[Closed] How's your winter training going?

Not the best, not the worst. MAn flu last week scuppered me a bit, meaning this week has been quite 'light'.

Still doing my best and with 1 more ride before Llandegla on Sat I hope to be on good form

Been working on my upper body this winter, starting with some cake reps and pie steps.

Dunno about maintaining Z2 power but I'm feeling great on the bike at the moment, and still loving every minute of it.

Its always harder in the dark though, I always back off doing intervals. But somethings working right.

I take it your 550 miles were done on a mountain bike?

Usually start going to the gym about now but still getting the miles in so haven't bothered.

Bloody awful here. Persistent sore throat. Sick kids leading to no sleep. November has a total training write off. Things starting to improve over the last week. Winter training starts now!

Don't use any plan or monitoring so I guess it's not proper training 🙁
But am happy to now be able to consistently get my 20 mile extended commute done in under the hour, not a big deal by most standards but a small landmark for me 🙂

I lost my mojo for cycling big time at the end of summer. Have been running for the past month or so, and slowly building up the milage. Also spend an evening a week at the indoor climbing center.

Going to start throwing in some turbo sessions, then gym work for skiing in Feb.

I'm on fire thanks

My refusal to acknowledge winter is working

OP; have a break, you sound like you need it

did 20 miles xc run on Thursday which was my longest, so that's about where I want to be right now. but the hard work, looking at the calender, is still to come. and worse of all, stuck in working, and the sky is blue...

Actually rather good, I took pretty much a month and a half off in Sept/Oct after feeling ruined/ill. Came back and was amazed how far I'd let my self slide (combination of illness and the time off, I'd been fooling myself into believing I had the power to race but I was dead on my feet) been building up slowly again mainly on the fixie and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I managed to get around Kirroughtree on Monday. 640 miles in Nov for 38hours.

I think 10 hours a week at this time of year is more than enough if you work full time/have kids etc. maybe try sowing down?

I keep hurting myself running, but managed 50hrs combined swim, bike run in novemeber, will HTFU over decemeber and get back up to speed

Not bad,better than last year!

had a week off due to illness, but getting back on tonight. doing CX specific stuff till christmas, and got 5th place in a CX race two weeks ago.

then after Christmas 12 weeks of TT training, 7 sessions a week (inc. 2 recovery sessions) so I hit the ground in good shape come the first TT at the end of may

Pretty rubbish! Powertap died just when I was going to start using it for structured training again! Bimbling to and from work, but can't motivate myself to do much else! Longest ride in November was 2.5 hours 😳

My winter training isn't actual training, just trying to ride to work every day and get out at the weekends on the MTB.

Fitness wise is good, no power at all at the moment due to plodding everywhere, but that can come late winter/early spring.

Apparently i've forgotten how to ride an MTB though.

Terrible - November was <100 miles!

The turbo will be coming out next week...

I suspect I'll mtfu but a 4am -2c 2.5hr ride (xmas party tonight) after a 6pm 2.5hr ride yesterday does take it's toll.

Previously I've always fitted bike around life. Now I'm being more rigid with sessions it's a bit of a shock.

v poor. A run of lots of work (good) has meant work late every evening. Couple of rides each weekend though, and I intend to get some long weekday ev rides in soonish too.

Don't ask.

I don't train I just ride my bike for enjoyment, which is going fairly well as I clocked up my longest road ride yesterday of 80 miles. Will probably do a nice 35 tomorrow morning for my Bday ride before over indulging.

Just keeping fitness topped up ,in case I want to start training 🙂

How's your winter training going thestabiliser? 🙂

November was good, 56 hours & 850miles. Mostly just long z2 rides but a week in gran canaria helped up my hours, mostly going slowly uphill being overgeared. No motivation for turbo so been training in the dark which I actually really like as the number of intervals goes past quicker for some reason.

new job so cycle commute miles are waaaay down.
trying to compensate with some core work in the Gym (we have one in the cellar at work). ill be lucky if I manage to limit my fitness losses over winter 🙁

It's only just the start of December, so no need to rush things. Just tick over keeping generally fit and avoiding getting ill too often. I'll consider starting to pick it up nearer to the end of December, start of January. Unless your season goals are very early no need to rush things.

I just ride my bike when I fancy. No need for any training. Same as I don't train for walking the dog or mowing the lawn etc... It's all about fun for me. Smiles not miles!

After doing a bit of research, I've decided to do a lot of strength & core work and some HIIT and threshold work over winter, then getting my longer stuff in the new year. Turn it on its head 8)

After the best seasons racing I've ever had with a string of podiums and a series title/ jersey........I've realised I much prefer riding bikes for fun ( especially my rigid ss) so am having the winter off to dedicate to becoming fat and slow again.

