There ya go. That's the new training mantra. Toss out the new fancy crap. The coaching plans. The zones. All that bull.
Ride, Not Too Much, Mostly Hard.
That's what it takes.
You don't need x number of house at y% LT.
Ride. You know. The bike. The thing that is fun to ride.
Not Too Much. As in don't pig out on the buffet. Don't do back to back to back centuries when training for a 45-60 minute crit or cross race. Don't ride 7 days a week and expect to get faster.
Mostly Hard. If you ride hard most of the time, well you'll get faster. If you are pushing yourself on the bike, and making sure not to do it too much, it works. No real need to know what zone, where relative to LT. Those things can change. What doesn't change is that you have a terminal speed. If you ride Mostly hard, that terminal speed will slowly increase. Not all hard obviously. You need to warm up, cool down, have a mellow ride now and then.
This stuck in my head this morning. Was talking about the Pollan books with my Mother this weekend. One of my aunts was ALL about the Omnivore book of his. Saying it was the best thing written and on and on. At some point after talking I wondered, does my aunt still follow the "guidelines" as rigorously as she did when reading the book? I wonder. So yes.
Eat, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants.
Makes wicked damn a lot of sense.
Ride, Not Too Much, Mostly Hard.
Similar logic and a very compelling argument.
Esp if you are not inclinded to be a slave to technology, spending countless hours downloading data, analyzing it, discussing it with someone, planning how hard to ride for the next month. All that time that you could be spending reading, learning (diversifying your mind on topics you aren't well versed in), writing, loving, being a good citizen of the planet. Hell it is bad enough everyone plunks themselves down in front of the TV every night.
Ride. Not Too Much. Mostly Hard.
Heddwch,
G
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12 comments:
I think you answered all the questions I had.
I agree with your general mantra, but you need to be careful how you define "mostly hard." Going out and hammering by yourself regularly is how you become a level 3 all-star.
In other words, don't ride "pretty hard" all the time. Ride really hard some of the time.
Good catch there Colin.
Yes my intent for the final "Mostly Hard" part was not intended to be taken as pretty hard all the time.
But that you should really ride hard, but not all the time obviously (or maybe it seemed to me).
as you define it "mostly hard" would sort of fall under the medium ride makes for medium racer.
It needs a bit of work to clear up the ambiguities and to clarify the real meaning behind it.
I'd wager I could come up with at least 50 pages of a book without actually resorting to research. And with a few references I am sure I could hit 200 pages talking about the philosophy.
MIF - don't you go getting any bright ideas now...
that's got to be the worst training advice I've ever read.
Geepers,
I've already raked you through the coals for this gem.. but it bears repeating:
"Ride and train with a purpose. If this is too hard for you, then refrain from professing about how to train.. unless you enjoy indoctrinating an audience on matters which you yourself don't take very seriously."
:P
Hey Ge, did you see Joe's blog from Sunday?. Read the post then the first comment and Joe's response. Pretty funny. Moral of the story, training is not one size fits all.
I don't follow you here though. I'd say ride a lot, not too hard...
But Murat, if you're so hardcore that you need a coach and a pm, why are you so soft core that you let your weight go up 15% in the off season? That's not a serious athlete. And don't even think of bringing up Ullrich, because I'll bet you can't find one picture where he looks as fat as you. That stuff was a lot of BS trumped by th press to sell papers. He managed to finish First or second in the tour almost every time he did it. I'll take that kind of weight problem.
Bah!
Point taken, but you're a year late to make that remark. That was the previous winter when I reached 190.
My weight at peak form in '07 was 164. My highest weight this winter was 176, and I'm now in the 170-173 range.. You make it sound like I'm the only one who adds some pounds in winter.. I', managing it better now thank you.
Okay forget Ullrich.. what about Bettini? Someone noted that he was up 15 kilos or something this winter..
Hey I can name some other pear and fig shaped masters who kick all of our asses up and down New England. So long as you're not populating your training time with junk miles and pointless rides in which the duration and intensity are determined solely by the weather, what does it matter what you weigh?
