Some days you want to get out for a ride, but really have to squeeze it in between the million other things you have going on that day. Now that the days are getting shorter, even those early morning or post work rides may be getting cut shorter and shorter due to dwindling daylight. These are the times where it is great to have some kind of plan for your riding to make the most of the limited time you do have on the bike.
I had a busy week last week. Pretty much every day I only had an hour or so to ride. For each ride last week I left the house with a plan to make the most of my brief time on the bike. If you have a training plan it should be specific to your cycling goals, although some workouts are helpful no matter what your particular goals are.
Here is how my week went last week:
Monday – Rest Day
Tuesday – 1 hour 15-minute recovery ride. Sometimes my legs don’t feel stellar the day after a rest day and I was leading a beginner ride anyway, so I figured a nice easy spin would open up my legs for some harder work in the upcoming days.
Wednesday – 1 hour 30X30s – This workout consisted of a 20 minute warmup followed by two sets of six 30 second intervals (30 seconds all out effort, 30 seconds recovery) with 5 minutes of recovery in between the sets and then a cooldown spin home. I rode an out and back route, so half way through my five minutes of recovery I turned around and started to head back for home to stick to my one hour time limit.
Thursday – 1-hour hill repeats – Again I rode a 20 minute warmup to a hill that was relatively close to home, and did six repeats of varying intensities. I picked a hill that was a little bit over a third of a mile long and I did a couple of hard efforts, a couple of easier ones, and even one or two out of the saddle, followed by an easy spin back home.
Friday – I finally was able to get out of a nice two hour ride and just enjoy the day.
Saturday – 20 mile group ride – It was a nice to have the motivation of a group to get me up early and get me to push hard for a short ride. Sometimes a group can motivate you to push harder than you would on your own.
Sunday – Rainy day, rest day
Monday – 3 X 10 minute intervals – Again I only had a little bit over an hour to ride, and so I rode another out and back route comprised of a 20 minute warmup, then three 10 minute intervals at about 85-90% effort with a 5 minute recovery in between each one and then an easy 15 minute cooldown spin home.
