Posted on December 21, 2009 by Dave W

Are you too busy to be able to cycle for more than 5 hours a week. I know I can be some weeks.

Well don’t worry, you can become a very good cyclist with only 5 hours a week training.

Having started my cycling training earlier this year, I decided I needed a little help and maybe some motivation to push myself further.

I spent hours searching the web for training ideas for both outdoor and indoor cycling.

I have bought countless ebooks and systems in the past, only to be disappointed, so do not spend my money easily nowadays.

I did succumb to one ebook though, and only because it looked to be just what I wanted and at a reasonable price.

It is called ‘Training For Busy Cyclists’  by David Ertl, and it offers advice and training plans for the busy cyclist.

I used his advice as a starting point in my progression and found what he said made sense.

There is a chapter on making more time for cycling, but overall, the emphasis is on training between 3 and 5 hours per week.

It was the training plan that I was looking for and I found a good variety. This  is my own personal preference to keep my body guessing.

Obviously I cannot share his training plans with you for breach of copyright, but as you can easily view part of his book online I can give you a sample workout here….

  1 Hour Workouts

 Aerobic Workouts:

 Workout 1:

 Warm up 10 minutes. Do a series of 10 minute intervals at your maximum sustainable pace, followed by five minutes of easier spinning. Do three of these 10 minute intervals. Cool down with 10 minutes of easy spinning.

 Workout 2:

 Warm up 10 minutes. Do a series of 15 second intervals at your maximum sustainable pace, followed by 15 seconds of easier spinning. Do a set of these 15 second intervals for 20 minutes. Then spin easily for five minutes. Then complete a second set of 15 second intervals for 20 minutes. Cool down with five minutes of easy spinning.

Anaerobic Workouts:  

Workout 1: 

Warm up 10 minutes. Do a series of hard two minute intervals followed by one minute at an easier, but not easy, pace. Repeat three more times for a total of four intervals, then recover for five minutes by spinning easily. Do a second and third set of four x two minute intervals with one minute recoveries, with five minutes between each set. Cool down with five minutes of easy spinning. 

Workout 2: 

Warm up 10 minutes. First, stand and accelerate and then sit in saddle and continue to accelerate for a total of 30 seconds. Pedal easier for another 30 seconds and repeat the standing interval. This mimics standing out of a corner in a criterium race. Do 10 of these intervals, then recover for five minutes and repeat for a total of three x 10 minute sets. Cool down with five minutes of easy spinning.The above sample is just a small part of his book, which at 44 pages is not massive but the information is in line with my philosophy KISS (keep it short and simple)

Check it out for yourselves here………

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Dave W

Cycling For Fitness 

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