# Annual training hours & plan - What do you suggest for a 2nd year cyclist?



## petalpower (Aug 10, 2009)

Last year was my first complete season, and I feel that I progressed rather well for not having any training plan other than riding and doing group rides, and some racing.

This year, with the help of a power meter, I plan on following a training plan with about 3 races I wish to compete in and do well. After reading the following books : *Time Crunched Cyclist, The Cyclist's Training Bible*, and *Training And Racing With A Power Meter*, I'm ready to start outlining my plan.

I just got back from 4 weeks in Itlay ( off the bike, but running 5-6 days a week ). I actually lost 3 lbs ( amazing considering all the food I ate ), and am excited to get riding again. I guess I have 2 questions for you guys that are experienced racers, etc.

1. *What amount of annual hours should I aim for?* Last season, I rode roughly 7-10 hours per week, but absolutely no specific training routines. It was made up of:

Mon: off
Tue: 1.5 Hard group ride
Wed: Hard crit - 40mins
Thur: 1.5 Hard group ride
Fri: off
Sat: off or sometimes easy spin
Sun: 75% of the time was a fairly hard, 2 hour group ride in the mountains.

Friel in the Bible mentions riders with less than 5 years of total riding should just ride, and I think if I recall correctly, no follow a structured plan. What do you guys think?

2. Traditional plan vs. low volume/high intensity ( Time Crunched Plan ). What do you guys suggest, if I do structure a training plan for this year, I should follow? I'm worried about burning out after 10 hours per week ( I experienced it twice last year ) while at the same time want to get the most improvements from the time I can train. 

Thanks for any help!!

John


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## pretender (Sep 18, 2007)

Why would you not ride on Saturday?


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## spiffomatic (Jan 28, 2010)

No coach here, but if you've put in 7-10 hour weeks last year, with some high intensity efforts, plus you now have a power meter and intend to achieve some goals at some races next year, you'd probably be well served by putting some more focus into your training. Was last year your first year of doing anything athletic? I'm guessing not. Maybe consider following the basic concept of base/build/peak/taper based on one of Friel's annual hour breakdowns that seems reasonable for your available time, or is a modest step up from what you did last year. Those are some of the most popular books out there and between all of them, you can probably assemble something that will move you towards your goals.

Maybe start at 450-500 hours if that seems like some reasonable weeks based on what you've done in the past. If not, 400 perhaps, but I wouldn't think it would make sense to do less based on what you did this past year... again, assuming it fits your schedule/lifestyle. If not, get those long rides in during base, and phase the hard stuff in later and it will probably work well. BTW, if you're doing those hard rides throughout the year, back 'em off in the winter and you'll probably be surprised in the spring/summer.

good luck!


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## petalpower (Aug 10, 2009)

pretender said:


> Why would you not ride on Saturday?


Mostly because after tue/wed/thur, I'd need 2 days to recover. At least that is how I felt. Some days I did easy rides, but now that I look back, those easy rides were actually too hard.


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## petalpower (Aug 10, 2009)

spiffomatic said:


> No coach here, but if you've put in 7-10 hour weeks last year, with some high intensity efforts, plus you now have a power meter and intend to achieve some goals at some races next year, you'd probably be well served by putting some more focus into your training. *Was last year your first year of doing anything athletic? * I'm guessing not. Maybe consider following the basic concept of base/build/peak/taper based on one of Friel's annual hour breakdowns that seems reasonable for your available time, or is a modest step up from what you did last year. Those are some of the most popular books out there and between all of them, you can probably assemble something that will move you towards your goals.
> 
> Maybe start at 450-500 hours if that seems like some reasonable weeks based on what you've done in the past. If not, 400 perhaps, but I wouldn't think it would make sense to do less based on what you did this past year... again, assuming it fits your schedule/lifestyle. If not, get those long rides in during base, and phase the hard stuff in later and it will probably work well. BTW, if you're doing those hard rides throughout the year, back 'em off in the winter and you'll probably be surprised in the spring/summer.
> 
> good luck!


Yes. I've never been much of an athlete. I have a typical endomorph body style. I've been able to get down to about 145lbs relatively easy, and according to my limited data from the power meter and WKO, I was pretty happy with my numbers.


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## alexp247365 (Dec 29, 2009)

Thomas Chapple's Base Building for Cyclist's. Thats What I'm aiming for right now while training for my second year of racing next season.


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## sdeeer (Aug 12, 2008)

petalpower said:


> Mostly because after tue/wed/thur, I'd need 2 days to recover. At least that is how I felt. Some days I did easy rides, but now that I look back, those easy rides were actually too hard.


My first season of real structured training was about 450 hours. And I followed my program pretty much as written. After the season I looked back and noticed where I should have taken more recovery or skipped a group ride that made me ride too hard when I should have rested. I added more quality rest, and improved a lot in subsequent years. A power meter should really help with leting you know in season if you need to rest.

A well designed training plan (like Friel's adapted to your schedule) should help you improve with 400 to 500 anual hours.

But make sure that you still plan for some of those group rides in your plan, because it sounds like you really enjoyed them. If you drop them altogether, you may get burnt out on solo training.


