training Archives - Page 5 of 10

Disrupted training

April 24, 2015 by tejvan

An Oxfordshire road

Training in the past few weeks has been disrupted. A cold before Buxton MTT, then two weeks in New York. For some reason it is much harder to train in New York (not just the roads and drivers) but the general motivation. It’s a combination of factors, but for some reason, I always feel like I’m swimming against the current (or cycling into headwind for want of a better analogy). I think my longest ride in NY was 23 miles. In England, 23 miles is the warm-up before the intervals start.

Fortunately, a quiet few weeks doesn’t matter so much after a good winter’s training. I cycled nearly 1,300 miles in March, which is a lot of miles. It’s probably good to have an easy few weeks every now and then.

In New York, cycling was a struggle, the familiar enthusiasm for cycling ebbed away – on the positive side, you remember there’s more to life to cycling. Another thing about not training is that you remember what it is like to have fresh legs – not tired out and recovering from some hard session – it’s almost a joy to walk up stairs. Still, when you get out of the habit of training, you start to worry about losing the cycling bug.

But as soon as I got back on my own TT bike and went up the Chiltern hills, the rhythm came back and you soon pick up where you left off. I didn’t seem to lose anything by having three weeks off. But, this week I’ve had to hold back a little because the knees felt a little strained after 3 hours of hilly training. Nothing serious, they seem to be getting used to it again. Still I just entered a 100 mile time trial, and that’s enough to get you worried about training volume. Even with 4,000 winter miles, a good cyclist is always worrying about doing enough training.

This Sunday Beacon Mountain Time trial. I hope all the jet lag has evaporated with Matt Bottrill off a few minutes after me.

Core strength cycling

January 7, 2017March 28, 2015 by tejvan

Over the years I’ve gleaned a few bits from Cycling Weekly’s training advice. One thing they always seem to go on about is ‘core strength’ i.e. making the lower and middle body stronger to hold a good position when cycling. I’ve never paid too much attention to this aspect of cycling. I’ve always leaned to the more ‘Obree’ approach of relying on just riding the bike. However, after having spent quite a few hours on the bike in the past few weeks, I’ve felt ‘core strength’ really is important. Last week, I did two big rides – one very hilly on a road bike, and another four hour ride on my time trial bike. On both rides, the most difficult thing was the pain in lower back and neck.

In Cycling Weekly this week, they said the most common reason for abandoning the ‘Race Across America RAAM)’ was discomfort in the back and neck, and if riders had a second chance, they would have done more core strength training to improve their chances of staying on the bike.

Another thing which I noticed last week, was watching a recent time trial in the Criterium Dauphine. Contador looked all over the place – wiggling from one side to the other. (Contador would probably benefit from using a Kask Bambino – his aero helmet always seemed to be pointing to the stars creating a lot of drag) A smooth position, where riders can hold their body constant is generally considered more efficient.

Training load

March 28, 2015March 26, 2015 by tejvan

So far this season has had a bigger training load than previous years. This wasn’t really a conscious decision, it just kind of happened. Quite often in previous seasons, I’ve taken 1 or 2 months off due to injury / accident / other reasons. There’s no major harm in taking 4-5 weeks off – you just take longer to get to your peak form. But, this year, I’ve been able to have more time to train and no major breaks off the bike. I think two weeks in hilly Croatia helped quite a bit.

Chinnor Hill in winter. This is the mini-hairpin and will make a good point to watch the race. — Chinnor Hill good for training.

I’ve quite enjoyed this winter’s training. The higher load and mileage gives a good sense of fitness. When you get used to a higher training load, you feel recovery can be quicker. I don’t think I could have managed this kind of training load, when I started cycling – it can take several years to keep building up a base aerobic fitness and basic muscle strength. But, very unscientifically – progressively higher training loads, do seem to help make you go faster. Perhaps there is a bit of good luck in getting the right kind of training load too.

