Seem to have hit a slump

[adi]

A friend and I have a fixed status quo, I lead him up the hills, he leads me on the flat. It's been like that for a while, up until the last month. We've done a few sportives and I'm getting dropped quite badly.

It seems that if a ride has some flat bits to begin with that knocks the stuffing out of me trying to keep up, leaving nothing left for the hills.

Is this something tempo training can solve? If not, what can be the answer?

[Deleted]

Take a complete week off with little to no riding. You should be back on form after that. Over training is a real killer.

Have you been doing more riding/sportifs than you usually do?

The other thing is that it is very important to ride at your own pace for longer rides, especially for the first hour. If anything, ride slower for the first half, then put the hammer down in the last quarter.

Millar has been performing very well in the mountains this year. When asked why, his answer was simple - rest; less racing!

[adi]

My first sportive was the falling leaves last autumn. So far this year I've done five I think, with three of those since the start of May (two of those centuries).

I've tried to have weeks off in between each, just commuting in to work really, perhaps a short'ish ride at the weekends. Seems a shame to rest when the weather is so nice.

[David Joss Buckley]

Have you thought about changing your friend, Adi...? ;D

[adi]

Did cross my mind

[Deleted]

I've always found commuting into work quite sapping, even for relatively short distances (7 miles each way for me). Not sure whether it's all the starting and stopping. Always left my legs feeling heavy/dead for the sportives. Would it be possible for you to stop commuting for a week and see how you feel?

[adi]

I have been wondering whether commuting does any good. Sure it's miles under the belt but it can't really be much use from a sportive/racing point of view. I have been contemplating scrapping my commute and doing some more focused training in the evenings or early mornings, see how that goes.

[Deleted]

Jun 16, 2009 15:37:35 GMT @adi said:

A friend and I have a fixed status quo, I lead him up the hills, he leads me on the flat. It's been like that for a while, up until the last month. We've done a few sportives and I'm getting dropped quite badly.

It seems that if a ride has some flat bits to begin with that knocks the stuffing out of me trying to keep up, leaving nothing left for the hills.

Is this something tempo training can solve? If not, what can be the answer?

Adi,
see the post 'Testing at the University of Kent' in General Threads;

dulwichparagon.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=2686

Taking part in this study has given me new direction in my training and helped clarify my needs. Might be just the thing you need..

Kind Regards,
Jai.

[Deleted]

Hi Adi,
Try shaking up your routine, try riding with different groups, Kens DPNC ride on Saturday morning or the evening chaingangs, anything that takes you out of your comfort zone.
S

[andyw]

Treat your commute as recovery. It will be too short and stop/starty to be any good for training, and if you ride at anything like a normal riding pace, you'll just get tuired without getting any benifit.
Get a heart rate monitor and try to keep your average hr for the ride to <60% of your genuine max (obviously, you will go above on some hills, but try to keep it really low). This will feel like you're crawling and you will be overtaken by numpties on bromptons. Don't rise to the bait!
Like the Karate Kid doing "wax on, wax off", this is an exercise in patience. And the plus side is, no sweat and more energy for training in the evening.


In my opiniong, people spend way too much time worrying about training for the climbs and too little training for the flat and fast, gradual descents.
Intervals are the only real answer to your problem. I'd recommend finding a good straight, flat road (Featherbed lane near croydon is a good one, and I've also used Wickham Way near West Wickham in the past - it's residential but wide and relatively traffic free), and do 2.5minute absolutely flat out intervals (but not so fast that you fade towards the end) with 5minutes easy recovery in between. Start with 4, build up to 6. Session lasts about an hour with a warm up. This seesion is desribed in the turbo sessions thread in this forum.
On Featherbed lane, I like to start the intervals in both direction, starting the return interval at the bottom of the descent, so that I hit the flat section doing 55kph, then it's a case fo holding the speed for as long as possible, trying not to slow down too much. It's really useful for getting used to working hard at high speed, something you probably don't do that often if you're just riding, rather than training for racing, or racing.

The other interval session is 2x20minutes at around 85-90% of maximum heart rate (10mins recovery). Again, do them on a rolling course, where you have to ride hard on the flat and the descents to keep your HR up. This is something you can do at the weekend as part of a 2 hour ride. The saturday ride route would be ideal, but maybe bypass the steep desecent/climb into downe and continue on the more gradual descent - that is a really good road for training your flat, high speed riding ability.

[Deleted]

None of it ain't any good if you don't fuel it correctly. There's a pile of stuff out there on nutrition and a good pointer is keeping up with a weekly dose of Cycling Weekly (trad. 'The Comic'). Ian C will tell you what a difference it is making for him!
The type of nutrition a cyclist needs is much more heavily researched than it ever was before and it is quite interesting to see that pro teams in very recent times are now 'calculating' riders' nutritional requirements daily during racing and devising longterm strategies for each individual.
I was shocked to read recently Liz Yelling's pre Beijing marathon race prep consisted of eating a bagel not long before the race! Useless.

¬¬¬

[adi]

Thanks all. I've started to build in some more scheduled training into my weekly rides. Also had a proper look at my bike setup and adjusted the seat height, that in itself has made a decent bit of difference. Had a go at the 'hour of power' workout this morning before work.

[Deleted]

I find it interesting what you say about commuting. I too have found that my small commute (6miles each way) does seem to take it out of my legs if I do it everyday even though I do it at snail pace. I've started commuting less so it doesn't impact my other training which is a pain as it saves me money/is more convenient.
AndyW I think I understand your intervals and will perhaps give them a try (relevant to my post today in Training I think).

[adi]

Aug 4, 2009 13:44:34 GMT @misspeppichan said:

I find it interesting what you say about commuting. I too have found that my small commute (6miles each way) does seem to take it out of my legs if I do it everyday even though I do it at snail pace. I've started commuting less so it doesn't impact my other training which is a pain as it saves me money/is more convenient.
AndyW I think I understand your intervals and will perhaps give them a try (relevant to my post today in Training I think).

Much the same for me now. Any commuting I do is a gentle recovery ride. Then I'm trying 3/4 proper sessions a week either on the road or on the turbo. See how that goes.