Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)
  • Training Plans – who has one and sticks to it?
  • Jase
    Free Member

    Starting a training plan next week (based on the Joe Friel Training Bible), what are the chances of me sticking to it come xmas?

    Anyone else use one religiously and got any tips for sticking to it?

    anotherdeadhero
    Free Member

    Make it realistic. My 'training plan' is 'lay off the cake a bit and go for a few long road rides' – it works pretty well.

    BigDummy
    Free Member

    I sometimes have a plan, but it never survives contact with reality.

    For me the important thinkg is really to commit myself to meeting up with other people so it's harder to make excuses for not doing what I'm trying to do. 🙂

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    jedi
    Full Member

    anotherdeadhero – Member

    Make it realistic.

    awesome advice right there

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    Mine is similar to ADH 🙂 – Training for the 'puffer.

    stop smoking ( a bit late after decades 🙂 )
    Ride more miles than usual.
    Ride a bit faster than usual some rides
    Eat less pies
    Ride in foul weather for mental toughness
    Gear the bikes down to really really low gearing.

    I'm a trained athlete me

    samuri
    Free Member

    I set myself a 100 mile a week regime at the start of this year, seem to be pretty close to doing that by the end of the year. Makes me get out when I'm not always 100% enthusiastic.

    crazy-legs
    Full Member

    got any tips for sticking to it?

    Keep a diary. It's THE most basic bit of training without which you may as well not bother yet it's amazing how many people don't keep a record of what they've done.

    When I was training and racing seriously I just used a cheap week-to-view A5 thing from WHS and filled in each day in different colours for road/MTB/races etc with a running weekly tally of miles. Could look back and see at a glance race results and what I'd done in the build up to each race.

    There's all sorts of software you can get now that hooks up to heart rate monitors, GPS etc and gives you Excel charts and pretty graphs but that was far too high tech for me.

    kingkongsfinger
    Free Member

    I have a 17 week plan, it started at the beginning of November ending with a week in Lanzagrote (not resting but nailing it on the road bike everywhere) and then road race season starts.

    If you think of it ALL TOGETHER like that your head will fall off.

    Break it down into sections.

    This is very general but mines broken down into section's where you will build (train) for three weeks and then have an adapt (rest) week.

    Rest means still ride the bike a bit 6-8 hrs but very steady.

    The build weeks get grimmer as the plan moves into section 2,3,4,5 etc.

    Basically building you up steady but built into the plan "adapt" weeks to get fitter.

    If you have a month of rides broken down on a large piece of paper hung up somewhere it’s an incentive to tick the rides off once you have done them and look back at it. Quite satisfying in a sadistic way.

    If you realise it will be unpleasant and it will hurt and you have cracked it 😀

    bigdonx
    Free Member

    +1 on keeping a diary/log of what you've done. It is almost impossible to stick to a plan to the letter due to having to have a life too. If you don't keep a log of what you have really done, you "imagine" you've done much more than you actually have, making it easier to justify skipping even more sessions.

    It's a vicious circle………

    ianpv
    Free Member

    What are you training for? I find it much easier to train when I've got a target/s event/s. Without having that, I'd never stick to anything. Like ADH says, be realistic, and like crazylegs says, keep a diary. I use sporttracks – it is free – in conjunction with a GPS and have logged every ride in the last year. Which is fun in itself if you have a geeky streak like me.

    I don't have a rigid plan but have a couple of sessions I like to do every week on my own, which vary according to the time of year. When riding with other people I just go with the flow rather than ride to HR zones or whatever as that is dull, and this is a hobby and meant to be fun. I like to be pretty fit, but realistically I'll never be really good so I don't see the point of living like a monk.

    brakeswithface
    Full Member

    The best way to stick with training I've come across is to use a logging heart rate monitor and the training load plugin for sportstracks to monitor fitness and fatigue via TRIMP. Sounds complicated, but it's really simple – you get a number for each workout saying how hard it was, a number which shows how fatigued you should be based on recent training, and another number showing how fit you are based on recent training.

    http://gpsrunner.blogspot.com/2008/12/training-load-plug-in-for-sporttracks.html

    Watching your fitness go up over time is super motivating, and you can easily get an idea of when you should rest, and can see your fitness drop when you don't train.

