How do you find the time to train?

I come from a relatively high level running background, which entailed 6 running sessions a week and some core work. So all in all say an average of 1 hour a day. Business trips, no problem, just pack some kit and bang out a session from the hotel. Family commitments in the evening, no problem do a session at lunch.

How do you train to be a competitive cyclist and work and/or manage a family? Long session on Sunday 4-6 hours, half that on a Saturday and the same again on the club run Tuesday and Thursday. Say 12 hours if everything works out OK.

How much time do you need to actually make it? Surely only an option for students/unemployed/living with parents/any combination of.

Just interested in people experiences/stories.

12 hours? No need if you are training effectively.

I don't think most people do 12 hours a week. Assuming you are bringing a decent level of fitness from running then a couple of 90 minute hard rides midweek, two hard hours on a Saturday and 3 hours on Sunday is fine for most people's needs. If you are planning to race Enduros then you might need a longer ride at the weekend, but then you could knock one of the midweek rides on the head. I average about 5 hours a week and get by fine…sure I would be better if I did more, but like you say work and family need time and attention too!

peaked at 12 hours a week for a 24hr solo.

a longer ride at the weekend, a medium ride in the week an interval session with a mix of commuting, 1hr gym sessions, weights at home, yoga/ pilates classes (1hr), swimming before work/ lunch/ after work.

not all in the same week obviously. adaptability is the key. when it's a busy week drop something longer and fit in some shorter 1 hr sessions. making sure you get in at least one ride.

used to do all the miles god gave time for – about 20-30 hours a week riding as a student. Was hit or miss in events – one week id be on fire the next week id be shit

got a real job last year – commute to work and do 2 rides other than that a week , as well as 1 swim and 1 or 2 runs a week just for enjoyment

my results seem to have taken an upturn contrary to conventional belief.

Interesting responses, I'd assumed a 3-4 hour race time when I threw those figures together, rather than an hour and a lap cross race. What are expert level MTB races, 2.5 hours?

Clearly correct use of a turbo trainer with intervals can result in excellent sessions from 40-90 minutes, so two sessions there with the two hour blat on a Saturday and a little longer on a Sunday would be more doable time wise.

trail_rat – Member

used to do all the miles god gave time for – about 20-30 hours a week riding as a student. Was hit or miss in events – one week id be on fire the next week id be shit

Interesting, what was a "hit" result, top 10 in a National event?

Commuting. I've known people move to a house 15 miles or so from work so they could get a load of miles in – and tbh, the travel time is probably no worse than a lot of people do. Obviously if your work involves any travel it can be really disruptive.

There's also quite a few triathlon types that I swim with who are training for ironman around a full-time job – it pretty much demands doing two short sessions a day every weekday plus some longer stuff every weekend. If you've got a family too then it either means lots of riding in the dark or a very understanding spouse!

I'm not surprised at all about that trail rat

used to do all the miles god gave time for – about 20-30 hours a week riding as a student. Was hit or miss in events – one week id be on fire the next week id be shit

Probably seriously over-training if you were doing all that AND racing at the weekend.

I manage around 12 hours a week at the peak time of the season and it is all about fitting it around your family/work life. For example at the weekends in Spring and Summer I get up at 5am and then do 4 hours on the road or on the mountain bike so I am usually back when the children are having breakfast and then do the family duties for the rest of the day. I am quite lucky in that I have a lot of mornings free as I tend to work afternoons and evenings and so can go out for a few 2 hour rides and the days that I can't I'll do an hour or so night ride on my commute home.

It may sound horrible to some but I enjoy it and I also enjoy racing in the summer (of which I tend to do Enduros of around 100ks sometimes two a month)

I'm short on time, but I can just manage the following.
Sunday 3-4 hours, reasonable pace either road, cross or MTB. This is my key ride.
Tuesday night, a fast 2 hour session with a club.
Thursday & Saturday Turbos Using the Carmicheal crunch plan.
At 50 this just keeps me in there at cross and road. Plus I have over 35 years of racing and race knowledge under my belt.
It is also very important to stay injury free, in 2008 I injured my back which meant no racing until the 2009 cross season started.

