# Help on increasing endurance and speed



## beactive (Jan 2, 2012)

I'm stuck at my current MPH and can't seem to get more power or speed. What advice do you have - books, techniques, websites...etc. I live here in Palos Verdes, CA where there are some good hills to climb and flat stretches. I'm getting ready for my first century ride and just want to get better.

Thanks


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## new2rd (Aug 8, 2010)

I'm not even close to being a coach, but for starters I'm sure the "real coaches" will want to know:
How long have you been riding?
What is your current training? (how many times a week, duration, intensity...)
Any limitations? (traveling for work, working 12 hr shifts, etc..)


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## cda 455 (Aug 9, 2010)

beactive said:


> I'm stuck at my current MPH and can't seem to get more power or speed. What advice do you have - books, techniques, websites...etc. I live here in Palos Verdes, CA where there are some good hills to climb and flat stretches. I'm getting ready for my first century ride and just want to get better.
> 
> Thanks



Since you live in Palos Verdes you have some awesome hills to do repeats, etc.

To answer your question though, hill climbing is what I do. I know of at least one hill in your area that's nice and long. It'll be a great workout!


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

Do intervals.


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## beactive (Jan 2, 2012)

Let me add more background. I ride about 70 miles a week (1x 20 miles, 1x50miles) and been riding for many years. I can climb up the hills here but average about 10mph on the flats but I'm not happy with this pace. Age is 41, weight 162 lbs.


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## new2rd (Aug 8, 2010)

Two rides a week? I can't imagine doing a 50 mile ride averaging 10 mph. For starters, can you ride 4-5 times a week instead of just twice? Even if you can only get out for 1 hr or 1 1/2 hrs at a time, the consistency will definitely help.


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## beactive (Jan 2, 2012)

Sorry 10mpg is up hill, flat I can average 17-18mph over the route with bursts at 27mph. i can only do 2x per week due to family and work commitments. Trying to see if I need to incorporate weights as part of strength training beside just riding. I will definitely look into intervals.


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## cda 455 (Aug 9, 2010)

beactive said:


> Sorry 10mpg is up hill, flat I can average 17-18mph over the route with bursts at 27mph. i can only do 2x per week due to family and work commitments. Trying to see if I need to incorporate weights as part of strength training beside just riding. I will definitely look into intervals.


To squeeze in riding time I ride pre-dawn on my days off.


Also, how's your body weight? The less you weigh the easier it is to ride. 

For example; By just dropping from 263lbs down to 224lbs really increased my cycling efficiency overall. And I plan to drop to 200lbs by the end of Summer as well.


Like Creaky said, do intervals. They really work!


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## Alex_Simmons/RST (Jan 12, 2008)

beactive said:


> Sorry 10mpg is up hill, flat I can average 17-18mph over the route with bursts at 27mph. i can only do 2x per week due to family and work commitments. Trying to see if I need to incorporate weights as part of strength training beside just riding. I will definitely look into intervals.


If you have time to do strength training, you time to ride more. The riding will help, the strength won't.

Get a good indoor trainer, a big fan, some music on an ipod and get 2 extra rides per week doing effort sessions with intervals from ranging from 2 to 20-minutes long. Shorter the interval, the harder you go.


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## zoothornrollo (Jan 31, 2012)

good advice there from alex


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## CyclingVirtual (Apr 10, 2008)

Yep, if getting out is that hard, get a turbo.
Also when out on the road, try and ride with a faster group.


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## Alaska Mike (Sep 28, 2008)

I have 3 kids, a wife, and a career. Oh yeah, and I'm getting a degree.

I get up at 2:30AM before work to get on the trainer. I bike commute when the snow is off the roads. I sneak in a ride every chance I get. It's all about working the margins to get the extra time in.

If you can ride on the road, I would say ride on the road instead of a trainer. Get some lights and go.


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## NJBiker72 (Jul 9, 2011)

"The Time Crunched Cyclist" by Chris Carmichael is a good book for training on a limited schedule. That and some Sufferfest videos.


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## bytewalls (Feb 14, 2010)

Don't kill they guy we are all busy. You need to break up the usual. The body becomes very effective at dealing with the same stressors applied to it week in and week out. This could be as simple as going on the faster group ride. I would recommend adding some good intervals in. Different variations since you are looking for endurance and speed things like VO2Max aren't going to be as big of a deal. There are a million different types of intervals you can do but here is a set I like to give people to do, and I do around a month out from racing season.

Start of with a 15 -20 minute warm up. Now you are going to do something very painful.... 8 minutes @ Threshold. 10 minute rest, repeat 4 times. Cool down 10 -15 minutes afterwords.

I also like 6 x 5min @ Threshold, 5 min rest. The amount of rest you are giving yourself gives your resperitory system time to recover. I do 2 minutes rest closer to the season on my 5min efforts to simulate race efforts. Hill repeats are always good try mixing it up, doing some entirely sitting, some entirely standing. Throw some surges and then aerobic thresh recovery in to a long climb. 

As for strength training, it can be good if you can't get on the bike but can get in the gym. Even better in terms of time you can do some plyometrics and dumbbell free-weight stuff. Love the sufferfest videos for the home on the trainer. Don't worry about anything to fancy if you go that direction either. A simple wind trainer will do the trick, won't be like riding on the road but none of them are.


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## iheartbenben (Mar 18, 2011)

zooku said:


> I bike commute when the snow is off the roads. I sneak in a ride every chance I get. It's all about working the margins to get the extra time in.


That's what Alaska_Mary said.


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## shomyoface (Nov 24, 2007)

You can get so much done instead of watching TV.. Go to bed early and get up at the crack and ride..........simple


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