Training/Riding From Now to Start of Brevet Season?
Joel
fellow randonneurs around this time of year. It helps me plan my own
riding and understand what others - usually better riders than me - do
on a weekly/monthly basis in terms of riding.
So, what are other people's ride plans throughout the year, and
especially now through winter and into the brevet season?
How much do people ride on a weekly/monthly basis? Do you do a long
ride every week and other rides during the week? If so, how long/
frequent are your rides? How many people "train" - IE do intervals,
recovery rides, long rides, etc vs just ride when and what they feel
like?
I'd love to hear what other people's ride schedule/plans are like.
I end up riding a lot solo and am finding it harder and harder every
year to motivate myself to get out for the long rides. Anyone else
have this problem?
Are "middle of the pack" riders in San Francisco that would like to
occasionally do long training rides together to make them more
enjoyable?
What are people's plans for next year? Moderate - do a 400K to help
with PBP registration - or obsessive, like a full series, 1000K,
Fleche, and on and on?
Joe
Aaron Little
Last year completed a full series plus 1200k (total of around 1700 miles of brevet riding), yet my total mileage for the year is only 2300.
My schedule allows for lunch time training, maybe 2-3 times a week during the season, a 17 mile loop with around 2500 feet of climbing, which includes a 1000ft 10% monster climb (Metcalf)...with occasional flat commuting to work.
Aaron
From: Joel <jvo...@pobox.com>
To: San Francisco Randonneurs <sfra...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sat, November 14, 2009 8:05:47 AM
Subject: [SFRandon] Training/Riding From Now to Start of Brevet Season?
Rob Hawks
on the list. I
thnk that largely comes from needing to pay attention to family matters. I
try to fit in rides when ever I can and consider myself lucky if I get
two long (100+ mile)
rides in a month. To fill the gaps, I try to do early morning rides
on the weekends of 50-60
miles and get home by 11am so I'm not missed. During the week I ride to work
every day, but that is only a 15 mile round trip so I *try* to take the longer,
hillier way to work about 3-4 times a month. The goal there is at
least once a week
but that never works out just right. When I can fill the gaps with
those hilly 55 mile
weekend rides and also do the hilly commute to work I find I'm riding
much better
on the brevets and permanents. I think what my mileage misses the most is
hilly miles and when I can pay attention to that, all my riding improves.
I too consider my self a middle of the pack rider who gets lucky sometimes
and has a good day. What negatively affects my riding the most is my weight.
I'm 12 lbs over the weight I was at for PBP 2007 and about 30lbs over the weight
I really think I should be. When I do long weekend rides I'm always
eating on tuesday
like I'm still riding 100 miles that day, when it's been 2-3 days
since that 100 miles.
For the last several years, I've been doing about 8,000 miles a year,
and for three years
before that I was doing 10,000 a year. With all that I still haven't
been as successful
as Aaron and Joel.
rob
Ely
I only ride on the weekend if my family duties are covered.
If I do ride a weekend, that means the next weekend I spend with my
son and give my wife the weekend off.
So going for a brevet is a really big deal for me.
This fall was my first 115k and my first/longest ride I've ever done
200k.
As far as my goals for 2009, my goal for the rest of the year is to
plan no rides.
For 2010, I will try all of the rides up to 300k.
After the 300k, I'll see what is up with the next size up.
Having a family has made me love riding even more.
My 3 1/2 year old son is on his two wheeler now and I love it when we
are on our bike friday tandem and he stands up and yells "Sprint papa
sprint!"
It is the best.
-Ely (I'm the guy on the grey bike with the fake Miele stickers)
Roland Bevan
Like others I split time between work, family and cycling. I usually schedule permanents on Sundays to have less conflict with events for the kids, and sometimes get in a quick ride around 9 to 10pm after they are in bed. I had much less riding time this past year due to an unplanned work situation which had me doing lots of driving to/from the Salinas Valley (usually I work from home). The main impact was on my speed; however I had started a strategy which helped me complete my first R-12 and my first SR series. I did a 200k permanent on the weekend before every brevet. This helped me get my bike and my legs ready for the longer distances, and also gave me at least two shots to get in the required ride each month for the R-12. Given the minimal amount of riding I ended up doing otherwise I don't think I could have successfully completed the SR series without this strategy. The Santa Cruz 600k has been my longest ride so far.
