Road Bike Training Guide
Devise Your Training Programme
Structured Schedule
If you want to ride faster, or more competitively, you will benefit from a well thought out structured schedule. Devise your training regime along the lines of planning a trip from A to B. ‘A’ is your current level of fitness and ‘B’ is where you want it to be by the end of the trip. Figuring out how you’ll get there prevents you taking wrong turns or breaking down along the way and gives you a sense of direction.
Step one is to determine what it is you want to achieve. Set yourself a realistic target, but make sure it’s one that excites and challenges you, otherwise you’ll run out of steam before you get there. If your goal relates to a specific race, you have an in-built deadline. If not, you need to give yourself a time frame in which to achieve it. Otherwise, you could still be talking about losing that half a stone, or breaking the hour for a 25-mile time-trial for years to come.
Once you’ve determined where you’re going, you need to work out where you are now. It’s important to be honest with yourself about where you are, and how long you’ll need to reach your goals. If your skill and fitness level don’t match your aims, you are in for a frustrating and unsuccessful time.
For example, if you’re weak on hills but are planning to do the next Etape, you’ll need to factor that in, both in terms of how you’ll structure your training and how much time you’ll need to build leg strength and climbing skill.
Goals
Once you know where you’re going and what your starting point is, you can get down to the nitty-gritty of designing your route. Count back from your deadline to the present and work out what you need to do to ensure you get there. Make sure you don’t plan your programme in the absence of reality. You need to sit down with your diary so that you can build your training around work and family commitments – such as holidays and important deadlines – rather than creating a programme that you simply can’t stick to. Ensure that your goals are SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-framed – and that your training is geared towards taking you closer to them.
Setting Out Your Plan
The training itself, in terms of how much, where, how hard and how far you ride, is specific to you as an individual and your goals. But whether you’re an elite athlete or a recreational rider, whether you want to win the Etape or complete your first century ride, the same training principles apply. If you don’t continue to add challenge to your training as you progress, you’ll stop getting fitter. That’s because of a training principle called ‘progressive overload’. Training (the overload) breaks the body down – just a little bit – and if you get the level of challenge just right, it will build itself back up stronger and fitter. If there’s not enough overload, you won’t trigger these adaptations – if you overdo it, you risk getting injured or ill and having to take off so much time that the potential benefits you would have reaped are lost. That’s where the word ‘progressive’ comes in.
It’s worth bearing in mind that the adaptation to overload takes place when you’re resting, not when you’re training. Recovery is a vital part of training. Ttake two recovery days per week – one on and one off the bike. It’s during recovery that the transformation brought about by training occurs – skip it and you risk losing out on those improvements.
To ensure there is sufficient rest and recovery by firstly following hard training sessions with recovery rides, or no training at all. Secondly, organising training into four-week blocks, markedly reducing the volume and intensity of training during the fourth week of each block to give your body a break.
The Detail
The most commonly used method of organising training into specific phases is called ‘periodisation’. In its purest form, periodisation involves breaking the entire training period – the macro cycle – down into blocks, each of which has a specific focus that builds on the last, with the ultimate aim of getting the rider to reach their peak at the appropriate time. The macro cycle is split into meso cycles, periods of four to six weeks, which are further divided into week-long micro cycles. But you don’t need your life to revolve around the cycling calendar in order to benefit from a periodised structure.
Periodisation means is focusing on different aspects of training and performance at different times in a logical order, rather than training just any old how. This should include riding technique and handling skills, as well as fitness. Periodised training produces better results than a less structured programme because it ensures that every single session you do has a purpose. If you don’t know what you’re trying to achieve when you’re out there cycling, it’s not training, it’s merely going for a bike ride.
We know training has to have a structure and a focus, that it has to be progressive, and that there needs to be enough rest and recovery to reap the full benefits. But what does this actually boil down to, in terms of the types of sessions you might go out and ride? Well, regardless of your specific goals, you need to have a solid foundation on which to build. Think of your training as a pyramid, the base of which is your aerobic fitness. It’s only once you’ve built a solid base of cardiovascular fitness that you need to start layering on higher-quality work.
