curious what others are doing:
state your catagory (if racing) and the amount of training you do...

me:
cat4
currently 11-15hrs during base

Me???

Cat3, Expert MTB

I averaged just over 15 hours per week of exercise this year. Roughly 13 of that is on the bike. I began the year using Friel's weekly schedule based on 600 hours. I found extra time and love to ride so I'm gonna end up with about 800 hours. The weekly hours are constantly changing depending on the phase of training.

FWIW, Don't look at my numbers and question your own regimen. In hindsight, I spent too much time on the bike and not enough time recovering. I didn't see the improvement that I had hoped for this year. One thing I began to realize this year is that racing is not my passion but riding is. I love spending time on the bike. Racing is an excuse to do it more. Well, kinda?!?

cat 2
18-20 hours right now

cat nothing
16 hours/week

cat 4 ; 7 - 15 hours per week, depending on if recovery week or not.

Using Friel. My highest hour week (15) is in 2 weeks (2nd base 3). That will be my highest hour week for the year! Hope I'm not 'flying in Feb, f#$%ed in June'! But , like BknBen, I'm really keeping focus on doing true rest weeks this year. Seems to be making a difference. Time will tell.

These numbers aren't descended from the heavens so could be more or less, depending on how many centuries , long fixed rides, ss mtb rides in the soon-to-fall snow, whatever else I do..

Cat 5 (just started racing last August)

On the bike:
During the season I'm ~12-14 hours (including my commute)

Now I'm ~4-5 hrs on the trainer (I don't have the same cold resistance as Ben and some of the other NE riders).

Off the bike:
1.5 months of lifting weights (October-mid November) and strength workouts on Mondays for the rest of the year.

But I can honestly say that there is not a single junk mile in my training. Everything is done for a purpose and gets me ready for racing this year. Especially the 4-5 hours of intervals and power starts I'm doing now. Fun stuff.

yeah it sucks in the northeast... im a wimp when it comes to riding outside...hard to get those big base miles in...when its 10 degrees outside..and the trainer can be soo boring...

although, im actually starting to not mind doing 2hrs on my trainer... 15mins used to be hell...but i guess im getting used to it.

racing...Cat 4, shooting for 500 hrs this year. But like Ben, I love to ride so may end up with more if I find the time. I'll have to really watch the recovery weeks this year, I didn't use them last year as well as I should have and by mid-July I was toast. I'm including my twice-a-week weight lifting sessions in that total. I'm finding the weights are geat for overall health.

yeah it sucks in the northeast... im a wimp when it comes to riding outside...hard to get those big base miles in...when its 10 degrees outside..and the trainer can be soo boring...

although, im actually starting to not mind doing 2hrs on my trainer... 15mins used to be hell...but i guess im getting used to it.

I couldn't bear it when I was doing my base on the trainer. 2 hours on a trainer kills me. However, once I got into the specific workouts things are great. I read a bit while I warm up to pass the time, then I hit my intervals for 20 mins or so (two reps of 30 secs with a min recovery with 3 reps of 1 min with 2 mins recovery), then I throw on a few mins of power starts and then spin for 10 min of recovery (reading again). Great workout and I'll be doing it for another month or so before intergrating some technique drills. The reading is what makes it bearable for me. I'm almost finished with Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Time to find a new book.

Cat 3...6-8 hours lately. All quality. I tend to train less than most people, I've found - I have my whole life. It hinders me in the long long races but most of the time I feel real fresh and motivation is never an issue.

according to my polar software I'm at 462 hurs of actual ride time YTD, that's an average of 9 hours per week. This does not include gym time. I'm an expert MTB racer, will start Road racing in 2005

Cat 4 dreaming about going Cat 3

Right now the doctor won't let me on the bike. I had a "proceedure" done right after the season was over and the doc still won't let me on the bike. Actually I delayed the proceedure until road racing was done for the year (you have to have your priorities). I expect to be back on the bike in a week or so.

I did get out a week ago on the bike and what was once my easy hour outing was tiring. I will need to start all over again once back on the bike. Probably start out at 7 hours a week and add an hour a week for the first couple of months to build up base. I will try real hard to keep the intensity down during this base period this year. Endurance has always been a weakness. I have a problem in that I like to chase cars when I'm out in traffic. Just like those stupid farm dogs we love so well. So, I normally overdo intensity and underdo aerobic and muscular endurance conditioning. (I've got a mean sprint but often don't have enough juice left to use it or was dropped off the lead pack because the tempo got too high)

So the focus this year will be to develop a good base and behave myself until the base is fully developed.

curious what others are doing:
state your catagory (if racing) and the amount of training you do...

me:
cat4
currently 11-15hrs during base

I'm a cat 3 and am going to be around 600 hours for the year. 2005 will be the same. Recovery weeks are 10 hours and my biggest week is 17.5 hours. I'm closing in on 10,000 miles for 2004. The biggest year in my short cycling career. I can't wait to watch it roll over.

curious what others are doing:
state your catagory (if racing) and the amount of training you do...

me:
cat4
currently 11-15hrs during base

cat one
big week is 15 hours
small week is 8 hours
most weeks are 11-12 hours

If I go over 15 hours I probably did not do anything else but work, ride, eat and sleep all week. If I do this too frequently, I get burned out. I would love to do 15-20 hour weeks, but unless I have more time for recovery, it is actually counter-productive.

cat one
big week is 15 hours
small week is 8 hours
most weeks are 11-12 hours

If I go over 15 hours I probably did not do anything else but work, ride, eat and sleep all week. If I do this too frequently, I get burned out. I would love to do 15-20 hour weeks, but unless I have more time for recovery, it is actually counter-productive.

