Race Diary
Have cobbled together a rough calendar of events for next year to keep the training on track:
March: Burgess Hill Springtime Classic (120km)
April: Training weekend in South Wales
May: Etape Caledonia (130km)
Trip to Provence (inc. attempt at les Cingles - 5,000m climbing)
May try to find a 160km+ sportive to do (no Tour of Wessex for me this year), but if I'm disciplined enough, there will be a few 160km rides in April/May/June as part of my general training.
Wednesday 27 November 2013
Sunday 24 November 2013
Sunday 17 November 2013
Knock, Knock
I'd had this weekend penciled in as the start of serious Marmotte training for a while (this is not to say that the Hellfire sportive was some kind of 'leg loosener' however).
A gorgeous early winter day greeted me on Saturday, so off I went to Richmond Park with no goal in mind other than to practice cycling at a higher cadence. The cadence sensor on the bike wasn't quite set up right, so the reading was occasionally a little intermittent, but I returned an average of 83rpm, which is pretty much the centre of the zone I was aiming for. It felt slow speed-wise, but apparently that's normal and the pace will return once I get used to the new technique.
Today I headed out in the direction of the Surrey downs. This lasted only a couple of KM's though, before I had to turn back to the house to retrieve the water bottles I'd left behind! Liquid refreshment in place, off I went again. Felt good all the way down to the first climb, Ranmore, but as soon as the climb began the legs felt tired and devoid of any real power. I put the bike in a low gear and span away at a very slow speed, all the time wondering if I should call it quits there and then and head for home.
Once at the top, I pedalled along Ranmore common and ate the sandwich I'd brought with me, and began to feel a little better on the descent down Critten Lane. Consumed an energy gel before the 2nd climb, Crocknorth Rd, and began to work my way up the 15% slope. Again, there was nothing in the legs, and at times it felt like I was going backwards.
Once up on Ranmore Common again, my speed picked up as I pointed the bike towards Box Hill. Another energy gel before the start, then I was onto the climb. I'd resigned myself to the fact it was going to be slow, and indeed it was as many cyclists went past me on the ascent. After that, it was the 30km home, where my lack of energy became a full-on bonk. Getting the knock is a horrible experience, and my legs turned to jelly and my mind went blank - not good in London traffic. My last ounces of energy and autopilot got me home, upon which I consumed my weekly intake of calories in one sitting.
So what went wrong? Well I'm not sure. Maybe I was feeling tired from Saturday's ride. Maybe I still hadn't recovered from the Sportive last week. Maybe I hadn't fuelled properly over the weekend. Maybe I need to lay off the booze for a bit. My suspicion is it's a combination of all of the above.
Still, stats for the weekend below. Nice to feel like I'm getting some real miles under my belt.
Distance cycled: 146km
Time on bike: 5hrs 56mins
Average speed: 24.5km/h
Total climbing: 1,623m
I'd had this weekend penciled in as the start of serious Marmotte training for a while (this is not to say that the Hellfire sportive was some kind of 'leg loosener' however).
A gorgeous early winter day greeted me on Saturday, so off I went to Richmond Park with no goal in mind other than to practice cycling at a higher cadence. The cadence sensor on the bike wasn't quite set up right, so the reading was occasionally a little intermittent, but I returned an average of 83rpm, which is pretty much the centre of the zone I was aiming for. It felt slow speed-wise, but apparently that's normal and the pace will return once I get used to the new technique.
Today I headed out in the direction of the Surrey downs. This lasted only a couple of KM's though, before I had to turn back to the house to retrieve the water bottles I'd left behind! Liquid refreshment in place, off I went again. Felt good all the way down to the first climb, Ranmore, but as soon as the climb began the legs felt tired and devoid of any real power. I put the bike in a low gear and span away at a very slow speed, all the time wondering if I should call it quits there and then and head for home.
Once at the top, I pedalled along Ranmore common and ate the sandwich I'd brought with me, and began to feel a little better on the descent down Critten Lane. Consumed an energy gel before the 2nd climb, Crocknorth Rd, and began to work my way up the 15% slope. Again, there was nothing in the legs, and at times it felt like I was going backwards.
Once up on Ranmore Common again, my speed picked up as I pointed the bike towards Box Hill. Another energy gel before the start, then I was onto the climb. I'd resigned myself to the fact it was going to be slow, and indeed it was as many cyclists went past me on the ascent. After that, it was the 30km home, where my lack of energy became a full-on bonk. Getting the knock is a horrible experience, and my legs turned to jelly and my mind went blank - not good in London traffic. My last ounces of energy and autopilot got me home, upon which I consumed my weekly intake of calories in one sitting.
 |
| Chris Froome bonking on Alpe d'Huez in the 2013 TdF - unfortunately I had neither a team car or a Richie Porte to get me food in the Surrey Downs! |
So what went wrong? Well I'm not sure. Maybe I was feeling tired from Saturday's ride. Maybe I still hadn't recovered from the Sportive last week. Maybe I hadn't fuelled properly over the weekend. Maybe I need to lay off the booze for a bit. My suspicion is it's a combination of all of the above.
