Training for 10 mile TTs

[Cancellator]

Hey,

It's been about 10 months since I started road cycling. I didn't ride competitively until now, but starting this autumn I want to get involved in the many 10 mile TTs that happen in and around London

Thing is, I don't really have a training program. I usually ride (relatively fast-paced) club runs, 70 - 100k, 3-4 times a week right now. I wanted some tips from the amateur racers here, what would be a good schedule to start getting better at this kind of event? What I'm doing right now just seems disorganized.

Thanks!

 

[JayKosta]

A time trial is basically a 'suffer fest'. You need to pace yourself at the limit of your strength & endurance to finish without 'blowing up'. It is critical to be able to continue thru extreme discomfort, but without causing long term injury.

For training, hard intervals would be good to develop more speed, and also to help you learn the limits of your 'pain endurance', and your physical endurance.
The training should be intense enough that you must force yourself to do it - if it is fun or enjoyable, you are not training hard enough.

On the other hand, you could certainly ride a TT without such extreme training, but be prepared to not be competitive against the 'serious TT' riders.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

 

[Parera]

The training should be intense enough that you must force yourself to do it - if it is fun or enjoyable, you are not training hard enough.

That's great advice.

 

[hiero2]

Hey,

It's been about 10 months since I started road cycling. I didn't ride competitively until now, but starting this autumn I want to get involved in the many 10 mile TTs that happen in and around London

Thing is, I don't really have a training program. I usually ride (relatively fast-paced) club runs, 70 - 100k, 3-4 times a week right now. I wanted some tips from the amateur racers here, what would be a good schedule to start getting better at this kind of event? What I'm doing right now just seems disorganized.

Thanks!

Given that you have only been road cycling for a short time - have fun first. Practice doing 10 mile TTs on the course you will be competing on. See how hard you can go for 10 miles. Practice your starts a few times. Time yourself for the 1st mile, and see how long that takes when you start in a big gear. Then start in a little gear. See if it makes a difference for you.

Use some focus on keeping a straight line on the road - you can waste a lot of energy going from side to side. When you finish you want to be absolutely knackered - unable to turn another pedal stroke. Of course you will have some recovery after even a few seconds, so don't 2nd guess yourself. I used to benefit from working on keeping my mind quiet while I did a TT - no thoughts. This is borrowed from meditation techniques, and it can be very helpful. You hear about it more today as positive imaging technique, I think. Stay down in a tuck as long as you can - you will inevitably find yourself needing to raise your head to look at the road, but try to keep your aero position without moving. I used to find a good stretching program was helpful in this regard. Most riders pace their effort as evenly as possible.

These are all hints that might be part of a serious training regimen - but they are also "low-budget" in terms of your time. You can practice them while you are on a normal ride. Please, however, do not be rude in group rides and ride with your arms and elbows on the extension bars. Your bike is harder to handle in that position, and thus you are more dangerous to your ride mates.

Practice a 10 mile TT a little - say once a week. Don't forget to time yourself (I know that is a doh, but wouldn't it be irritating to get a mile down the road and realize you forgot to turn on your ride computer? Or that you started at 8:13 and thought "I'll remember that, easy" and then you aren't sure? It happens.

If you have fun and want to do it again next year, revisit this topic in the fall. I don't know if folks still do it - but I found a month training fixed gear in the early spring was very helpful for my pedalling efficiency. And there are other things you can do.

All that said, I mostly agree with the "TT as suffer fest" concept. To do your best, your pace will be higher than is comfortable for a lot of the route. If you go hard, when you finish you will be hacking like you are going to lose your lungs at any second, you will taste copper from the exertion. If you pace it right, there won't be any energy to do a sprint at the end. When you see the pros do that, they didn't pace it right, IMO. But, not pacing it right is pretty common - if you have enough legs left to stand for the last 200 meters, and a one second diff matters, go for it.

 

[JayKosta]

I think this program would work for basic ITT training.

1) DO NOT GET INJURED, TOO HARD TRAINING IS BAD!
2) Do this TT training one day a week. On a day that you are rested, and when the next day will be rest or easy riding.
3) Do easy/moderate riding for about 30 minutes to warmup.
4) 5 minutes hard interval, then 5 minute rest pace (going out).
5) 10 minute interval, 10 minute rest (going out).
6) 10 minute interval, 10 minute rest (coming back).
7) 5 minute interval, recovery pace home.