Myself, anywhere from 16-25 hours per week right now. Small week, middle week, long week, and repeat the process. Although now that I'm away from the bike (relocated to Maine for the holidays) for Christmas I went out and ran for an hour this morning. Yuck...

where do you live? are your working full-time? i am assuming you ride outdoors every day


cat 2
18-20 hours right now

are you speaking purely in terms of the readout from your cyclometer? does your cyclometer ahve a trip/time function that ony counts time while the wheel is spinning?

I'm a Cat. 3 Woman, Super Sport mountain bike (against the boys; I am not fast enough to race expert).

Now: 6-10 hours of base. I tend to ride longer on the weekends when the weather is better and will get in three 1-1.5 hour rides on the trainer during the week. I raced cyclocross this year and jumped right into base with only 5 days off of the bike. I rarely take more than a week off anyway, and next year is #8 racing.

Race season: 10-15 hours. I don't have more time because of my job and other obligations although this seems to be the case with many of the women around here.

Yeah, I work full time. Fortunately I have some flexibility in my schedule, and I'm willing to put in extra hours in the evening in exchange for some outdoor riding mid day. In the winter I tend to go outside 3 or 4 days in the week, and do longer roller workouts in the evening. Some days, I do both... 60 minutes at lunch, at then 60 minutes at night on my rollers. Saturdays are 5-6 hours, and Sundays are 3-6 depending on what I've done that week, how cold it is, etcetera.

For calculating the hours, I don't even have a cyclometer. Just a heart rate monitor and a training journal. The idea is 10 hours on the weekend, total, and the equivalent of 2 hours a day through the week. Obviously I fall short of the weekly goal once or twice... Sometimes I'll miss a day, or some days I will only get in an hour. It usually balances out in the end. I also commute to/from work on my bicycle, but that is a 10 minute ride and I don't include that in my training hours.

I find that when the season starts, my hours are reduced a bit. Instead of a 5 and a half hour ride on Saturday I will probably be racing. If it's a criterium that's probably 20 minutes of warm up and 90 minutes (at most) of racing. A road race will see 2 and a half to 3 hours. I find it hard to come home and train more but I know some people who do. I'm on occasion, able to do a "recovery ride" i.e. go to the store on my bike, but even that can be taxing. Add mid-week intervals and the need for recovery, and it becomes really hard to do a 20 hour week in the season.

In case you were curious, no I don't have any sort of a social life. My girlfriend, who I live with, works full time and has a part time job on the weekends that she loves. She's really understanding, as she's seen me get better (she came to my first race). I can't imagine trying to start a relationship with the kind of schedule I have. Maintaining one is difficult enough.

Cat. 5 (My first full season in 05)
10-15 hrs including weights, but I make every minute count.
Full time job, TX, 3-4 hrs pr week on trainer during winter due to lack of daylight.

race sprint/Olympic tris, 40k in 1:08 in tris so I guess somewhat sub-cat 5

3 hours/week for all 3 sports - 1 swim, 1 bike ride, 1 run.
In a good week I'll also do 3-4 hours on the bike on the weekend, but that hasn't happened much this year, wwotaa (what with one thing and another).

I'm a 3, 4 points shy of my 2.

57min 40K

I've found that I do better with a lot of volume versus intensity. Short TTing's my thing.

Avg week: 17-18 hours
Longest (2004): 24 hours
Shortest: 8 hours (actual training week, not off, 2004)

Now, I'm at about 22-24, all base. Burn no matches...

Just curious -- when you guys are counting the hours you train, at what point do you begin counting the time? When the wheels first strart rolling, or after your warmup and before your cooldown? Any other 'method' comments?

My cyclocomputer's 'ride time' is what I've started using (since I got it at started 'training' ~3 weeks ago) to tell me how much 'training' I've done; I start the count after a good 15 minutes of 'warming up' slowly, and turn it off when I'm leaving my 'target' type of training for a cooldown. The computer also only counts the time that wheels move, so if I have to stop for a stoplight or to refill a water bottle or something, it turns off then.

I realized that all of these activities take about 4-5 more hours a week or so than what I have been writing down in my journal, and I'm curious if that's consistent with what others are doing. Thanks for the info.

4-5 hours? Those be some looooong stoplights?

But really, I use my powertap which is set on the same feature. However, I live in the sticks and usually only hit about 3-4 stoplights each way on a ride. My time starts as soon as I leave my garage and start riding because I don't usually doddle around. If it's an endurance workout, I put my power where it's supposed to be and just plug along. If it's a TT workout or something then I go through my typical warm-up. I guess I'm young, it seems like I warm-up pretty fast. (I'm not pushing it right off the bat, but I am riding my normal tempo).

So, training time= wheels rolling time

Hah, no, the stoplights aren't most of the time -- the biggest part is the 15-minute 'warmup' I do before I turn on the cyclocomputer, and ditto for the cooldown at the end. That's half an hour a day, six days a week, for about 3 hours. Then, each day has (I'm guessing) an average of like 10-20 minutes of stoplights, bathroom / refill water breaks, and whatever else. So there. :)

Cat 3...6-8 hours lately. All quality. I tend to train less than most people, I've found - I have my whole life. It hinders me in the long long races but most of the time I feel real fresh and motivation is never an issue.

Cat 4 but really Masters B cyclocross (my focus). I'll probably max out at 10 hours for base but might have a few 11-12 hour weeks. I plan on 350 hours a year but will probably get a few more. Unlike most, I don't have an 'A' race until November and will be doing a bunch of C races late in my base (June-July). Oh yeah, I ride pretty much year round.

My life -- family mostly -- takes up a lot of my time so I balance with my cycling goals. I still managed to bag some good cyclocross finishes this past season with only 300 hours of unstructured training.

You should count your warm up and cool down as ride time.