Advice on beginner time trial training

[simurs4]

Hey guys ive recently started getting into road biking, got my first bike afew months ago, got a Scott Foil 20. I planned to use it to commute to work and back every now and then and for weekend rides but i've been wanting to get more out of it lately and have been thinking very hard about getting into time trialing as im very interested in that and im thinking i should beable to convert the Scott into an okish time trial bike for the time being once i build my fitness up
At the moment ive been riding to work 3 days a week which is roughly 20km each way which has a good mixture of gradients, has flats, long inclines and a couple steeper hills.
Every other day when im not riding to work ill drive to work then do about 25-30km after work.
What kind of rides should i be doing if i want to train up for time trials? and how should i be riding? is the training much different if you want to mainly do hill rides or flat rides? i have no preferred type of riding so training for both types of riding would be great. ive been starting to do abit of 30sec to minute long sprints where im standing up on the bike etc.
i haven't got a power meter or anything like that just have a bike computer but no heart rate monitor or cadence sensor even though i've been wanting to get them.
any advice would be great i just want a rough kind of guide so that ive got something to base my training or so i know im going in the right direction.
afew quick stats of me are im 27, 5"10, 78kg, i work as a mechanic during the day so im always up and moving and keeping my body going.
thanks for any help,
Simon.

[Chookman]

Hi Simon,

There is definitely TT specific work you can do; however as you have only recently started riding I'd suggest that you keep it very simple and just spend time on the bike. If you feel good, push it a little bit, if not, just ride. You don't want, or need to be doing sprints, and intervals at threshold to improve at this stage; just getting miles in the legs and doing a decent amount of moderate intensity riding over varied terrain will give you steady gains. when you plateau (stop improving), then you should look at a more structured plan.

[foo on patrol]

If you're wanting to do time trials, then sprinting is going to do zip nahna nothing for you!

You will need to have a base fitness to work from and that, will only come from doing K after K after k.

Do whatever distance TT a couple of times a week and keep track of your time but to be honest.......you need that base fitness first.

We also need more info on you and how much or little riding you have done and age helps to.

Foo

[simurs4]

thanks for the help guys, yeh i wasn't sure if sprinting would be the way to go i thought maybe it would help lol.
when you say base training what do you mean by that? i just need to be at a basic level of fitness etc before i should move on to other training?
im not the fittest person in the world but im not really a slouch either, it does help that im always moving all day im not just sitting at a desk once i get to work etc and usually by the time its home time my legs are still warm from all the movement during the day so the bike ride is normally always easier on the way home. oh and im 27 .
ive had the bike for a couple months so far i was abit lazy when i first got it didn't ride it as much as i should have but have been trying to ride it every day the last couple of weeks have done about 360k's on it so far.
should i just keep doing what im doing? riding every day with maybe a rest day slowly upping my speed/riding distance or should i be doing it differently?
cheers.

[trailgumby]

Some general comments if I may:

You need to allow for recovery. If you are going to ride every day, don't expect to be able to go out and do maximal efforts each time. You need to be able to "periodize" your efforts and allow yourself time to recover before your next next hard session.

I'ts not all about the training, it's about the training-recovery couplet. Below is a chart showing the impact on fitness of training, over time.


If you go again before you've properly recovered, you not only don't get improvements, you can *bury yourself* into what's called overtraining. That's really not a very nice place to be. From experience you can get yourself there surprisingly fast. Trying to ride hard every day is one way to do it.

I could go into detail about how I schedule my week and month to try and time the following session for the peak of the supercompensation phase, but I think you'd do better getting yourself a copy of Joe Friel's The Cyclist's Training Bible. While it's too early to contemplate following such a structured program, the sections on avoiding overtraining and how to recognise it, and (in my case) age-related considerations are well worth the investment.