Training Question

[durbanjacques]

Hi Hubbers, I recently decided it’s a good time to start riding again after about 10 years off. I am quite keen to do the 40Km Nissan Trailseeker MTB race in October and was wondering if anyone had some suggestions on how to train for it. I got my bike three weeks ago and now I am doing about 9Km a day with one day off and one day of 15Km a weekend. My question is the following:

 

Is cranking up the mileage on a weekly basis enough to get me fit, or are there other things that I can do to get me into shape?

[Enticement]

Hi Hubbers, I recently decided it’s a good time to start riding again after about 10 years off. I am quite keen to do the 40Km Nissan Trailseeker MTB race in October and was wondering if anyone had some suggestions on how to train for it. I got my bike three weeks ago and now I am doing about 9Km a day with one day off and one day of 15Km a weekend. My question is the following:

 

Is cranking up the mileage on a weekly basis enough to get me fit, or are there other things that I can do to get me into shape?

Try riding at least 3 times a week - 2x during the week (68-80 min) and a long one over weekend (90-120min) for 4 weeks, making sure you enjoy every minute of it. For the next 4 week period you must up your intensity by going a bit faster. Don't consider doing specific intervals right now. You can PM me for more info/advice.

[durbanjacques]

Try riding at least 3 times a week - 2x during the week (68-80 min) and a long one over weekend (90-120min) for 4 weeks, making sure you enjoy every minute of it. For the next 4 week period you must up your intensity by going a bit faster. Don't consider doing specific intervals right now. You can PM me for more info/advice.

Thanks for the response, I am doing 5x30min and 1x1hr per week at the moment, pretty much all on the road. I guess I need to start getting on a trail somewhere and do some longer rides if I want to be fit in time.

[The_Break]

Hi. This is a very easy question to answer.

 

All you need to do is base type training. I would not suggest you up your intensity at all from base type training, but rather up your mileage at a steady 10-20% per week to prevent overuse injuries so early on.

 

Base type training is done at about 50-70% of your max heart rate. Look online at how you can test this on the bike. This is the fastest way for you to get fit for your race right now. Don't fall into the trap of upping your intensity or doing interval type training, it is a poor way of you getting back into shape for at least the next 2-3 months.

 

Most of all, consistency is the key.

[Enticement]

Hi. This is a very easy question to answer.

 

All you need to do is base type training. I would not suggest you up your intensity at all from base type training, but rather up your mileage at a steady 10-20% per week to prevent overuse injuries so early on.

 

Base type training is done at about 50-70% of your max heart rate. Look online at how you can test this on the bike. This is the fastest way for you to get fit for your race right now. Don't fall into the trap of upping your intensity or doing interval type training, it is a poor way of you getting back into shape for at least the next 2-3 months.

 

Most of all, consistency is the key.

 

Excellent advice! Also remember that you start loosing training impact during recovery after each training session. At first try to get more training sessions rather than doing less but longer sessions. Rule of thumb: 3x/week = building fitness; 2x/week = maintaining condition.

[durbanjacques]

Thanks guys, I went out and bought a heart rate monitor during the weekend so that I can stay in the right zone and not overdo it. I will also start entering some shorter races just to get some race experience.

[RudoJ]

Hmmm ok I thought of startintg a brand new thread, but this will do.

 

So here goes. I have basically been out of action for 4 months. Long story short, tonsils were removed 31 July.

I think I'm ready to get my lazy ass into gear again.

 

So initinally my comeback would start like this: for the

 

first week, 4 x 30 min IDT sessions to get the legs going

2nd week same amount of sessions, bit more effort and 20km weekend ride

3rd week same amount of sessions, 30 km ride LSD

4th week 4x 45 minute sessions and 35km ride over weekend

 

I know I have various training plans and that awesome book by Joe Friel as well, but this is just to get me to some point from where I can start seriously building again.

 

Think it should work...

[Enticement]

Hmmm ok I thought of startintg a brand new thread, but this will do.

 

So here goes. I have basically been out of action for 4 months. Long story short, tonsils were removed 31 July.

I think I'm ready to get my lazy ass into gear again.

 

So initinally my comeback would start like this: for the

 

first week, 4 x 30 min IDT sessions to get the legs going

2nd week same amount of sessions, bit more effort and 20km weekend ride

3rd week same amount of sessions, 30 km ride LSD

4th week 4x 45 minute sessions and 35km ride over weekend

 

I know I have various training plans and that awesome book by Joe Friel as well, but this is just to get me to some point from where I can start seriously building again.