Still, stats for the weekend below. Nice to feel like I'm getting some real miles under my belt.
Distance cycled: 146km
Time on bike: 5hrs 56mins
Average speed: 24.5km/h
Total climbing: 1,623m
Friday 15 November 2013
Don't Sweat The Technique
Following my ruminations below on my current shortcomings, I have invested a considerable amount of time researching climbing technique and how to improve it. The following article seems to back up what I had identified as my problems with hill-climbing - it appears that I am a 'masher', when I need to be a 'spinner'
The article lays out everything really well (apart from indentifying the real reasons behind Lance's climbing ability!), and the problems associated with being a 'masher' do ring true with me (high heart rate, low cadence, lactic acid build-up)
So my course of action is clear - my next few training rides should be used to get used to pedalling at a higher cadence (both on hills and the flat). Once I'm comfortable with that, then I will have a better idea of how my HR will respond to the new technique when the road points at the sky.
Click here for Mark Consugar on climbing
Following my ruminations below on my current shortcomings, I have invested a considerable amount of time researching climbing technique and how to improve it. The following article seems to back up what I had identified as my problems with hill-climbing - it appears that I am a 'masher', when I need to be a 'spinner'
The article lays out everything really well (apart from indentifying the real reasons behind Lance's climbing ability!), and the problems associated with being a 'masher' do ring true with me (high heart rate, low cadence, lactic acid build-up)
So my course of action is clear - my next few training rides should be used to get used to pedalling at a higher cadence (both on hills and the flat). Once I'm comfortable with that, then I will have a better idea of how my HR will respond to the new technique when the road points at the sky.
Click here for Mark Consugar on climbing
Wednesday 13 November 2013
Back To The Drawing Board
If the Hellfire sportive taught me one thing on Sunday (other than my fitness being woefully short of par), it's that my hill-climbing tecnique needs to improve markedly, particularly as the Marmotte and the Cingles have over 5,000m of climbing each. As mentioned in the last post, it was worrying to find that Jon's HR when climbing was high but comfortable when the road ramped up, whereas I was on the limit.
The internet is awash with hints and tips which promise to make you 'ascend like a pro', and whilst that might be a little outlandish for a MAMIL like me (don't think I'll ever ascend the Ventoux at 20km/h+!), there is some wisdom which I'm hoping will help.
This advice can be broken down into two areas:
Don't attack at the bottom of a climb - I need to curb my enthusiasm when the road starts to ramp up. Powering through short climbs is fine, but for long or steep climbs I need to be far more disciplined. I have a tendency to go hard into the start of a climb in too big a gear and keep going until I'm forced to change down. This makes my HR spring up to near maximum, and from there it never recovers to a manageable level until the climb is over. A much more efficient method would be to get into an easy rhythm early and maintain a steady effort.
Use a higher cadence - I rarely check my cadence when climbing, but when I do it's probably 70rpm at best. Current wisdom suggests that it should be closer to 90rpm to maximise efficiency. Getting used to a higher cadence can be done on the turbo-trainer, so this is definitely something to work on over the winter.
Doing long rides - This worked for the Etape - there really is little substitute to getting out on long rides incorporating some significant climbs.
Don't duck long rides in the winter due to bad weather
Utilise circuits of Richmond Park - 3 lap TT's of the park are a great test of fitness, but measuring my effort to complete 3 consecutive flying laps may not be the most productive use of the session. If time allows, 5 laps of over/under training would be far more useful in building fitness, where laps 1, 3 & 5 are flying laps on the limit, with a recovery lap in between.
Get a bike fit - Looking for free watts? Chances are you'll get some by finding your most efficient position on the bike
Tuesday 12 November 2013
A Game Of Two Halves
Rode the Hellfire Sportive in Kent on Sunday in what proved to be tricky conditions. Although the sun shone on the day, it had been wet and windy in the days preceding, meaning that the roads were wet, muddy and full of sharp objects which seemed determined to find their way into everyone's inner tubes.
The route was supposedly 140km long, and opened with a nervy descent down a narrow, wet lane in a large group. Once off the descent the pace picked up nicely, and riding with Jon was good fun as we chatted and hurtled through the Kent countryside.