Injecting distinctly different levels of intensity into your cycle training will take you a lot further towards your goals than simply riding your bike. Take the opportunity to improve your technique and handling skills on the bike too – from gear selection and pedalling technique to cornering and climbing and riding in a group. Investing a little time in training out of the saddle can help, too.
Core stability, strength training and flexibility work are all important factors in keeping you in good shape and improving performance. One study found that 12 weeks of strength training (upper and lower body) resulted in a marked improvement in performance – cycle time to exhaustion at a fixed effort level rose by 33 percent. But above all, remember the purpose of your training plan is to take you from A to B. If your aim is to ride faster time-trials, make sure you’re doing enough threshold riding. If you want to sprint or climb better, incorporate those elements, or if your aim is to ride further or for longer, allow more endurance hours in your programme.
Building a Power Base
If you always ride long and steady, chatting to your mates, you’ve already achieved a good level of aerobic fitness. But if you haven’t been riding regularly for long, allow six to 12 weeks minimum to build your base.
How to do it: Long, steady rides at a low intensity. You should work at 60 to 75 percent of your maximum heart rate (45 beats per minute below your max) and be able to converse. You only need do one long ride per week; other sessions should be shorter.
The benefits: Improved use of fat as a fuel source, greater muscular endurance and getting accustomed to long periods in the saddle. It primes the body for higher intensity work – a solid foundation is essential.
Need to know: If you ride with a group, make sure you work within your level. It’s easy to get carried away and start racing. You can also work on your aerobic base by doing running or swimming.
Adding Strength
With a good aerobic base, you can reduce the mileage of some rides and bring in higher-quality work, such as tempo rides. This is a pace at which you can really feel you are working but you can still converse. You shouldn’t be flat-out.
How to do it: Sustained pace rides at 75 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate (or 25-40bpm below your max).
The benefits: Improved aerobic capacity and pedalling efficiency.
Need to know: You’re using a mix of carbohydrate and fat, so take energy on board: sports drinks, gels or bars.
Developing Killer Speed
This step helps improve your ability to sustain a high effort level for a prolonged period, so you can climb better and ride faster on the flat.
How to do it: After a good warm-up, work in intervals of three to 12 minutes at 85 to 95 percent of your max heart rate (or 15-25bpm below your max) with easy-paced ‘recovery’ riding (60 to 65 percent of max heart rate) in between.
The benefits: This high-intensity training improves your ‘lactate threshold’ – your ability to ride fast without going anaerobic. Training at this level will improve your strength and speed and is spot-on for 25-mile time-trial training.
Need to know: If you are training for a hilly ride, use hills within this session to make your training more specific to your event. If there isn’t a decent hilly ride nearby, you can repeat climbs on one hill.
Build Knock Out Power
Power is the ability to apply maximum force in the shortest time possible. Well developed power – or the lack of it – is obvious on short hills, in sprints and in sudden pace changes.
How to do it: All-out efforts lasting a few seconds up to three minutes. You will be working at your maximum heart rate or as close to it as you can get. Take recoveries of an equal length between each interval. These intense sessions can be done on a turbotrainer if you prefer.
The benefits: Improved anaerobic fitness, greater recruitment of muscle fibres in the leg muscles and improved neuromuscular co-ordination for better efficiency.
Need to know: Power training is best done when you are well rested.
Stick With It
- Build some time-trials or races into your training programme to monitor progress and stay motivated. Write your goals down to make them feel more real – and keep a training log to monitor your progress.
- Get a gadget: a heart rate monitor, bike computer or cadence monitor (or ideally, all three) helps you keep tabs on your training and provides extra motivation.
- Fast-track your training by joining a cycling club.
- Find yourself a coach at British Cycling.
- Reward yourself when you attain your goals then set yourself new targets.