I am honestly surprised this comment section didn't turn into a 55-comment epic. I guess at this point most people have given up on discussing training with G.
Anon 8:03 wrote:
"that's got to be the worst training advice I've ever read."
Well then, what I have to say is that you are the dumbest reader of this web log since G-ride started following.
Why?
Well the anonymous bit doesn't help your case (provides a cheap shot i can't pass up), and well i'll go into it in a minute.
Murat wrote at 8:54 (and some time previous IIRC):
"Ride and train with a purpose. If this is too hard for you, then refrain from professing about how to train.. unless you enjoy indoctrinating an audience on matters which you yourself don't take very seriously."
First sentence. Absolutely.
Second bit: How is "Ride, Not Too Much, Mostly Hard" incompatible with your training program your coach has given you?
Solobreak wrote at 10:48pm:
"I don't follow you here though. I'd say ride a lot, not too hard..."
More often than not I hear of people over training. Sure there are plenty of examples of people not riding enough - or training enough.
But in combination, taken together:
Ride
Not Too Much
Mostly Hard
Seems from all the filtering of every damn training program i've seen pretty accurate.
WAY WAY too reductionist for many. Lacking specificity of course.
But look around. Look at how people get fast. Look at the podium winners.
Are they all doing EXACTLY the same thing? The same 'type' of training? Same type of intervals? Same type of endurance/intensity/recovery what not?
Do the winners all stack up exactly according to their watts/kg numbers?
No. I feel pretty confident that the answer is No.
The whole premise of: Ride. Not Too Much. Mostly Hard. Actually doesn't have to be (despite my initial blabbering about it being so) it doesn't have to be anti-HRM/PowerMeter.
But it does i think succinctly distill the critical elements needed to go fast.
#1 ride you bike. gotta ride to get fast. gotta ride enough to survive.
#2 not too much. far more overlooked than intensity is rest and recovery. enough said that it really is and should be the balance between riding enough and how intense your riding should be
#3 mostly hard. as in you really need to make some watts, in a sustainable fashion. Ya gotta do the work, ya gotta suffer in training so you can suffer in racing. Medium Days make Medium Riders. #3 is designed to counter the medium rider. #3 is designed to focus the mental part of suffering. It is designed to counter the belief that you can get faster just by just riding your bike.
Yes. It is way over simplistic (for many). But people are so complex, so diverse, there is some benefit in setting out the frame work for which to build a successful plan.
Find me a training program with specific goals that doesn't fit in my Idea.
Don't get hung up on specifics. Maybe you need one to two 4 hour rides a week in the pre-season to prepare for stage races. But you also can't do 4 hour rides 5-6 days a week and expect to get faster. You need to judge the 'not too much' side of things within the frame work of your goals.
You need to judge all three elements within your goals.
Murat is right. Ya gotta have clear and specific goals. You HAVE to have a purpose.
Me? I am goal driven. Carrot driven. Give me a cyclist on the path to chase down and I can push myself way farther than without one. Give me a slower truck moving up hill just faster than is comfortable for me and I will stick on that sumbitches bumper till i'm over the top and my eyes are bulging and thumping with effort. Purpose and drive are critical.
Having fun along the way helps.
I still think base miles are stupid. But if you let yourself get fat, well, there isn't a better way of wasting away than long rides. If you let yourself forget how to ride (in the 'off season') it makes sense to build a base.
This is one of those ideas that maybe should be flushed out a bit more before unveiling. Supported and discussed at length in my own words before dissection.
But I think it will survive what ever the dataheads can toss at it.
Remember. Not too much might just mean taking two days off the bike a week, heck even one day off in some cases... It ain't absolute.
Colin wrote at 9:48am:
"I am honestly surprised this comment section didn't turn into a 55-comment epic. I guess at this point most people have given up on discussing training with G."
Dude - this one, well everyone knows I'm indisputably right on this training idea.
;-)
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