At this time of the season, I’m conscious of not getting carried away too early. There is still a long time to go to the last weekend in October. But, I can get easily ‘bored’ of just doing steady rides. By February I was itching to get back into going up hills fast. I enjoy hilly rides in the Chilterns more than anything. Going along the Chiltern ridge going up whichever hill you fancy (and hasn’t got traffic works). There are plenty of good hills to choose from – Whiteleaf, Kop Hill, Aston Hill (A40) Kingston Blount, Chinnor, Britwell Hill and more.

Still, the hilly interval rides have a different feel to September / October. I’m not training to exhaustion or really pushing it. There is often a thought in the mind, to hold back a little. Allow room for greater intensity later in the year. But, I’m looking forward to Buxton Mountain time trial in a couple of weeks, so this week has been a bit heavier than usual.

Sweet Spot

Another type of training which is good for time trials is to ride in the ‘sweet spot’ (I often call it the sweat spot – more from lack of ability to spell properly than offering a redefinition of training terminology) One definition of the sweet spot is moderately hard – perhaps 10-15% less than what you could maintain in a 25 mile TT. 85% of your FTP (Functional threshold Power). Perhaps there are different definitions, but for me it requires quite a bit of concentration to keep a weighted power output around 240-250 watts (compared to a current FTP of roughly 305)

Obree Way – Review

January 7, 2017March 21, 2015 by tejvan

I reviewed the Obree Way last year, but it cost £30 (which was a bit pricey even for a good book.) But I see it’s available in paperback for £11.99 now. The Obree Way at Amazon.co.uk

The Obree way is Graeme Obree’s unique and distinctive approach to training. It is an approach to training Obree developed himself over many years of his own successful cycling career. The book is worth reading just from the perspective of gaining an insight into the training and mentality of a World Champion, you also gain the feeling the author really put is heart and soul into the book. I think every cyclist will be able to pick up something from this training manual.

One thing I liked about reading the book is that I always felt Obree was just sat across the room talking about his training. It was like listening to an old club hand share his training secrets. But, in this case the old ‘club hand’ happens to have held the prestigious world hour record on two occasions and also is a former world champion. Obree’s pedigree definitely is important. If some of these training principles were explained by Tom, Dick or Harry you might be tempted to brush them off as being too obvious or too simple. But, if they worked for Obree, you give them much more importance.

Essential Aspects of the Obree Way.

Turbo Trainer To Obree, the turbo trainer is a key element of his training. It’s not something just to use when the weather turns icey, but even in the middle of summer. Obree wants to have the ability to very carefully monitor his progress and make sure a training session actually stretches his previous effort; the best way he feels is to use a simple turbo training carefully calibrated to measure exact performance. At this point, in the book I did think perhaps the same could have been achieved from power-meters. But, Obree’s way is largely to ignore computer data. (He says the only time he really uses a heart rate monitor is to make sure on a recovery ride, you stick to a recovery ride.)

Training Sessions

Obree doesn’t believe in intervals. To him the best training is to replicate the kind of race you will be doing.

“Specific training for specific events. Everything else is peripheral and less effective than the base truth of athletic performance enhancement.”

– G.Obree

If you are doing 10 mile time trials, a key training session is to do a 20 minute ride on the turbo as go as fast as you can. Later in the training cycle, after a sufficient time period to recover (could be several days). You have another go at this 20 minute ride, but aim to improve on your previous performance. The simple aim is every time you do one of these ‘key’ training sessions you push your limits and go faster than before. This is the simple training principle of ‘stress and recovery‘ You keep pushing your limits, give yourself chance to fully recover and then push your limits again.

It is beautifully simple. There you won’t find any ’30 seconds at 95%, 1 min rest; 30 seconds at 95% type training sessions.‘

Another important training session for Obree, is the ‘glycogen ride’ This is a two hour ride, where you adapt the body to riding with low sugar levels to improve the body’s use of glycogen stores when racing. He says you should finish this training session really exhausted and ready to devour food (which you have prepared beforehand)

Obree also advocates incorporating a session of strength training. This involves pushing a huge gear on a gentle hill at a very low cadence.

Working with a coach

March 20, 2015 by tejvan

When I first started cycling, the idea of a cycle coach is something I never really thought of.

