Did some more turbo training last night. This time I tried to practice getting to the top of a hill then carrying speed over the top.
I often have a tendancy to get to the top of a hill and reward myself a 10 second rest in the form of easy pedalling before I start going fast down the other side (or on the flat). In races you need to keep the same effort going when you reach the top of the hill so that you don't get dropped by stronger riders. It's a killer actually.
Last night I did a session that had two minutes easy, 1 minute hard (changing to a harder gear every 15 seconds), 1 minute easy setting, hardest gear sprinting, 1 minute easy setting hardest gear normal pedalling, 2 minutes easy etc...
I did an hour and felt ok. Though as I was doing each hill followed by a sprint I had to really imagine myself overtaking people to keep my legs going at a fair pace!
Thursday, 29 May 2008
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
Back on it
I had a cold towards the end of last week which knocked me out a bit. It was a real shame as the weather was good over the weekend and I really would have liked to have got out and done something. I felt rubbish, though, so I was forced to sit in which frustrated me no end!
On Monday I could take no more of it and as I was feeling a bit better I decided to take myself on a walk. After a 7 mile walk in the peaks I felt loads better.
Last night the weather was bad so I went on my turbo trainer. I did a fast session for an hour and felt really good. I think I could have gone on for longer but as I want to do the same tonight I didn't want to completely ruin myself!
For 40 minutes of yesterday's ride I listened to an audio book. Spoken word actually seems to make things a lot easier than music!
On Monday I could take no more of it and as I was feeling a bit better I decided to take myself on a walk. After a 7 mile walk in the peaks I felt loads better.
Last night the weather was bad so I went on my turbo trainer. I did a fast session for an hour and felt really good. I think I could have gone on for longer but as I want to do the same tonight I didn't want to completely ruin myself!
For 40 minutes of yesterday's ride I listened to an audio book. Spoken word actually seems to make things a lot easier than music!
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Back to the Turbo
After missing out on a ride onTuesday due to the football/band practice combination (trying to play football with a trumpet in my hand gets more difficult every week...) I was really keen to get on the bike last night.
I was also really keen to watch the Champions league final so I disappeared into the cellar for a 35 minute blast on the turbo trainer in an attempt to replicate a lap at the 12 hour race I'm going to do. I warmed up for 5 minutes then went pretty much as hard as I could for 25 minutes on a 3 minute top gear, easy setting on the trainer /2 minute 3-gears down, hardest setting on the trainer. I also tried to do a little sprint after each hard section as if I was getting going again after getting to the summit of a climb.
After 25 minutes of hell I warmed down for 5 minutes.
It was a very hard session where I actually almost felt scared of the time ticking away on the easier bit because I couldn't stand the 2 minutes of the hard setting.
At some stage soon I'll try to do the same thing, have a break for an hour then do it again to see how it'll feel in the race.
I was also really keen to watch the Champions league final so I disappeared into the cellar for a 35 minute blast on the turbo trainer in an attempt to replicate a lap at the 12 hour race I'm going to do. I warmed up for 5 minutes then went pretty much as hard as I could for 25 minutes on a 3 minute top gear, easy setting on the trainer /2 minute 3-gears down, hardest setting on the trainer. I also tried to do a little sprint after each hard section as if I was getting going again after getting to the summit of a climb.
After 25 minutes of hell I warmed down for 5 minutes.
It was a very hard session where I actually almost felt scared of the time ticking away on the easier bit because I couldn't stand the 2 minutes of the hard setting.
At some stage soon I'll try to do the same thing, have a break for an hour then do it again to see how it'll feel in the race.
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
After work mega-blast
Last night I thought that I would go for a bit of a blast on my mountain bike after work. I'd chosen one out of my new book...
A rode out of Sheffield via my new-found offroad route and did the loop round Stanage Moor. It felt awful. The bike was going so slowly on the roads and it was taking so much effort that I actually stopped at one point to make sure the brakes weren't rubbing! I carried on, thinking that I might start to feel better soon. It was a real grind with some huge hills.
The rewards were great though! There are some seriously good downhills that actually made my three end fingers ache terribly on each hand from gripping the bars (first fingers were on the brakes). Absolutely brilliant fun!