[i]I just ride my bike when I fancy. No need for any training. Same as I don't train for walking the dog or mowing the lawn etc... It's all about fun for me. Smiles not miles! [/i]

Why did you bother posting on a 'hows your winter training going?' thread?

Gonna get on it, smash it, eye of the tiger, feel the burn, max the power. Next week. Pretty much CBA at the minute as am restricted to a blast round the lanes after the sprogs are in bed. Got the turbo out a couple of times and done a couple of bricks but no consistency. Going to enter an early season sprint tri to try and get the juices flowing a bit. Bit like most others on here really - but lower mileage.

I'm up to 5 pints on a night out without feeling too bad the next day.

With a gradual increase each week, by Christmas I should be able to do 8 pints followed by a couple of whiskys! 🙂

I just ride my bike when I fancy. No need for any training. Same as I don't train for walking the dog or mowing the lawn etc... It's all about fun for me. Smiles not miles!

For me there's a direct correlation between how fit I am and how much fun I have. Ergo training = fun. Or... more accurately, more riding = more fun, as I'm not really 'training' per se!

Finished the CX season last week.

I now have 3 weeks unstructured training, so that's a couple of running sessions and couple of steady state rides a week to refresh the body and mind before I'm back on the rollers when the training plan kicks in after Christmas.

I've had my entry to the TransContinental accepted this week so trying to just increase miles. Which means no turbo and LOTS of riding around in the dark.

Bit of a bugger when I'm trying to fit it in with Christmas and all the drinking, but needs must...

Absolutely no motivation to ride at the moment. Almost tempted to try this running lark and see if that makes a difference.

6 weeks off (the consultant suggested 3 months might be better - I suspect I might give it 4 weeks before trying something gentle) after a hernia op here.

Really good. Increased gravy consumption and my sprout eating has really improved. Reckon I'm on for a record three helpings of Christmas dinner if I keep this up. BEEF CAKE!!!

Cycling not so good. Turbo Trainer purchased and collecting dust.

winter what?
Been commuting as per, so getting a half decent mileage in, night rides have been a bit patchy and weekend rides are frankly none existent at the moment. House/decorating project has probably scuppered serious riding opportunities til new year.

So ok quantity but quality is lacking

I'm struggling to know what sort of training to do to be honest.

All the research I've done is for racing snakes on road bikes/endurance stuff, i'm after the type of training for going faster for DH.

Most of my runs are showing 90% MHR+ so I cant see how something like zone 2 training for endurance would help. Or am i wrong?

I'm starting to think HIIT is the way to go along with my full body weight training/compound lifts, squats, deadlifts etc..

So far so good...plenty of 4hr z1/2 rides, bit of tempo during the week, looking forward to threshold after xmas.

Most of my runs are showing 90% MHR+ so I cant see how something like zone 2 training for endurance would help. Or am i wrong?

november started crap but finished better. Turbo took a bit longer to set up - new bike won;t fit - old bike isn't complete - GFs old mtb took a bit of setting up (couple of half finished sessions from weird pains etc).

back on trainer road now- lowest FTP ever! hoping that a bit of that might be the difference between bikes! (wishful i think)

commuter has gone fixed - which might mean better training or might mean slower average speeds....

My birthday in mid november provided quite good training for the Cx spectating - belgian style 😕

flange

I've had my entry to the TransContinental accepted this week

Nice one!! Would love to do it, asked the Mrs if I could disappear for a week to do the Highland Trail 550 but was told no way 🙁

Good luck, you should link back here with your tracker thingy!

[quote=philwarren11 ]Most of my runs are showing 90% MHR+ so I cant see how something like zone 2 training for endurance would help. Or am i wrong?
I'm starting to think HIIT is the way to go along with my full body weight training/compound lifts, squats, deadlifts etc..

It will help as base, so useful to do some, but shouldn't be such a big part of your training. No point in spending hours out riding if that is your aim. You have the right idea for what the most important stuff is - though mix it up with some longer intervals.

Most of my runs are showing 90% MHR+ so I cant see how something like zone 2 training for endurance would help. Or am i wrong?

Little bit wrong, if you improve your base you'll not only recover faster between runs but have a bigger foundation to build on if you start doing sprint session which will = moar power! Don't underestimate how much easier it is to ride faster DH when fitter. I used to ride DH every weekend but with no phys, had more kids and couldn't really do it anymore so turned to XC/road, I'm not riding as much DH but I'm way fitter and as a result much faster! Don't forget when racing you've got to recover from Saturday practice, a bigger base will make this waaaay easier!

For me there's a direct correlation between how fit I am and how much fun I have. Ergo training = fun. Or... more accurately, more riding = more fun, as I'm not really 'training' per se!

This is very true. Getting back from illness I've been about 50 watts down on power and a few pounds heavier than I should be. It's coming back slowly but riding (especially climbing) is a lot less fun when you're not fit 🙁