3dmundbarton-blog - Tumblr blog

3dmundbarton-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Tour of NZ - March - The Grand Finale

6 months of training - a pretty good build up to the event of a lifetime. In that time we've seen a highly successful Taupo campaign with PRs pretty much across the board, Around the Mountain, Tour de Whitemans and starting the season with the Wellington Vets Lake Wairarapa Challenge. Regardless of your performance, these one day events have precisely one thing in common - one day. The day after is beer (or not) and sunshine floating away on the li-lo of life.

The Tour will be different, you are riding and recovering for today, tomorrow and the next day.

The final training block should be used to practice riding hard and recovering every day for seven days - even better if you can manage two 7 day blocks you'll have a seriously good idea what your body (and bicycle) can cope with.

Dates

4th - 24th - Training Weeks (2 x 7 days on with 2-3 recovery days in between)

25th - 31st - Recovery Week and taper before it all starts

Training Block Rules

Plan & do the training - hard rides, multiple days requires focus and organisation

Fuel & Recover - carbs + protein in the first 30min after your ride (rides more than 60min) - sort it out before you start your session - bananas and nutty cereal bars make very easy cheap recovery food - you are fuelling for tomorrow, not just for your effort today!

Hydrate - drink water - again, you are resetting things ready for tomorrow

Rest - This is a decent dollop of training and you will be exhausted by it, don't try to burn the midnight oil too

The Plan

You'll need to plan around this one, so grab a calendar and drop these sessions on it.

Aim to repeat this block twice with 2-3 days recovery (as in no riding) in between.

Day 1 - 30min Sprint Intervals* + 1 hour Tempo Hills Day 2 - 1 hour Hill Reps (Threshold) Day 3 - 30min Sprint Intervals* + 1 hr Tempo Day 4 - 2 hours Endurance / Tempo (could be group ride) Day 5 - 2 hours with 2 x 20min Threshold intervals Day 6 - 1.5 hour Hill Reps (Tempo) + 30min Sprint Intervals * Day 7 - 30min Sprint Intervals* + 1 hour with 2 x 20min Threshold intervals * Times here do not include warmup/cooldown

The above is a recommendation only, move the sessions around to suit, double up if you need the time and aim to ride at least one of the sessions every day (sprint intervals is probably easiest to fit around your life as it is turbo trainer based).

The Sessions

Sprint Intervals ---------------------

These are also good for commutes, and probably safest to do this on the wind trainer. It can be useful to start a timer and sprint on a regular interval (like on the minute)

Warm up (10 min steady pace with 3 full sprints at 110 rpm)

20s Full Gas sprint (don't worry about anything except fluid circular motion and trying to rip the pedals off) [P7, Z5, Perceived 10/10]

Recover for 40s [P1, Z2, Perceived 2/10]

Repeat for 4 more reps

Recover for 2-3 mins

Repeat the sprints - aim to do the set 3 times

Warm down

Tempo Hills -----------------------------

Ride them hills - ride 'em!

Any hills, the more elevation the better, and don't get stuck into reps - smooth pedal strokes, comfortable cadence and aim for a pace which leaves you sweating but not breathless (sweetspot) - P4, HR Zone 3, Perceived Effort 6/10

Hill Reps -------------------------------

Choose your punishment, it's Rider's Choice:

2, 1, 1, 30, 30, Sprint! (need a hill at least 6min) - Seated 2min, Standing 1min, Seated 1min, Standing 30s, Seated 30s, Full Gas Sprint for 15s

5min above Threshold (i.e. coughing up lungs after 5min is up)

10min at Threshold (breathing hard, but not dying) - obviously, you'll need a 10min hill to do this :)

Make your choice, select your hill and go for it!

Just a note on cadence - most of us will self-select a cadence for hills that is naturally slower than when we ride on the flat ( What Is The Most Efficient Cadence? GCN Does Science ). It is worth mentioning perhaps that there is a range over which we are most efficient and that is where we should aim to train. It is however quite individual and forcing yourself toward higher cadence (e.g. the recommendation of 90rpm seems to crop up a lot) may not be the most efficient for you.

2x 20min Threshold Intervals ------------------

A superb way to strengthen your system for longer duration efforts. These are quite hard to get right because you rarely get a block of 20min with no interruptions (descents, traffic lights, ambulances, feral drivers).

During your longer ride (and probably with the agreement of your group if you're bunch riding) aim to lay down 20min at about the same pace you would time trial (i.e. you're breathing quite hard after 4min, but not after 1min). Once the interval is over recover for 4-5min at a suitably gently pace, then repeat.

Advisory Notes If you followed this plan to the letter, having not done 8-10 hours a week for the last month you are extremely likely to visit Overtrainingville. That's a place no-one wants to go; look at your last 4 weeks training (ignoring recovery weeks) and only increase it 50% each week in this block - you may not get to 10-12 hours as recommended, and that's better than smashing yourself into the floor.

