Ride the Rockies 2014 Training: Putting in the Miles

I've been having trouble getting motivated to write about Ride the Rockies training. Maybe that's because I've had trouble getting motivated to train! It could also be that there's just nothing very exciting about peddling for hours and hours on an indoor trainer. I'll blame it on a combination of both.

Logging miles in the saddle is an important part of endurance training. My goal is to ride 2,000 miles between January 1 and the start of Ride the Rockies on June 8. That would be the most I have ridden prior to the start in my previous seven RTRs. To date I have ridden just over 1,000 miles (three-fourths of which have been on my Cyclops Fluid2 trainer). However, I'm trying to do more than just log miles.

I've been reading up on the importance of mixing up workouts and doing lots of interval training as well as some "long steady distance" rides, also called "long slow distance" or LSD rides (I prefer "steady" to slow after reading this post on five mistakes to avoid in endurance cycling and this one on the myths of long slow distance). If you search "long slow distance" on Google you'll find posts touting both the benefits and the drawbacks but most experts seem to agree that both long, steady rides and shorter interval training rides are both beneficial in building endurance.



My MapMyRun workout calendar from February shows my typical workout schedule this time of year (except I was traveling the entire week of the 3rd while normally my travel is more spread out.)

From January through April I typically ride on the indoor trainer 10-20 miles 4-5 times per week and try to get out outside on the weekends for longer (30-40 mile) rides, when weather allows (we're getting hit with yet another Spring snowstorm as I write this!). In the coming weeks as weather warms up and the days get a little longer I will start riding to and from work (25 miles each way). Eventually I'll be able to put the trainer in storage until Fall. I look forward to that day!

It's hard to believe that two months from today Ride the Rockies will be OVER! That means we only have 8 weeks left to train. That means I need to average 130 miles/week to reach my goal. I've been averaging about 75. Time to kick it up a notch :)

Ride on!

Daren