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base miles... how soon?

2338 Views 31 Replies 17 Participants Last post by FortOrdDirt, Jan 7, 2010

mtb_chick

Discussion Starter · Dec 31, 2009

So, I've given myself a good post 09 season rest (early Oct-mid Nov off) and I'm back in full winter swing - downhill skiing 5 or 6 days a week and skate skiing one day (2-3 hrs) and 1 or 2 evenings (1 hr) pw. I also do power yoga classes 3 nights pw. The snowpack here prevents me from riding outside and I am not doing any work on the trainer right now.

My question is this: how soon before the 2010 race season (my first race is in mid May) should I be back on the bike getting in the base miles? Realistically the soonest I can ride outside is early April, and my ski workload (I do it for a living) often means that I am too tired for a real workout before or after work....

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bellullabob

· #2 · Dec 31, 2009 (Edited)

my Annual Training Plan has two peaks build into it-joel friel style ;-). First peak is in may ish (don't have my atp infront of me right now) and am working on my 3rd base 1 week right now....

I would say it depends on when you plan on peaking and what cat you are racing in. For longish/ cat 1 races, now is really the time to start building some base. Other wise you are probably okay waiting some more. Sounds like you have fairly active off bike activities / work going on which should allow you to keep some of last years fitness gains.

flargle

· #3 · Dec 31, 2009

mtb_chick said:
Realistically the soonest I can ride outside is early April, and my ski workload (I do it for a living) often means that I am too tired for a real workout before or after work....

But you just wrote that you do yoga three times a week.

gmx

· #4 · Dec 31, 2009

What's your first race?

If you can fit it into your schedule, the riding in Vancouver usually goes year round. Would probably be a good break from indoor work or skiing.

AZ

· #5 · Dec 31, 2009

For a May race I am starting now , FWIW .

mtb_chick

Discussion Starter · #6 · Dec 31, 2009

flargle said:
But you just wrote that you do yoga three times a week.

I don't consider yoga a cardio workout.

GMX my first race will probably be OreCrusher in Squamish May 15. I can't get to van for mtb, no time.

bellullabob I need to go through my race schedule and figure out when I want to peak. Most of my bigger races are long though, test of metal, gearjammer, cheakamus, etc. so around the 60-70k mark. It's my longer term goal to do the BC bike race (7 day stage) next year (2011) or the year after. I'm definitely maintaining some fitness with my lifestyle, but nothing mtb specific. thanks for your input.

used2Bhard

· #7 · Jan 1, 2010

June

Racing in June, started riding again last week. As long as it's over 15 degrees, I'm outside on the bike with lights after work, and during the occasional weekend day. Base for me, is not long rides. It's 1.5 to 3 hour rides with tempo and a few short intervals.

bellullabob

· #8 · Jan 1, 2010

I have been eyeing that BC race too. Looks really good!!

With your goal of wanting to do longer style races, your aerobic fitness is going to play a huge role, and that is really worked on during Base training (which you really want to start now).

Sounds like you are really pressed for time and getting a daily ride in is just too much. Ideally, you would have your bike set up on the trainer and ready to go when you come home. Even tired, perhaps starting on alternate days, mindlessly start doing an easy spin in front of the tube for an hour. Don't work it hard but just start getting yourself used to being on the bike when you come home (then down the road you can thinking about adding a more difficult workload). Also starting some leg strength exercises on your non riding days, 2x/week might be an easy way to start.

Perhaps contemplate giving up your yoga twice a week, and start riding on those days. Another thought is, if you are too tired after being ski's all day, try riding before you go to work. Would make your skiing a great active recovery...

It might be hard to get that training in right now (I freaking hate my trainer like nothing else), but I keep on telling myself that come race season, I'll be glad I did (hopefully

). When I don't have any motivation, I'll watch some mtb videos on youtube or dvds and that gets me going... My favorites are the 2009 world cup ones..

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mtb_chick

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jan 1, 2010

thanks for the advice guys, looks like I should get going now on the trainer! I can definitely do an hour spin in front of the tv after work. I have a couple racing dvds that get me inspired (24 solo and off road to athens). anyone know any other good xc vids?

neverdnf

· #10 · Jan 1, 2010

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but how long should my base rides be?

My training time is somewhat limited by work, wife and 2 kids under 2 y/o. I'll be racing the beginner class and max race length will probably last only about 1hr 20 mins.

Thanks

flargle

· #11 · Jan 1, 2010

mtb_chick said:
anyone know any other good xc vids?

Not XC but I really like watching spring classics (esp. Paris-Roubaix) while on the rollers.

jroden

· #12 · Jan 2, 2010

mtb_chick said:
thanks for the advice guys, looks like I should get going now on the trainer! I can definitely do an hour spin in front of the tv after work. I have a couple racing dvds that get me inspired (24 solo and off road to athens). anyone know any other good xc vids?