The Training Zones (Heart Rate) - A Reminder

Recovery Zone (1) - Gentle, glass-cranking, smelling the flowers

Endurance Zone (2) - In general, this is the pace where you ride most often - particularly in group rides

Tempo Zone (3) - Climbing hills at a comfortable pace, or riding reasonably hard on the flat (not much conversation)

Threshold Zone (4) - Climbing at strong pace, or gassing it on the flat - probably won't stay in this zone for long periods of time (no conversation)

Anaerobic Zone (5) - Full gas climbing, or sprint efforts on the flat - likely only to spend a minute or two here at a time (painful)

As ever - if you have any specific queries - hit the channel or message me direct.

0 notes

3dmundbarton-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Training Block - Feb - Strength

The days are numbered and we are just 8 training weeks away from an event you won't forget. The question is; how do you want to remember it - as the one you should have trained more for, or the glorious celebration of achievement, effort and willpower?

Moving on.

THIS IS IT, this block is really what will cement your base and multi-day training into a structured and honed race engine. Three weeks (followed by recovery) of high-intensity training to promote strength and power will leave you tired, possibly cranky, but stronger and ready for the final block.

Take the recommended sessions, drop them onto a calendar and in 3 weeks you'll be exhausted but stronger as a result.

You will need:

6 hours of training time - don't worry if this is less than last block, the change in intensity should account for that

4-5 training days with rest days in between - try not to do more than 2 days consecutively (it's likely to do more harm than good)

Very likely a turbo trainer or gym spin session(s)

Good hydration throughout

Good recovery protocol (i.e. carbs & protein in the first 30 min after riding)

Kind of goes without saying, but a balanced diet - i.e. reliable source of energy to support high intensity workouts

A good combination would be 3x short sessions with 1 or 2 longer sessions during the week interspersed with recovery days.

Recommended Short Sessions:

Hills

Warm up (10 min steady pace with 3 sprints at 110 rpm)

Find a local hill that you love

Aim for about 4min of climbing at strong pace (i.e. the effort should have you breathing through your mouth)

Once you've hit 4 min return to your start point (spinning quickly to flush Mr Lactic from your muscles), try to take 2-3 min over it - maybe rest at the bottom

Rinse and repeat at least another 4 times

Cool down (10 min)

Sprint Intervals (good for commutes)

Warm up (10 min steady pace with 3 full sprints at 110 rpm)

It can be useful to start a timer and sprint on a regular interval (like on the minute)

20s Full Gas sprint (don't worry about anything except fluid circular motion and trying to rip the pedals off) [P7, Z5, Perceived 10/10]

Recover for 40s [P1, Z2, Perceived 2/10]

Repeat for 4 more reps

Recover for 2-3 mins

Repeat the sprints - aim to do the set 4 times

Warm down

Safest to do this on the wind trainer

Optionally - you can switch out 20:40s for 30:30s (i.e. 30s sprint, 30s recovery) if you're feeling strong - these are probably twice as difficult so do this wisely.

Time Trial

There's a couple of places that this safe to do on the road (WMCC Liverton road circuit, Bits of North Miramar Peninsular), but as above it is safest to do on the wind trainer

Warm up for at least 15min (include 3-4 full gas sprints - 10s or so)

20min at Gas Mark Painful (i.e. heavy breathing, but still able to see straight) [P5, Z4/5, Perceived 7/10]

Cool down for at least 10 min

Longer Hill Reps

Good warm up (15 min or so)

You should aim for a 10min hill like Horokiwi or Blue Mountains at roughly time trial pace - i.e. you don't really want it to go on for another minute [P4, Z4, Perceived 7/10]

Recover on the way back down, wait / spin at the bottom for about 5min

Repeat again

Cool down for 10min

High-Intensity Trainer Sessions

Anything from the Sufferfest https://thesufferfest.com/ (except To Get To The Other Side and The Way Out)

Spin classes - Les Mills and other gyms offer these at very reasonable prices

Recommended Sessions to fit intensity into your Longer Steadier ride (LSD)

FTP Intervals

During your longer ride, you may have time to fit in some long-duration intervals which are great for supporting and training strength and long-duration power (FTP). If it's a group ride, maybe discuss the idea of 20min at med/high intensity before dropping your riding chums :) Though they can always catch you up.

Assuming you are already warmed up

20min at strong pace (i.e. the pace you could keep up for just 1 hour) [P5, Z4 eventually, Perceived 7/10]

Recover / let your group catch you up for at least 5 min before repeating

Aim for at least 2 of these long intervals in your ride

Fast climbing

If you can't fit a steady longer interval, when you hit a 5min climb aim to hit HR Z5 [Perceived 8/10] by the end of it - aim to do this at least 3 times during the ride - maybe add more hills to your long rides :)

Recovery Day options

Core

These exercises won’t exactly get you a six pack, but have a noticeable effect on your cycling performance (click on workout name for link):

Around the World – 10min

Strava / Fitstar Core Challenge (Strava Premium only) - 20 min

Iron Strength – more advanced (read difficult) - 50 min

Flex / Stretch

Yoga / Pilates - good options for improving general flexibility and stretching out muscles you didn’t know you had - providing you don’t mind the perception.

