Training For Beginners

Training is a huge topic which is approached differently by everyone. So take the following as a general and by no means complete guide. Exact training schedules will vary greatly depending on time, motivation, goals, and experience. Take the principles away and adapt them for your own needs.

OUCC is here to support you in racing and training so be sure to take advantage of this resource. Ask more experienced riders for advice and try and learn from them on group rides. It is often best to ask several people as opinions vary and you may find some make a lot more sense than others!

One of the best way of getting hold of the ideas quickly is to take a look at a few books. The following are a good starting point:

• The Cyclist's Training Bible by Joe Friel. This is an excellent book which goes over the principles of bike training and shows you how to set up an annual training plan suitable for your needs.
• Smart Cycling by Arnie Baker. Annoying American writing style but lots of good info and a very good section on turbo training. Nice sections on preparing for time trials and road races.
• Bicycling Medicine by Arnie Baker. Although some chunks are lifted straight out of "Smart Cycling", which is a bit cheeky, this book provides a lot of information on nutrition, physiology, and injury prevention.

During term time specific training rides are organised, for more details of these rides have a look at the term card.

During the summer go to the chaingang rides on Tuesday evenings at 6 pm at the junction of Marsdon Ferry Road with Banbury road. These are hard rides but great training and a lot of fun. You'll learn to ride fast in a group and the pressure of keeping up will make you work a lot harder than you would on your own. Scroll down for more details.

As an Oxford Uni cyclist you may well have very particular constraints imposed by work. A way of managing this is described here by Mike Cubison in Training On A Time-Diet.

Training On A Time Diet For Beginners
Sure, most of us could be really good if we had the time (and the motivation?) to train right 'ard, but we're at Oxford, and so even if you have the motivation you probably don't have the time. However, a careful training plan can make you a lot faster using only limited training time and still allowing you to get that 2.1 (Well, did a cyclist ever get a first?). What I describe below is a suggested outlined plan for getting into shape for the beginning of March.

One more thing though - I can only pass on advice from my experience in cycling, it is by no means definitive and represents only my point of view. It has been drawn from many coaching days, respected books, advice from pro's (real ones, not just Tom Peel) and qualified caoches. Different coaches may say different things, this is only a guide. However, it's worked for me or my friends in the past, so there's no reason it shouldn't for you.

Structured training will make you faster, if that's what you want. Here are the main ideas....

• Quit riding your bike. Start training on it. Yes this does take some of the fun out of it, but if you want to get faster you simply have to do it - simple as that. However you should include easy rides to help you recover and for these you could use club 'social rides.'
• Be motivated. What I'm suggesting isn't really that hard, but you must have the motivation to carry it through and know that by doing so you'll pull off the ride of your life for your targeted event, whatever that is.
• Try and get access to a turbo trainer and a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) - two things that make structured training much easier to do.
• Do a Max Heart Rate (MHR) test. This shouldn't be undertaken lightly, in fact all the books put in disclaimers to stop really unfit people doing them and having heart failure, but we're young and up to it so no probs I'm sure. But don't sue me if you die! That's as much as I'll say about this here - it needs to be done on the club turbo after 2 easy days resting and under the guidance of someone who knows what they're doing.
• Keep a training diary.This is vital - it allows you to look back in the future and see when you were going well, what you'd done to get fit, how you recoved from illness, what build up you did to a good ride etc. etc. I use mine all the time. For example - to work out what build up to make to the track this year, I simply looked at my diary for last July - I knew I'd done a good ride in the nationals so I simply followed the same build up as then, and it worked!

The suggestions below are for someone who is already out and about riding a bit. If you've done nothing all term then you won't manage it. However, providing you've been out a bit, then with a good attitude it shouldn't be a problem. If you're fit already then make it harder, on the other hand if you're not make it easier. I've based this on someone who's been doing say 2/3 rides a week previously but not necessarily producing fast TT times. The length of the rides will also depend on how long your targeted event will be. If you want to do do well in the BUSA road race, for example, the 75% ride will need to be built up to 5 to 6 hours.

A Note On HR Training

Many of the training sessions are HR based. 3hrs at 75% MHR means just that, don't go hard up the hills and don't freewheel down them. Stay as close to 75% as you can. Otherwise you're doing a halfway house between hill intervals and aerobic training, but not really getting the full benefits of either. Also don't stick to the figures come what may - temperature and state of rest affect HRs more than you'd think - so if you feel tired, or 150 (for eg) feels hard, drop it 5 beats to 145 and do the training session at that. In contrast, if you feel really good, up it 5 beats and do that.

