by tomf
Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:52 pm
when young potential really good riders ask us oldies for advice we should keep it simple
It's a fair challenge: come up with a plan that fits on less than a side (and a half?) of A4, needs no specialist knowledge or equipment, and outperforms 'ride lots, enjoy it, stop when tired' without making unreasonable demands on time...
Since I was sat on a train, I stuck out my neck and had a go. At the risk of ridicule, the next post is a plan based on stuff I've used as a cyclist or as a rowing coach. It's about 1/3 common sense, 1/3 basic sport science and 1/3 my personal preferences. And I suspect it's a bit speed-heavy by accepted standards, and it only pays lip-service to the idea of ‘technique’. It's not optimised to any event, but I think it's pretty 'general purpose' to anything below ultra-distance.
The target audience would be anyone who’s cycling regularly already, and is keen to get fitter so they can start competing at some level, but doesn’t have much idea what to do. It’s not meant to replace Phil’s useful pages but to provide a simple programme that you can just get started on. It takes about 11-12hr/week to do fully, which is more than I managed last winter but not ridiculous for someone with no childcare responsibilities...
Two key questions: What are my credentials? Why should you believe this stuff works? The answers are: thin, and you shouldn’t – yet. I know a bit of physiology but I’m not qualified and I’m not even an experienced racer. I’m a reasonably experienced rowing coach. So the point of posting the program here now, is to get it ‘peer-reviewed’: exploit the collective wisdom of the Clifton crowd to improve it. Then it might become a useful starting point for the aspiring racer.
To that end, please post critical feedback here on any aspect of the programme: is it clear? Practical? Intelligible? Sensible? Sound physiologically? What have I left out? What could I leave out? Bear in mind the aim was to make it concise, so there will always be extra details, extra types of session that *could* be included, but I’ve tried to stick to essentials. If this works, we could always conjure up an Intermediate plan with more bells and whistles for someone who has done the first one for a year and wants more…
I’d be particularly interested to hear from Will whether he thinks it would help him at all.
Tom (feeling pretty scared)