The Foam Roller (your muscles will thank you later) - I could go on about the foam roller, how it releases your fascia and works out knots and sore spots in your muscles, but I won’t - check out the following cycling specific exercises (click on title) and thank me later:

IT-Band

Quads

Adductors (aka the VMO)

Hamstrings

Note of caution (partly experienced-based)

High Intensity workouts can lead you into the dark world of over-training - how do you know? The following notes are geared around two possible outcomes of your training (too much or not enough)

Signs you're over doing it (Overtraining) If you get start seeing any of these, it's worth flagging this early.

Chronic fatigue

Confusion

Decreased strength

Depression

Frequent minor infections

Increased apathy and irritability

Headaches and tremors

Increased perceived exertion during a constant exercise load

Garmin Recovery Advisor is pretty good at identifying overtraining through imperceptible changes to your heart beat. If you have a Garmin look up this feature. Take extra rest days if you see any of these signs as chronic overtraining can severely damage your build up to The Tour.

Signs you're under-cooking it (Undertraining)

Feeling really fresh all the time - this is usually a sign you are recovered - fine if this happens during a recovery week, but if you're feeling like this in the middle of a training block then you might want to consider upping the intensity of what you are doing (perhaps meditate on Rule #5)

Short easy miles (i.e. less than 100km) - whilst there's nothing wrong with recovery riding per se, riding at low intensities regularly is unlikely to produce the improvements you are seeking. I'm not saying you need to smash every ride, but if you are training you will almost certainly need to break a sweat - it's ok to sweat it! Sadly, if commuting forms part of your weekly training, then you may need to adjust how you approach it - can you add a hill or steel yourself to some sprint intervals?

0 notes

3dmundbarton-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Training Bites - Mass Effect

Well it was a matter of time before the food and bodyweight-related post arrived on the blog. This post starts from the basis that we want to ride our push-bikes faster - if this isn't quite your goal, then the information contained might not be that relevant.

To cycle faster you can either build muscle to develop more power in your legs or drop weight to reduce the total mass that your legs needs to propel, and there's no hard rule about which you should be doing. Power is more important for riding on the flat (flat racing or time trial), weight is more important on the hills. As we live in a pretty hilly country, I'd say that weight is probably going to win out.

If we focus on reducing bodyweight then we have a couple of facts in play:

If you weigh less, you require fewer joules of energy to propel you and your push bike - or you will go faster for an equal amount of effort

If the number of calories you consume is less than those expended during the day (including exercise) your body will burn body fat to compensate - leading to 1)

So how to lose the pounds - I'd boil it down to five aspects:

The calories in your life (expended and consumed)

Boost your metabolism

Eat a balanced, low/medium density calorie diet (except during activity) & drink lots of water

A mental game to reduce treats, stress and habit-forming eating

Always fuel your cycling correctly

1. Controlling Calories

Calorie control is effective period and not really that hard. It is a simple equation between calories out and calories in.

Equipped with a Garmin or cycling computer it's pretty easy nowadays to arrive at a number for the calories you burn whilst riding. For other exercise there's a wealth of information on the calories burned per hour. From there add 2000 ( the recommended intake of a typical Western male adult) to arrive at Calories Out each day.

Next apply the equation Calories In equals Calories Out minus 500. This difference will achieve a steady bodyweight drop of approx' 1kg over 7 days.

e.g.

2hrs round Makara loop is 1326 calories

Calories In = 1326 + 2000 - 500

Calories In = 2826

So next is a tricky part, how do you check you’re eating less than the amount you've calculated? Smartphone to the rescue! - either S Health which is pre-loaded on Samsung phones or MyFitnessPal (iTunes store and Google Play Store) are simple meal logging apps. These apps can be used to guesstimate the energy in your food.

Tip - Save yourself the time of logging lots of different things by just logging anything medium to high calorie. No point logging spinach, salad, cups of tea / coffee, even the odd teaspoon of sugar. A couple of minutes after a meal or a snack is all it takes.

Start logging your food in the first week just to see what you eat, then start trying to hit your daily calorie in (i.e. consume less than it) goal. You might be quite surprised by what ends up going in your face.

Tip - If you choose to weigh yourself, do it just after you’ve got up and after your morning wee, in the same state of dress and on the same scales. This eliminates much of the variation due to hydration, diet and clothing

Tip - whilst controlling your calorie intake, if you eat less calorie-dense food you are far less likely to snack or make poor diet choices (because you're hungry)

Tip – natural unprocessed foods are generally less calorie dense (except nuts/avocado) and often make better snack choices than processed snacks because they fill you up – carrots, celery, apples, capsicum

Pro Tip – ex-pro Tyler Hamilton talked about using gazeux (fizzy water) as a solution to feeling hungry. Keep a bottle chilled in the fridge and head there instead of the chippy cupboard (we've all got one of those right?). Doesn't have to be expensive San Pelligrino, you can make it in the sodastream for the cost of a squirt of CO2.

