# Miles per week?



## Alkan (Jun 30, 2011)

I've decided I'm going to start a new training regimen to get in really good shape. And I mean top shape that I have time and energy for.

I'm just starting out and I'm not in that great of shape, which means that I won't be able to benefit from as many miles as I would when I am in better shape. But I want to start out at a high intensity for my physical condition.

I want some help developing stages of training. There is plenty of hillwork to be done around here. I have Mt. Lemmon, for one, and some hilly terrain all around.

I know I need to simply be on the bike longer and go at pretty brisk paces, but I'm not quite sure about what I'm doing exactly.


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## JustTooBig (Aug 11, 2005)

as a beginner, you may be best served to simply concentrate on spending more TIME in the saddle. Mileage is relative, increasing the time you spend on the bike is the easiest way to begin seeing progress. If your longest ride is 2 hrs, can you stretch that to 2.5 or 3 hrs? Only you can judge what "scale" to start on. It's possible that right now, a 1-hr ride is all you can manage. But for now, simply concentrating on increasing that time will serve you well. 

Proper nutrition, rest and recovery will help also.


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## hobgoblin (Jun 26, 2009)

Don't worry about miles at this point. Instead, mix up your workouts with some super intense stuff (the hill repeats) and some really easy recovery rides. If you try to make every ride a big miles powerfest, you might end up at a very long plateau.


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## Alkan (Jun 30, 2011)

My longest continuous ride was most of the way up Mount Lemmon, about 20 miles out of 26 almost completely uphill miles. They were slow miles, but I didn't stop. I have a 5 mile daily commute to school and back (10 miles total) which I cannot bring myself to do slowly. Likewise I show up to class sweaty.

I'm looking to train much like I trained running. Start out "easy" but with some high intensity to increase my speed at a certain aerobic level.

I'm just wondering what a reasonable amount of miles, hill repeats (or according to you, time) per week is at this level that will bring me the proper balance between training and recovery.

Here's my plan:

Day 1: Long Distance ride
Day 2: Hill repeats
Day 3: Easier distance ride (mild cardiovascular recovery from repeats)
Day 4: Hill repeats/sprints/interval training
Day 5: easier distance ride
Day 6: Mid distance ride
Day 7: recovery

There will be some variance, and I want to vary the pattern from month to month to 

I also need to figure out how to factor in biking to and from school, since I can't help myself in going fast every time I do it, which may not benefit me when trying to mix that with other exercise.


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## new2rd (Aug 8, 2010)

Don't over complicate this stuff. It's easy to read all these training plans and interval work, but most of those training plans are for experienced riders that race. Even if racing is a goal, there's no need to get crazy with a schedule. Pick how many days (6 seems like too much) then pick duration and go from there. I won't ride more than 4 days in a row and I try to get a rest day after 3 consecutive riding days. I will also only ride 5 days a week. 
What I've heard (from a pro rider) and from the data that I've seen (pro riders that use Strava), most of their rides are extremely easy (like average HR in the 115-125 range), but they will last 3-5 hrs. I'm working on 2 hard rides a week (one on hills and the other one fairly flat) with the remaing 3 rides being low intensity. Low intensity is not fun and it really sucks when going against a strong wind because you get no where. 
The advice that I recieved was to keep out of the middle ground and work on low intensity duration rides or ride very hard. Also the #1 recommendation that I got was to be consistent with training (days per week wise). Good luck. I'm sure the more experienced riders will chime in.


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## 88 rex (Mar 18, 2008)

I don't pay attention to weekly milage anymore, but weekly hours on the bike. I also switch a lot between, MTB, road, and CX bikes, so milage really varies. Time is always constant. A solid 10 hour week is a good week regardless of miles.


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## new2rd (Aug 8, 2010)

I started doing this also, but I'll take 8 1/2-9 hrs. I should get 10 once daylight savings time kicks in.


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## Alkan (Jun 30, 2011)

Okay, so a good workout is divided into hours.

But I still need to make routes that are adequate lengths. I also will get in better shape and want to know when I will effectively start kicking in the more intense types of workouts. I want to get in shape as quickly as possible. I know that you can't just throw a bunch of effort at it and expect the best results, but I want it to go as quickly as possible because it is a slow process.