Half way round I stopped for a while to check my route and a couple of riders went past me at a fair pace (joining me from a different route - not overtaking me!) while I was flicking through the pages of the guidebook. After a couple of minutes I put away the book and started off again, my bike feeling like hard work. Anyway, after this things began to come clear.
I very quickly passed these two riders on a steep hill, "hello mate, this is a bit steep isn't it?" and was pleased to hear, "walk in the park for you though!" and left them far behind me on the next hill.
I just about made it home while it was still light (borderline, though - I really didn't want to pass a police car) and had a look in my book.
The ride I had ridden out to was 27.5km and was one of the longer rides in the section of the book called "Enduros" - it said, "These are proper rides: pack your sarnies and your chain lube - you're going to be out all day.." So I'd done this ride plus 11km of the Sheffield off-road link (5.5.km each way) plus the 6k (3k each way) to get to there from my house. So that was 44.5km of mountain biking in 2.5 hours. No wonder everything had been so difficult!
I think the reason I went so fast was that I'm so used to the speed of a road bike. You can cruise along so fast compared with the the fat tired drag of a mountain bike and I just felt paranoid that I was going slow!
Needless to say I was tired last night. Today my fingers are hurting.
A rode out of Sheffield via my new-found offroad route and did the loop round Stanage Moor. It felt awful. The bike was going so slowly on the roads and it was taking so much effort that I actually stopped at one point to make sure the brakes weren't rubbing! I carried on, thinking that I might start to feel better soon. It was a real grind with some huge hills.
The rewards were great though! There are some seriously good downhills that actually made my three end fingers ache terribly on each hand from gripping the bars (first fingers were on the brakes). Absolutely brilliant fun!
Half way round I stopped for a while to check my route and a couple of riders went past me at a fair pace (joining me from a different route - not overtaking me!) while I was flicking through the pages of the guidebook. After a couple of minutes I put away the book and started off again, my bike feeling like hard work. Anyway, after this things began to come clear.
I very quickly passed these two riders on a steep hill, "hello mate, this is a bit steep isn't it?" and was pleased to hear, "walk in the park for you though!" and left them far behind me on the next hill.
I just about made it home while it was still light (borderline, though - I really didn't want to pass a police car) and had a look in my book.
The ride I had ridden out to was 27.5km and was one of the longer rides in the section of the book called "Enduros" - it said, "These are proper rides: pack your sarnies and your chain lube - you're going to be out all day.." So I'd done this ride plus 11km of the Sheffield off-road link (5.5.km each way) plus the 6k (3k each way) to get to there from my house. So that was 44.5km of mountain biking in 2.5 hours. No wonder everything had been so difficult!
I think the reason I went so fast was that I'm so used to the speed of a road bike. You can cruise along so fast compared with the the fat tired drag of a mountain bike and I just felt paranoid that I was going slow!
Needless to say I was tired last night. Today my fingers are hurting.
A change is as good as a rest
I continued my week off hard cycling right through the weekend and it's proabably done me some good. A walk on Friday and a walk on Sunday will have helped keep my legs moving while they are recovering from the previous week's work.
Not only that, but the walks were fairly long in length and duration which is the sort of thing I need at the moment to make sure I don't burnout too early in these upcoming races.
Not only that, but the walks were fairly long in length and duration which is the sort of thing I need at the moment to make sure I don't burnout too early in these upcoming races.
Thursday, 15 May 2008
Easy week
After the difficult weekend I had I've had a relatively easy week so far. On Monday evening I went for a walk to stretch out my tired legs. It was really nice. Absolutely brilliant to be standing on the top of hills on a calm Monday evening!
Tuesday was football and last night I went mountain biking with my old boss from Breeze. It was a good hilly ride and I was really pleased not to have felt stretched despite some really long uphill drags.
Tuesday was football and last night I went mountain biking with my old boss from Breeze. It was a good hilly ride and I was really pleased not to have felt stretched despite some really long uphill drags.
Monday, 12 May 2008
Stupid Saturday, Scorching Sunday
This weekend I planned to ride over to see Elly in Warrington. I thought it didn't sound too bad - just over 60 miles each way. I thought that would be around 4 hours' riding.
For some reason on Saturday morning I accepted an invitation to go mountain biking, thinking that if I was back by 12 this would still leave plenty of time to get Warrington. As it turned out the ride went on til 1:30pm which had the double whammy of putting my start time back and making me more tired before I'd even started the long ride! Mountain biking was great, though - I've got some really good trails very near me that stretch right out into the Peaks.
