Global Ride Cycling Training DVDs

Weekly Cycling Training

Many Cyclists often ask “what is a good weekly cycling training schedule”. This is a very good cycling topic and the answer really depends on what level rider you are and what you really want to achieve in cycling. Are you a beginner (newbie) cyclist or triathlete? Have you been riding a bike for a few years and just want to increase your speed? Do you want to increase your power (wattage output)? Do you want to train for endurance cycling? These are just some of the various scenarios that you can build a weekly cycling training schedule for.

A good weekly cycling training schedule should always include what cyclists call base miles. “Base miles” means spending time in the seat and logging miles. This is where your basic fitness and endurance levels are increased on a bike. It doesn’t matter if you start out riding 5 miles or 20 miles. The goal of base miles is to slowly increase your riding distance with each ride. Over time your base miles ride will turn into 40, 50 or even 60 mile rides. Base miles are also very critical in allowing your body to adjust to being in the riding position for longer and longer durations.

An important aspect to keep in mind, while training, is to allow your body rest or recovery time. This is true for any type of athletic or physical activities. Some cyclist feel the need to ride every single day. Even at this level, seasoned riders know how to rest their muscles while riding. You may sometimes hear of a ride termed a “recovery ride”. The general idea of this ride is for the group of cyclist to set out on a reduced pace and work together to get a good 25-45 mile ride in. You shouldn’t see exhausting type efforts on “recovery rides”. It is fully acceptable to ride 2 – 3 days with solid efforts and then skip a day for recovery. If you keep this in mind, riding 5 days a week will be an easy goal to set your sights on and you will accomplish a good weekly cycling training schedule.

Weekly Cycling Training

A good weekly cycling training schedule should consist of the following:

Distance efforts. ( Longer rides – progressively longer as your level increases)
Endurance type efforts. ( Up tempo, higher cadence outputs )
Hill training. ( hill repeaters or nice rolling hill courses )
Indoor Trainers. ( Computrainer, Cyclops, Indoor Cycling DVDs, rollers )
Recovery rides. ( Group rides at reduced paces )
Proper nutrition. ( Carbs, pasta, fruit, recovery drinks )

Distance Efforts for weekly cycling training:

Riders should try to get in 3 – 4 distance efforts per week. These can range from 15 miles to 65+ miles depending on your riding level. If you need group motivation, look up a local bike shop (LBS) in your area. Many shops facilitate group rides during the week and on weekends. Make sure you choose the right group to ride with. Generally speaking you should see A, B, C groups. The A groups ride at fast non stop paces. The B groups ride at a pace of 20 mph down to 18mph and are usually No Drops (no one is left behind, frequent stops). The C group pace can be from 15mph to 18mph and is usually a bit shorter and No Drop as well (Great for Newbies).

Endurance Type Efforts for weekly cycling training:

Endurance rides can be anything from riding long distances on relatively flat courses to riding distance rides on rolling terrains. I like to think of endurance as being able to maintain a high cadence with a good solid pace and watt output. This is a great way to work out the heart and lungs. When I ride these type of rides I really pay attention to my heart rate and try to keep in high zone 3 to low zone 4. If your course has too many hills, this will defeat your training efforts.

Hill Training for weekly cycling training:

Although Hill Training can be done on your distance rides, a great way to train for hill riding is to do hill repeaters. Find roads that provide nice steady climbs ranging from .5 to 1 mile + in length. Go out on your bike and hit these hills over and over. The best advice I could provide new riders is DON’T blast up the hill your first few times out of the gate. If you do this, you’re done. My goal for hill training is to exhaust my legs by riding up the hills as many repetitions as I can. Two ways I do this are steady pace in the seat climbs and switched efforts climbs. On the steady pace climbs I stay in the seat and really focus on maintaining a comfortable cadence that I know I can do over and over again. In switched effort climbs I might stay in the seat once climb, get out of the seat the next, ride in the drops the next, ride a heavy gear the next, and just use my imagination as I go up each time.

Indoor trainers for weekly cycling training:

Why indoor trainers you ask? Well there are several reasons. Maybe you don’t care to ride in the rain, maybe you don’t have time to gear up, maybe you want a quick early morning ride before work, maybe you need some focused intense training, Maybe you like riding to a cycling training DVD. As you can see trainers can be important to our cycling training efforts. One thing for sure though, nothing beats riding outdoors.

Recovery Rides for weekly cycling training:

Recovery rides offer a great way to log some miles, socialize with your cycling buddies, and rest your exhausted muscles from all the riding you have done the previous week. The important thing to keep in mind on recovery rides is that the pace should be slower. If you join a recovery group ride and some riders want to push the pace, do yourself a favor and let them go.

Proper Nutrition for weekly cycling training:

As with any type of physical and athletic training your body needs fuel. Cycling is a great way to burn calories and lose weight in the process. Cycling can also be very exhausting. We have to make sure we replenish our bodies with high energy food. Many cyclist talk about carbs or “carbing up”. Eating pasta is a great way to do this. Another important tip is to eat before you ride. I always like to eat oatmeal or granola cereal about an hour before I ride. Both of these are good sources of slow release energy that really comes in helpful on long rides. You may also see or hear of cyclist eating bananas to reduce or avoid muscle cramps. Bananas are a great source of potassium. I personally hate eating bananas and in fact when I’ve tried eating them while I was riding the give me a puking sensation. I prefer to take a daily potassium pill to supplement my diet. Last but not least always carry you an energy bar in your cycling jersey. Hammer Nutrition energy bars, Cliff Bar, PowerBar are some of the better nutritional / energy bars on the market available for cyclist.

I hope this provides some cycling training insight for those cyclist wanting to increase their weekly cycling training schedule. If you would like to learn more about cycling training please visit my website HowToTrainForCycling.com

Happy Riding

John Finney a.k.a Cycling Guy

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Weekly Cycling Training Schedule

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