View Poll Results: How many traiining hours a week is optimal for 20 to 60 minute time trials?
Less than 7 hours a week
0
0%
7 hours a week
1
20.00%
8 to 9 hours a week
0
0%
10 to 13 hours a week
1
20.00%
14 or more hours a week
3
60.00%
Voters: 5. You may not vote on this poll
How many hours a week for a 60' time trial?
#1
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How many hours a week for a 60' time trial?
I train year around for 20 to 60' time trials / races and do about 14 hours of training a week.
During the summer I do shorter time trials and more speed work, but keep the same hours a week.
How many hours a week do you feel is optimal to train for 20 to 60 minute time trials?
During the summer I do shorter time trials and more speed work, but keep the same hours a week.
How many hours a week do you feel is optimal to train for 20 to 60 minute time trials?
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I train year around for 20 to 60' time trials / races and do about 14 hours of training a week.
During the summer I do shorter time trials and more speed work, but keep the same hours a week.
How many hours a week do you feel is optimal to train for 20 to 60 minute time trials?
During the summer I do shorter time trials and more speed work, but keep the same hours a week.
How many hours a week do you feel is optimal to train for 20 to 60 minute time trials?
Volume in hours spent totally depends on what your life can handle. Can you ride more without there being a divorce or job loss? Do so. Can you ride more with job/family constraints while maintaining good recovery with a proper sleep schedule? Ride more. But when riding more, ramp up your CTL. Don't go overnight from XX hours a week to 2x that. How old are you, as it relates to recovery and how much frequent intensity you can handle?
The periodization for TT I've found actually simpler (for me) than doing road or cyclocross. 14 hours a week, if you're under 50 years old and all you do is train for TT's you ought to go like stink (not judging age, just assuming recovery starts taking a hit as we age).
At 14 hours a week, I'd say someone under 50 ought to be able to do a 40k in 50min and a 10mi in under 20min.
Just don't get into the trap lots of triathletes do trying to shove volume into a work/life schedule that sees them stagnating or being really slow compared to their volume due to poor recovery and poor execution. If you work 40 a week and have kids and start doing 4am workouts and going to bed at 11 every night.........enjoy the brief fitness gain till your body rejects it or you get injured. You have to work within the constraints you have.
I'm praying I recover decently well as I hit mid-40's. My kids will be out of the house by then and my volume could double.
How many hours a week do you work?
Do you have a life partner? Pets?
Do you have enough money to pay for chores to be done? Pay for the grass/laundry/etc....
Start there. If folks start out saying they only get 5 hrs to 6 hrs sleep a night the answer right off the bat is going to be no. If you've got kids, 14 is already a freaking gift from God to ride bikes that much a week.
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Age is a big consideration, but in regards to training, the answer is always more. Don't confuse that with added intensity, especially for something that is essentially a pure endurance activity.
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8-12 would be ideal for me. I can't imagine doing 14+hours a week for a 60 minute effort. That's what I'd do for 100+ mile road races.
Just doesn't make much sense from a practical standpoint when that time and energy can be condensed and specified very easily.
Just doesn't make much sense from a practical standpoint when that time and energy can be condensed and specified very easily.
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The more volume the better IMO. Seems to me the guys with the biggest engines and the highest FTPs are the ones riding most.
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I noticed a big difference from adding more volume while still doing two higher intensity rides per week. Maybe it would have happened anyway. But after slacking off last Summer I did more volume in the Fall and by late Spring (that is, now) I'm in clearly better shape. Power across all times above about 3 minutes are up across the board.
For me, "more" was upping from about 6 hours to 9-10 hours. I've had a few 11-12 and a few 7-8 but mostly 9-10. Lots of work at what turns out to be around 60-65% FTP. Also, when I was training more I was getting more sleep. It was more of - when I get lots of sleep I am ready to train more. I don't think it's the opposite - training more means I get more sleep.
Yesterday I did the equivalent of a 12 minute TT (it's for the Navy fitness test) and I set a new PB at about 335W average. So whatever I'm doing is still working for me.
For me, "more" was upping from about 6 hours to 9-10 hours. I've had a few 11-12 and a few 7-8 but mostly 9-10. Lots of work at what turns out to be around 60-65% FTP. Also, when I was training more I was getting more sleep. It was more of - when I get lots of sleep I am ready to train more. I don't think it's the opposite - training more means I get more sleep.
Yesterday I did the equivalent of a 12 minute TT (it's for the Navy fitness test) and I set a new PB at about 335W average. So whatever I'm doing is still working for me.
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N=1, but we used last year to add a ton of volume, going from 10ish hours per week to about 15+ and I was recently doing some practice on our 40k TT course for the first time since I won there in 2019. I averaged 272 watts @ 170 bpm for the race and the training run with no warm up or anything (It was supposed to be my warm up) was 267 watts @ 147 bpm. The only way I got there, was adding volume and including a lot more endurance riding along with the intensity, to build a deeper pool of fitness.
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How old are you and how many TT miles you got in your legs? Do you know how to TT?
If <30 male, I think many could in a year of < 7 hours a week of focused training. Not including diet and sleep in the training part but that matters.
If you are north of 40 you likely cannot recover from 14 hours/week if you are just starting out. You might dig yourself into a hole - the more you train, the slower you get.
If <30 male, I think many could in a year of < 7 hours a week of focused training. Not including diet and sleep in the training part but that matters.