For 2010 my main goal is the Cascade 1200k, so I'll be riding in a number of brevets starting in January with the SFR series. I'd like to ride in a Fleche also, but we'll have to see how the scheduling goes on that. I'll try to repeat my strategy of doing a 200k permanent the weekend before each brevet (since I have another R-12 string going), but I'm hoping to get some other quality riding time in. I live in the Santa Cruz Mountains, so getting hill climbing in is easy if I have time to ride (e.g. Alba Road is 4 miles from my house, and climbs 2100 feet in 3.8 miles). I don't usually get any rides in during the week longer than an hour at most, so my permanents and a few odd longer weekend rides are the majority of my distance "training". If work calms down as expected it should be a lot easier to get some extra time in, and hopefully I'll hit the January and February rides in decent shape.
-Roland
Greg Merritt
my daughter, I must confess that I engage in completely unfair
accounting practices and often double-bill the same hours to both
categories:
http://tinyurl.com/Exhibit-A-MTB
http://tinyurl.com/Exhibit-B-brevet
http://tinyurl.com/Exhibit-C-piste
January through May, my Sundays are given over to helping lead rides
for my daughter's high school mountain bike racing team. ("What? This
counts as volunteering? Riding my bike? Are you sure? What's the
catch?")
Five Sundays a season are MTB race days. My wife and daughter and I
make a weekend of it, going up the day before so my daughter & I can
pre-ride the course and post course photos online for her teammates
the night before the race. (My wife mostly cycles just for commuting
and transportation -- hasn't operated a motor vehicle since 2000 --
but she's nuts about all kinds of bike racing, so it truly is fun for
the whole family.)
My kid also likes to do the Oakland Yellowjackets 90-mile ride to
Monterey with an overnight at Asilomar in September. So, once the MTB
season wraps up at the end of May, I ride with her typically on
Saturday club rides (OYJ, Grizzly Peak Cyclists) every couple of weeks
or so so that she can get her road legs in shape for September. This
year she kept on going through the October SFR populaire, but is now
back to focusing on pre-season MTB training.
So, I block out my Jan-May Sundays and a number of summer Saturdays
for cycling with my kid. (Yes, I am one lucky son-of-a-gun.) I plan
my brevet preparation and participation around that schedule.
I commute to work by bike, but it's like two miles each way. Grrr.
Sometimes I try to head out early and climb a hill on the way in, but
I haven't done that since summer. More likely is an extended weekday
commute home through the hills for an hour or two in the winter and
spring.
Sometimes I pre-prep a dinner or plan a quick-to-cook meal, and then
head out after dinner for a slow couple of hours in the hills at
night. I try to hit some rain riding in the dark, just for sorting
out gear and keeping accustomed to those conditions.
For such an evening training ride, and other schedule-constrained
training rides, I pick routes that lend themselves to a target time
out on the bike, rather than fixed distance. If I planned for
distance only, I may short myself saddle time (if I'm going well) or
else find myself home far later than I'd planned if I encounter
weather or mechanicals. I do this by heading out on something
zig-zaggy or loopy or that comes close to BART once or twice. I don't
ever bother going terribly far from home on the evening rides. No
need to complicate logistics if I have a not-so-good evening.
I haven't ever done a training or prep ride over 200k. A more likely
longish prep ride might be about 80 miles or so. I pick routes with
hills. I really like to try to get at least a four-hour road ride in
every weekend, but can't always do it on MTB race weekends. If you
head out early in the morning, like 6am, you can be home & presentable
well before lunch and really save your weekend.
I do like to ride with groups, but I find that that's less good if I
have a specific pace, time, or distance goal. If I want to get xyz
out of a ride, then I'd better go solo. If I want to hang with
buddies and have a good time socializing on the bike, while getting in
some saddle time, I'll do a club ride. Sometimes I'll split the
difference and schedule something with one or two randonneurs, which
is always makes for a very gratifying ride.