I was racing for my own enjoyment, the need to win was not paramount. I never really envisaged myself challenging for national titles; I was happy just doing local races and occasionally going along to some national championships.
I didn’t train to win at all costs. It is more a case of – I enjoy riding the bike, and if that makes you faster that’s a bonus. Even now, if someone told me that 15 hours of level 3 on the turbo would make me a better time-trailist I wouldn’t be interested. I like cycling up hills on the open roads. I hope smashing yourself up and down Greenhow hill makes you faster – if it doesn’t at least I can enjoy the training ride! If I had a coach, perhaps he would tell me to take it easier in February – do more level 2/3, but I can’t resist the really hard hilly ride.
Cycling was expensive enough without paying for a coach. Why spend money on getting good quality advice on the best way to train, when you could spend a £1,000 on a new set of wheels which may save 1 or 2 watts?
Cycling isn’t always the highest priority. Apart from the hill climb championships, I do big races, so long as nothing else is going on. For quite a few years, my racing schedule was heavily dependent on what else was happening. There didn’t seem much point on getting a coach when there was no guarantee I would even be peaking for anything. This may change for the next couple of years, I may prioritise to try and do a few more championships to make most of the current form. But, cycling will always be one of several things I do – not necessarily the most important.
I’ve always fancied myself as my own coach. I’ve read a lot of articles (often irritatingly contradictory!). Even now I can still get confused at certain concepts, and a power meter is wasted on me because I don’t really know how to use it apart from looking at pacing. But, I still like having a go.
I like trying to take an intuitive approach to training. What do I feel like doing? This is not just a matter of pleasing myself – it teaches you to listen to the body and try and work out what it can take, how much you can stretch yourself and when you need to recover. In a way ‘coaching myself’ is one of the attractions of cycling. (Yet, I would never like the idea of being a coach myself)

The Hill climb championship

The exception to this laissez faire attitude to training is the National hill climb championship. From 2010 onwards, I realised I really had the potential to win the title, and it became something I really wanted to achieve. After ‘winging’ a few 7th places on very little cycling (2006, 2007), the years of 2010-12, were perhaps missed opportunities. Despite dominating the open events and hill climb season, the results at the national were perhaps less than they could have been. Especially in 2011, where I went whole season unbeaten except a disappointing 5th in the national championship. I put that result down, not so much to lack of coaching, but wrong bike choice. However, with 2012, again a disappointment (11th on the Rake) I was again left thinking how could I best maximise result in one big race.

The Tumble

June 10, 2020February 21, 2015 by tejvan

I was staying in Forest of Dean this weekend, so I thought I’d cycle out to the Tumble – a climb that has featured in many Tour of Britain’s and something I’ve watched quite a few times on the TV.

tumble-two-riders — Two riders on the Tumble

In theory, it was 25 miles from the Forest of Dean to the base of the Tumble in Govilon, Abergavenny. But, I trusted my instinct of ‘remembering the roads’ from five minutes of studying the map, rather than taking it with me. I once did the National 50 mile TT on the A40 around Raglan. But, that wasn’t much help, and I ended up taking a long detour on an unknown Welsh road to Usk. I kept hoping to cut across to Blaenavon, but didn’t have much luck. At one point, I went a long way up a mountain road to be greeted by a dead end sign – right at the end of the road. 40 miles later I did finally make it to Gavilon, and in between hail showers climbed up the Tumble.

It’s a good climb. The first half is a consistent 10% up a few hairpins, perhaps steeper in parts. As you go out of the trees, the gradient eases off a little and if there’s a tailwind you can pick up a little speed. It’s quite exposed at the top. It was popular with other cyclists, I must have seen a good 20-30 on various parts of the climb. I managed to overtake a couple on the way up. I had forgotten my cycling jacket so was just wearing loose under clothes, and had a camera swinging from thigh to thigh on the way up, which was irritating. I didn’t look the part, but still went up in a respectable time for February, on a winter training bike.

On the way back I didn’t get as lost and was able to finish off with a little climb of Symonds Yat from the Wye Valley. In the end 75 hilly, slow miles. Nice to do some new roads, though next time I might take a map.