2. Your Metabolism

The rate that your body can process your food (and your fat) into the essential proteins, fats and a gazillion other chemicals and minerals is not fixed. Your metabolic rate can be influenced and changed so that you burn more calories in a day. Under a controlled calorie diet this will allow your body to burn more body fat than if you did nothing.

http://www.mensfitness.com/training/pro-tips/best-ways-increase-your-metabolism

You can also change it by altering your activity levels (and I don't mean cycling here) and this is done by increasing NEAT (the technical sounding Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis); all the activity moving around, pointing at things, chasing children, etc. Move more to burn more. Hence the adage of taking the stairs instead of the lift (or at least the last 3 flights if you're in a high-rise). Nowadays there are gadget-ey ways of remembering to move more (Fitbit, Apple watch, etc), but just being conscious of moving more will help.

Interesting and possibly over-detailed discussion on metabolism-myths: http://paleoleap.com/metabolism-boosting-myths/

3. Balance and Moderation

We are all aware that a balanced diet is a healthy thing, but when you actually want some guidelines about how much and what type of food – where do you turn?

Pretty much all of us grew up being taught about the food pyramid - most often derived (or just a copy) of the USDA Food Pyramid. This fairly recently turned out to be a load of cobblers invented by the American food industry lobbyists and has brought America to the edge of an obesity epidemic.

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/09/invented-food-pyramid/

Alternatives - those folks at Harvard have come up with a "Healthy Eating Plate"

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-plate/

This recommendation should guide and educate the next generation. Interestingly, they put vegetables as virtually half of our recommended diet - half! And potatoes don't even count. I guess vegetarians have had it right all along.

Interestingly elimination diets (that are not necessitated by allergies) are quite often seem to be associated with negative side effects, paleo, atkins, etc. Eliminating foodstuffs from your diet isn't necessary, it's more a question of moderating and balancing.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/a-dietitian-put-extreme-clean-eating-claims-to-the-test-a7235606.html

As mentioned in other posts, hydration is very important not only to performance but also general body function. Stay hydrated and consider moderating diuretics (coffee, tea, alcohol) if you consume a lot of them.

4. Things to reduce - a mental game

Stress: plays havoc with your metabolism, your ability to recover and critically your athletic performance. Start by identifying sources of stress, though sadly dealing with them is beyond the scope of this article. Recognising stressors is the first step to reducing their hold on you.

Treats: should be kept for just that, a reward. Anything manufactured and high-calorie should probably be considered a treat (you can also throw raisins, dates, figs, nuts in with this category too). It's often said that absence makes the heart grow fonder - this definitely true if you haven't had chippies for a week.

Sadly the same goes for take-aways which fall into the same category – reduce them to treat status.

There is a saving grace though - assuming you're watching what you eat (I didn't say calorie counting) then the number of calories is the number of meters you have to climb on your bike to burn it off - if you've done your exercise first then it's easy to work out whether you are making a good choice. Just remember that kiwi staple, the pie is a trip to the Radar Dome / Hawkins Hill from sea-level – not something that is casually knocked off.

Habitual eating: is incredibly common, if you find yourself eating a specific points in the day, when you grab a mid-morning coffee or after work on a Friday then you are likely to be suffering from it. Consider asking yourself if you are really hungry or is it boredom, would something low-calorie fill the gap (I know the answer is no, but try a carrot and a glass of fizzy water and see). If you need motivation, reward yourself but keep it on the bike – fancy Hammer nutrition or organic handmade flapjacks.

5. Fuelling on the bike

It can seem curiously two-faced to be counting calories and eating natural food off the bike, then on the bike chowing down processed bars and synthetic gels all the while swigging pure glucose sports drink.

There is method here, the energy demands of cycling (600-900 calories per hour) are very different than the rest of our life. Studies (though I haven't got the links for them) show that fuelling with the right amount of high-GI (i.e. simple easily absorbed sugars) sports drinks enables the body to absorb and utilise these fuels during exercise and maintain an optimum athletic performance. The rest of your waking life is lived at about 100 calories per hour, so slowly absorbed low-GI foods give a more sustainable predictable source of energy, rather than spikes and crashes associated with High-GI foods (not to mention new research into insulin-related inflammation linked with everything from Type 2 diabetes to Altzheimer’s)

You have to find what works for you as an individual, but cutting out carbohydrate and then partaking in exercise which burns energy produced largely from carbohydrate seems a recipe for disaster. Keep the carbs and gels for cycling (and immediately afterwards for recovery), but re-focus the diet off the bike.

Opinion - Fasting rides are a thing, but based on the sports science I’ve read over the last couple of years, should only end in you being wrung out and your body eating it’s own fat and muscle - not an ideal outcome if you’re trying to get stronger. If anyone has any more information on the subject, I’d appreciate the education.

0 notes

3dmundbarton-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Tour of NZ - January - Multi-Day Endurance 1

11 Weeks to go!

With the holidays, Christmas and New Year celebrations in the rear view mirror, we have a road to travel together. January marks our first substantial change to training volume – to 8 hours per week.