I've dabbled a tiny bit with intervals. I intend to do more. We'll
see. I've been doing steady weight loss primarily through changes in
diet over the last year and a half. Better off overall, but I think I
could stand to recover some strength. My daughter has some uphill MTB
time trial goals in mind, so we may very well go out for hill
intervals soon. Ugh.
I'm surprised to read of folks doing 100+ milers the weekend before
their brevets. I like to do a ride of that length about *two* weeks
before the event, but not much closer. The weekend before I go
totally mellow, and maybe do a couple of easy 30-milers or like one
easy ride of 4 or 5 hours at the most. I want to keep the legs
turning, but I want to completely avoid any annoying little joint
issues going into the event.
The last couple of years have been roughly 4,000 mile years for me.
Unfortunately I don't have good totals for 2009, but I estimate that
I'm on track for a 5,000 mile year, give or take.
My 2010 goal is to do a 200-300-400-600 series and feel good about how
I managed myself in each and every one of them. 2009 was my personal
biggest randonneuring year, with completion of rides in the
200-300-fleche-600 categories. I completed them, but might be happier
with my results if I could have "do-overs" with the benefit of what I
learned from riding them. ;)
If I have a *stellar* series through the 600 in 2010, I'll do a
personal check-in and see if a 2010 1000k seems like it would fit.
That would be icing on the cake.
PBP in 2011? Too soon to tell. Less likely if I haven't done a
domestic 1000k or 1200k first. If not 2011, then 2015 will be a
serious target -- when I'll also be an empty-nester. I'll continue
practicing my French in the meantime.
-Greg
Ken Wronkiewicz
Goal for now until start of brevet season is to get ready for my first
brevet season.... and then see what I can do during the brevet season. I
suspect I'll be rear-of-the-pack.
I ride ~50mi week just cyclecommuting. And usually a 20-80mi weekend ride.
I usually try to do hill climbing because that's what I suck most at. If I
don't keep riding, it's a lot like this:
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2009-11-12
And I'm trying to balance taking off fat with being a faster, stronger
cyclist. I spent a bunch of time the end of the summer just losing weight,
now I'm starting to taper the weight loss down for now so I can work on
getting stronger and faster.
I probably ought to get a new bike. Present bike is just a mountain bike,
with front suspension and reasonably wide slicks. I'm assuming that, upon
moving from a lighter rigid bike with slightly better rolling resistance and
improved aerodynamics will give me a bit of speed. I don't want to count on
it, however.
Rob Hawks
We'll look for you in January on your first brevet.
If you ride a mountain bike you won't be the only one that has or
does. There are two pretty darn
good riders who ride with SFR right now that use a mountain bike for
the ride. If you are riding
it now because it is what you have, then a new bike might make a
difference. If you are riding
it now because it really works for you, maybe you don't need to change
anything. One of the
great things about a good turnout at our brevets is checking out all
the other bikes to see what
people ride *and* spending time asking them about their gear.
rob
C. Duque
the whole thread (at an airport on the way home) so please forgive me
if i am no adding much. But it is an interesting subject as
Randonneuring is different than racing and probably closer to touring,
but again I guess that depends on the rider's approach to brevets.
I don't have a real training plan, never had. However short high
effort rides seem to provide the most benefit and educate my body for
accepting a higer pain threshold. I love climbing (on the bike or
running) and when I do it alone I tend to tackle hills like if I was
using a rental body.
But most of the time my objective is more to have a good/fun ride than
to go faster than before. Some of my hardest rides have also been the
most fun, in my case it is all in the approach to the ride being a
short 1 hr or a 600k. IMO randonneuring is in large part a head game,
if i convince myself i am having fun, can recover from the current
bonk etc the body seems to follow the mind lead, train the mind.
Many years ago I used to use a HRM but then it broke and never
replaced it, maybe I'll get one soon I remember using it efectively
for some improvements but I don't like to become slave of a training
regime, or electonic gadget, my riding objective is to have fun first
and push my mind/body to learn to be humble, mountains are way
stronger than me.
