daily commute... check your ranking and choose to go as fast as you can on some of the segments where you feel that you can come close (or better) to the times based on your age group

you will get stronger and faster quickly by doing some high intesity riding. I have only been cycling for 6 months now but have lost over 40 pounds and am getting stronger day by day. I started riding in winter and cycled in some horrific headwinds which has also helped. I work 7 days a week so I ride 7 days a week (I know that one should have some time off)

rmfnla

Just stop that training nonsense.

Remember: no pain > no pain...

pepsi4all

Do you mean pain > no pain??? Or no pain > pain

Ghazmh

I ride as often and as long as I possibly can.

TexMac

Last year i was in your boat and would commute 4 days. You get fatigue by the time wekend rolls in. This year I tweaked my schedule..see below
Mon- easy commute 23 miles each way (sometimes 23AM and 30 pm if it gets warm)
Tuesd- AM easy 23 miles commute. Evening, intervals (4x4 or 8x1 or 20x2 etc)
Wed - off/ upper body weights
Thurs- AM easy commute. Evening, intervals (20x2 or 40/20 or 13x30s et)
Friday - off
Saturday - 60 mile fast group ride
Sunday - off

gregf83 

I have a similar length commute (33km) and use the following:
Mon, Tue, Thur - hard
Wed, Fri - easy
Sat - Group ride
Sun - Easy

hard can vary. I have a 30 min section where I can ride uninterrupted so that's useful for SST intervals or 6x5x1. I also have a 50m bridge that can provice 3min or so of VO2Max effort and a short steep hill I'll sprint up as hard as possible.

I'm not particularly structured and usually just ride by how I feel. If I take Sun off or ride easy then Mon and Tue usually end up being harder and by Wed I naturally back off. On Fri I'll deliberately keep my avg power under a threshold. If I ride everyday it ends up being a TSS of around 900 which I can't/don't feel like sustaining all year.

bbbean 

What are you training for?

pepsi4all

Thanks, for this. My rpm is 103-112. I usually am on the top the daily commute segments by much. Because others are just riding while I am racing with myself. I own some KOM segments, or use to... some segments are ridiculously high at 38mph...
my current average speed with solo intensity is 21mph including stop signs. Some segments Yesterday, 1/4 mile to half mile, with fair winds, doing 28mph solo surging at 30+, and then constant 24-25mph at most points. Last crits ride averaging 26.5 mph.
I am outputting around 300-320 watts. I think pro's are 400W or more.

pepsi4all

Its a Criterium road bike Category racing 40min. They have it almost every week. its $16 per race.

dim

based on those specs, you are very fit. You should have no problems.

Your speed of 28 mph to 30mph is very fast especially if you can maintain this speed on long distances.... Good luck and keep us updated

pepsi4all

I like this also (above...)

However...
I believe that 30mph is achievable. I think Wiggins hold it 34mph for an hour and other athletes, I know they are way above me.
I am just begging to hold on for a fraction, which is 2 minutes.

pepsi4all

not for long distance.... only 1/4 - half mile for 28mph, I can't do that 2 miles. Only around 23-25mph on a 20 mile. I believe I hit my plateau. I am stuck.

pepsi4all

Thanks for everything. I am gonna go ask some local coaches if I can find them. But for everything else the advises I have read in here has been really helpful. I really appreciate it.

Drew Eckhardt 

Then follow Wiggins' example. Ride a bike with seating position and bars like this, positioned like this, and dressed like this:


Don't expect to get there with major handicaps like a standard road-bike position.

PepeM

Also, an hour record attempt and a criterium require very different skills.

jsigone

best and probably the only way to build the top end for crits is to do fast club rides few times a week. Work from just sucking a wheel to picking out good spots that's advantageous for you to attack the group and prepare to be countered.

San Diego has about 4 "fast rides" per week. Find some in your area

And your sprint should be in the 40's