Cycling For Beginners pt6: A Personalised Training Plan

Описание: How to put together a personalised on the bike training plan.



Sadly, training plans aren’t a one size fits all solution. Each of us will have very specific training needs and varying amounts of time to actually go out and ride the bike. Here, then is how to put together an effective training plan just for you.

If you’ve entered a cycling event, are thinking about a entering one or just want to get fit on the bike you could simply go out and ride and ride and ride….now, while this will get you a decent level of general fitness it won’t be very focused and maybe even let you down on particular aspects of your chosen event. For example, if you ride on mainly flat routes and your chosen sportive is hilly, you may find it difficult.

The first thing to do when putting together any training plan is make an honest assessment of your current level of fitness. Think about the type of riding you do and how much and how often you do it. Going out everyday for hours on end probably means that you are fairly fit already and you may only need to target very specific areas. However, if you only ride 500 metres to the pub on a Saturday night, it probably means that you have a bit of work to do. With this in mind, you should allow between six and eighteen weeks to train depending on your current level of fitness.

Next, take an equally honest look at what goals you want to achieve when you’ve finished your training plan. This can be anything. For some it could mean being fit enough to ride a their sportive or gran fondo while, for others, it may be to improve their time at the local time trial. Write down as many of these goals as you can and, if possible, try to quantify them. For example, if you want to improve your endurance think about what sort of distance in miles or kilometres you would like to be able to ride.

Now think about what time you have available to actually train. For any programme of exercise to be super effective it has to be regular so try to put aside as much time as possible as often as possible. In a perfect world, I would suggest aiming for around an hour at least three or four times a week but if this is not possible try to do whatever you can. For those who are really serious about their training it may mean getting up extra early or using the bike for the daily commute but for many, work and family commitments may mean only have a couple of hours available each week. If this is the case it is important to use what ever free time there is to maximum benefit.

Once you’ve identified the areas that you need to improve and the time that you have available to actually train, you can start structuring your individual plan. As a general rule of thumb you will need to spend 60% of your time working on your weaknesses and the remaining 40% on maintaining the areas you are happy with. So for instance, if you need to improve your climbing and you have four one hour training sessions a week, you will need to spend at least two, possibly even three of those sessions doing hill work.

If you would like to follow my efforts on the bike you can follow me on Strava. My profile is here:   / strava  

You are also very welcome to join my virtual cycling club on Strava. By sharing our rides we can help and encourage each other to reach our fitness goals.

You can join the club here:   / strava  

and the Chernobyl Cycling Club Facebook group here:
  / chernobylcyclingclub