 

Think it should work...

 

A golden rule is to never increase your load with more than 10% of the previous week's. Make sure you have sufficient time to recover, especially in the beginning. Fitness is like a tan, the quicker you get it the quicker you loose it! Rather spend more time in the beginning with lower intensity but longer rides. The physiological reason is that you want to establish a proper logistical transport system for nutrients and oxygen in your body through developing your capillary system, and that takes about 3 months.

[RockCoach]

"Fitness is like a tan"

 

I quite like that analogy. Overtraining is a bit like getting sunburnt and peeling then. I only did that once... Eish.

[RockCoach]

Hmmm ok I thought of startintg a brand new thread, but this will do.

 

So here goes. I have basically been out of action for 4 months. Long story short, tonsils were removed 31 July.

I think I'm ready to get my lazy ass into gear again.

 

So initinally my comeback would start like this: for the

 

first week, 4 x 30 min IDT sessions to get the legs going

2nd week same amount of sessions, bit more effort and 20km weekend ride

3rd week same amount of sessions, 30 km ride LSD

4th week 4x 45 minute sessions and 35km ride over weekend

 

I know I have various training plans and that awesome book by Joe Friel as well, but this is just to get me to some point from where I can start seriously building again.

 

Think it should work...

 

Rudo, have you got a HRM to monitor your effort?

[RudoJ]

Enticement and Slick

Good advice, and yeah, got a HRM that will be put to good use. Im not going full guns blazing right from the start....as was said, will have yo ease into it. I know the zones I am supposed o train in, what would you suggest? 60 -70% for the first week or so?

 

Then when I'm ready, drop Slick a PM for a Spruit coachin session...havent forgotten about that,dude

[JGR]

Would be interesting if you could measure how much you 'lose' with a few weeks lay off for injury/work ect. Do you just jump backin where you left off or do you gradually build again?

[Robrider]

Would be interesting if you could measure how much you 'lose' with a few weeks lay off for injury/work ect. Do you just jump backin where you left off or do you gradually build again?

 

There's quite a lot of research done on this. Look on Joe Friel's blog and do a search, he has summarised it somewhere there. You will definitely start losing fitness straight away, but I think you lose the short duration power (high intensity) first and your base endurance takes longer to reduce.

[Robrider]

A golden rule is to never increase your load with more than 10% of the previous week's. Make sure you have sufficient time to recover, especially in the beginning. Fitness is like a tan, the quicker you get it the quicker you loose it! Rather spend more time in the beginning with lower intensity but longer rides. The physiological reason is that you want to establish a proper logistical transport system for nutrients and oxygen in your body through developing your capillary system, and that takes about 3 months.

 

I agree, but also think your previous levels of fitness would play a role in "the comeback" (sounds like a movie title). If your maximum training before was one 35km ride on the week end then building up to that in 4 weeks might be a bit quick. If, before your lay off, you have done epic training of 2 hours a day plus 5-6 hours on week ends, then building up to 35km is quite conservative.

[RockCoach]

Enticement and Slick

Good advice, and yeah, got a HRM that will be put to good use. Im not going full guns blazing right from the start....as was said, will have yo ease into it. I know the zones I am supposed o train in, what would you suggest? 60 -70% for the first week or so?

 

Then when I'm ready, drop Slick a PM for a Spruit coachin session...havent forgotten about that,dude

 

Around 60% of your riding should be at your 60% intensity in base building phase. but don't neglect your upper registers so do one hard short session per week: either intervals, a threshold ride or spinning class etc. 1 or 2 days of proper rest.

 

Leave medium pace is for those occasional social rides. One thing I learned from riding with pros is that us mere mortals cannot comprehend just how slowly they ride during base and just how hard they go during power sessions. That's what makes the difference. The bigger you build your base the higher your peak. Think of it as a pyramid scheme that works.

[Enticement]

Would be interesting if you could measure how much you 'lose' with a few weeks lay off for injury/work ect. Do you just jump backin where you left off or do you gradually build again?

 

Each muscle fiber has a nerve ending running to it and in a well conditioned muscle these nerve endings fire simultaneously. When you stop training, your initial "loss" pertains to losing sync between these nerve ending. Catching up again is relatively quick - just restore sync. Losing real conditioning is when your logistical transport system goes for a ball of chalk - after about 3 months your capillaries really start to deteriorate. The biggest problem of resuming training again is that your mind tells you that you can start where you have stopped, and then your mind starts with that process of cognitive dissonance.