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## wolfmanjack (Feb 25, 2012)

I use my bike for commuting around town to college and back but one of the little tricks that I use for my work out on my bicycle is to take different routes to the same place. I use my computer on my bicycle to keep track of my miles that I go, and some of the routes are more intensive uphill routes that require more time. I think that its a simple trick to take a different route every day.


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## Alkan (Jun 30, 2011)

Despite the fact that there are bike lanes all over Tucson, most of them are either utter garbage, are dangerous or both.

The one I go down has a smooth 8 foot wide bike lane. The rest of the possible detours are terrible for the bike and mostly dangerous for me.


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## thegr8bambino (Feb 23, 2012)

A good way to put some more miles on is with an indoor trainer. I usually will ride for 15-20 minutes before each ride and after each ride for a warm-up & cool down. It is a great way to spend more time in the saddle and helps add to that mileage total your concerned about.


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## Alkan (Jun 30, 2011)

I can't afford an indoor trainer. lol.

Anyways, I just did a 12 mile ride, but it had lots of short hills that I powered my way up. I estimate a 5-7% grade on a couple parts of the route. I made sure to get myself in a nice amount of pain on each climb, followed by a period of rest. In otherwords, I went all out on each hill. When I let off, I didn't always just let off all the way either. I just kept going but at a lower intensity.

It is mostly net uphill, but it might a good weekly ride similar in intensity to a hard run. I need intensity at the moment.

It wasn't too bad, but I would be very surprised if this type of training didn't benefit me. As time goes on, I can increase the amount of distance I go in these hills in the north part of town near the base of Mount Lemmon and increase the number of climbs I do for my intense days.

It's also nice getting out of the ugliness of the main part of Tucson. There is a lot of good riding to be done around here, and conditions are perfect for any kind of workout at any fitness level.


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## 95zpro (Mar 28, 2010)

hobgoblin said:


> Don't worry about miles at this point. Instead, mix up your workouts with some super intense stuff (the hill repeats) and some really easy recovery rides. If you try to make every ride a big miles powerfest, you might end up at a very long plateau.


I agree, in my opinion do not worry about mileage so much as time on the bike and making sure that the time you are spending on the bike is productive. :thumbsup:


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## iheartbenben (Mar 18, 2011)

Alkan...you look like a soon to be ex-runner. You talk like a runner. You sound like a runner.

In a few years, you will be a beast on the bike. You will hate running.

You will think, "I was really over thinking everything", in 2015, with your power meters and interval charts covered in GU Chocolate. That chocolate really is outrageous.

Be patient in your training or suffer the set backs of injury. You should know this already.


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## Alkan (Jun 30, 2011)

iheartbenben said:


> Alkan...you look like a soon to be ex-runner. You talk like a runner. You sound like a runner.
> 
> In a few years, you will be a beast on the bike. You will hate running.
> 
> ...


I know. I have experienced the ills of overtraining.

I'm speaking of training as quickly as possible in the context of training correctly. I'm just going to train biking right now a lot like I trained running when it was working well and I wasn't getting injured. That is I will have a nice and balanced combination of short high intensity rides, long low intensity relaxing rides that improves the ability to be moving on the bike for a long period of time and recovery periods.

The great thing about biking is that it doesn't cause as much injury as running.

Hell, I went on a four mile run earlier this week and it screwed up my ankles all this week because my shoes are getting old. I could barely walk for a few days without excruciating pain. The only type cardiovascular exercise I could do was biking. And that's what I did.

I definitely prefer biking to running. I think it would be a stretch to say that I'll hate running. I mean, it's like saying you'll hate biking when you start driving. Sure, running is slower, but the movement of running will still always give me that more free animalistic feeling.

As far as overtraining goes, I have a good intuition about what is too much. Like, sure, my ride was only 12 miles. But it was an intense ride. I would be really surprised if I don't notice a change in a couple weeks of doing rides like that. If it goes anything like running did, when I was starting out I would actually notice a difference after my body was finished recovering after only a couple of workouts and a full recovery period.

There are random fluctuations in the abilities on any given day, which partially account for it. But I would know that it was an actual improvement by how I would keep improving.


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## iheartbenben (Mar 18, 2011)

Alkan said:


> I know. I have experienced the ills of overtraining.
> 
> I'm speaking of training as quickly as possible in the context of training correctly. I'm just going to train biking right now a lot like I trained running when it was working well and I wasn't getting injured. That is I will have a nice and balanced combination of short high intensity rides, long low intensity relaxing rides that improves the ability to be moving on the bike for a long period of time and recovery periods.
> 
> ...