Tumble Climb

Location: Wales, Govilon,
Distance: 5.1 km
Average gradient: 8%
Maximum gradient: 15%
Height gain. 399m
100 climbs: #97
Strava segment
Everesting? – 23 * 10.2 km = 234 km

The worst interval session

March 6, 2015February 18, 2015 by tejvan

Early in the hill climb season, I did well in some Swindon R.C. short hill climbs. After doing well on a 1 minute and 2 minute climb, I was gaining confidence in my ability for short-distance hill climbs.

dovers-hill-78 — Dover’s hill – photo Cycling Weekly 1978

That week, I was training at Britwell Hill, near Watlington. I think the course record was about 2 and a half minutes.

Britwell hill

0.6 miles
Average gradient – 9%
85 metre of height gain
18% max

It makes a good climb for doing intervals (the only drawback is that the road is quite narrow, you don’t want to meet a lorry coming down mid-interval). The climb starts with a gentle gradient, and gets steeper and steeper as you get nearer the top. By the end of the climb it is 18%. It is dead straight – almost like a Ski jump and is a good place if you want to get a top max speed coming down

On this particular occasion there was a headwind, but I went full pelt right from the start. For the first minute I was averaging over 500 watts and flying up the hill. After a minute, the pain really kicked in. After 90 seconds, I was absolutely blown up and the climb just got steeper and steeper. It was torture to keep fighting up the steep climb, when you’re muscles are shot. It took over two minutes and a half. My recent pride at doing well in short hill climbs took a battering.

Delayed muscle fatigue

February 12, 2015 by tejvan

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), also called delayed muscle fatigue – the pain and stiffness felt in muscles several hours and days after unaccustomed exercises caused by the microtrauma in the untrained muscles

Recently I wrote a post on cycling vs running. I was boasting how I always tried to avoid running because if I do go running, my muscles are sore the next day, due to being completely untrained.

Instead I went out yesterday on the time trial bike. It was only the second outing of the year. In the New Year, I always look to start training on my time trial bike, so I can get used to the position for upcoming races. The problem is that with a new bike, I don’t want to go out, if the roads are wet and salty. Every day since 1 Dec, I’ve looked at the state of the roads, and they are never dry, and – invariably salty too. The only use the TT bike has had is the odd hour on the rollers – and so far this year, I’ve never had any motivation to spend more than an hour on the rollers.

Pyramid intervals cycling

November 22, 2015January 27, 2015 by tejvan

‘The interval method from hell’ – that is how Stuart Dangerfield described a particular set of pyramid interval training sessions, designed by Gordon Wright. However, although very intense, it helped Stuart Dangerfield to a string of successes at domestic short distance time trialling. His achievements included lowering the competition record for 10 mile TT to 18.19, plus several national championships from 5 hill climb championship to the 10 mile and 25 mile TT champs.

The aim of this pyramid interval session is to train all three muscle types from the fast twitch to the slow twitch. The pyramid interval session I read in a paper by Gordon Wright involved:

Phase 1

8-10 flat out sprints for 15 sec. At least 3 mins recovery between each.
At least 10 mins easy recovery

Phase 2

Between 6-10 flat out 1 minute intervals. 5-6 mins of recovery between each.
15 mins easy recovery

Phase 3

3-4 2.5 mile endurance intervals (around 5 mins) at 10 mile TT pace or higher if poss.
15 mins recovery ride home

Additional notes

All intervals must be done at highest possible intensity – treat each like a mini time trial
All intervals should be done whilst maintaining a high cadence 120rpm for sprints 100 + rpm for longer intervals
Stay well-hydrated and use energy drink.
The whole session will take 2.5 to 3 hours.
The idea is to go fast. Ride with wind behind on endurance intervals – get used to riding at race pace.
Obviously, this high level of intensity training requires a very good base of fitness to start off with. An untrained athlete trying to do this would probably do more harm than good.

Science of Interval session

Gordon Wright said he based his intervals on work by Malcolm Firth during the 1970s. However, the traditional pyramid is to start off with long intervals and work down to shorter ones. Gordon tried reversing the pyramid, so you start off with short intervals and move onto longer efforts.