2nd - 8th Jan - 8 hours

9th - 15th - 8 hours

16th - 22nd - 8 hours

23rd - 29th - Recovery (2 hours) / taper for BDO Round the Mountain (Taranaki)

This block is focused on riding multiple days back to back, so a little discipline will be required to make this work and fit around the rest of our lives.

Three Rules of Multi Day Training:

Make time for consecutive days – this training will only work if you take time to make time

High intensity / Threshold efforts or above are banned

Recover like a champ (post-ride, sleep and general nutrition)

1 – Ride on consecutive days

This is totally a challenge for everyone who doesn't have pro contract, we have lives and multiple days / multiple hours is a squeeze. However it is the only way to harden up for the Tour. If multiple hours in one go isn't possible, an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening is a good alternative – but remember fueling and recovery after each ride.

You should aim to ride your 8 hours with at least 2 days recovery during the week – I'll leave you to figure out how this balancing around your life.

2 – No High Intensity

These types of workouts (Sufferfest indoor session, Les Mills, holding the wheel of the Russ Bus up Happy Valley) are great to build strength, but require adequate recovery to avoid the slippery slope into overtraining. Technically speaking you do damage to your muscles which is repaired during recovery and higher intensity sessions do more damage. If you're using heart rate stick to Zone 3, if you're using power then Zone 3 (with occasional forays into Z4) and perceived effort should not exceed 4-5 (I.e. breaking a sweat, but not breathing heavily)

3– Recover between rides

Scientifically speaking there is a 30-60 minute window post-ride where your body will re-absorb carbohydrate and replenish what you've burned during a ride. Use this window, a ratio of 3 carbs to 1 protein is more or less recommended, however relying just on carbs is also fine. Utilizing this window means you will be fresher for the next day.

Simple nutrition: 1x banana + 1 serve Horley's whey protein + 250ml milk

Simple nutrition: 1x banana + 50g almonds + 30g raisins

Or go with recovery drinks, Gu Recovery, Hammer, Etixx - but these are all more expensive than the humble banana.

Recommended Sessions

Sweetspot / Z3 Intervals

2 hours at approx Endurance Pace (HR Z2, Power Z2-3, Perceived 3-4) - flat, hills, anything really – better if it's outdoors. Aim for at least 3 blocks of 20 min at the Sweetspot (HR Z3, Power Z3/4, Perceived 5) - this is a training zone where the physical damage and therefore recovery time is balanced with the training effect (I.e. the ability of the effort to improve your cycling). Sweetspot training is ideal for longer training sessions.

Here's the good ole' British Cycling with further info

https://roadcyclinguk.com/how-to/six-things-need-know-sweetspot-training.html#mz8LcR1pu7ksl2Eu.97

Long Steady Distance (LSD)

2+ hours at Endurance Pace (HR Z2, Power Z2-3, Perceived 3-4) – Akatarewa Loop, Blue Mountains / Whitemans, Wellington Bays (assuming you don't start in Wellington), Makara Loop + extensions (depending on your start). There are plenty of tracks to get up over the 2hour mark, choose your poison. What's important is consistency, this isn't a race, this is steady predictable distance the sort of thing you could keep up for ever (if you didn't have family / work / a need to eat).

Take fuel, use it as you would on the tour and enjoy a ride which doesn't involve sweating and suffering.

Indoor trainer

If you cannot make the time on the road (or if you really like the turbo trainer … sadist), then make up the time indoors. 2 hours is way too long by most people's reckoning, so split up your daily rides (2 or 3 parts – perhaps re-use clothing to avoid a washing mountain).

Movies, great music, skype conversations with loved ones, anything to get you through these sessions. Again aim for endurance pace, but acknowledge that the turbo is slightly more difficult than the road (I.e. heart rate is a good measure of effort, power tends to be 10-20% under)

If there are more specific requirements, then let me know (Telegram group)

I expect this particular training block to be unsuitable for the upcoming BDO Around the Mountain event – let me know if you would like something more tailored.

0 notes

3dmundbarton-blog · 8 years ago

Text

December Training Block – Endurance 1

December! Summer is here, along with long (hopefully sunny) days a break from the daily grind. What better time to consolidate and build on your awesome fitness base so far.

We're going to keep the same base number of hours as the last block, but change the focus from strength / intervals to working on cadence, our aerobic base and bring in some core strengthening / cross training.

Important – Everything you have achieved so far can be undone over Christmas/New Year without focus – I'm not exaggerating. Reduced training volume, combined with holiday eating could set your training back 2 months. Here's a few tips to keep on the up and head into January strong and ready for the final 3 months of training before the Tour of NZ!

Xmas Tips:

If you're heading away, don't be afraid to take a bike & turbo trainer with to keep up you training volume (assuming you can)

With friends and family around and time at a premium (it is after all what Xmas is about), there's almost always time in the early mornings to get your hours in – early morning group rides are great for taking the training out of the rest of the day

Calories out then calories in – Pay it forward, ride first and then treat yourself after during the holiday period (many of us ride so we can enjoy what we eat, but you have to ride first ...)