For the first few sessions, don't make the intervals too hard, they should be difficult but not brutal.
Change the intensity of the intervals after you have learned how your body handles the stress.
Remember #1.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

 

[The Cobra]

Best thing for 10m TT's is the old 2x20.

Spend 30 mins warming up.

Then ride for 20 mins as hard as you can, spend 10-15 mins easy then another 20mins as hard as you can, then 10-15 mins warm down. If you're training for TT's you should do these efforts in your TT position.

Do this once or twice a week. If you dont feel like you have the power to do a good effort, take it easy and try again the next day.Doing these intervals tired wont do you much good. It may take a while before you get the pacing right but after several sessions you'll know very accurately when you're on the edge. If you go a little bit harder you'll blow in minutes kind of effort. You'll be amazed just how deep you can suffer, usually after 10 mins I feel like theres no way I can go on, but I'll just do 5 more minutes, then another 5 and I'm there!

You could do shorter 3mins intervels at a higher intensity to sharpen up a few weeks before your event but 2x20 is a good start.

 

[BillytheKid]

It sounds like you have enough miles in to start training but, if you are a novice and have very few miles in your legs, your longer efforts at race distance should be easy.

If you've have some 500 miles or about 900k in your legs and have done hard effort before in other sports with no adverse effects proceed.

Before starting a program (programme) ride at least 500 miles easy to moderate in low gears with 90 rpm cadence. Even seasoned riders will put something like these base miles in early in the year. During this period you should have your fit to your bike check at a shop that caters to racing. Tell them your intentions. Buy a heart-rate monitor. See if they can test your anaerobic threshold and you VO2 max for you.

Afterwards Proceed with

1.Once weekly:

Try 3-5 minute efforts at that build over the first minute to a pace that is the hardest you can go for that time which should be around your AT. Don't fall off the the pace at 3-4 minutes because you've gone too hard…some trial and error is to be expected. Try to leave a little to slightly increase the effort over the last 30 seconds. Don't worry about the distance covered for now. Use the big ring, but nothing more than a 53x14, 53X15 is okay as well or even a 16. Keep your cadence at 85-100 rpm. Remember if your just starting and and can move up to larger gearing as you grow stronger. The exception is downhill sections where you will need a larger gear. I would suggest a route as flat as possible for these efforts at first.

3-4 of these with 2 to 3 minutes easy spinning in-between will do.
This should be your hardest day. Don't forget to warm up and cool down. The warm up can include a couple of short hard efforts at 30 seconds. No sprints.

You should really feel it after you finished this day.

2.Ride easy next day 30-40 hppm below the previous day's efforts for 45 minutes to an hour. The easy day heart rate varies. A novice may have an AT of 60% of VO2max where a seasoned rider would have an AT of 80% of VO2max . That also might mean you can ride the 5 minutes at 145-50 hbpm as where the seasoned rider may be able to achieve 180-185 hbpm and recover the next day at 60 hbpm below their AT.

3.Once weekly:

4.Ride the TT distance at about 10-15 heart beats per minute below that of the 5 minute efforts. Warm up and cool down. This should be fairly taxing as well and may be close to the real pace you need to ride at first. You can increase the heart rate in the final few ks. Use the gear you plan on using for most of the event. A rolling route is will obviously require multiple gears, but keep it mid a bigger gear and lower cadence for this ride. 85 rpm. This will build power-endurence.

5.Twice weekly:

Ride 20-25 hbpm below the 5 minute-effort for at lest two-three hours twice a week. Make these rides easy. You may become more fatigued towards the end, but keep to the small ring and focus on a high (90-100 rpm )but easy cadence. Don't let your heart rate stray into a higher range much if at all. You can incorporate the TT distance ride into one these long rides if you not able to ride more than 4 days a week, but as keep the heart-rate down before and after. Both of these rides can be stacked over Saturday/Sunday.

Optional: two days off or one more easy ride 30-60 minutes.

Ride the "hard" days in TT position with TT bars or bike.

Except for the 10 mile distance, you will notice I have not put any distance other than the beginning 500 miles for the beginner. You can note the distance you ride, but time is a better measure for now. Note speed as to gearing as to heart rate. This program is base on a young adult who has moderate fitness or has already engaged in a sport on a regular basis, but is a novice to cycling and is a time trial program (programme) only.

You may find the easy miles boring and want to ramp it up every day. Don't. Get the most out of the two hard days. The easy days are like a boxer using a speed bag and train your muscles to fire at the faster rpm even when using larger gears. they are for recovery and endurance. Also ride these relaxed take a look around. Keep the race switch off.