In the 15 second sprints, you recruit the Fast twitch type 11b – these fibres can generate a lot of power, but are quick to fatigue.
In the 1 minute intervals, you recruit the fast twitch type 11a – these generate a lot of power and have some resistance to fatigue
In the 5 minute endurance interval you recruit the slow twitch – these have a lower power generation, but are highly resistant to fatigue

By having good recovery time between intervals, the aim is to be fresher and do the intervals with less acidosis in the blood (e.g. lactic acid). This enables higher efforts and puts less strain on muscles from working in a more acidic environment.

By working different groups, you enable more training effort in a particular session.

Empirical evidence suggests that these fast twitch muscle fibres are used during short distance endurance events. Stuart reported a swelling of thighs when making the effort (akin to the pumping iron effect).

My experience of Pyramid intervals

I’ve looked at pyramid intervals before. But, never really fully completed a set, and only done it as a one-off. But, a chance meeting with Gordon Wright at a recent 10 mile TT, made me think (we didn’t actually discuss interval training). I printed off an old paper and decided to have a go. I’m well trained and fit, but, I thought as it was my first one, I’d do a conservative number of repetitions and concentrate on maximum effort. I did:

6 *15 sec sprint
6*1 minute intervals up a hill (Clare hill near Watlington)
6* 5 minute intervals up Aston Hill (A40)

The whole ride was 105 km, 3.40 hours, average speed 29.4, 1,000 metres of climbing. I sometimes took longer recovery than stipulated.

After a 15 minute warm up, I started the sprints. I’m unused to sprinting, and they felt relatively feeble. I’m only riding on feel, but I don’t think I would have been breaking any power meter records. It was also hard work to maintain discipline of maintaining high cadence. Instinctively, I tend to want to mash a big gear when doing any kind of sprint.

At the end of this 6*15 second sprint, I was still pretty fresh. There wasn’t much accumulated fatigue. I wouldn’t say it was easy, but it’s only 90 seconds of work. I found it hard sprinting on time trial bike and getting up to max effort.

Then I moved on to the one minute intervals, I chose a shortish hill. Rather than do one minute, it’s better to have a physical distance to aim at. The first interval was 55 seconds, the sixth was 61 second. You can time yourself and see how you are fatiguing. The end of the interval on Clare hill even has a white line, used as a prime in a local road race circuit. This makes it nearly ideal, though at the end it gets steeper, requiring a gear change to keep high cadence.

After the 4th interval of going up Clare hill, I couldn’t believe who I saw slowly cycling up the hill – Gordon Wright – resplendent in his High Wycombe CC cycling top! That was quite a co-incidence. I did one more interval and then waited at the top to have a short chat to Gordon. It was too much of a co-incidence not to share the fact I was doing the interval session inspired by him. Perhaps if I had seen him on the last endurance hill, I wouldn’t have been so grateful for his interval session! Gordon was doing a long ride in preparation for his first 50 mile TT in 20 years. After a good excuse for a extra long recovery, I went back down hill for the last 2 one minute intervals.

The sixth one minute interval was particularly hard, and the time started to drop off. Again, it required a discipline to keep high cadence and make big effort.

The biggest challenge in these interval sessions, is to keep motivation to really do all out time trial efforts. It’s easy to back off slightly and not go as fast as you can. The funny thing is that when I saw Gordon Wright on the hill, that interval was really hard and fast. Having someone on the hill to show off to, gives you an added motivation for an extra second. But, when no-one is watching it can be easier to subtly back off.

After phase two, I was starting to feel the accumulated effort in the legs, but it was time to cycle off to Aston Hill for phase three. I chose Aston Hill because I knew he physical distance and often timed my efforts up there for many season. My best up the hill is 4.52 – that is at full hill climb pace and obviously when fresh, so I would be able to have a rough estimate of how I was doing compared to my maximum effort.

The first interval was hard but, I did 5.25, which isn’t too far off my pb. The second and third were reasonable times. By the fourth interval, my time was down to 6.00 and it felt well below 10 mile TT effort. But, that brought an end to the interval session. I could have done more, but the quality would have really started to drop off. I thought that was a pretty good start for these interval sessions.