A Note On Warming Up/Down

What I've suggested below is exclusive of warming up and down. In Oxford this is made easy by having to ride to and from the ring road anyway, but on the turbo, do a good 10 or 15 minutes warm up and 5 minutes warm down. This is vital, do not skip it. Particularly if you are doing intervals/strength then intersperse the warm-up with a stretching routine.

A Note On Feeling Bad

If you do go out one day and feel really tired, or can't do your intervals on the turbo because they feel really hard, don't get demoralised - you're just knackered. Take the day off and try again the following day. It may be a good idea on rest days to do recovery rides rather than nothing - these are 20mins at 70% MHR followed by stretching. You ought to allow for resting- that's when the body repairs itself and gets fitter. If you train too hard too often you'll burn out, overtrain, and loose fitness.

Stage 1 - Preparation Period
8 weeks from December to end of January. This would normally be longer but we don't have the time, so it can't be!

In one week you do:
1 x 2-3hr ride at 75% MHR.
1 x 1-1.5hr ride at 80% MHR.
1 x turbo session at 80% MHR - harder than it sounds
1 x strength. Alternate from one week to the next between sitting and standing. Get in a gear that requires you to pedal at 60-70rpm at about 85% MHR. Do 1min on, 2 off (rest) , 2 on, 3 off, 3 on, 4 off, 4 on, 4 off, 5on. You may need to build up to this. Don't do this with crap shoe cleats and/or bad knees. I have now replaced this session with standing starts practice - it has much the same effect but is difficult to do properly. This stength session should burn your legs, you should want the intervals to end when they do, but it is NOT flat out. It can be done on the turbo.

• Build up to these targets. You can't just go out and do 3hrs at 75% - its hard. Also on the long rides, no matter how easy 75% feels at the beginning stick to it, it will not feel easy for the last hour I promise if you don't.
• Obviously it's good to do some of the longer rides with the club at the weekend, but I suggest you do one of the long road rides on your own to get used to pacing yourself.
• In the last two weeks of January it might be good to replace one of the 80% rides with Mat Anand training - see below.

At the end of this period, you should get whipped by your mates up hills and have not much speed, but the base you'll have if you've done it properly will stand in you in better stead than them in 4 weeks' time.

Stage 2 - Pre Season Period
4 weeks of February - The hard bit
In one week, you do:
1 x 3hr ride at 75%
1 x 80% ride, turbo or road.
1 x Mat Anand training. This is 25mins at 75%, 20mins at 80% then 15 minutes at time trial pace. The 4up training rides in Hilary term are excellent for this.
1 x turbo session. This can be intervals or easier, depending what your state of tiredness is. The best thing to do is follow one the the programmes from Pete Read's red book, of which I have a copy if you want to have a look. This is the definitive turbo guide for club time triallists in this country - he even has his own TT team.

• This period is the hardest of any season - its the bit that feels the hardest and IS the slowest - no fun. However, it's essential to get you into racing shape - this is why when I say I hate Feburary and 4 up training I mean it. But doing well and getting personal bests makes it all worth it, I promise.
• Be careful not to get overtired - on this programme you shouldn't, but take care to rest well after hard sessions and save getting hammered for when it won't interfere with your training. Try not to get ill too!

More to come....?

Right, well that's the basics, if you want anything more specific it's best to ask a few more experienced riders or check out some of the books listed above.

Good luck! Mike Cubison

The Chaingang

Chaingang is a fast 25 mile ride around Otmoor leaving from the corner of Banbury and Marston Ferry Roads at 6.00 pm. A 'slow' group leaves followed a few minutes later by a fast group. Both groups will ride 'through and off', and then merge when the fast catches the 'slow'. Riders will need to be experienced in group riding and self sufficient as the group will not stop for punctures etc.

The objective of the Chaingang is to get a good workout, whilst contributing to your group by rolling through to the front and peeling off, easing your pace to allow the next rider through. Changing smoothly with no sudden movements or changes in pace is quality training - it is not racing!

CAUTION: If you maintain the same speed, or increase your speed as you roll through and move to one side at the front, the next rider has to dig deeper to reach the front, this forces the pace higher and higher and results in no-one getting a rest and the whole group will eventually fall apart - this is pointless and offers no benefit to individuals who want to train in groups! Also take care on hills you may have to ease the pace slightly to all stay together, or at least re-group at the top.

The Route