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Too Busy to Train?

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Post by Admin Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:23 am

Too Busy to Train?

By Joe Friel

Many of the elite athletes I train put in 20 or more hours of workouts each week. At that level they have little time for anything else in life other than recovering, eating and sleeping. Training to race is their life, and in some cases, their profession.

Few of us can afford that kind of commitment. We're faced with the daily chores of living: work, family, home maintenance, meal preparation and community commitments. With judicious planning we may be able to fit in eight to 12 hours a week of training, which is about the minimum for optimal racing fitness.

But there are some who have even less time. These tormented souls travel frequently, facing huge responsibilities and may be able to just squeeze four to six hours from their hectic weeks. From time to time, you may face a big project at work or home that also greatly reduces your available training to just a few precious hours.

How best can you use your limited training time to stay in good enough shape to race respectably in criteriums and short circuit races?

The first thing you must do is eliminate all non-bike types of training from your schedule so that you can focus on fitness that is the most specific to bike racing - namely, being on the bike. That means cut out strength training in the weight room and cross-training. Put your butt on the saddle for the little time you have to train. That will give you the best return on time invested.

Beyond this, it will be necessary to train very wisely. There's no room for mistakes; you must make the best use of every possible minute. Here's how to get the most from four to six weekly hours by manipulating the three variables of training - frequency, intensity and duration.

Frequency

How often should you ride if you have only five training hours available? Is it better to ride 60 minutes a day for five days, or to complete two rides, one of two hours and the other three hours? Or perhaps some other combination is best.

A few research studies have looked at this question. The findings have been the same in nearly all cases. Typically, they find that training only once or twice a week has little benefit when it comes to aerobic capacity - one measure of fitness. When the number of weekly workouts is increased to three there is a significant improvement in aerobic capacity. The critical number, however, appears to be four in a week. In fact, one study found that by increasing weekly workouts from three to four there was nearly a tripling of the average increase in fitness. That's an important lesson to remember when time is a premium.

It's interesting to note that beyond four workouts in a week the rate of improvement of aerobic capacity decreases. In other words, by riding five times a week there is an improvement in absolute fitness, but the amount of improvement is less than was experienced when going from three to four sessions.
Other studies have demonstrated that when trying to establish fitness levels initially, as in the "base period" of training, it's best to train five or six times in a week to speed up the process. It will still take 10 to 12 weeks to get aerobic capacity up to decent levels even at this frequency.

Intensity

Of the three training variables, intensity is the most critical for the cyclist with limited time. Training at intensities greater than 90 percent of aerobic capacity, well above lactate threshold heart-rate, has been shown to bring substantial increases in fitness. Training at this level is typical of workouts such as aerobic capacity intervals, sprints and lactate tolerance repetitions. Of course, short fast races such as criteriums - and race simulations - would cause such high intensities.

It's not possible to train at these levels too frequently without causing overtraining or burn out. In fact, even in a limited-volume program, great care must be taken not to spend too much time anaerobic. Thirty to 60 minutes with the heart rate four or more beats above lactate threshold is about all the time that's necessary in a week. Most low-volume riders would be wise to stay closer to the lesser amount.

Duration

How long should rides be if you have limited time to train? If you're following a schedule similar to the one suggested here, three of the weekly workouts can be short - no more than hour. That's just enough time to warm up, do the high-intensity training, and cool down. But a periodic longer ride is also necessary to build or maintain endurance. In the base period, this is best as a weekly ride of at least two hours, or as long as your longest race. Once endurance is established a long ride every other week will maintain it.

Don't forget that road racing, including criteriums, is primarily an endurance sport. It doesn't matter how fast you are when anaerobic if you don't have the endurance base. A few years ago, Nelson Vails, a great track sprinter, would compete in road races and criteriums for training. For the first few miles he was as strong as anyone, but was soon off the back and had trouble finishing even short races.
Long duration rides are almost as effective as high intensity for boosting aerobic capacity, probably because when the slow-twitch muscles tire, more of the work is done by fast-twitch muscles, which begin to take on the slow-twitch characteristic of greater resistance to fatigue. A regular long ride also gets you used to being in the saddle for extended periods, just as in racing.

Low-Volume Racing

While you would undoubtedly perform better with higher volume, racing as little as four to six hours a week can be done effectively for a period of several weeks. The greater your base fitness going into such a reduced program, the longer you can keep it up. At some point, however, you will probably find that your racing fitness isn't keeping up with the others in your category. At that time, it will be necessary to rebuild your base or call it a season until more time becomes available.

Intense Workouts

The following one-hour workouts are listed from the least to the most stressful. With each warm-up for 10-15 minutes and cool down for 5-10 minutes.

Moderate Intensity

1 - Hills: Ride a hilly course with a wide range of heart rates. Complete most climbs in the saddle.

2 - Cruise Intervals: 3-5 x 6-12 minutes with 2- to 3-minute recovery intervals. Heart rate 10 beats below to 3 beats above lactate threshold (LT).

3 - Tempo: Ride non-stop for 20-40 minutes with heart rate 10 beats below to 3 beats above LT.

Aerobic Capacity

1 - Intervals: 5-7 x 3-6 minutes with recovery intervals of the same duration. Build to heart rates 4-10 beats above LT on each one. Can be done on a 2- to 4-percent grade.

2 - Sprints: 2-3 sets of 3 sprints per set. Each sprint is 12-15 seconds at maximal effort with high cadence. Recover for 3 minutes between sprints and 10 minutes between sets.

Lactate Tolerance:

1 - Repetitions: 3-6 x 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Recover for 2.5 times as long as the preceding rep (for example, following 2-minute rep, recover for 5 minutes). Build to 11 beats or more above LT on each rep. Can be done on a 4- to 6-percent grade.

2- Race/Simulation: A race or fast group workout combines many of the intense workouts above into one session.



Training on a Tight Time Budget

This schedule is suggested when there are only 4-6 hours a week for training

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Aerobic capacity intervals, sprints, or lactate tolerance repetitions depending on need
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Cruise intervals or tempo
Friday: Off
Saturday: Race or simulation or hills
Sunday: Long ride or tempo
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