The training thread: How was yours? (today/yesterday/etc)

[PawPaw]

This morning's ride. 65km 1500m climbing according to Garmin. Great views great training ride, great fat burner.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/133792883

[toolonglegs]

What not on strava yet PawPaw .

[PawPaw]

What not on strava yet PawPaw .

Everyone else had 500s today.
I don't want to waste my smart phone battery, and got sick of getting flat batteries on longer rides with a Garmin 800.
Will wait and see if Garmin get the 500 successor better.

Towards the top of Binna Burra, we paced this person for a bit....

we actually had trouble passing her on one of the steeper ascents. (she was running)
Tri coach extraordinaire Col Stewart was at the top with breakfast waiting for her, so one of our guys got a few free tips.
Kiyomi's running pace was flabbergasting when we passed her.

[toolonglegs]

I thought Garmin 800's would go all day?.

After a great ride Tuesday I haven't ridden since ... was hoping to squeeze one in yesterday but was too tired from all the driving. Have to get out today for a refreshener before tomorrow!.
Last year the 100 km's took me 03:42:05 with 1750m hard climbing. One year later I am hoping to take about 30 minutes off that ( depending of the bunch I end up in )... not so fat and unfit now.
Long way to go though .

[ozstriker]

My 800 easily goes all day I would suggest there is something wrong with yours

[adrian_d]

I went out with my mate as it was his first time riding my old Gitane 1200 (hes using that from now on) and I tried my PH01 fixie (running the freewheel) and managed to fall while turning out of my mates driveway. The road outside his place is very rough, its like the tarmac was all broken up and rocky. I fell off while still in the cleats (for the second time now) and fell went knee first with all the weight on it.

I am out of action for at least a week, there is a bit of swelling and its very tender

We still went for a ride lol. I got 17km done with a busted and very sore knee.

[Lazyweek]

Weights-

Back squats- 4 X 3 85 kg, 1 90 kg, 2 X 1 95 kg, 1 100 kg

Push press- 5 X 5 at 42.5 kg

Pullups- 3 X 5, 2 X 3 with slightly wider grip.

Last night, three all out sprints. Felt slight sick after the last effort though.

[open roader]

Maiden century today. All on a flat-ish roads with no wind at all. Managed to average 28.95km/hr nothing left in the tank, I'm spent........

100.4km covered
Ave 28.95km/hr
Ave HR 177 BPM
Ave cadence 93 RPM

Makes me appreciate how fast I recover from my usual 30/40/50km rides (AT) 30km/hr.............

[adrian_d]

open roader - Nice work mate. Hitting the 100km is an awesome feeling

Today I shared the same experience. I went from Rowville to Edithvale, then from Edithvale and all the way to st kilda. I was determined to get to 100km and managed to reach 107km

It was the first time I was riding on the road, it all went well except for one car which came up way too close next to me (less than 20cm from my foot) when coming upto the lights and when taking off (I was in front so I was going to take off first) I almost lost my balance trying to take off on a fixie with a track width of only about 20-30cm without hitting the car, I started leaning and nearly fell on the car as it sped off from the lights without even giving me a chance to take off. Boy that was the scariest thing and I was extremely frustrated.

I ended up taking a path near the beach and ended up finding a rather slippery sand spot on the track and ended up falling again. This time on my left knee. I was so not happy. A decent scratch/graze on my back and a bleeding knee cap later i'm not feeling too bad. Considering I was 45km from home I think I didn't do too bad. I did manage 21.4km which was great. I was able to manage 30-33km an hour on the road which was great.

[jules21]

well done open roader and adrian. OR, those are some impressive figures for a maiden century!

i went for a 75km ride today and when i got home, realised i'd left my jocks on underneath my knicks

[open roader]

Thanks adrian_d and jules21! After the initial lactic burn in my quads for 3-4 hours I slept well and woke to find a little tighness in the claves but nothing that didn't go way after being up and at em for 20 minutes. 24 hrs later just a tad tight between the shoulder blades but no other ill effects.

I was a little horrifed at my speed average as I'd intended to go at it a little more gently as my previosly longest distance was 65km (ridden 10 maybe 12 times) but that involves a decent hill climb........... I feel good, my bike is fabulous to ride and unlike adrian_d I was privileged to be in the countryside and able ride virtually unimpeded from traffic issues.

Tomorrow afternoon I go for a short leg stretch ride.

When I'm rushing to get out on the bike, esp. after work and the daylight is limited I forget i still have jocks on underneath............