You'd be much better served to get on the trainer, warm up 10 mins and ride the rest at around your FTP, either longer (10-20 mins) intervals or a block of tempo at a slightly easier pace. Just spinning on a trainer won't really do much besides make you sweat a lot.

Le Duke

· #13 · Jan 2, 2010

flargle said:
Not XC but I really like watching spring classics (esp. Paris-Roubaix) while on the rollers.

P-R, for whatever reason, has the most prestige of the classics, but de Ronde is far and away the best, in terms of both the race and the crowd that shows up to watch it.

How many races do you know of where EVERY lump and molehill has a name, and people can rattle off the last time someone launched their race winning attack on that same 1km stretch? Flanders is the only one I can think of, really.

flargle

· #14 · Jan 2, 2010

Le Duke said:
How many races do you know of where EVERY lump and molehill has a name, and people can rattle off the last time someone launched their race winning attack on that same 1km stretch? Flanders is the only one I can think of, really.

Or Paris-Roubaix? I won't argue against either.

bellullabob

· #15 · Jan 2, 2010

jroden said:
Just spinning on a trainer won't really do much besides make you sweat a lot.

Agreed! My point was more about getting her on the bike and starting to dev a routine when coming home to get on the bike. It seems, since she is tired after skiing all day that the thought of coming home to do a two hour zone 2/3 workout would be too much at this time. So start w/ an hour workout and those days you feel like you have more energy do longer tempo workouts...

bellullabob

· #16 · Jan 2, 2010

neverdnf said:
Don't mean to hijack this thread, but how long should my base rides be?

My training time is somewhat limited by work, wife and 2 kids under 2 y/o. I'll be racing the beginner class and max race length will probably last only about 1hr 20 mins.

Thanks

For beginner races, you dont' really need to build a huge base. I would concentrate more on cadence and strength and dev a tolerance for sprints. Aerobic workouts really mostly benefit 2 hr + races....

LMN

· #17 · Jan 2, 2010

What you are currently doing looks like about all you can do with your work. The only thing I would change is add at minimum a 1hr trainer session each week.

AndrwSwitch

· #18 · Jan 2, 2010

mtb_chick said:
So, I've given myself a good post 09 season rest (early Oct-mid Nov off) and I'm back in full winter swing - downhill skiing 5 or 6 days a week and skate skiing one day (2-3 hrs) and 1 or 2 evenings (1 hr) pw. I also do power yoga classes 3 nights pw. The snowpack here prevents me from riding outside and I am not doing any work on the trainer right now.

My question is this: how soon before the 2010 race season (my first race is in mid May) should I be back on the bike getting in the base miles? Realistically the soonest I can ride outside is early April, and my ski workload (I do it for a living) often means that I am too tired for a real workout before or after work....

What kind of skiing? Teaching? Patrol? Something else?

For me, downhill skiing becomes pretty cardio intensive again if I'm on moguls or charging something demanding, like in the rocks and trees. So sneak in some "fun" runs and give yourself training credit for them.

I also like to hike peaks from time to time, and I know that pushes me. It sounds to me like you're doing enough stuff to at least retain some aerobic capacity despite not being on the bike, so I'd think you just need to retain some specificity. If you can figure out a way to shoehorn some time on the trainer into your day once a week, I bet that would help a lot to keep fit for the summer riding season.

And if work is making you tired... your body should still react by overcompensating, so you should be getting some training benefit already, even if it's not as specific as doing base miles would be. (I tried to start base in November, although it hasn't gone too well with the holidays and crappy weather.)

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mtb_chick

Discussion Starter · #19 · Jan 2, 2010

AndrwSwitch said:
What kind of skiing? Teaching? Patrol? Something else?

I teach. High intermediate to advanced level adult groups. I can have easy days and hard days. Case in point: this past week I spent 5 days pounding bumps. by the end of day 5 I was exhausted. Other weeks I will spend 2 or 3 days at a time cruising the groomers and feel like I've done nothing. It all depends who shows up. So unfortunately I can't plan and get into a routine. What I can do is ski hard one day a week when I am not teaching, and there is always a bunch of short hikes that go with that. My other day off I try to skate ski for 2-3hrs which is always a good cardio workout! I can adjust my trainer and additional skate ski time according to how hard I've worked. I also attend a training session (skiing) every morning before I work for 1 hour but that's more of a warm up than a workout. I'm reluctant to quit yoga, I find it hugely beneficial.

As for the other comments on the trainer, I understand that simply spinning won't do anything for my fitness but I also believe that I don't want to start with intervals right away? Or maybe I do want intervals, but super low key ones.....??

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jroden

· #20 · Jan 2, 2010

when you get on the trainer, if you ride at tempo to threshold pace with some short breaks fit in you will get the most benefit. Just riding easy on the trainer is good for recovery. but you have nothing much to recover from given your current schedule.

As I read your responses, it seems like either not racing in spring or doing the races "just for fun" and training through them is the way to go.

When you are able to make the bike training a top priority, then you'll improve. Until then I'd just do what you can and not worry about it.

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