advice on my next move at road training / introducing myself
02-08-22, 12:03 PM
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advice on my next move at road training / introducing myself
hello board! hope all of you are doing well.
so im new to the community and in another thread i was suggested to introduce myself. im also in a particular situation where your opinions/advices would help a lot. need to decide how i will train next 4/5 months.
heres the story; ive been road riding for the past 6 years aprox, for certain reasons i discovered cycling late and im now in my late 30's. i got a problem with my periferic vision (dont see bats to one side), so i dont race, but im pretty serious about my personal performance and ive been obssessed with that for these years. ive been member of a cycling club and have friends that do race (and when in rides with them i do pretty well btw). ive never really had a coach (well kinda at some points), so ive self trained all this time. i educated myself with friels trainig bible and just randomly watching some vids and reading stuff here and there.
i got my goal pretty clear and its to find my personal limits. im a lightweight rider so climbs are my stuff. i live in a hilly area full of mountains so i tend to go to local climbs and battle against the clock. thats my thing, lowering my personal times on climbs.
as i dont race i dont have specific dates for peaks, so ive kind of developed a flexible training, life always throws us stuff, sickness, work , whatever. so im constantly improvising but with a periodization logic behind that. at the end more than a strict periodization as friel suggests its more based on variability, something like 2 hard rides a week (intervals) plus one endurance ride and some short (1.5/2 hours) easy rides. also doing the 3 hard 1 rest week logic. with my age (almost 40) ive noticed i take a while to recover, so i rest plenty. i think im dedicating like 10hours weekly to training.
oh, my stuff is all about short rides at the moment, 120k max, but usually more like 80-100km but with a lot of climbing, and beeing powerfull on those climbs is what turns me on hah.
so i recently bought my first powermeter and have been playing with that the past months. the other important thing is that in 5 months more ill move and wont be able to properly traing for a while (seems so for the moment), right now i do have time so i want these months to be effective as possible. maybe when i can settle down again ill be a couple of years older so who knows. maybe this will be my last big peak, maybe im jumping ahead? anyway, thats my story and thats why im seeking advice on how to go on. i know training is very delicate and subtle , also so personal. i also know theres so much online stuff right now, coaches and stuff. im open in paying for beeing coached btw. also i must say that im based in southamerica and i dont trust much local coaches, ive had a couple of so so experiencies and im very nerdy , and with the few stuff i know i notice a lot of not so good stuff down here, a tendency to overtrain, old school training ideas, etc. i know there must be good people but dont know how to get to em.
ok a bit of more hard info about myself:
weight 53kg/117lbs (at 164cm/5'5'' im not gonna get lighter)
ftp 220 (4.15 w/kg)
i was kinda in build 1 phase but got sick (softly, a weird cold or maybe it was omnicron not sure, but ive been ride riding for 2 weeks right now).
i tend to ride alone except one group ride at weekends where its a mix of endurance+some climb efforts
dont take supplements/extra stuff of any kind, with that i mean no amino or anything, dont really know about stuff like that, should i? at most from longer rides i can take isotonic drinks(like gatorade) thats it.
thanks for the time guys, and sorry for my crappy english, not the best cause its not my main language.
right now my main concern is if it's worth to do something really serious for these months or maybe just continue training in this relaxed way (im pretty strict with it in any case, its usually a ride day and rest day and repeat constantly) i would say im pretty motivated right now. feel free to ask anything and just be hard on opinions, its all good. thanks!
so im new to the community and in another thread i was suggested to introduce myself. im also in a particular situation where your opinions/advices would help a lot. need to decide how i will train next 4/5 months.
heres the story; ive been road riding for the past 6 years aprox, for certain reasons i discovered cycling late and im now in my late 30's. i got a problem with my periferic vision (dont see bats to one side), so i dont race, but im pretty serious about my personal performance and ive been obssessed with that for these years. ive been member of a cycling club and have friends that do race (and when in rides with them i do pretty well btw). ive never really had a coach (well kinda at some points), so ive self trained all this time. i educated myself with friels trainig bible and just randomly watching some vids and reading stuff here and there.