I get most benefit out of fast solo mixed terrain rides of about 2-4
hours and short road rides that include hills (Conzelman at night
after work in my case or sometimes climb California street in SF from
Market St to Vanness on the way home). Long rides for me are more for
fun, socializing and testing gear/body. I think it was this year and
last I aproached the brevet series with a no-training training plan,
just riding for fun, that worked fine for me and was able to complete
the SFR series, flèche and some of the "extracurricular" events
scheduled.
Something I rediscovered this year and helped me stay active was trail
running. I have done some runs with the wife 7-10 miles so Saturdays
can be dedicated to biking and Sundays to runing with her, or
sometimes we do 20-70 mile rides together at her pace whichh is a very
easy recovery pace for me. My daugther left the nest a while back so
that makes planning my riding a lot easier than others who have kids
at home.
When I am too tired for a high intensity ride or don't have much time
I do some sort of technical riding that keeps me on the bike and still
have fun. However I listen carfully when the body realy does not want
to go, if that is the case I just do something else or just lay on the
coach.
Plans for next year? Probably will register for all SFR events and
ride what I can but will try to do at least the 200, 300, 400, 600
thing plus the flèche. PBP is not in my plans.
Carlos
Sent from mobile
On Nov 15, 2009, at 4:05 AM, Joel <jvo...@pobox.com> wrote:
>
> I always find in interesting and helpful to ask this question of
> fellow randonneurs around this time of year. It helps me plan my own
> riding and understand what others - usually better riders than me - do
> on a weekly/monthly basis in terms of riding.
>
> So, what are other people's ride plans throughout the year, and
> especially now through winter and into the brevet season?
>
> How much do people ride on a weekly/monthly basis? Do you do a long
> ride every week and other rides during the week? If so, how long/
> frequent are your rides? How many people "train" - IE do intervals,
> recovery rides, long rides, etc vs just ride when and what they feel
> like?
>
> I'd love to hear what other people's ride schedule/plans are like.
>
> I end up riding a lot solo and am finding it harder and harder every
> year to motivate myself to get out for the long rides. Anyone else
> have this problem?
>
> Are "middle of the pack" riders in San Francisco that would like to
> occasionally do long training rides together to make them more
> enjoyable?
>
> What are people's plans for next year? Moderate - do a 400K to help
> with PBP registration - or obsessive, like a full series, 1000K,
> Fleche, and on and on?
>
> Joe
>
>
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>
FJM
On Nov 19, 2009, at 15:32, C. Duque wrote:
> (...) However I listen carefully when the body really does not want
> coach.
>
From the point of view of the elder generation (not that Carlos is included there):
- I need more recovery time from hard efforts than in the past
- I cannot come back from a longer break as quickly as before.
So, it's OK with me if my training stays sub-optimal (regarding all the training science). In exchange, I'm in peace with my body - and my body rewards me for it on really long distances.
And it's not OK with me to make a long break over the winter. Three weeks without a bike (and with "pigging out" at culinary festivities ...) and I'm wasted for six weeks ahead at least.
> Plans for next year?
Check out
http://randonneurapprentice.blogspot.com/2009/10/so-many-brevets-so-little-time.html
and scroll down to the last paragraph. Very exciting!!
--(jm)
Rob Hawks
be silly. However,
recovery after big/long rides is something that is getting easier
these days than compared to
say 10 or even 5 years ago. The reason? More than likely, it is
because I have a much broader
base of miles in the last 5 years than I ever had before. 10 years ago
when I did my very first double,
I had never ridden more than 127 miles in a day. A handful of times I
had done centuries
on four successive days, but never beyond 127 in a day. Recovery from
that double 10 years ago
lasted a long, long time and my legs were terrible all that time. I
can do doubles now and have
a little stiffness in my legs if I don't get up and move around. If
that recovery 10 years ago was
8 out of 10, currently it is more like 2 or 3 out of 10. I don't think
I'm all that much
faster, but recovery time seems to have shrunk. That is a blessing!
rob
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