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:

1. Technique

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.

Nutrition - As mentioned before, my eating and drinking habits on the bike are sporadic at best, meaning that I find myself with a lack of energy or adequate hydration when I hit a climb. Improving discipline by eating/drinking every 20-30mins will improve this, as will doing a little homework on the course beforehand so I know where the major climbs are and thus can make sure I'm prepared.

2. Training

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