Watch what you eat – unless you are training really hard, food that is dense in calories will very likely have a negative effect on your bodyweight – unless you're treating yourself Chippies, Cheese and Chocolate (the 3Cs) can be happily avoided to cut out the largest calorie contributions. The 3Cs make a centre-stage appearance at Xmas.

Focus - remember why you're doing this – stick a note in your kitchen (on the fridge?) to remind you – 650km, 3-4 hours per day for 7 days through some of the most stunning scenery in the world, raising money for a good cause

Training Block Weekly Targets

Week 1 [5th – 11th Dec] - 6 hours (or Recovery)

Week 2 [12th – 18th Dec] - 6 hours

Week 3 [19th – 25th Dec] - 6 hours

Week 4 [26th – 1st Jan ] - 6 hours

Recommended Sessions

1) More long rides at Endurance Pace (Perceived Level 3-5, HR Zone 2 and Power Zone 2-3) - aim for 2hours or more

Before you set out write 90rpm on some tape and stick it to your stem where you can see it. Whilst you're out keep an eye on your cadence (I'm assuming you have a cadence-o-meter) and try to maintain 90 RPM (and stick within endurance zone) - don't worry you don't need to do this up hills / rollers. It's all about bringing your average cadence up so you can develop more power with less force per pedal stroke. If you don't ride at 90 already moving towards this will take time (about a month)

At some point during your ride you should include at least one 20min interval at the fastest pace you could sustain for 60 min (if you're breathing heavily after 5min that's probably too quick) - Perceived Level 6-7, HR Zone 3 and Power Zone 4

2) Sweetspot Intervals (pinched from British Cycling)

Session takes an hour on the turbo or 90 min on the road (and you'll need to pick a track where you can do it)

In general keep your cadence to 90+ rpm

Warm up (10min with three 30s sprints)

5 mins in 3rd hardest gear, at the fastest pace you could sustain for 60 min - Perceived Level 6-7, HR Zone 3 and Power Zone 4

At the end of each effort do a 5 sec seated Sprint – just wring those cranks out!

5 mins easy pedaling to recover

Repeat 5 mins on + sprint / 5 mins off, 4 times in total

Rest of time in HR/P Z2

Your effort needs to be spread over the 4 blocks and should be at below Time Trial pace.

All efforts should feel slightly uncomfortable, becoming progressively harder to maintain.

3) Group rides (keep 90 rpm cadence focus)

1-2 hours Endurance / Tempo Pace (Perceived Level 3-6, HR Zone 2-3 and Power Zone 2-4)

Whilst your in holiday mode use the time to head out on more group rides, get familiar with group dynamics and build that aerobic base. But try to avoid the sprints or smashing yourself – if the group is too strong, don't be ashamed to hang at the back or fall back and solo – there's always someone faster than you.

4) Cross Training & Flexibility

If you're a gym-goer or runner then try to get at least 1 session a week of non-cycling exercise.

Running is great cross-functional tool for keeping your cardio system tuned up - if you stuck making your training volume, but you can run then do

Cross-fit can be quite intense so you may have to manage which day it falls (I.e. not before a long ride or tempo group ride), but it’s a great cross-functional strength building routine (once you've got over the muscle pain in places you didn't know existed).

Swimming (medium lane or faster) for 40 min is a great aerobic exercise and freestyle will gently build your upper body and strengthen your core which can translate to greater stability on the bike which improves power transfer and reduces fatigue.

Pilates / Yoga are fantastic alternatives to strength / power / "grrr macho" exercises. Improving flexibility and stretching reduces the likelihood of injury as well as improving the efficiency of muscle movement. All of which translates to a more comfortable riding experience as well as a stable base to build strength.

5) Trainer sessions

Check out last month's block for Indoor Training recommendations if you are stuck on the trainer

http://3dmundbarton.tumblr.com/post/152719323368/november-training-block-base-2

1 note · View note

3dmundbarton-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Training with Heart Rate

Most of the following is a digestion of Joel Friel's site mixed with experience. http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2010/05/quick-guide-to-training-with-heart-rate-power-and-pace.html

I tend to follow Joel Friels point of view because it's functional - i.e. based on how things work on the road, rather than mathematical models (Skiba et al).

You don't need a power meter to measure and focus your training, your heart is a reasonably good alternative (* there are of course exceptions). To effectively train with heart rate you need to know two things:

lactate threshold heart rate

heart rate training zones

What about Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) Well, there are systems out there which use MHR to figure out your training zones, but really the body is a bit more complex than this. Friel uses the physiological measure of Lactate Threshold to figure out training zones - which makes more sense because how fast your heart can beat doesn't necessarily have any bearing on performance over a period of time - i.e. during bike races

Lactate Threshold Hear Rate (LTHR) This is the most useful number when out on the road - it is the heart rate you can maintain for an hour - your FTP heart rate. If you're lucky enough to have completed a 40km solo time trial with a heart rate monitor, you will have a number for this heart rate. If not see Joel Friels testing protocol in the link at the top of this article - it's really important you sustain your effort in the final 20min - you don't want to droop in the last few minutes.