[adrian_d]

well done open roader and adrian. OR, those are some impressive figures for a maiden century!

i went for a 75km ride today and when i got home, realised i'd left my jocks on underneath my knicks

Thanks for that mate, it was an awesome moment. I was proud that I was able to still do another 70km with a minor injury.

Now to do 150km haha

Thanks adrian_d and jules21! After the initial lactic burn in my quads for 3-4 hours I slept well and woke to find a little tighness in the claves but nothing that didn't go way after being up and at em for 20 minutes. 24 hrs later just a tad tight between the shoulder blades but no other ill effects.

I was a little horrifed at my speed average as I'd intended to go at it a little more gently as my previosly longest distance was 65km (ridden 10 maybe 12 times) but that involves a decent hill climb........... I feel good, my bike is fabulous to ride and unlike adrian_d I was privileged to be in the countryside and able ride virtually unimpeded from traffic issues.

Tomorrow afternoon I go for a short leg stretch ride.

When I'm rushing to get out on the bike, esp. after work and the daylight is limited I forget i still have jocks on underneath............

Awesome work mate, I wish your area was closer by. My average rides have been around 50-70km so the jump up was quite drastic, but it didn't seem too bad to do another 10km than it was to do the whole ride again in the future and clock up 120km.

[toolonglegs]

Nice work open roader...your first ever 100!... I never aim for longer, just faster .

Time for me to hang up the tt bike... it's been fun but season is over. The Gentlemen season is now underway, they are two up TT's. But I am not that interested in them to tell the truth.
5 weeks till the first CX which must mean winter is on the way . But then another month after that till the 2nd one. November,December and early Jan is CX season for me. Can't wait!!!.
Km's per week are about to drop away drastically .
x

[pauls51]

Firstly, sorry for the long winded amateurish question regarding trainning.

I have chosen to dedicate 2 mornings a week (Tuesdays & Thursdays) to interval training on the rollers at home.. I don't have a power meter but use my HR as an indication of where I believe I need to be during the intervals.
I warm up for about 10-15 (usually around 70% MHR) then I go onto a;

1 minute sprint to lift the HR to around 95% MHR, 1 minute recovery,
2 minutes on then 2 off,
3 minutes on then 3 off,
4 minutes on then 4 off,
4 minutes on then 4 off,
3 minutes on then 3 off;
2 minutes on then 2 off,
1 minute on then 1 off;

My aim during "on" is to get to the 90-95% MHR as quickly as possible and during the "off" to get down to around the 75% MHR.

Then I usually finish with a spin for around 10/15 minutes and try to get the HR (AT) around 74% MHR and keep it there for the rest of the time..
This process usually takes around 65-70 minutes depending on warm up/down duration.
This is followed up by a light spin on a friday morning where I try to keep the HR at a MHR of approx 75-77% with a minimum avg cadence of above 85
On the weekends I spend time out on the road (approx 120 k's)

Is this the right approach in training for your long distance rides??? Over 120km? Is there anything I should be including or substituting in my current training? ... Like I said I am no expert at this and would like your opinions.
My short term goal is to achieve a minimum avg of 35km+ over distances ranging from between 150 to 250..
My long term goal is to start crit racing however, I understand that the above training may not be as effective for this particular goal..

[jules21]

Is this the right approach in training for your long distance rides??? Over 120km?

no, don't think so. best training for lost distance rides is long distance rides.

My long term goal is to start crit racing however, I understand that the above training may not be as effective for this particular goal..

on the contrary, crits require you to sustain lots of short bursts of high power. interval training will help condition you for that.

[pauls51]

Is this the right approach in training for your long distance rides??? Over 120km?

no, don't think so. best training for lost distance rides is long distance rides.

My long term goal is to start crit racing however, I understand that the above training may not be as effective for this particular goal..

on the contrary, crits require you to sustain lots of short bursts of high power. interval training will help condition you for that.

Thanks for that.... Looks like im doing it back to front!!!! LOL..

[jules21]

Thanks for that.... Looks like im doing it back to front!!!! LOL..

stick around for one of the training gurus to confirm (or contradict) me though!

[vander]

Long rides you are better doing longer intervals and really for crits aswell what lets most people down is there FTP (or power they can hold for 1 hour). Averaging 35km/h for 150-200km if you are by yourself (or even in a small group) without a TT bike is getting right up there to the top level. I think its a very big aim and one that may take you years to get to.

