Back on the bike after 20yrs. Need training help!

[nigelp73]

G'day all,
Been lurking here for about a month. Reading about new bikes etc... Pulled the trigger on a new bike to get me motivated, a Fondriest TF2 with dura ace 7900 and mavic ksyrium elites. Very pleased with it. On an old and the new bike I have been riding again for a month.

I am 39 y.o and 175cm and 95kg (a lot of beer and pizza under the belt).

This weekend I am feeling pretty pleased, did just over 90k at 25.5 kmh avge(flat)over the 2 days (54k sat and 37 sun) both days with a 25-30kmh wind! Other than saddle sore I feel really good.

My goal is to get back into some lower grade crit racing and the like.

I have no idea how to get this going. Firstly I have to strip off some of this weight to gain some speed and feel confident about taking on a climb or two. Where do I start as far as a training plan goes? Do I try and strip off the weight and build some endurance first? Or try and build up some sprint speed as well? Any book recommendations? Any advice? Basically any comments welcome. Thanks for reading!

[foo on patrol]

Forget the sprint work for a start. Start getting base Ks in and drop weight off slowly. Don't flog yourself everyday.

Foo

[PawPaw]

You've got a BMI of 31, though who knows what the portion of fat and muscle is.
Weight loss is a diet thing. You will never ever ever ride off a bad diet.
So, you have spent a couple of thousand on a bicycle. Now go and spend a couple of hundred on a dietitian.
Don't kid yourself you know enough about food to eat the right portion of foods in the right quantities.
i.e. how many Calories do you burn riding 50 km at 25kph? how many Calories in a cup of cooked rice?
I've counseled many people in wt loss and most benefit from being educated in understanding how many Calories they expend doing different activitis, and how many Calories are in different foods.
I suggest you tell your GP you are going to go on a diet to get your bodyfat back to a healthy level, esp if you are on medications. Ask him what a safe wt loss rate is. 1kg a week is achievable, but obviously requires more discipline than 0.5kg.

I'd suggest you keep your riding at a moderate pace for 3 months, in which you can at least say a few sentences without pausing for breath.
Maybe the occasional effort, for no more than a minute. The reason for this is more intense riding causes the body's dis-stress systems to kick in. This can lead to overstimulation of the appetite, and make wt loss harder. What you want is a more mild 'stress' response, where stress hormones like cortisol are not pumped out in large quantities. Read a few articles on bike fit too. If you aim for a knee angle of 30-35 degrees and get your tibial tuberosity over the pedal axle, and have a stem length and bar height that keeps your neck and back comfortable, then that's a good starting point. You might also benefit from wearing two pairs of nicks while overweight, or using an extra chamois like pad inside one pair. Getting saddle sores is not a good sign. Lather your perineum in moisturizer before riding. Really lay it on. You don't need a special chamois cream.

[nigelp73]

Paw paw, thanks for the detailed reply.

I didn't add in that I have changed my diet completely, out with the majority of processed carbs and high fat / sugar foods and in with the healthy stuff.
Typical days eating now looks like this:
Breakfast - 2 egg omelette with capsicum and tomato on a piece of burgen bread+ black coffee with one sugar
Morning snack - piece of fruit / protein drink
Lunch- meat and salad wrap plus a handful of almonds
Afternoon snack - piece of fruit
Dinner - steak / fish / chicken cooked on the BBQ ( no fat) & salad or veges. No potato.
Night snack - bsc hydroxy burn protein bar

Totally off the booze and not missing it. The above is very sustainable for me and is a huge improvement on my old diet!

Weighed in this morning at 93.5kg so the weight is slowly coming off. Aiming fit 1kg a week, but after 4 weeks the belly already is noticeably not as big!

If when I ride my average hr is 155, am I pushing too hard? Should I not do any speed work at all and just focus on getting k's into the legs? The saddle soreness is nothing too major it is just discomfort at sitting on such a hard saddle. I'm sure downstairs will harden up in the (hopefully) not too distant future!

[nigelp73]

So, any tips?! Or just some books I could read?

[steve-waters]

HR does not mean much without a bench mark to measure it against - but like Paw Paw said just keep it steady.

No good for food advice - I run 4 times a week and ride at least 5 and not that careful with my food probably too many carbs but I love my brown rice and oats

Just building on what Paw Paw said with the riding you want to be able to back up your rides and not be too tired or sore to go out for your next scheduled ride but for me if your heart fancies a little effort up the odd hill or a small sprint to the lights to keep you interested then do it - just do not go out and smash yourself for the whole ride.

PawPaw - I like the bit about going too hard stimulates too much appetite is related more to your bodies stress response than extra calories burnt (hope I got that right that was how I read it). Does this come from the body getting ready for the extra workload and wanting to take on board extra energy to be ready for it again back in cave man hunter days?

For training tips you could try a couple of Joe Friel books to get you started with your training - he lays down a good approach for long term training not fit in 12 weeks style.

[nickobec]

For training tips you could try a couple of Joe Friel books to get you started with your training - he lays down a good approach for long term training not fit in 12 weeks style.

Joe Friel's Cycling Past 50 is pitched at the older rider starting training or getting serious about training, a good introductory (and I would say necessary) read, before heading into his The Cyclist's Training Bible, which is far heavier going.

According to Joe the first couple of years of training is all about building up base endurance.