Training Questions and Answers

It is impossible for us to personalise everything within this section but we are constantly aware of the fact that our visitors will range from those who ride only 10 miles at a time (and purely for pleasure) to those who race on or off road on a regular basis. Even ex National Champions visit this site.

As mentioned elsewhere we intend therefore to develop this section further by assisting you with your specific training queries. If it appears that we need to add any additional areas then of course we will do so.

Please use the facilities elsewhere to submit your training query, we will incorporate this into this section but only with your permission and anonymously should you prefer it. Please be aware that what you may consider a simple question may well be the question hundreds of other visitors also want to know the answer to. Also this approach is not to gain your e-mail address so that we can bombard you with junk e-mails, this is not our approach and you will find that you can submit your query without your e-mail address should you prefer

Question	From (if appropriate)	Training query
Could you please help me out by giving me a rough idea of the type/amount/frequency of training i should be doing. i am a 21 year old downhill mountain biker who participates in SAMS, NAMS and the BDRA races. i have a resting heart rate of 54 bpm, a relative VO2 of 63 ml/kg and am quite technically adept could you please give me a rough idea of the traing zones, intensities, frequency overload and types of training i should be doing to improve my times. i would also be greatfull ir you could indicate the differnce of in and out of season training to me and give me advice on training in both these areas	James Harding address withheld	Most important is flat out effort, which tends in the main to be short bursts of very intensive effort surrounded by effort at AT and all whilst maintaining control of the bike. At this stage of the season, downhilling itself is probably the best form of training but if you have weeks between, or before, racing you'll find 2/3 interval sessions per week will certainly help - a race should be considered an interval session. You may find the following 35 - 40 minute session useful for those interval sessions Warm up for 10 minutes concentrate on gradually raising your heart rate to level 2. Then do 5 minutes as follows: 15 seconds flat out (and I mean flat out), then 45 seconds recovery. Repeat this 5 times. These sessions will raise your heart rate and maintain it within level 3 (AT) and also take it into level 4 (Anaerobic) 5 minutes of easy riding Repeat the 5 minutes as above 10 minutes cool down. Gradually increase the number of flat out intervals until you are doing 2 sessions of 10 x 15 second intervals. On days other than these rest, or ride easy to allow you body to recover and adapt. The adaptation will be teaching your body flat out effort! The above is probably one of the best forms of training for during the season. Outside of season you need to build a sound endurance base (level 2 riding for at least 1 hour, I'm sorry but riding on the road is best for this) and get yourself to the gym 3 times per week working on building power and strength into your legs but don't ignore your upper body. Some cyclists find running very useful for building strength in the legs but don't do it during the season, keep your training specific.
How do cyclist use weight training to increase power? I dont belong to a gym, but have got weights and a rucsack :) Im aiming to increase my power in sprints, and also improve muscular endurance on longer rides (which i believe will come from doing more longer rides!) Many thanks, Ben	Ben Cotter	Good question, it used to baffle me. It's to do with muscle types, you have two main types (you have three infact but we usually talk about two). The two are normally referred to as Fast twitch and Slow twitch. Fast twitch are white and are the muscles that tire quickly i.e. when sprinting. Slow twitch are red and are slow to tire i.e. endurance. When you go on long rides you train your slow twitch muscles. You also become stronger and this is what confuses people, in truth you are able to put more power down for longer i.e your endurance has improved. Strength training concentrates on your fast twitch muscles making them stronger, they still tire almost as quickly but in the short period of power transfer, the power can be much higher. I don't know if you are into the track, but most track sprinters use weights to build a higher muscle mass i.e. their fast twitch muscles. I don't know if you know or have heard of Hubner, he was a man mountain track sprinter who used weights all the time and boy could he sprint. Be careful that you don't build too much muscle mass, that is unless you are intending becoming a track sprinter. Hope this is of use.
I am along with 35 other cyclists preparing to cycle 2500 miles to Romania in July. We are all aged 16-18 reasonably fit people. We realise that to undertake such a task riding on average 50 miles a day it is neccessary to begin training. We have thought about starting cycling in early march, but with other kinds of training in the mean time. I would be grateful if you could advise us on what to do in the mean time remembering many of us are not usually cyclists!! Any help that you could give us or further information you could give us would be well recieved. Yours Nathan Evans	Nathan Evans	Assuming you all have bikes already I personally would suggest you start sooner rather than later to work on your endurance or aerobic base and preferably on the road, rather than off road. To ride 50 miles per day you need a sound aerobic base (good endurance) before you start. Infact this is really what you should concentrate on building because I am assuming this is not a race? To develop a sound aerobic base for cycling, which amongst other things teaches your body to use a higher volume of body fat rather that the precious stores of high octane carbs, you need to do long steady rides or what I refer to in the site as level 2 training. At this time of year most cyclists will be doing at least one long ride per week, usually Saturday or Sunday mornings, anything from 30-100 miles but at a very steady pace. My first suggestion is that you should start this form of training now. Perhaps start with a 25 mile round trip taking in a cafe or pub stop. Gradually increase the distance/time, though no more than 10% per week until you are comfortably riding 50+miles or the equivalent time you will ride each day. Don't forget that these are steady rides so it doesn't matter how long the ride takes, just make sure you do the distance, you are looking to build endurance and some strength, not speed. You're also hardening other more sensitive parts of the anatomy (you backside).