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## petalpower (Aug 10, 2009)

sdeeer said:


> My first season of real structured training was about 450 hours. And I followed my program pretty much as written. After the season I looked back and noticed where I should have taken more recovery or skipped a group ride that made me ride too hard when I should have rested. I added more quality rest, and improved a lot in subsequent years. A power meter should really help with leting you know in season if you need to rest.
> 
> A well designed training plan (like Friel's adapted to your schedule) should help you improve with 400 to 500 anual hours.
> 
> But make sure that you still plan for some of those group rides in your plan, because it sounds like you really enjoyed them. If you drop them altogether, you may get burnt out on solo training.


Yeah, I really do enjoy them because they are sort of like informal races, but among people you are familiar with along a route you know.

I've really enjoyed riding and improving with the people I ride with. Many are more experienced than I ( Cat 3's, Masters, even ex pro's ), and even though I'm not as fast as them yet ( I did win one crit this year beating a few Cat 3's and Masters, but it was a very technical track ), I enjoy training with them and trying to keep up. I went from getting dropped early and consistently to contesting the sprint at the end. It's fun!!

I think I might aim for 500 hours of training. I wish I had all my data from last year ( part was with a Garmin Edge 305, and the rest was with the power meter ), so finding out how much I actually rode ( both time and miles ) is difficult to figure out.


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## Speedi Pig (Apr 18, 2004)

If Friel's (or anyone else's book) works for you, great. I apply a lot of his principals to my training but not as much structure. While I think structure is good, I'm not sure an amateur cyclist needs to take it to that level. Why spend so much time planning out your season to the nth detail when getting sick, a race cancellation (common in my area), unexpected business trip/big project, etc. can derail it all.

Don't get me wrong, I do believe in targeting races. I also believe in planning easy days and easy weeks.

Biggest thing to remember is that training effect is the bodies ADAPTIVE response to stress. That means that you need to regularly change up your program to give your body something new to adapt to. If you just do the same group rides with the same people who attack at the same places week after week, you will get to a point where you stop getting better..

Good luck!!


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

I like Friel's book, although it would be nice if he had a nice summary chapter that just tells ya what to do without so many details. 

I've never used Carmichael's time crunched plans, I've had a few friends who briefly used it. They both agreed that there's some instant improvement, but they both plateaued. 

I used Friel's plan last year, but lost all structure after build 1 due to big bills and wedding planning. I'm basically using the same plan this year, just hoping my luck is a little better to be able to stick with it.


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## pretender (Sep 18, 2007)

petalpower said:


> Mostly because after tue/wed/thur, I'd need 2 days to recover. At least that is how I felt. Some days I did easy rides, but now that I look back, those easy rides were actually too hard.


If you're too tired to ride both days on the weekend, you're doing it wrong. That three day stack you were doing was obviously too much; essentially, you were racing three days in a row. I would replace one of those three days with something easier. The weekend group ride, excellent, but also add a moderate long ride to your weekend. (That assumes you're following a standard work-week schedule.) It's good to join in on the hammerhead rides, but I also think it's a good idea to find some guys who are disciplined enough to do moderate-intensity rides that don't degenerate into race simulation.

Read this post by Keith Wilson, who is Catharine Pendrel's husband and coach. It's aimed at mountain bikers, but I think the overall approach is spot-on:
http://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=7492506&postcount=87


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## petalpower (Aug 10, 2009)

Thanks guys for the help so far, it's been great.

I've gone back and calculated my hours of training (per the Bible - riding + weight training) and this is what I came up with. I'm kind of surprised at the numbers - I thought they would've been higher:

Cycling time from 10/18/2009-10/18/2010 - 226hours
Weight training time from 10/18/2009-10/18/2010 - 104hours
Running time from 10/18/2009-10/18/2010 - 20hours

Total training time 10/18/2009-10/18/2010 - 350hours

Now, Friel mentions not increasing your total annual training time by more than 15%. By following his suggestion, that would bring me to 402.5hours.

Going back on last year, I really didn't do *any* structured training plans/workouts. It was mainly group rides, crits, and solo rides ( recovery rides were probably 50% of my solo rides). 

Friel mentions, just as a base line foe cat5 racers, annual hours of 200-350 annual hours of training. Now, I'm not sure if I should go by my last years hours, and increase by 15%, or use his baseline this year since I assume the intensity will be greater, as well as more structured.

What do you guys think?

Thanks!!


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## Hank Stamper (Sep 9, 2009)

Perhaps you left out some details but it sounds like you are taking too broad a view by looking at the entire year as one period when it's really just the sum of many periods. You need to adjust your training through out the year and plan the peaks and valleys around what's important to you and what isn't.

In other words......
1. I wouldn't worry about an annual hours goal. Do what's best every week and whatever they add up to at the end of the year is kind of incidental. At some point you might find you sprint is what really needs work but if you need to log hours you can't address that properly. By the same token you may find your endurance really needs work but that'll take more hours.
2. See 1. If your going to plan the entire year by how many hours you ride the choice is made for you.


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