Make you hard days very hard and your easy very days easy. Don't let someone who comes along take you out of you day's planed ride. Smile and wave. Tell them you've got cold and let them go….anything. Stick to your program. (programme).

The shorter five minute efforts are more effective because you can sustain a higher effort over that distance. This will boost your AT much quicker combined with the effort at race distance (10 miles). The 10-mile effort should be hard but sustainable. Finish the final K at 5 hbpm above AT. Use a heart rate monitor as you main tool to start with. Note times, gearing, cadence, but ride mostly with the hear-rate monitor at first.

Sample:

Saturday:

Ride 2-3 hours and incorporate the TT course halfway through. Ride the ten miles 10-15 hbpm below the five minute effort or AT. 20-25 hbpm for the rest of the ride.
After a few weeks push the effort up for a few minutes during the ride to 5 hbpm below AT several times during the effort.

If the TT series has already started, still ride it as instructed.

Sunday: 2 Hours easy, 30-40 hbpm below AT. 85-100 rpm

Monday: off or easy at 40 hppm below AT- 30 minutes.

Tuesday: 45-hour in the easy range pushing to the AT only briefly once.

Wednesday: 3-4 five minutes efforts at AT. 3-4 minute easy in between. Warm up, cool down. Should take 1.5 hours.

Thursday: off or easy 20 minutes

Friday: 45-minutes to an hour at 30 hbpm below AT.

The Sunday ride can can be ridden Saturday if the event is Sunday. The point here is to get the long steady distance miles in somewhere.

Eventually you should be able to ride the 10 miles at AT. At this point 2x5 minutes mid week may be enough in you first year.

Learn from others who are successful, but amiable.

 

[Cancellator]

Thank you for all the detailed replies. I'll get to work with my program and maybe I'll post some updates.

 

[BillytheKid]

Thank you for all the detailed replies. I'll get to work with my program and maybe I'll post some updates.

Correction 5. Twice weekly..should read 30-40 hbpm below the inteval AT efforts. You can add some minus 20-25 hbpm segments of tempo riding if you feeling fresh, but don't over do it.

Also find an empty parking lot on the weekends along your route to break up the boredom. Use the traffic funiture or markings to practice turning on and off you bars. Try 180 turns that you can pedal through easy. Right and left handers...

Group rides are okay as long as every one is on the same page.

 

[2008885]

I'd say join a club, and ride some of their evening 10s - you'll get a feel for them, meet like minded people (or not!), and you'll find people who want training partners. I think that some of the suggestions made earlier are a bit premature - you can get into intervals etc later on if you want, but getting enjoyment out of any sport is vital when you first get into it.

 

[Cycle Fiesta]

If you main interest is short distance time trialling - and you're not bothered about riding hills anytime soon - I would hit the weights big time.

Do loads of variations of squats, deadlifts and some upper body work (bench presses / shoulder presses). Of course you still need to do the miles on the road, and practice a lot at time trials, but the extra muscle mass will really help (have you seen the legs of track riders!?)

 

[Darryl Webster]

My advice would be keep your gears to the largest you can manage to keep a cadence of 90 rmp plus..ideally nearer and over 100rpm.
This means nothing more than around 53X 15 until such time as your consistently faster than 25mph ( 24min) or even 23min.
Cycling is predominantly an aerobic sport not a strength sport and by far the commonest error I see novices make is over gearing.
My own 10 PB , 19.37 ,was set in 1984 on a standard road bike with a pair of 28 spoke wheels and top gear ( hardly used ) of 53X 12.

 

[hiero2]

Thank you for all the detailed replies. I'll get to work with my program and maybe I'll post some updates.

You sure did get some detailed replies! I thought mine was pretty soft, if wordy, but you got plenty more! It all read pretty good to me. Things like not going TOO hard - which can be very hard to judge. How you feel the next day can be useful. If your heart isn't in it - don't sweat it - take an easy day or three. Riding with groups can be useful for restoring motivation.

If you feel like it, it would be nice if you kept a little progress diary, and then wrote a couple paragraphs about the your TT experience when it was done. I think a lot of folks here would like to read it.