i got my goal pretty clear and its to find my personal limits. im a lightweight rider so climbs are my stuff. i live in a hilly area full of mountains so i tend to go to local climbs and battle against the clock. thats my thing, lowering my personal times on climbs.
as i dont race i dont have specific dates for peaks, so ive kind of developed a flexible training, life always throws us stuff, sickness, work , whatever. so im constantly improvising but with a periodization logic behind that. at the end more than a strict periodization as friel suggests its more based on variability, something like 2 hard rides a week (intervals) plus one endurance ride and some short (1.5/2 hours) easy rides. also doing the 3 hard 1 rest week logic. with my age (almost 40) ive noticed i take a while to recover, so i rest plenty. i think im dedicating like 10hours weekly to training.
oh, my stuff is all about short rides at the moment, 120k max, but usually more like 80-100km but with a lot of climbing, and beeing powerfull on those climbs is what turns me on hah.
so i recently bought my first powermeter and have been playing with that the past months. the other important thing is that in 5 months more ill move and wont be able to properly traing for a while (seems so for the moment), right now i do have time so i want these months to be effective as possible. maybe when i can settle down again ill be a couple of years older so who knows. maybe this will be my last big peak, maybe im jumping ahead? anyway, thats my story and thats why im seeking advice on how to go on. i know training is very delicate and subtle , also so personal. i also know theres so much online stuff right now, coaches and stuff. im open in paying for beeing coached btw. also i must say that im based in southamerica and i dont trust much local coaches, ive had a couple of so so experiencies and im very nerdy , and with the few stuff i know i notice a lot of not so good stuff down here, a tendency to overtrain, old school training ideas, etc. i know there must be good people but dont know how to get to em.
ok a bit of more hard info about myself:
weight 53kg/117lbs (at 164cm/5'5'' im not gonna get lighter)
ftp 220 (4.15 w/kg)
i was kinda in build 1 phase but got sick (softly, a weird cold or maybe it was omnicron not sure, but ive been ride riding for 2 weeks right now).
i tend to ride alone except one group ride at weekends where its a mix of endurance+some climb efforts
dont take supplements/extra stuff of any kind, with that i mean no amino or anything, dont really know about stuff like that, should i? at most from longer rides i can take isotonic drinks(like gatorade) thats it.
thanks for the time guys, and sorry for my crappy english, not the best cause its not my main language.
right now my main concern is if it's worth to do something really serious for these months or maybe just continue training in this relaxed way (im pretty strict with it in any case, its usually a ride day and rest day and repeat constantly) i would say im pretty motivated right now. feel free to ask anything and just be hard on opinions, its all good. thanks!
Last edited by tireheb; 02-08-22 at 02:58 PM.
02-09-22, 05:17 PM
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Hi tireheb - welcome to bikeforums. You've come to the right place for some training advice and the first thing I'll say is that there are other people here that know more about training and train better than I do. But, I'll start throwing out some advice anyway.
1. At an age of 'almost 40' you are a spring chicken, especially with your goal of faster rides up long climbs. Yes, you may need a bit more recovery than a 20 year old, but your age won't hold you back.
2. In addition to the 3 hard, 1 rest week logic, get familiar with TSS or some other measure of training load. Then use this to help gauge the rest you need, and gradually build up the amount of training load as you go through multiple cycles of 3 hard, 1 rest week. Do this until a couple weeks before you move, then taper your training for about a week, and go set personal bests on all your favorite climbs before the move forces you to take some time off.
3. Have fun!
1. At an age of 'almost 40' you are a spring chicken, especially with your goal of faster rides up long climbs. Yes, you may need a bit more recovery than a 20 year old, but your age won't hold you back.
2. In addition to the 3 hard, 1 rest week logic, get familiar with TSS or some other measure of training load. Then use this to help gauge the rest you need, and gradually build up the amount of training load as you go through multiple cycles of 3 hard, 1 rest week. Do this until a couple weeks before you move, then taper your training for about a week, and go set personal bests on all your favorite climbs before the move forces you to take some time off.
3. Have fun!