How To Break Up Long Rides
Warm up with 20 minutes of
easy riding but gradually increase the intensity so that, by the 18th
or 19th minute, you’re working up a sweat and your breathing is
becoming slightly laboured.
Try to plan your route so
that you now arrive at a flat or gentle downhill stretch of road. Shift
into the big chainring and select a sprocket in the middle of your rear
cassette. Jumping out of the saddle, sprint hard.
As you
sprint, count your pedal strokes for one foot, aiming for 25 on each
effort. The first 12 to 13 should be out of the saddle getting up to
speed, the remainder seated while you concentrate on good pedalling
technique and maintaining your speed/cadence. Recover by pedalling
easily for 30 seconds and complete six sprints.
After
your final sprint, take a minute’s recovery and find a rolling stretch of
road. The aim now is to ride for 20 to 30 minutes at ‘sweet spot’
intensity.
If you’re using a power meter this would
translate to 88 to 94 percent of Functional Threshold Power (FTP) –
lower zone four – or, for heart rate based training, 80 to 90 percent
of maximal heart rate – upper zone three and lower zone four.
If you’re training on feel and perceived exertion, you’ll need to be concentrating on your effort and any conversation will be in short, clipped sentences. Riding in the sweet spot is probably one of the most effective ways to train.
After you’ve completed the sweet spot ride, recover for two minutes then repeat the sprint set. Warm down with 10 minutes of easy riding.
Winter Training
1 Spinning classes
These indoor group cycling classes are usually held at gyms, health clubs and leisure centres. The cycling is done to music on a stationary bike with a weighted flywheel. The resistance is controlled by the rider, but the session structured by an instructor.Good: They are high-intensity, motivating and time-efficient. They’ll give you a great cardiovascular workout in a warm and dry environment.
Bad: A poor instructor can make a spin class seem very dull. Sessions are not at specific intensities and are often too short to be effective for bike racers.
2 Mountain biking
If you're a mountain biker you'll already know the fun you can have getting down and dirty, but roadies should think of giving it a go too. The slower pace means that wind-chill has less effect, making mountain bike training an ideal alternative for those chilly winter mornings.
Bad: Your kit will get muddy, so you’ll spend more time cleaning. Mountain biking involves plenty of freewheeling, so don’t expect the same workout as on the road.
3 Turbo sessions
Turbo training involves setting your own bike up on an indoor trainer (a turbo) at home. Turbos can use a flywheel, fluid or a magnetic system to provide resistance to your pedalling.Good: An intense workout that is time-effective. No stopping pedalling for junctions or descents means you squeeze more riding into less time.
Bad: Turbo sessions can get a bit boring. The constant whirring of the pedals and flywheel can also be noisy. Not great for getting in the domestic good books.
4 Training in the gym
Go to the gym and work out using free weights, cable machines, the gym bike or rower. Complete a circuit of exercises designed to complement and support your bike training.Good: Using alternative muscle groups that complement your bike riding will help improve your overall conditioning and give you a break from the cold weather.
Bad: It’s nowhere near as good as riding your bike! If you only did this instead of bike riding, your cycling fitness would certainly plummet.
5 Night riding
Over the past 10 years, super-bright bike headlights have become increasingly popular and effective, making riding on off-road trails and unlit roads a feasible option. Night riding gives you an opportunity to train with other people during a working week.Good: Night riding represents many people’s only option for doing an endurance session during the week. Ideal for anyone bored of turbo training.
Bad: Car drivers and potholes make road night riding a more dangerous option. Riding when the sun has gone down is often unbearably cold.
6 Weekend riding
Saturday and Sunday morning rides are the staple winter cycling diet of many riders and racers.
Good: There are plenty of people to train with at weekends. You have more spare time, so you can concentrate on endurance, building long winter rides.
Bad: If the weather is bad there’s always the temptation to skip your weekend rides. A few bad weather days could soon add up to a month off the bike.
