About this time last year I attempted a monstrous training plan I’d drawn up to take me from the tail end of summer right through winter to spring this year, I of course failed spectacularly and after a few weeks was well off the plan and had pretty much sacked off the idea of “training” till about March this year…

Summer has been nice, I’ve gotten out on the bike more and have just been enjoying riding for the sake of it, a few longer days, some shorter rides, more solo rides (mostly evenings) and only a few with mates, mostly Road and “Gravel” the MTB has barely been touched lately TBH. the biggest issue is I’ve not been shifting any weight and my diet has not improved (or worsened TBF). While my general stamina is up on where it was six months ago, I’m a good couple of Kilo’s heavier and really I need to reduce my weight sooner rather than later.

So I’m thinking I need to start on a structured plan again covering both diet and activity, this time however I will only plan about two weeks at a time and keep it simpler just stating target ride per day (and rest days) and Target HR Zones for flat and climbing… I’ve been looking over various sites with examples and this actually seems to be the general level of “planning” most offer, I was trying to be more detailed and prescriptive before and I think that’s where the issues stated.

My other issue is what to eat on days where I ride Vs Rest days?

My main goal is to achieve steady, sustainable weight loss between now and spring and carry some fitness through, so I’m lugging less body mass about come next summer. Following on from other recent threads I’ve been reading more about Keto/fat adaptation and TBH I don’t think it’s quite for me, but I do want to reduce on unnecessary Carb intake. So I’m thinking I’ll maybe only allow myself (limited) stodgy carbs on alternate days perhaps, or is that a bad move? should I just have a baseline daily intake for Carbs/fat/protein and stick to that for general consistency? I’ll be using MFP to try and track my food intake day to day…

Is anyone else in the same boat at present?

Is attempting to actually lose weight through the winter months just a ridiculous goal?

Any other tips or suggestions?

What is the goal of the training? Racing?

I used to race time trials, and went through various training systems. I tried Polarised (AKA 80/20), TrainerRoad, Zwift and Xert.

Polarised is logical, but I got a bit bored of lots of very easy riding. In essense, you ought to be doing a lot of long hours at low intensity (nose breathing), then once a week (or more) an very hard workout.

TrainerRoad plans are excellent, I had a lot of sucess following this, but it’s inside – turbo training (TT training is a lot of turbo blagh!)

Zwift was a lot of fun, the crit racing in particular! Balls out!

Xert was the best of all. Very clever system. Very flexible. You’re “guided” but the clever software, not stuck in a structure. I won’t detail – you’d need to read up. Took me a while to get my head around, but it’s very logical, with definate lean towards polarised.

For me and my development, the best thing i did was buy a power meter – thouroughly recommend!

I stopped all that nonsense now, and just ride my MTB around the woods just for the fun of it!

<span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>I too get carried away with training plans, the only time I stuck to one was 3 years ago when I was already pretty fit and light.  Since kids they’ve all been a bit of a failure.  I’m going to start planning for Autumn and winter soon, the key this time is sustainable so something realistic I cam stick to, and if I want to add more great rather than miss loads of stuff, get disheartened and give up.</span>

I also think it’s best to pick one goal you are aiming for for a period (I work on 3 months) and then focus on that.  if you want to loose weight just work on that don’t worry about fitness focus on that next block.  I’m actually hardly riding at all at the moment but as my focus is weight loss I’ve dropped from 89kg in Jan to 78kg now.  racing weight is 72kg so a bit to go but happy.

‘Do you calorie count?  I’m a big fan of keeping it simple all these diets won’t work if you are consuming more calories than burning.  reduce portion size see if you can not eat any snacky stuff for a week, then fortnight etc.

I did fall off the wagon yesterday bought 4 of those cookie things from the supermarket and demolished the lot in about 10mins.  However I hadn’t eaten anything like that (bar the odd ice cream with the kids) in 3 months.

I stopped all that nonsense now, and just ride my MTB around the woods just for the fun of it!

Haha, pretty much me.

Op, be realistic with how much time you have to train. Easy to say you can get out for an hour or 2 everyday, less so in reality.

Is attempting to actually lose weight through the winter months just a ridiculous goal?

No, if anything I reckon there’s fewer distractions, less beers in the sun too!

I found the book Total Heart Rate Training (I think it was called) by Joe Friel really helpful. It’s more to help you write your own plans than follow any pre set agenda though.

I agree over-prescriptive plans are hard to follow. I’ve not bothered since having a kid since I’m just too tired all the time and it’s demoralising when you fail to complete workouts. Having said that, for quick wins they are the best imo, I’m noticeably slower than when I followed tr plans rigidly.

i’d palm ahead more than two weeks though as you want to be planning in recovery weeks so a three week on, one week easy monthly plan may make more sense. Nowadays I just keep when I need a rest week in mind and follow the basic tr weekly structure so for other weeks do: Monday rest; Tuesday hard; weds easy; thurs hard; fri rest or easy; sat hard; Sunday easy but with a bit of duration. Exactly what the rides are depends on the weather etc.

IANACoach, but since when did that stop anyone on STW having an opinion.

I’ve got 3 stone to lose is I want to get down to a racing weight (BMI 22 ish), probably not going to happen but that’s something to measure progress against.

I’ve started commuting by bike as often as possible, 25 miles each way.  Realistically this works out about 3x per week (150miles) by the time I’ve had to drive somewhere for work, or had other commitments, or today I’ve just sprained my wrist at Swinley last night. The weight is falling off rapidly as a result.