I left for Warrington at 2:40pm. The route I had chosen took me up the infamous Winnat's pass which was so hard in Saturday's heat that a group of walkers gave me a round of applause when I went past them! There was a huge downhill after that where a car drover right behind me all the way down. As I got to the bottom of the hill he drew level with me I wound his window down. I thought he was going to give me a load of grief for holding him up but he actually just stuck his thumb up and shouted, "52 miles per hour mate!"
It turns out that the ride to Warrington is very hard. Crossing the peaks means going up and down a lot of BIG hills. Fortunately, the last 20 miles (across the Cheshire plains) is pretty much all flat. I was tired by this stage though and those 20 miles seemed to last a lifetime (really regretted mtbing in the morning!).
Incredibly ( I thought anyway), I made it to Warrington in 3hrs 40 mins.
The next day my legs were very tired and Elly gave me a lift down the road so I missed the first 10 miles of flat and boring road. I set off in the blazing sun and prepared myself for a gentle start to the ride in preparation for some of the monster hills I knew were happening.
Then my plan was ruined.
As I rode through a place called Wilmslow I got caught up with a string of cyclists racing in the Wilmslow Triathlon. As much as I tried to resist it I couldn't help myself! I raced passed them all at breakneck speed cheerfully saying "hello mate, keep going!" as I passed. I was so pleased to finally leave the race route as I was going hell for leather and I didn't know how much longer I could keep it up!
I was really pleased that when I hit the hills I was still able to attack them with some energy despite expending so much energy so early.
These place names might not mean much to you but after I went down Winnat's pass and into Castleton, then through Hope I thought, "in 5 minutes I'll be in Hathersage then it's one last climb then downhill all the way to my front (back) door". Then I saw the diversion sign. And it was some diversion 10 miles of the hilliest roads ever took me past Tideswell (!!!) then back to Hathersage. I could have cried! All the miles I saved with Elly's lift were added on in cruelest way possible; I'd have taken the flat boring road over these massive hills any day.
I made it home in just over 4 hours, so exhausted that I could barely see!
And I realised this morning that I arranged with a friend last week that I would go cycling with him tonight... Arghh!
PS: I have an incredible tan line from yesterday's scorching sun combined with cycling top.
For some reason on Saturday morning I accepted an invitation to go mountain biking, thinking that if I was back by 12 this would still leave plenty of time to get Warrington. As it turned out the ride went on til 1:30pm which had the double whammy of putting my start time back and making me more tired before I'd even started the long ride! Mountain biking was great, though - I've got some really good trails very near me that stretch right out into the Peaks.
I left for Warrington at 2:40pm. The route I had chosen took me up the infamous Winnat's pass which was so hard in Saturday's heat that a group of walkers gave me a round of applause when I went past them! There was a huge downhill after that where a car drover right behind me all the way down. As I got to the bottom of the hill he drew level with me I wound his window down. I thought he was going to give me a load of grief for holding him up but he actually just stuck his thumb up and shouted, "52 miles per hour mate!"
It turns out that the ride to Warrington is very hard. Crossing the peaks means going up and down a lot of BIG hills. Fortunately, the last 20 miles (across the Cheshire plains) is pretty much all flat. I was tired by this stage though and those 20 miles seemed to last a lifetime (really regretted mtbing in the morning!).
Incredibly ( I thought anyway), I made it to Warrington in 3hrs 40 mins.
The next day my legs were very tired and Elly gave me a lift down the road so I missed the first 10 miles of flat and boring road. I set off in the blazing sun and prepared myself for a gentle start to the ride in preparation for some of the monster hills I knew were happening.
Then my plan was ruined.
As I rode through a place called Wilmslow I got caught up with a string of cyclists racing in the Wilmslow Triathlon. As much as I tried to resist it I couldn't help myself! I raced passed them all at breakneck speed cheerfully saying "hello mate, keep going!" as I passed. I was so pleased to finally leave the race route as I was going hell for leather and I didn't know how much longer I could keep it up!
I was really pleased that when I hit the hills I was still able to attack them with some energy despite expending so much energy so early.