Thank you Oldgit.

Commuting is a good call. I work with a guy who's gone sub 10hours at IronMan, and whilst not in quite that condition now, he commutes 20km each way and keeps the legs moving that way.

Hi,

I'm doing this at the moment. 3 weeks on and one week 6hrs recovery.

Mon – nothing.
Tues – 1hr endurance weights.
Wed – 2hrs turbo. Single leg efforts, spin ups, standing sprints, 5min intervals.
Thurs, Fri, Sat – 3hrs hilly road (c3500ft climbing per ride)
Sun – 4hrs hilly mtb

Total 16hrs – the absolute max I do all year in a week really.

This leaves me dead by the end of week 3, recovery week is 6hrs total v gentle riding. It's had a good effect so far, 1st in the Whyte Winter Series and 2nd in Brass Monkeys overall.

The biggest things I've done differently this year is ignore the weather and go out anyway, ride more hills and buy Davina – Super Body Workout. The Super Legs workout on this DVD is a beast!

I'm a teacher which helps – I can leave school at 4, ride, then work when I get home (planning and marking etc). If I started riding after 6 I think a 3hr ride would be too much – I'd be falling asleep.

Expert MTB races tend to be 2-2 and a bit hrs.

GB

Easy. Work part time.
Every job ive had since uni (5) i wait till they offer me the job and then ask if i can do 4 hrs a week. This happened again only 2 weeks ago.

I think 12-15hrs a week is manageable. no need for mare than that.

Per week or day?

Either way, few can afford that.

I think he means 4 days??

I think you've also missed the point slightly – it's not about finding the time to train. You have to make a decision that you are going to train and fit your life around it.

Looking for the time to do it will mean you won't do it – plan your week in advance and follow it through.

GB

Luckilly road races for my age are only about 40+ miles, so if I worry about getting miles in I just get good at riding a long way reasonably well. So now my rides are all reasonably short with warm ups and a work session.

During the summer it's a bit easier to grab an evening.

Looking for the time to do it will mean you won't do it – plan your week in advance and follow it through.

Nail/head.

I'm sort of training for triathlons a bit more at the moment, a bit bored with XC racing and fancy trying something different. Weeks as follows:

Monday: rest/core stuff
Tuesday: commute (1hr each way), short run
Wednesday: commute, swim session
Thursday: run interval session
Friday: commute
Saturday: 3-4hr ride, 1hr run
Sunday: Decent swim session

Seems to work, it because habitual after a while!

I meant to say I'm self employed, work six days a week, supportmy wife and two teenage kids.
Not only does my training keep me fit it also keeps me sane.

hit results were 7th at 10 @ kirroughtree on an SS , 4th in SXC series ,and 11th at mountainmayhem solo. flops were not finishing relentless 2 years in a row , dropping out of kirroughtree the following year , dropping out of moray , dropping out of SXC at aberfoyle . basically over training injurys and general boredom were killing me. Id spent all winter doing 8-12 hour days in the saddle touring nz in the belief that when i came back id be a rocket ! FAIL ! it seemed to be working in nz when i managed to come 12 mins down on marcus roy(nz wc rep) over 45k but the change from volume at low pace to intensity basically made all my tendons revolt.

changed my training big time , less volume more often and higher intensity. Things were looking up at relentless and i was going strong till 6am , my injurys were gone.

won my last 3 races including a 1st SS cat at strathpufffer – 4th over all solo. and winning local races on SS in the geared cat. broke the hour in a 25tt on my first attempt.

Im a huge advocate of turbotraining/rollers and spin classes now.

That's goog going trail_rat.
I've spent ages doing road races and the best I ever got was 6th place.
Trained and trained for 24 solo's only to find I get massive acid attacks at 12 hours, did 9 and got acid every time.
Did a 12 and didn't get off my bike.
XC and CX is spot on for me, though now I'm not doing the 24s I can work harder on the road.
Came 13th Vet out of 93 in my local CX league and 25th out of 240 overall on the reduced training I'm doing now. Looking to do a bit better in 2010 as I've had no accidents.
Only bummer is just discovering I have a slight heart defect.