If I were you I would be actively finding a group ride that I like, and commence the pain game at least once a week with them. It will keep you motivated, prevent burning out on intense training, and be one hell of a work out. These riders you meet will build you into your cycling future, keep your ears open and mouth closed mostly for a month or two. Be a polite sponge.

Enjoy cycling dude, I like your motivation.


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## Alkan (Jun 30, 2011)

iheartbenben said:


> If I were you I would be actively finding a group ride that I like, and commence the pain game at least once a week with them. It will keep you motivated, prevent burning out on intense training, and be one hell of a work out. These riders you meet will build you into your cycling future, keep your ears open and mouth closed mostly for a month or two. Be a polite sponge.
> 
> Enjoy cycling dude, I like your motivation.


Lol. Thanks.

I think I did do myself in yesterday, because I've been drowsy all day today, which isn't a usual occurrence for me. That could be from a number of things though, since my diet has been lacking in nutrition due to my lack of money and I didn't do sleep well this weekend.

I'll get into group rides when I'm sure that I've got my schooling under control because I've been having issues with distractibility. There are groups around here, but I'm not sure which cost money and how much. But I do look forward to getting involved with some people in the cycling community around here, which is a pretty good one.


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## iheartbenben (Mar 18, 2011)

Alkan said:


> Lol. Thanks.
> 
> I think I did do myself in yesterday, because I've been drowsy all day today, which isn't a usual occurrence for me. That could be from a number of things though, since my diet has been lacking in nutrition due to my lack of money and I didn't do sleep well this weekend.
> 
> I'll get into group rides when I'm sure that I've got my schooling under control because I've been having issues with distractibility. There are groups around here, but I'm not sure which cost money and how much. But I do look forward to getting involved with some people in the cycling community around here, which is a pretty good one.


If they cost money, don't go. I'd still say go ASAP. You're missing out on the real magic of riding; pace line and group riding.

Don't let your studies get in the way, especially on a Saturday or Sunday morning when I know you're sleeping in.


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## Alkan (Jun 30, 2011)

iheartbenben said:


> If they cost money, don't go. I'd still say go ASAP. You're missing out on the real magic of riding; pace line and group riding.
> 
> Don't let your studies get in the way, especially on a Saturday or Sunday morning when I know you're sleeping in.


Funny enough, my roommate said that I should go on the ride with them on Wednesday with the cycling team here since he's going.

Too bad that is smack in the middle of my lab... 

I'll ask him how it goes. I do want to ride in a group.


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## Akez (Aug 13, 2011)

Alkan said:


> My longest continuous ride was most of the way up Mount Lemmon, about 20 miles out of 26 almost completely uphill miles. They were slow miles, but I didn't stop. I have a 5 mile daily commute to school and back (10 miles total) which I cannot bring myself to do slowly. Likewise I show up to class sweaty.
> 
> I'm looking to train much like I trained running. Start out "easy" but with some high intensity to increase my speed at a certain aerobic level.
> 
> ...



You should try this:

Mon: Rest Recovery
Tues: Intervals
Wed: Steady endurance ride
Thursday: intervals
Friday: rest recovery
Saturday: big miles tempo
Sunday: big miles tempo


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## mushroomking (Sep 26, 2008)

I have a similar schedule to you and a 5mile commute each way to work. I do two group rides per week, but that will grow to 3 or 4 once daylight savings hits. Saturday or Sunday is my distance ride depending on how my schedule goes, Monday is a 25 mile fast flat group ride with 2 sometimes 3 sprint points, and Wednesday is a dense 30 mile hill ride of varying intensity. 

The rest of the days change from week to week because I always seem to have something to do.


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## Alkan (Jun 30, 2011)

Akez said:


> You should try this:
> 
> Mon: Rest Recovery
> Tues: Intervals
> ...


Sounds good, though I'll need to get in a little better shape for that type of regimen to be appropriate. Can't take too long to get there though.

And my effing vector calc class is getting in the way.


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## Akez (Aug 13, 2011)

Alkan said:


> Sounds good, though I'll need to get in a little better shape for that type of regimen to be appropriate. Can't take too long to get there though.
> 
> And my effing vector calc class is getting in the way.


You are a junior racer (U-19)? Shoot me a PM. I am too.


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