These place names might not mean much to you but after I went down Winnat's pass and into Castleton, then through Hope I thought, "in 5 minutes I'll be in Hathersage then it's one last climb then downhill all the way to my front (back) door". Then I saw the diversion sign. And it was some diversion 10 miles of the hilliest roads ever took me past Tideswell (!!!) then back to Hathersage. I could have cried! All the miles I saved with Elly's lift were added on in cruelest way possible; I'd have taken the flat boring road over these massive hills any day.
I made it home in just over 4 hours, so exhausted that I could barely see!
And I realised this morning that I arranged with a friend last week that I would go cycling with him tonight... Arghh!
PS: I have an incredible tan line from yesterday's scorching sun combined with cycling top.
Thursday, 8 May 2008
Mountain Biking
It was really nice weather last night so I decided that I was definitely going to get out and something.
In the end I ended up going for a mountain bike ride with George (next door neighbour). We found that you can get right out to the Peaks off-road from very close to my house! The trails are actually really good too so I was amazed at what a great ride I have so close.
The ride was pretty challenging technically and at one point as George was feeling tired and bouncing over the trail I pointed out the view. "Oh yeah!" he said, "I hadn't even noticed that - I'm too busy concentrating on staying on my bloody bike..."
Really good fun and a nice break from all the road miles I'm putting in at the moment. I was also pleased that I'm still pretty confident off-road despite the complete lack of any mountain biking I've been doing. Plenty of room for improvement before the races though.
In the end I ended up going for a mountain bike ride with George (next door neighbour). We found that you can get right out to the Peaks off-road from very close to my house! The trails are actually really good too so I was amazed at what a great ride I have so close.
The ride was pretty challenging technically and at one point as George was feeling tired and bouncing over the trail I pointed out the view. "Oh yeah!" he said, "I hadn't even noticed that - I'm too busy concentrating on staying on my bloody bike..."
Really good fun and a nice break from all the road miles I'm putting in at the moment. I was also pleased that I'm still pretty confident off-road despite the complete lack of any mountain biking I've been doing. Plenty of room for improvement before the races though.
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
Two Loooooong Rides
This weekend Tom came up to do some riding in the Peaks.
On Sunday we zoomed through 50 miles of the toughest hills on the Sheffield side of the Peaks (3400 ft of ascent in total). I felt really good right up until the last 3 miles. By the time we got back to Sheffield I was very glad to see my house.
On Monday we planned a longer ride. We rode out to Glossop (nearly in Manchester!), down to Buxton, across to Bakewell and then back home. It was just over 75 miles in total and had some gruelling climbs (4800 ft of ascent). I really suffered for 2 thirds of it so it was a real test of my will power to even get home!
Today I'm pretty tired. The main thing that shows how hard I was riding is that my arms ache from pulling on the bars so hard while riding up hills.
On Sunday we zoomed through 50 miles of the toughest hills on the Sheffield side of the Peaks (3400 ft of ascent in total). I felt really good right up until the last 3 miles. By the time we got back to Sheffield I was very glad to see my house.
On Monday we planned a longer ride. We rode out to Glossop (nearly in Manchester!), down to Buxton, across to Bakewell and then back home. It was just over 75 miles in total and had some gruelling climbs (4800 ft of ascent). I really suffered for 2 thirds of it so it was a real test of my will power to even get home!
Today I'm pretty tired. The main thing that shows how hard I was riding is that my arms ache from pulling on the bars so hard while riding up hills.
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Back on the Turbo
Last night I went back on the Turbo Trainer for an hour as I thought it was going to rain. This was a shame as it turned out to be a nice sunny evening!
I went on for an hour doing the routine where I do 3 minutes easy, 1 minute fairly hard then 1 minute flat out etc. At 20 minutes I felt very easy so I decided to put a 10 minute hill climb resistance on and pretended I was doing one of the long hills at the 24 hr race (makes it a lot easier). After that I returned to the original routine.
Everything felt fine except for my backside, which I couldn't feel by the end of the session!
I went on for an hour doing the routine where I do 3 minutes easy, 1 minute fairly hard then 1 minute flat out etc. At 20 minutes I felt very easy so I decided to put a 10 minute hill climb resistance on and pretended I was doing one of the long hills at the 24 hr race (makes it a lot easier). After that I returned to the original routine.
Everything felt fine except for my backside, which I couldn't feel by the end of the session!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)