Not seeing any improvement - Need Help

[cadnams]

Hi guys,

I've been riding solidly for2-3 years now and I'm finding that I am just not improving. I've come off training for half ironman distance races and I'm now riding three times a week. Total distance varies but I average around 200km. I ride a largely flat/undulating road twice a week, and in the hills on the weekend ride.

I don't race bikes (yet) but I am always wanting to improve, which is why I'm starting to get frustrated. My aims are simple, get stronger over distances from 50-100km and get stronger in the hills (I can't really drop any more weight, so that is out).

I am not sticking to any sort of training plan. I don't do drills regularly (just occasionally) and I never ride inside because I hate it. I push myself hard some of the time, and just bank km some of the time. I am not looking for anything too scientific as my ability to stick to a training plan is tough (given my non-cycling life) but I think I need to start riding with more of a plan.

I intend to keep riding two mornings a week (anything up to 90km) and one long weekend ride. This timing seems to work for me, but I want to ride with a plan when I get out there. Any tips for me?

Thanks a lot.

Cheers,
Chris

[Calvin27]

Well you asked for non-scientific. I've done non-scientific training for the last year with good results (disclaimer - still no hot shot by any means).

A few suggestions:
- Climb more and harder. I know people who think the boulevard is a climb. It is not. Until you have climbed something over 15km and averages 7% the nthere is stil la lot of conditioning to do. Personally I just take a grab bag of the climbing cyclist climbs in Vic and stick them of a bucket list. When I've completed them, I guess I'll just go back and see how much I've improved. FYI i still haven't done baw baw but it looks brutal.
- Add some mountain biking and some offroad rides. Offroad rides are harder because there is more resistance - so doing 1/20 vs doing the parralel dirt fire road is at least double the effort. Mountain biking will also build more strength and upper body to hold your position over the 50-100km.
- Add some track. This builds massive strength and a huge boost to lactic threshold in my experience. You pretty much run 2+ laps at full pace and burn through the lactic burn - no power meters, no pacing. If someone breaks away, you just put the power down, no ifs, no buts. The training drills are specifically designed for explosiveness which massively stacks up your VO2 and lactic threshold reserves - but you didn't want scientific so I'll just say gives you big strong legs haha.
- Take a break. Sometimes I have whole weeks off and even though i feel weaker on the bike afterwards, the times tell a different story. Maybe take a stretch week.
- Recovery. Similar to above, Dedicated stretch and recover sessions help rebuild. I have ata least 2 sessions a week - 1 swimming gently and one just stretching/pilates.

All of my suggestions pretty much point to one thing - mix it up and shock the body once in a while but also give it time to rebuild.

The only other thing is nutrition, but I don't know crap all about it and still eat kfc.

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Hi guys,

I've been riding solidly for2-3 years now and I'm finding that I am just not improving. I've come off training for half ironman distance races and I'm now riding three times a week. Total distance varies but I average around 200km. I ride a largely flat/undulating road twice a week, and in the hills on the weekend ride.

I don't race bikes (yet) but I am always wanting to improve, which is why I'm starting to get frustrated. My aims are simple, get stronger over distances from 50-100km and get stronger in the hills (I can't really drop any more weight, so that is out).

I am not sticking to any sort of training plan. I don't do drills regularly (just occasionally) and I never ride inside because I hate it. I push myself hard some of the time, and just bank km some of the time. I am not looking for anything too scientific as my ability to stick to a training plan is tough (given my non-cycling life) but I think I need to start riding with more of a plan.

I intend to keep riding two mornings a week (anything up to 90km) and one long weekend ride. This timing seems to work for me, but I want to ride with a plan when I get out there. Any tips for me?

Thanks a lot.

Cheers,
Chris

Whilst you might be able to use the time you have to greater effect, it's far more likely you'll need to ride more and more frequently in order to generate further adaptation. 3 rides/week and 200km will only get you so far. Try working up to 5/6 days/week.

[cadnams]

I hear a lot about the value of rest and its impact on adaptation, yet clearly people ride a lot more than three times a week. How does riding 5/6 days a week impact on this?

I ask because I already sleep pretty well, and I am not physically active during work hours so I get plenty of rest already. Yet I still find that my legs are often shot when I head out on my next ride. Like this morning. I'd had two full days off the bike, and my previous ride was not that tough, yet my legs were still tired from the start of today's ride.

