Training Part 2 - Training in the Real World

Well after my last post my "sick week" turned into 2.5 weeks and I was finally back to normal only a few days ago...  I was able to do some decent riding throughout and possibly pushed things a little too much a couple weekends ago.

As I wrote about last time the overall outline of effort and rest for your training plan is really important.  Beyond that the number one factor for success has to be the quality of your workouts.  And for those of us that live in the real world that also means being efficient with our time.  So you've hopefully heard - make your hard rides HARD and your easy rides EASY.  Also within that you should define a hard ride to be a certain intensity level OR endurance.  Make your high intensity rides HARD and your long rides LONG.  

For the longer races I'm training for that means my long rides are 4+ hours and usually 5-6 hours.  In the winter I'll have a few weeks where I do these back to back but after that there's no need for just about anyone to have more than one ride of that length per week.  If you combine that with a couple solid intensity days per week and minimize your riding on easy days, you can be successful and avoid the trap of simply riding more to get better.  

My intensity days vary the most throughout the season as my training ramps up, but most weeks only involve 2 solid days of training during the work week.  Last week for example I planned hard days for Tue and Thur.  I wasn't feeling well and skipped my Tuesday ride, then did some threshold work on my mountain bike Thursday morning.  I did 3 efforts about 10 minutes each right at threshold.  My total ride was only about 1:45 but I got in an awesome workout.  Sunday I was able to do something similar, but a bigger effort at 3x20min.  Both days though I knew leaving my front door that I was going to hit those efforts no matter what.  The rest of my week was based around those efforts so as long as I was healthy I was sure to put in really good efforts on those rides.  

My easy days have become easier than ever.  Lately my recovery rides are a commute to work and back - 15-20 minutes each way taking it really easy and that's it.  Which leads to...

The things that have helped me the most in balancing solid training with everything else:

Riding to and from work.  If you can leave extra clothes and food at work this can be a HUGE time saver.  Get creative and make it happen.  In the winter I training in the morning and end up at work.  Then an easy spin home in the evening.  In the summer I do the opposite when there is more daylight in the evening.  

Don't drive to do rides unless you have to.  Of course this one depends on where you live, but driving somewhere to ride takes a lot of time that could be spent pedaling.  

In season all rides have to have a focus - easy, intensity, or endurance. 

Ride with people who have the same training goals as you.  Ride with groups sparingly.  I'm a little anti-social this way, which is tough because I love riding with friends.  But group rides or meeting up with friends always takes up more time and I need to be spending time with my girls.

Snack well during the day and get a little rest at lunch.  I'm trying to get better at this myself.  

Have fun, enjoy the time you are on the bike.  Yeah I plan my riding and take it more seriously than most.  But at the same time when I'm out there pedaling, even if I'm working really hard, it can be the most peaceful part of my day.  It's my time to unwind, connect with God, and just enjoy something he wired me to do.  

I can't complain about the weather here, but an amazing day on Saturday was really welcome after getting soaked in the rain both days and crashing my road bike last weekend...