If you are north of 40 you likely cannot recover from 14 hours/week if you are just starting out. You might dig yourself into a hole - the more you train, the slower you get.
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How old are you and how many TT miles you got in your legs? Do you know how to TT?
If <30 male, I think many could in a year of < 7 hours a week of focused training. Not including diet and sleep in the training part but that matters.
If you are north of 40 you likely cannot recover from 14 hours/week if you are just starting out. You might dig yourself into a hole - the more you train, the slower you get.
If <30 male, I think many could in a year of < 7 hours a week of focused training. Not including diet and sleep in the training part but that matters.
If you are north of 40 you likely cannot recover from 14 hours/week if you are just starting out. You might dig yourself into a hole - the more you train, the slower you get.
I averaged close to 2 hours a day this past year, including 20 plus online time trials with best times in 10 events from 200 meters to 40 kilometers compared to the previous year. I recently reduced to 100 minutes a day because that feels more productive, and I'm doing more sprints and shorter events through the summer.
The events I like most are from 4 to 10 kilometers and I do shorter events more often. When I'm not doing time trials, I am training for time trials. I know how to prepare and how to do them, but am always experimenting and am open to learn more.
I've seen some of your postings, know you're quite knowledgeable about racing, and appreciate your input.
Last edited by jlvs2run; 05-27-21 at 06:18 PM.
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How old are you and how many TT miles you got in your legs? Do you know how to TT?
If <30 male, I think many could in a year of < 7 hours a week of focused training. Not including diet and sleep in the training part but that matters.
If you are north of 40 you likely cannot recover from 14 hours/week if you are just starting out. You might dig yourself into a hole - the more you train, the slower you get.
If <30 male, I think many could in a year of < 7 hours a week of focused training. Not including diet and sleep in the training part but that matters.
If you are north of 40 you likely cannot recover from 14 hours/week if you are just starting out. You might dig yourself into a hole - the more you train, the slower you get.
Part of this also is I usually ask people if they spend any hours taking video and photos of their bike fit. Or working on their aero. In any manner. Doesn't have to be super nerd like some of us, but anything. Soooo often the answer is "no", they just prefer to bash out miles and workouts. What a waste of fitness that is!
I'm also a fan of doing a "club run" or self timed TT about twice a month. Practice getting in the kit (or most of it) and looking over your route, then executing your game plan. Familiarity with the pain of the 20ish min of a 10mi and the mid 50's min of a 25mi TT is worth a LOT. If you're not comfortable being uncomfortable you likely won't be able to utilize the same % of your fitness.
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I just turned 75, and time trials are the only thing that I train for, which is all on my indoor trainer.
I averaged close to 2 hours a day this past year, including 20 plus online time trials with best times in 10 events from 200 meters to 40 kilometers compared to the previous year. I recently reduced to 100 minutes a day because that feels more productive, and I'm doing more sprints and shorter events through the summer.
The events I like most are from 4 to 10 kilometers and I do shorter events more often. When I'm not doing time trials, I am training for time trials. I know how to prepare and how to do them, but am always experimenting and am open to learn more.
I've seen some of your postings, know you're quite knowledgeable about racing, and appreciate your input.
I averaged close to 2 hours a day this past year, including 20 plus online time trials with best times in 10 events from 200 meters to 40 kilometers compared to the previous year. I recently reduced to 100 minutes a day because that feels more productive, and I'm doing more sprints and shorter events through the summer.
The events I like most are from 4 to 10 kilometers and I do shorter events more often. When I'm not doing time trials, I am training for time trials. I know how to prepare and how to do them, but am always experimenting and am open to learn more.
I've seen some of your postings, know you're quite knowledgeable about racing, and appreciate your input.
2 hours/day sounds like a lot to me. Your events are not an hour, are they?
Here is what I would do....
-Get to know your morning resting heart rate. When it is elevated much, take it easy or don't train. Find a training frequency that you can be back to your low in a couple days.
-Do some strength hi resistance thing in line with the above maybe 2X a week. This usually means weights. It mean the muscles burn and get fatigued < 1 min. There are lots of caveats that go with this - don't get injured.
-Intense times on the bike trainer should be significantly less than your event. 2 hours on a trainer is likely not making you faster at a 30 min TT. Take a time half you event length and go harder. If you are recovered the next day after going hard, add another hard session on the same day. You might be faster if you road less. The miles in legs matter a lot more when doing 5 hour road races which I assume you are not.
The good news is when you are older you are less likely to over develop muscles and fatigue tendons. [One of my pet peeves is junior gear mandates which I think tend to overuse of joints and tendons in kids. My kid's ligament problems went away as soon as he got off of junior gears.]
-Ignore any fads that suggest you have to have balance in pedaling L to R etc. Different systems, and muscles develop at different rates and unless you are a beginner most that stuff is locked into you by now.
-That said - here is a system to pedal a certain way for a shorter TT. Stomp on you pedals during the bottom of the stroke. More like a running in place motion. That will typically produce a faster TT time than smooth power.
-Use a PM to see how low you can go at the same speed. Speed matters. Power is a thing that makes you faster, but position, comfort etc. do too. You can ride in front of a mirror, have video, take pictures etc., but what really matters in a TT is speed. so use speed and then try to adjust to get the most for the least. I'm sure you know most TT positions for most people are not their max power positions.