An interesting thing about doing the five minute endurance intervals at the end, is you feel the ‘spark’ the ‘anearobic’ capacity has been exhausted by the earlier shorter efforts. In that regard you are really relying on and training the aerobic capacity.

The other thing is that maintaining a high cadence, you really feel extends your capacity to do high intensity intervals. The temptation is to push a big gear, but then your muscles get tired. Training in high cadence, hopefully enables a more sustained power capacity – it puts more effort on heart and blood supply than relying on muscles.

I had a 17 mile ride home, which I took very steady in a high cadence.

The day after, Gordon recommends an hour recovery ride at the most. But, to be honest, you don’t really need to be told that. My legs haven’t felt this tired since doing the Buxton Mountain time trial and then riding over to Peaslows hill.

I enjoyed the experience. My legs felt more fatigued than usual. The problem is that it will now be mainly recovery rides before National 50 mile TT on Sunday.

Measuring Intervals with Heart Rate / Power Meter

For very short intervals, using a heart rate is a poor guide to your effort levels. It can be a guide to how you are doing, but bear in mind there will be a time delay and your heart rate can vary due to other factors.

A power meter is the best way measuring performance. Some like power meters because it gives them some power to target and helps increase their effort.

If you don’t have a power meter, these intervals can still be done on ‘feel’ If you’re going all out for 15, 30 seconds, you won’t have too much time to be looking at a power meter anyway. The main thing is being able to look at data after a ride. In particular it is useful for gauging whether you are over-trained – e.g. can’t hit peak power after heavy weak of training

Some of Stuart Dangerfield’s experiences

For the power meter fans

During sprint intervals, SD hit a maximum power of 950 to 1000 watts
In one minute intervals, he hit 650-700 watts
For 5 minute intervals, he hit 500 watts.
During competition 10 record, he held around 460 watts average.

In 6 week period leading up to 2001 National 25 mile TT, Stuart did 15 interval sessions of varying length, that’ 2.5 per week.

Stuart did a lot of endurance (level 2 training) during the winter months. And would often train 300-350 miles a week. But, from this interval session, it definitely wasn’t just churning out the miles!

If you want to have a go, you definitely have to be realistic about state of fitness. It’s really hard. You could start off with half the number 4*15 secs. 4*1 minutes 2*5 mins. Or you could miss out sprint intervals.

Related

High intensity intervals pdf at ABCC
Hill intervals
Working with a coach – I worked with Gordon Wright for 2014 National hill climb

Tips for improving cycle fitness

November 22, 2015January 26, 2015 by tejvan

A few simple tips for more efficient cycle training.

If you are new to cycling or have a very basic level of fitness, the most important thing is to spend more time on the bike. When you are unfit – the good news is that whatever you do, you will see relatively large improvements in fitness. The ‘fitter’ you become, the relatively harder it is to eke out even more fitness gains.

The first tip is simply to cycle more.

1. Cycle more

If you want to do a 100 mile ride, you will need to find more time to cycle. You will want to be doing a few 2-3 hour rides at the very least. Preferably a few 3-4 hour rides to get used to long distances. You could do a 100 mile ride on the back of one hour training rides, but your legs will be sore the next day, and you will struggle towards the end.

The trick is often finding time to be able to cycle more. If you live a busy life, a good solution is commuting by bike. This may be the whole journey or even just part of it. If you have many family commitments, you could try and cycle out to some venue and meet your family there on bike. If you have a roof rack, you can easily bring back the bike on the car. I’m sure your family won’t mind you going to a posh restaurant, whilst you are dressed in lyrca.

2. The pyramid of training intensity

Something that has served me well for the past 20 years is paying a rough attention to this pyramid of training intensity.

This is my rough training pyramid – recovery rides come under base / endurance. The division between categories are not strict. An endurance ride may merge into a ‘sweet spot’ training. If you’re not doing hill climbs, you might want to not do any level 4 max intervals at all. The point is that generally you spend more time at a lower intensity.