I read somewhere that with the exception of rides over 2 hours there isn’t any need to really alter your diet between rest days and riding days as 2 hours is the magic number for your muscles internal glycogen stores. So it’s not critical whether you eat particular foods on the day or the next, a good carb meal after a long ride is absorbed quickly but as long as you eat sensibly it’s not the be all and end all. Your fat reserves do a good job of balancing things out. As long as you meet whatever arbitrary weight loss targets at the end of the week don’t sweat it, and if you do miss them, then it’s time to start thinking more about it. I’ve got s spreadsheet with forecasted weight each week (although I’ve seen it done daily too), if I’m under it I relax a bit and have some chocolate and biscuits in the week, if I’m over then I have more salads.

Like you I’ve always struggled with a training ‘plan’, because frankly if I’m feeling good and the weather’s good I want to be out riding, not doing prescribed intervals on the rollers in front of the TV.  So I’ve promised myself the following:

1) Minimum of 3x commutes per week, this is easy because it’s 90-120min on the bike each way depending on bike choice or an hour in the car, the motorway is horrible so it only really takes an extra 45min or so each way and I avoid the two hours in the car I don’t like. If I miss that target I have to make it up with gym sessions (spinning, rowing, weights).

2) Sunday club runs as long as the weather isn’t utterly rubbish

3) Thursday night MTB rides, keeps me sane

Progression will simply be riding in the fastest club group I can, or swapping to the faster night ride on Tuesdays, or taking the long route home Via a lap of Swinley, or doing more commutes.

Obviously not everyone has as rubbish a car commute as me (25 miles on the M4), and people have kids etc so won’t want to lose extra time even if it is only 45min in the evening. But this is working for me so far.

When or if I hit 72kg then I’ll start worrying about intervals and proper training diet. Until then it’s just eating a bit more sensibly and riding the singlespeed, which is like doing intervals anyway!

I think you can have a training plan without having to be too specific, so it might be something like.

Tue – Gym weights 45 mins

Wed – Ride 1.5 hours

Thurs – Gym cardio 1 hour

Sun – Ride 3 hours

That way you have set yourself achievable goals that are not to complicated, that you won’t get disheartened with and therefore arew more likely to stick at it. Writing a plan can give you a target to just get out and do something, whereas if you plan nothing you will probably be more likely to do nothing.

If you stick to that for a few months maybe you will decide to be more specific, or maybe not.

I think if you pay Torqfitness and go and do their day at their place you’d get tested, then all your fitness & nutrition  answers and more via a professional coach then can walk away and decide which plan – Torq or non torq – to take.

There’s a lot of rights but also wrongs (based on what I’ve learned) up there ^^.  I don’t mean to be rude but your asking a lot of internet strangers who are using words like “might”, “may”, “I think” and are not subjective based on your personally.

I think you can have a training plan without having to be too specific, so it might be something like.

Tue – Gym weights 45 mins

Wed – Ride 1.5 hours

Thurs – Gym cardio 1 hour

Sun – Ride 3 hours

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>The problem I had with even a simple plan was inevitably the weather would be good on Tuesday and I’d feel good and be sat there looking forward to Wednesdays ride.  </span><span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>Wednesday would</span><span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”> come </span><span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>around</span><span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”> and it would be pissing it down so I’d end up not riding at all.</span>

Without a prescribed plan (just “I will ride 3x per week”) this week I rode Monday, Tuesday (plus a lap of Swinley blue), sprained my wrist when my hand slipped on the grip mid corner (hyperextension) so didn’t ride today and have commitments later this evening anyway, and I can get my third in on Friday. If I’d said Mon/Wed/Fri I’d be a ride down (although I might not have sprained the wrist).

Firstly I’m intending to mostly stick to cycling, I’ve had a gym membership in the past, I don’t like gyms I enjoy cycling so that’s what I’ll do, maybe the odd run to mix it up, but I’d rather spend an hour on a Turbo at home than pay to spend an hour in a gym, YMMV of course.

The starter plan I found which I’m going to use was this:

http://www.cyclist.co.uk/tutorials/938/how-to-create-a-cycling-training-plan

Which I’ve already boshed into a single side of A4 Spreadsheet that I can print off every fortnight and adjust/amend as I go, it’s simple and I can stick to that as a day on/day off type routine. Most of the sessions are under two hours on week days, intensity is governed by HR Zones for flat and climbing and there’s a few Sprints/Intervals in there too therefore it’s not just “Ride XX miles, rest and repeat” there’s a little more to it. On a good week at the minute I’m already doing about 75% of what’s on the plan to start with. Most importantly I reckon can fit that all in before/after work and around family commitments, so it’s achievable it’s not a bad starting template IMO.

What is the goal of the training? Racing?

For now it’s just to Drop ~5kg by March which is realistic I think, more would be nice but an attainable goal is sensible for now, Racing can wait…

I found the book Total Heart Rate Training (I think it was called) by Joe Friel really helpful. It’s more to help you write your own plans than follow any pre set agenda though.

I’ve go his cyclist’s training bible, but I think it’s pitched a bit more towards the ‘serious’ cyclist than the ‘Enthusiast’ and that was partly what led me to over plan last year, there’s still some useful stuff in there… I’ll look at your suggested book see if it helps, cheers.

‘Do you calorie count?  I’m a big fan of keeping it simple all these diets won’t work if you are consuming more calories than burning.  reduce portion size see if you can not eat any snacky stuff for a week, then fortnight etc.

At present no (part of the issue), but I’ve unearthed my MFP account and will start again, it’s cross linked to my Strava and has a weight loss goal set so should allow me to sensibly manage diet without going bonkers.

Portion control is currently a general family issue, and it needs addressing via ‘er-indoors as much as myself, we both do the cooking 50/50ish, but some of us make larger meals than others (ahem).

I do think diet will be the tougher element through winter, which is partly why I want to start earlier and get into a bit of a disciplined routine before the weather turns and she stocks the cupboards with comfort food in October (and she will)…