Lactate Threshold, in case you were wondering is the point at which your body fails to tolerate the accumulated lactic acid generated by non-aerobic activity - i.e. Mr Lactic finally sets up home. In the literature there are two lactic thresholds, L1 and L2; Friel talks about LTHR which is all about L2 - the point at which you can no longer tolerate the accumulation of lactate. L1 is known as OBLA (Onset of Blood Lactate Accumulation) the point at which you start accumulating lactate - it helpful to know L1, but with a reasonable level of fitness you can carry on for hours at this level (though it hurts). L1 can be determined by blood lactate test (see Fitlab or other cycling performance coaches)

Heart Rate Training Zones

Friel uses 7 zones which seems a little overkill since HR isn't really that useful once you get beyond threshold - you can work out quite quickly if your gassing yourself.

Strava, Training Peaks and Garmin all support 5 Zone Training Zones and these are more than adequate for general training.

Using your LTHR use the percentages below to determine your training zones.

Recovery Zone (1) Less than 81% of LTHR

Endurance Zone (2) 81% to 89% of LTHR

Tempo Zone (3) 90% to 93% of LTHR

Threshold Zone (4) 94% to 100% of LTHR

Anaerobic Zone (5) More than 100% LTHR

Specificity These zones are specific to cycling because the LTHR is cycling specific, you cannot apply this to other sports, a separate test for LTHR should be done for each

Progression & Improvement

Your lactate threshold heart rate can change as you get fitter

The perceived effort for a given training zone can also change depending on recovery levels, general condition, illness, etc - i.e. sometimes hitting the top of Threshold is just beyond you - this is ok and expected.

If you can face it, test yourself about 3 times a years to keep your zones up to date with your changes in fitness (which can go up and down)

Remember that your zones are a guide rather than an absolute measure of how hard you are going - this is where power meters come in.

Using Heart Rate Zones The following is opinion and not from Joel Friel.

If you've dialled in your zones, tested them on a few rides and they seem to work you now come to races and events armed with confidence. In time trials you know what heart rate to target to avoid gassing yourself On long climbs (20min) you know if you're going harder than bottom end of threshold that you'll likely gas yourself and you should throttle back a little to pace. Not to mention it's a superb measure of how well you are placed in a group - constantly running zone 4, the group is too strong for you, and likewise if you never get out of Z2 you should find a stronger group (or spend more time at the front)

Where to from here? Got your zones dialled, comfortable modulating your effort by heart rate, then do consider using HR as a way to quantify how much training you are doing. The time you spend in each HR zone can be used to paint a picture of how much training "stress" is in your ride (e.g. Training Stress Score TSS of 100 is a 1 hour time trial). The amount of stress over time can be used to work out how well recovered you are and what effect your training is likely to have on your performance. The free version of Training Peaks will calculate a TSS score based on your HR. Any given event can be quantified in terms of TSS, so you can use this to work out how much training you should be doing. e.g. K2 is about 400 TSS, so as a minimum you should be accumulating this must TSS in the 4 weeks leading up to it. This will mean you are conditioned to the volume and intensity of the event. We could also segue into Strava's Freshness vs Fitness, but I'll leave that for another post.

0 notes

3dmundbarton-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Week 19 - [21st Nov] Taper / Recovery

How time flies - here we are in the Recovery week of Training Block 2.

Hopefully you’ve kept up the training volume for this block and tried a few new training sessions to build strength and endurance on the bike.

Now it’s time to kick back and let your body recover before we do it all over again.

Taupo Cycle Challenge Tapering

For those doing the TCC, you’ll no doubt be tapering before the big race a week from today. Tapering involves:

letting your body rebuild muscles stressed by training

fill up your carbohydrate stores ready for the big day

Of course changing your nutrition at this stage is a bad idea, but carbo loading can be pretty effective at maximizing the glycogen stores that you’ll burn going round the lake - allowing you to hit point 2 perfectly.

https://roadcyclinguk.com/how-to/nutrition-what-is-carb-loading.html#kKOpXhobPE3fWQO8.97

Training Sessions for Recovery / Taper week

This training block starts on Monday, so don’t worry about long rides this weekend :)

No strength work (on or off the bike)!

No long rides (more than an hour)

If you find yourself out of breath, dial it back - you supposed to be recovering

Gentle recovery rides can be good for the head (especially if your head keeps telling you to ride) - but imagine your cranks are made of glass, apply power gently

I can’t stress how important it is to recover to avoid overtraining and to let your body get stronger - strength is built during recovery!

So when you’re lounging on the sofa this week, enjoying a bath or talking a stroll keep in mind that you’re getting stronger not weaker.