At about the halfway point, I really began to feel the effort of pulling along at such a speed. I was effectively in TT mode on the flats just to keep Jon's wheel. So I told Jon to go off at his own speed. So he did. Like he was chasing down a breakaway. Within a minute he was out of sight, and I went backwards.
The rate at which my speed dropped off was alarming, and I felt weak and the legs stiffened up (I really need to address my on-bike nutrition habits). The rest of the ride became a slog, as I battled my own body and an unrelenting headwind all the way home.
The feedstop at 90km and the Garmin clicking over the magic 100km did rejuvenate me somewhat, but I was still toiling. In my defence, I hadn't been feeling great that day with some kind of stomach complaint, and I later found that my rear brake had been rubbing on the rim, but the reality was that having done no long rides at race-pace since the Etape, I was woefully short of fitness.
I knew that the course finished with a 3km ascent up the same hill we'd gone down at the start, so I resolved to take it easy up what I thought was the penultimate climb with 10km to go and empty the tank on the final push. I was therefore bl**dy suprised to find the finish line at the top of that climb - the course was 9km shorter than I had been led to believe. This did mean that I had enough energy for an out-of-the-saddle sprint (of sorts) through the Kent showground to the finishing arch.
Stats for the ride were:
Distance: 131km
Time: 5hrs 58mins
Average Speed: 22km/h (23km/h moving time)
Total Climbing: 1,500m
So way off the gold medal time, and silver was still a speck in the distance. Instead, a feeble surrender and a bronze medal (everyone wins a prize!). The only redeeming fact is that I managed to ward off the puncture fairy, which was quite a feat as there was more than one story in the finishing area of people with 4-5 punctures.
Still, lots and lots of work to do
Rode the Hellfire Sportive in Kent on Sunday in what proved to be tricky conditions. Although the sun shone on the day, it had been wet and windy in the days preceding, meaning that the roads were wet, muddy and full of sharp objects which seemed determined to find their way into everyone's inner tubes.
The route was supposedly 140km long, and opened with a nervy descent down a narrow, wet lane in a large group. Once off the descent the pace picked up nicely, and riding with Jon was good fun as we chatted and hurtled through the Kent countryside.
The climbs, though short, did show up Jon's superior climbing ability as we found that his HR was a comfortable 165bpm when ascending, whereas I was approaching my max HR. This difference became really apparent at the top of each climb, as I maintained my climbing pace as the road levelled out while I recovered, while Jon immediately clicked up a couple of gears and went away from me.
The rate at which my speed dropped off was alarming, and I felt weak and the legs stiffened up (I really need to address my on-bike nutrition habits). The rest of the ride became a slog, as I battled my own body and an unrelenting headwind all the way home.
The feedstop at 90km and the Garmin clicking over the magic 100km did rejuvenate me somewhat, but I was still toiling. In my defence, I hadn't been feeling great that day with some kind of stomach complaint, and I later found that my rear brake had been rubbing on the rim, but the reality was that having done no long rides at race-pace since the Etape, I was woefully short of fitness.
I knew that the course finished with a 3km ascent up the same hill we'd gone down at the start, so I resolved to take it easy up what I thought was the penultimate climb with 10km to go and empty the tank on the final push. I was therefore bl**dy suprised to find the finish line at the top of that climb - the course was 9km shorter than I had been led to believe. This did mean that I had enough energy for an out-of-the-saddle sprint (of sorts) through the Kent showground to the finishing arch.
Stats for the ride were:
Distance: 131km
Time: 5hrs 58mins
Average Speed: 22km/h (23km/h moving time)
Total Climbing: 1,500m
So way off the gold medal time, and silver was still a speck in the distance. Instead, a feeble surrender and a bronze medal (everyone wins a prize!). The only redeeming fact is that I managed to ward off the puncture fairy, which was quite a feat as there was more than one story in the finishing area of people with 4-5 punctures.
Still, lots and lots of work to do
Wednesday 6 November 2013
Get Fit Or Die Tryin'
It's 8 months until the Marmotte, and it feels like I've done the square root of f*** all in preparation so far. Not necessarily a bad thing - you can't keep training year-round without a break, so the time off the bike following the Etape has been welcome. But now's the time to get serious.
I've done a fair amount of work on the turbo this week, and this Sunday is my first post-Etape sportive - the Wiggle Hellfire Corner down in Kent. A speed of 25km/h needs to be maintained around the 140km course to achieve the Gold Medal time, so I'll be aiming for that.
Inspiration to train hard was revived last weekend after going to the Manchester Velodrome to watch the track cycling World Cup. The speed hit by the sprinters is jaw-dropping (as is the angle of the banking), and watching Laura Trott's breakaway effort in the Omnium scratch race will live long in the memory as one of the most brilliantly gutsy things I've ever seen on a bike.
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