Why Aren't I Improving?

QUESTION: I've been riding for five years and log 3,000-5,000 miles annually. You'd think I'd improve each season, but I haven't gotten any faster despite all the miles. What am I doing wrong? -- Katie J.

COACH FRED: Simply riding lots of miles won't make you appreciably better once you've reached a certain level of fitness. You need intense training, too, or your body won't know that you want it to go faster.

I haven't seen your training plan, Katie, but it doesn't sound like you've done enough intense riding in the last 5 years to stimulate your body into greater performance.

Harder, faster training can be in various forms, ranging from formal intervals to riding lots of hills to spirited group rides with your local club.

The goal is to drive your effort to levels that elevate your lactate threshold. This pays off in a higher cruising speed and the ability to ride longer at the fast pace where you're almost out of breath and forced to back off.

One other factor (although you may not like it): Recent studies show that some people are "non responders" to exercise. For genetic reasons, they don't improve while on an exercise program despite all their hard work.

Research called the Heritage Study subjected volunteers to 20 weeks of bicycle ergometer training. There was a wide variation in their response.

The average increase in ability to consume oxygen during exercise (VO2 max) was 19%. But 5% of the subjects showed no change in VO2 max, while another 5% increased their oxygen uptake a whopping 40-50%. Interestingly, there was no correlation between initial fitness and response to training.

It's not likely that you're one of the unlucky people singled out by genetic destiny to be unresponsive to training. Try increasing the intensity of two well-spaced workouts each week. Before long, you should see the improvement you've been missing.