0 notes

3dmundbarton-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Training Tips - Week 19

It's not all about the bike, when you're not riding there are some "easy" quick exercises you can do to strengthen you trunk, core, glutes and abs. All of these muscles play a role in stabilising you on the bike.

Ever seen folks rocking from side to side with effort up a climb? It's not only leg-power that counts – a strong core will not only keep you stable and reduce fatigue from wasted motion, but improve your out of the saddle climbing.

These exercises won't exactly get you a six pack, but have a noticeable effect on your cycling performance (click on workout name for link):

Around the World – 10min - 3-4 times a week

Strava / Fitstar Core Challenge (Strava Premium only) - 20 min - 1-2 times a week

Iron Strength – more advanced (read difficult) - 50 min - once a week

Apart from Iron Strength (dumbells), none of these require any additional gear (maybe a yoga mat or carpet would help)

Try them for at least 2 weeks before making your mind up :)

0 notes

3dmundbarton-blog · 8 years ago

Text

November Training Block - Base 2

November has arrived and the build to a common highlight of the event calendar – the Taupo Cycle Challenge. For the Tour we should be aiming to increase our weekly training volume to 6 hours.

This training block aims to build on previous gains and make usage of the extra daylight and slightly better conditions outside.

Looks like almost everyone hit the 4 hours per week from the last block – keep it up and remember we're building up to 24 hours of riding in a week.

Week 1 [1st – 6th Nov] - 6 hours

Week 2 [7th – 13th Nov] - 6 hours

Week 3 [14th – 20th Nov] - 6 hours

Week 4 [21st – 27th Nov] - Rest / Taper for Taupo Cycle Challenge

Recommended Training Sessions

FTP building intervals Either on it's own, or fit this into a ride / commute – really needs to be on the flat two 20min intervals at slightly below Time Trial build your ability to lay down power over long durations, not just sprints

Having warmed up

20min at the fastest pace you could sustain for 60 min (if you're breathing heavily after 5min that's probably too quick) - Perceived Level 6-7, HR Zone 3 and Power Zone 4

5min active recovery (slight spin)

Repeat 20min

Cool down (10min or so)

60min Hill Reps

Find a hill roughly 5-10 min in length – repeat with at least 3-4min recovery in between – aim for consistency – so 5 attempts within 5s of each other is better training than smashing the first rep and fading like a photo in the sun

Keep it tempo, steady breathing through mouth, but not painful

Perceived Level 5-7, HR Zone 3 and Power Zone 4

1-2hours Endurance Pace (flats)

Endurance pace means breaking a sweat but not breathing through mouth (unless you have a cold)

Perceived Level 3-5, HR Zone 2 and Power Zone 2-3

Indoor Options

If you've only got time for indoor sessions The Sufferfest comes highly recommended https://thesufferfest.com/ - you can bittorrent them, but please buy them (if we don't give them money, they won't make any more)

If you've looking for least painful https://thesufferfest.com/collections/cycling-videos/products/to-get-to-the-other-side is very pretty and is a good climbing base

Most painful (according to the Russ Bus) is https://thesufferfest.com/products/blender

If you haven't got time for separate training rides (and you commute), see if you can extend your commute at either end – if you need hill recommendations to fit your commute, contact me

0 notes

3dmundbarton-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Training Tips - Week 21

With the Labour Day Sharpener (sorry this post is a little Wellington-centric) in a few hours time, it seems opportune to talk about how Post-Ride Recovery impacts Multi-day Riding

Mixing up the Labour Day ride with our regular Tuesday TAC is a great opportunity to see how you go with multi-day – learn some lessons and improve.

To successfully ride day after day you need to fuel correctly on the ride (i.e. don't hit the wall or dehydrate yourself), re-fuel correctly post-ride and rest before you do it all over again.

Fuelling on the ride will be left for another Training Tip, but I wanted to cover Post-ride recovery here – resting will be left to you :)

Bouts of exercise which last longer than an hour – particularly strenuous / anaerobic ones – run down your natural stores of glycogen (used to fuel your muscles). Whilst these stores are replenished by your normal balanced diet, this takes time. Important when you don't have time – such as multi-day events. There are also additional processes at work post-exercise, many of which dampen the ability of your body to recover (hormones used to breakdown fat and muscle for fuel during strenuous exercise).

Fortunately, your body is quite good at dealing with this and multi-day riding is possible without feeling shattered:

First up is fuel – within 30 min of finishing your ride (probably before you have that highly desirable shower) consume an easily digestible (liquid) load of carbs and protein (3 carbs to 1 protein – aim for 10g protein minimum). This can be as simply as a protein shake and a large banana.

Second up is hydration – depending on whether you're a camel or not, I would bet that most of us dehydrate on long rides. To roll the following day without feeling shocking you'll need to pay attention to slowly re-hydrating yourself post-ride. A bidon of water every hour or two till your wee goes to transparent should do it – easy to forget this if you're fitting rides between work, family and other engagements

References (lots of letters after these names, must mean something right?)

http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/110413p18.shtml

0 notes