# How many days a week to ride?



## tampafw (Jul 25, 2009)

I have recently made some serious changes in my work schedule which will allow me to not only get back into the sport I love and missed so dearly, but to come full circle and train an awful lot. 

I have been babying my knees and doing 5 one hour rides a week indoors, just easy pace listening to pod casts and trying to built some super easy mileage.

I have completely abandoned the idea of training the way I did in my early 20's.....just couldn't take it at my age, but what do some of you think about for a late 30's guy.

5 days a week? 
4 days a week?

I am really looking at hours a week and not mileage. I can do 10 hours a week with respect to availability no problem....maybe even 15. Would take my sweet time building up to it, but that is what I have the ability to do time wise? 

What are some of you older guys doing?


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## iliveonnitro (Feb 19, 2006)

Some late-30's dude just podiumed at the Tour de France. You can still handle a lot, albeit not quite like in your early 20s. Don't put yourself down!

5-6 days per week is perfect. Frequency is great. It's usually more important than the same amount of time per week, but less frequently.

You have the ability to do upwards of 20-25hrs/wk if you are careful. 15hrs a week is just fine if you build up to it slowly. Increase your volume by about 10% per week -- just listen to your body when you need to rest.


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## stevesbike (Jun 3, 2002)

I'm 46 and train just like I did in my 20s. 5 training days, 1 rest day (off bike), and 1 recovery ride day per week, 20 hours/week early season, 15 in season, every 4th week a recovery week (reduction in volume, not intensity). Lots of So Cal Master racers my age doing more...


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Time and intensity*



tampafw said:


> I have recently made some serious changes in my work schedule which will allow me to not only get back into the sport I love and missed so dearly, but to come full circle and train an awful lot.
> 
> I have been babying my knees and doing 5 one hour rides a week indoors, just easy pace listening to pod casts and trying to built some super easy mileage.
> 
> ...


I'm way older than you and ride 7 days a week. Only one is an intense day (time trial) but there is nothing about your age that should limit you. If you're going to do multiple intensity days, then make your other days recovery rides.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

I'm 51 and ride 6 days per week...I usually take Fridays off


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## GerryR (Sep 3, 2008)

I started reading this and thought you were some OLD guy, but late 30s, seriously? I was in my early 30s when I started cycling the first time. I'll be 65 in a about 3 weeks and was riding 5-6 days a week, 1.5-2 hours over my extended lunch lunch and 3-4 hours with a local group on Saturday mornings. I was starting to work running into the mix and will start swimming laps this winter so I can compete in at least one triathlon next year. Then I blew out my Achilles tendon so no training of any kind for a while. But, the point is that age is as much a mental thing as it is a physical thing. Don't hamper yourself by thinking you're too old to train very much or very hard.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

stevesbike said:


> I'm 46 and train just like I did in my 20s. 5 training days, 1 rest day (off bike), and 1 recovery ride day per week, 20 hours/week early season, 15 in season, every 4th week a recovery week (reduction in volume, not intensity). Lots of So Cal Master racers my age doing more...


and some of those late 40s socal masters are still doing damage in the pro/1/2 crits....


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## smokva (Jul 21, 2004)

Now when the weather is good, I do 3-4 rides and 10-15 hours per week.


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## tampafw (Jul 25, 2009)

Yea age is more a state of mind, I just feel old with two completely rebuilt knees which need quite a lot of babying to keep healthy. 14 years of hard core running destroyed them and I just want to err on the side of too little than too much. Having spent too much time on the sidelines as spectator and not participating has changed the way I'm going to approach my cycling training. 

Also, I came from a triathlon background so I was training much less on the bike obviously b/c I had to allocate time for swim and run workouts. Forgot to include those caveats. Thanks for the input!


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## thegock (May 16, 2006)

*Training cycle*

I am 23 years old…NOT, wait-it appears from my birth certificate date 1955 that I must be 54! Over the last three months I have ridden over 2,100 miles (just over 12 hours a week) and run about 50 miles for variety and cross training. In addition, I have done days of hard, physical labor.

I am at the end of three months of training for the Hillier Than Thou century time trial on August 23rd in the mountains of NJ. Beginning yesterday, tapering has begun. (Thank God) The average is 4.6 workouts per week between running and riding. This Saturday I did 66 miles, on Sunday at 7am, a hard one hour spin class and that afternoon 53 miles with the best climber in town and his hard BFF-between the two days about 8,000 ft of climbing. :cryin: Today, I will climb a 230 vf hill with over 10% pitch ten times and total between 3,600 and 3,800 vf including climbing out there. I have been fortunate with the weather and haven’t had to ride the GDMF’g trainer much-only 10 hours in 2009.

More importantly, rested yesterday and have had a couple of three day or 3 of 4 day rest periods in the last quarter. You have to let the muscles build up, too. After Hillier, I will take some intensity off and drop the volume a bit. Friel emphasizes the importance of rest and he is right.

Knee problems are a different story, though. Can’t help there. Only had one knee overuse issue about ten years ago when coaching both my son’s and daughter’s soccer teams. 

I used to mostly run but about five years ago, a succession of minor overuse injuries, caused me to reemphasize the bike. I had a hamstring, some Achilles soreness and plantar fasciitis. Over the last five years on the bike, I had one brief and mild ITB problem but by the time I did one foam roller session, it went away.

Could do more volume and intensity, I suppose. Probably should HTFU.:mad2:


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