Training...

[XC_peterson]

How many hours, days, etc... in a week do you guys do? I have so much fun riding and I want to step it up a notch. I'm a beginner and wanting to move up to sport what do you guys reccomend?

[Jordan M.]

On mtbr.com you said you don't even own a bike yet, so how can you be racing beginner with no bike?

[Thewavebb]

I ride mondays, wednesdays and fridays typically. Usually in the 10-15 miles of trail range. On tuesdays and Thursdays I run. The distance on those vary on my agenda for the week. After every ride I also do abs and arm workouts. However, if the Wind gods give me a windy day, I scrap whatever i'm doing that day and go windsurfing. Thats one hell of an awsome workout. The biggest thing for me was cleaning up my diet. I cut out most processed and junk food, beer, and soda. Its amazing how much better your body performs when you give it a lot of water and feed it right.

On mtbr.com you said you don't even own a bike yet, so how can you be racing beginner with no bike?

That wasn't very constructive. Who gives a crap what he said on another forum. From the sounds of it, you should spend less time in the forums and more time enjoying life.

[Jordan M.]

I ride mondays, wednesdays and fridays typically. Usually in the 10-15 miles of trail range. On tuesdays and Thursdays I run. The distance on those vary on my agenda for the week. After every ride I also do abs and arm workouts. However, if the Wind gods give me a windy day, I scrap whatever i'm doing that day and go windsurfing. Thats one hell of an awsome workout. The biggest thing for me was cleaning up my diet. I cut out most processed and junk food, beer, and soda. Its amazing how much better your body performs when you give it a lot of water and feed it right.



That wasn't very constructive. Who gives a crap what he said on another forum. From the sounds of it, you should spend less time in the forums and more time enjoying life.




Sorry If it did sound "constructive" I was just curious...

Also, I don't spend that much time in the forums.. Unless you mean looking at mtbr for 10 minutes a day a lot of time. Once again I did enjoy life today, I put in 8 laps at mt. kato Sunday Morning:) As the old saying goes, "Don't judge a book by its cover"

-Jordan

[XC_peterson]

On mtbr.com you said you don't even own a bike yet, so how can you be racing beginner with no bike?
I use my moms expensive mtn. bike right now... This is my first year mtn. biking do you think riding 8 hours a week for 3-4 days is good for my first year? I'm going to be doing this for a couple of months and adding mileage and hours too...

[Trevize1138]

Never underestimate the POWER of a good diet!

I dropped 20-25 lbs about a year ago, it was all I needed to be trim. As you can see from those numbers, I wasn't tremendously overweight at all, but it made all the difference when it came to how fast I was and especially how effective training was.

I trained and trained like hell at 25 lbs heavier and it worked to get me faster and in better shape. But I got in even better shape in 1/2 the time with what felt like 1/2 the effort after I dropped the weight and ate the right foods.

I'm a huge fan of specifically *not* overtraining, too. That's tougher than it sounds, too. There's a time for strength workouts, a time for speed workouts but when it all comes down to it a good 80% of your time in the saddle should be spent not working *that* hard. Long, slow distance (LSD) is how you should be training most of the time, with a strength/speed workout only once a week.
As for my schedule, it really depends on the weather and the schedule for the rest of my life. I don't have set days/times, so basically when I get a chance I hit the saddle. I probably ride 3-4 times a week and get 16-20 miles of riding each time (16 miles on-trail at someplace like Lebanon, 9 miles on-trail and 11 miles on pavement when I ride to Theo). I don't ever do speed/strength workouts, though ... well, no strength workouts unless you count swingin' my tool at trail building. :D

[nigel]

Best off-road race training is road biking!

[LightWeight]

Best off-road race training is road biking!

Absolutely! Ride to work if you can. Gets me in shape pretty quick.

[Thewavebb]

Absolutely! Ride to work if you can. Gets me in shape pretty quick.

I started doing that as well. However, my office is only 8 blocks from home so its more of a way to enjoy my commute and save money on gas. Plus a nice looking bike in my office has proven to be a great conversation starter when my clients come in for appointments.

[mara]

I don't believe in "training." Anything that would make biking seem like work just doesn't appeal. I take the insurance off my car in spring and use my bike for commuting and errands. I do trailwork at least once a week and mountain bike every chance I get. All my riding is fun riding, and I'm in pretty decent shape without having to work at it.

Riding makes you a better rider. Riding with patient people who are better than you gets you there a little faster. :cool:

[Trevize1138]

That's a good way to look at it! Training takes the fun out of biking. And who wants that? :)

I do wonder if I got enough of "training" in HS with cross country and track. That brings back memories of feeling like my legs were three feet thick and headaches after quarter-mile intervals ... throwing up my morning's OJ ... fun ...

[homebrewbiker]

If you want to get technical, the problem with only biking is that you can overdevelop some muscles and underdevelop others. For example, bikers get strong quads and weak hamstrings, which can lead to injury (potentially at least). It is also helpful in biking to have a string core to support your lower back, which takes a lot of stress. Finally, developing a more muscular build can reduce the potenetial of serious injury after crashes (a significant part of the MTB experience at least for this guy).

My bike consultant mentioned to me that his best year of racing ever was when he was hurt all winter and just swam. Swimming can help develop other muscles as well as lung capacity.

All of these things become more significant as we get older. When you are young you can get away with a lot more.

[Trevize1138]

Oh, and I was also guaranteed at least one major muscle injury per SEASON in HS from running. Part of that was overtraining but a lot of it was no doubt just because running is the worst thing you can do to your body. In my 14 years since high school ... HURK! ... *gasp*


.... 14 YEARS?!!!?


Um ... yet I digress ... I haven't had another muscle injury in that time with biking. :)

[Thewavebb]

It is also helpful in biking to have a string core to support your lower back, which takes a lot of stress.

I second that. My back was killing me on just about every ride my first couple years and I finally had enough. I bought a Full Suspension XC bike and started doing lots of different ab workouts. The combination of the two was the ticket for me. I had been told that abdominal muscles play an intigral part in supporting the back, plus once the last of my sixpack of beer is burned off my gut, i will have a different type of six pack.

Oh, and I was also guaranteed at least one major muscle injury per SEASON in HS from running. Part of that was overtraining but a lot of it was no doubt just because running is the worst thing you can do to your body. In my 14 years since high school ... HURK! ... *gasp*

.... 14 YEARS?!!!?

Um ... yet I digress ... I haven't had another muscle injury in that time with biking. :)

Oh man, I lucked out with only having a couple torn ankle ligaments from my years of XC running in High school. I had a couple friends who kept running through college and have really messed themselves up for life.