Personally I dont really like the session you are doing. Its almost like a reverse pyramid dont with breaks, a pyramid session you would maybe go from 4min to 3 min to 2 min to 1 min back to 2min etc down to 4 min as you build up to 1 min you are upping the intensity and as you back off you are trying to do the same intensity that you did on the way up. This is a really tough session if done right and teaches you to push hard while feeling fatigued and not back right off.

If you are doing time on and time off I suggest doing your off easier, it should be just rolling the legs over. If your doing high low your time off needs to be harder, high low is above then below threshold and is usually done 30sec high 30sec low or 40/20. As for intervals your mainstays are 2x20 which is done at threshold (as hard as you can) these will greately help to increase your threshold. The other main on is VO2max intervals which are typically done 3x5 or 5x3 mins but numbers dont have to be too exact somewhere in the 3-5min bracket with as many intervals as you can keep the pace up for. With the 2x20 feel free to do 3 or 4 if you have the legs.

For getting the long ride endurance I am a believer in doing the long rides but other people may not agree so much but for me I need to be doing them to make them feel easier, this could be because I have a relatively small base.

[toolonglegs]

Pauls.... first things first... HR is pointless for what you are doing.Why... because if you are going hard to bring your hr up and then holding it at a level for the set time, then you are going too hard at the start and too soft at the end. HR lags behind effort for quite sometime, you are better off holding the same power for the interval instead of tapering right off.
I would just simplify what you are doing... warm up 10-15 minutes then start with 3x5minutes. 5 minute at VO2 level, 5 minutes spinning and then repeat. Start the interval as you think you can finish. It will take a bit of practice, speed might be a better guide than hr... not too good to hard at the start. Then a 5 - 10 minute cool down.
That's a good little indoor VO2 workout.
Once or twice a week will be plenty... do one maybe and do the other as a 2x20minute.
You don't need long rides all the time to be able to ride long and hard... but you do need to do some.Maybe find a group ride on the weekend, but a small and hard group otherwise it is just socializing.
35+ for 3 or 4 hours is a big goal... aim for sub 3 hour 100's first . You will see that jumping from 33.3kmph for long periods of time to over 35 is a big jump.
Oh and start racing now, why wait... you might be riding round in the lower grades first but you will be learning and having fun.

[pauls51]

Thanks Vander and TLL for your feedback; Very much appreciated... I look forward to my training on Thursday and will try some of your suggestions and keep you updated....

[toolonglegs]

Training today was fantastic... went exploring, followed the route the TDF took after going through town to the Col de Corlier, what a great climb for the big guys . They carried on towards the grand Colombier but I peeled off and came back through the mountains and dropped down a killer descent which I will have to do the other way one day ( 6 kms at 8% )... then back onto rolling ground for the last 40kms where kept an av of 33 even with a good climb chucked in for good measure .
Need to spend more time going North East before the snow arrives up high !!!.

[flow.rider]

Awesome day! Felt great.

83.38 km (AT) 27.7 kmh av

No one passed me all day bar some beast on a specialized/sram red during my 'cool down' at the valedrome and I ended up averaging 32 kmh for 20 mins so he didn't lap me. Some cool down.

Damn my ego!

I left 3 laps after he did.

[mjd]

Small group ride today. Beautiful morning, sunny & warm with not to much wind. Suffered all ride today. Been feeling a bit off since Masters State Champs. Glad the mornings are getting warmer that for sure.
Dist - 95.9km
Time - 2:45:51
Speed - 34.7 kph
Elevation - 719m
Avg Power - 220 watts
NP 256 watts
Max Power - 977 watts
Avg HR 149 bpm
TSS - 220
IF - 0.899

[Ken Ho]

Had a dig on the weekend. 80km Sunday, 120 MOnday. LAst 30km was on highway, rough as guts,iPhone actually stopped working, all my fillings fell out.
Got shaved a couple of times too. Oh well, back on the trainer for a few days on the TT bike now. MIght take it for a spin on the weekend, but I'll need to be convinced it is worth the hassle of hitting the roads around here again.

[adrian_d]

I didn't get much done recently after a big weekend. I'm still finding the potential of Hydrogen Fixie a bit difficult to ride at the moment. After a string of falls i'm finding myself somewhat hesitant till the prolite has been built up. I did get 3km of high intensity riding done though around my block. 50% of it is uphill and downhill was likewise. I tried riding without cleats and found it much more difficult to get the power down, its like there was muscles I had developed in the past that weren't being used. Like climbing a rope with 1 hand.

Wow that sounds like a pretty intense ride Ken. A bit of training on the trainer should help out with that