[RonK]

Who are you riding with. Riding on your own you'll always be within your relative comfort zone. You need to ride with others who will really push you.
It's not particularly unusual to feel leg weary at the start of a ride and feel better as the ride progresses.
Rather than wait until you are fit enough to race, start racing now to get fit.

[Alex Simmons/RST]

I hear a lot about the value of rest and its impact on adaptation, yet clearly people ride a lot more than three times a week. How does riding 5/6 days a week impact on this?

The more you train, the more you can train.

Riding 3 days/week isn't training, it's exercising. There's nothing wrong with exercising, but don't have unrealistic expectations of what exercising will achieve. It will get you to a certain level of fitness and maintain it, but to progress you have to increase the workload by introducing/adjusting one or more of three things:
- frequency of training
- volume of training
- intensity of training

For sure recovery is vital to progression, and hence the way one manages an increase in workload is to do so in a gradually progressive manner such that the body adapts to the extra workload.

The most common training mistakes (for those that want to lift their performance somewhat) are:
- not training enough
- attempting to do too much too quickly

Of course at some stage you can't simply add more, and so progression comes from manipulation of the type of training mix performed.

[g-boaf]

Getting out and just doing some fast riding with friends is one good way to improve. You push each other and it is good fun. Otherwise, if you are on your own and don't have much motivation, it's too easy to say, argh, forget it, can't be bothered.

The above reply is totally right as well.

[rusty842]

Being relatively new. One item I have found. Is more and less. So instead of 3 rides for 2 hours each. Try some hour rides. At night don't like a TV show at 8.30 go for an hour ride. Same with the morning.

Try doing an hour ride in the small chainring. This I found worked well as the next day and day before do a hard ride.

[macca33]

Ride what you are now doing, but in addition, race - that'll see you improve.

Disclaimer - this is my unalduterated, completely non-professional advice, but racing did improve my riding immensely.

Cheers and good luck.

[cyclotaur]

I've been riding for 5 years (approaching 60yo now...) and started basically from scratch, as the only riding previous to this was short (but regular) commutes and the occasional Sunday ride of about 15-20kms - which I thought was a pretty big deal at the ime !

As an indicator of what kicked my riding along I offer this potted history.

0-6 months: Varied exercise, walking, trail rides, road rides. 2-3 rides per week total 80-120 kms max.
6-10 months: Started to ride with others, more hills, faster Beach Rd rides, regular 3 rides per week, about 140kms per week.

Then ...Short trip at 2011 TourdeFrance: one week 305kms, followed by one month break whilst on holidays in Europe after TdF trip.

Returned home and upped target to 3-4 rides per week and at least 150kms.
Actually rode 200km per week for a month then did a 10 day tour completing 450km Port Fairy to Melbourne.

Entered 2012 Audax Alpine Challenge and upped riding in prep, averaged 230-250kms per week and lots of climbs (Dandenongs, Yarra Ranges, Lake Mountain, Mt Donna Buang) for 6 weeks then tapered and did the AAC130 Australia Day 2012.

So after about 18 months my routine riding was 3-4 rides per week, 200kms and (generally) 2000m+ climbing.
Maintained this for the next 2+ years including 2xATB100, another AAC 140 ride, several short tours, and many long 100+ rides. During this period I set all my best times on my regular rides. I also had one crash in May 2013 that slowed me down for several months and whose effects I still feel, but it doesn't really affect performance.

I have introduced 2 of my friends into road riding over the last few years as well, and bringing others along is a great motivator for your own efforts.

Then... after nearly 4 years of riding and a Melbourne winter lead-up I did a trip to Italy in September 2014 and rode 900kms and 20,000m climbing over 2 weeks in the Dolomites. This basically amounted to a riding/climbing 'boot camp' and the result was a massive improvement in strength and endurance - speed, not so much...

Did another ATB100 and AAC140 last summer and 2 short but hard mountain tours by March this year.
Since then, riding has tapered off quite a bit to only 2-3 rides per week and I am coming up to a 3 month break due to travel. However I still have great endurance and decent strength but not much zip, especially on climbs.

Come spring I'm entered in the ATB 200 (!!) which I will approach very carefully on 2 weeks prep, then start training again for next years AAC in January. I expect decent form to return OK as I will have a great base in the bank from the last 5 years and be pretty 'fresh' after the break.

It's not scientific and I don't know if that's any help, but what I take from it is to find some riding mates, vary your riding, set some targets and keep it interesting ... this keeps your motivation up and then the improvements will come.