    Cheapest way of getting a logging HRM is get a cheap non-encoded HRM from somewhere like decathlon or aldi, and the use the oregon scientific logger from Wiggle.

    AndyP
    Free Member

    Anyone else use one religiously and got any tips for sticking to it?
    if I set it myself, it's unrealistic and I never stick to it.
    The one I've been using for the last 18 months has been set, reviewed, amended etc by a qualified coach. I've stuck to it. Realism is the key, and being happy to not stick with it if you're feeeling less than 100%. Just re-assess, re-set goals and carry on.

    beej
    Full Member

    One of the best bits of advice in the Joe Friel book – if you miss a session, it's gone. Don't try and catch up. Also, things will happen that mean you miss bits – injury, illness, life in general. Don't beat yourself up over it.

    I've followed a Joe Friel style plan for the past 4 years, and probably done 90% of the workouts.

    Make sure that you have a target race to peak for, as this acts as a great motivator.
    On a rest week, rest. Do less. Don't worry about it. You'll find that at the start of your next training week you'll feel brilliant.
    On a rest day, rest. Properly.
    Use a diary, on line log, something or other to record the plan and log what you do. I used Polarpersonaltrainer.com for three years. I now pay for Training Peaks ($119 a year), as it supports my garmin edge as well. Plus it's got loads more features than the polar one (which is free, and perfectly good).

    EDIT – reading post above has reminded me of another thing – don't be afraid to adapt the plan as you go along. I used to do a 22 week plan in one go! I now tend to work in 4 week blocks, with a vague overall idea but I adapt the plan depending on how things are going.

    The Chris Hoy book has another good tip – your plan has got to excite you. Last year I had my first big road sportive (119 miles), so I was excited about the target and did lots of pre-work rides, which were tough but satisfying. I'm struggling with that at the moment, so my plan for next year is going to have a lot more events and races as part of the training.

    MikeWW
    Free Member

    I set mileage goals by month for the year at start of July(varied between 540 miles and 480 miles a month) and logged all mileage against these since then (together with time riding etc etc). Has proved really effective
    Just starting to think about next year a bit in line with previous poster and specifically which event I'd like to do best in.
    My lad has just started to get some coaching and they are developing a year plan with foundation,preparation, specialisation phases which are then split into 4weekly cycles. Really important that it is all goal orientated

    didnothingfatal
    Free Member

    Assorted training plans, running and cycling, I collect the numbers, so Garmin 405 with HRM and cadence sensors on the bikes.
    I like the advice in the Lance Armstrong book, want to train for hills spend a four week block on hill work not doing the regular one session a week in a mix package of ride types. When you go for a sunday morning 'ride' you'll soon find motivation for sticking with training as you will ride faster without feeling so rough.

    crazy-legs
    Full Member

    The other thing I'd say is to mix it up. I know everyone at this time of year bangs on about long steady mileage, "getting the miles in" etc but I hate stuff like that where I'm doing one long ride after another.

    Do some cross races, go climbing/swimming/running, do a few winter series crit races, work on technical skills, anything to break up the routine a bit. And the skills one is vital – so many people go all out on HR, mileage etc without even a glance at the skills factor. Go on a Skills Day, it's great for meeting new people, learning new stuff and generally doing something a bit different.

    Jase
    Free Member

    Thanks for all the responses, some good ideas.

    I already use Cyclogs to log every ride which as you say can be really motivating.

    First event I’m aiming for is the Chiltern 100 (road) in May.

    More worried about keeping up with the midweek sessions in the depths of winter when its so easy to grab a coffee and sit on the Sofa with the dog!

    didnothingfatal
    Free Member

    The midweek sessions are the killer, I normally have a sports drink a couple of hours before I get home from the office then go out immediately. Have dinner when I get home, or a recovery drink and then a home made smoothie. Never feel like eating after training.

    If you sit down and turn the tv on, game over 😕

Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)

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