 

[online-rider]

Hey,

It's been about 10 months since I started road cycling. I didn't ride competitively until now, but starting this autumn I want to get involved in the many 10 mile TTs that happen in and around London

Thing is, I don't really have a training program. I usually ride (relatively fast-paced) club runs, 70 - 100k, 3-4 times a week right now. I wanted some tips from the amateur racers here, what would be a good schedule to start getting better at this kind of event? What I'm doing right now just seems disorganized.

Thanks!

Its been years since I've done any TTs but still the basics shouldnt have changed.
- Train in the mornings, as early as you can. Don't train after work / school.
- Keep your rides low mileage like 40-50k maximum for a 10 mile timetrial.
- Dont drink coffee or other stimulants during your training blocks.
- Ride as hard and fast as you can at intervals.
- Do some wall sits or other muscle work outside of cycling.
- If you train on hills stay seated
On Race day :
- Hyperventilate for a few hours beforehand. Either put head in a paper bag or mow the grass so that the dust goes into your lungs and you have to restrict your airways to cope. This means when you get out onto the road your lungs will expand more than normal.
- Have a sugary coffee and/or chocolate just before the race.

And most importantly don't subscribe to that the less i eat the faster i'll go bull****!

 

[Cancellator]

Its been years since I've done any TTs but still the basics shouldnt have changed.
- Train in the mornings, as early as you can. Don't train after work / school.
- Keep your rides low mileage like 40-50k maximum for a 10 mile timetrial.
- Dont drink coffee or other stimulants during your training blocks.
- Ride as hard and fast as you can at intervals.
- Do some wall sits or other muscle work outside of cycling.
- If you train on hills stay seated
On Race day :
- Hyperventilate for a few hours beforehand. Either put head in a paper bag or mow the grass so that the dust goes into your lungs and you have to restrict your airways to cope. This means when you get out onto the road your lungs will expand more than normal.
- Have a sugary coffee and/or chocolate just before the race.

And most importantly don't subscribe to that the less i eat the faster i'll go bull****!

Wow, that's a piece of advice I never heard before . I guess it's the same effect the pros go for with those cotton buds?

 

[online-rider]

Wow, that's a piece of advice I never heard before . I guess it's the same effect the pros go for with those cotton buds?

Yeah theyre probably thinking along the same lines. Alot of second hand cigarette smoke also does the job. Anything that makes it hard to breathe for a couple of hours.
Good luck in this TT dude!

 

[BillytheKid]

I'd say join a club, and ride some of their evening 10s - you'll get a feel for them, meet like minded people (or not!), and you'll find people who want training partners. I think that some of the suggestions made earlier are a bit premature - you can get into intervals etc later on if you want, but getting enjoyment out of any sport is vital when you first get into it.

If you been riding for 10 months and doing the fast paced stuff with a group that's great, but you asked for a training program for the ITT, and, as I said, it sounds like you have enough miles to start intervals. The shorter ones I gave you can accomplish a few major things. Shorter intervals give you the chance to learn where your top gear is or AT. You can maintain a harder effort over the shorter distance which will translate over time into being able to ride that intensity over the 10 miles.

Group rides are great as long as you are on the same page with others. Many riders leave the best performances on an intense group ride. Doing 3-4 harder rides a week may not offer enough recovery. It is hard to say because you may have already competed in another sport and have some ability to do so, but more often than not those who go out and hammer too many days of the week will never reach their top level and leave the best efforts on the practice floor. Remember your not riding the TdF, you're doing a 10 mile ITT once a week.

Periodization is the program I offered you is focused on the ITT. I see know reason to not start intervals. The event your racing is an interval. The short day allows you to push harder than you would if you just rode 10s.

The idea, depending on the length of the series, is to mark off some off the final TTs as ones you would like to try for personal best. Say it's the last two of the series. During those weeks, cut back on the number, but not the intensity of the shorter intervals (these should be very hard and you should be totally focus on a max effort) make sure you do a couple moderately hard efforts 10 hbpm below you AT the day before the race. This helps your body be a ready for harder effort race day.

Group rides tend to become competitve which may not be a bad thing during certain times of the year (spring...before the race seson sets in).

The biggest improvement for me came when I realized that majority training miles should be ridden at a easy pace 30 to 40 hbpm below AT or at tempo 15 to 20 hbpm below AT. Going into next season, depending on what your goals are, you will be able to do a bit more.

Staying easy will ensure the two hard days will yield improvement week to week.

There's some other good advice here. Read it. Find out what works for you.

Here is one training guide to ITTs. Good luck.

http://www.amazon.com/Trial-Training-Racing-Power-ebook/dp/B002VWKGJU