Improvong Avg Speed

ROK ON

Folks, I need some advice. I am hoping to do a charity cycle later in the year as part of a largish group. If I was to do this, I really would need to improve my avg speed over a mixture of flat, rolling and hilly terrain by 20%.

I am gradually improving my speed over my usual spins in Wicklow, but I tend to concentrate more on having a good cycle rather than a fast cycle. That is, cadence, climbing, descending, and how I feel after each spin, rather than going all out and trying to beat my previous time.

For this charity cycle however, it would be wise for me to up the ante a bit, in terms of avg KM/h, othrwise, I simply wouldn't be able to keep up.

In peoples opinions, is it possible that a person could improve and the avg. speed of a spin by 20% over the course of the next 6 months.
If so, how?

I would also need to be sustain the pace over 4 days, going an avg of 150km/day.

(Now I am aware that cycling as part of a peleton would improve my speed anyway, but I would also need an underlying improvement.)

And finally, I will not be taking EPO to improve my speed.:)

NeilMcEoigheann

do speed and hill intervals.
lose as much weight as you can, so continue to eat carbohydrates and protein for growth and repair, but cut down on
pastry and sweets. also don't eat after 7.
set yourself a monthly plan and stick to it.
try to get your BMI down to about 19/20 http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmi-m.htm

Raam

What is the event?

Neil's advice looks sound. I am doing similar myself.

ba

it may not be easy, but back-to-back spins are essential. it means getting out sat and sun morning.

6 months is plenty of time to get in shape, i would think.

back when i wanted to improve my riding, the quickest way to do it was join a club. i think most clubs have a touring section, like the dublin wheelers, soon enough tourers rather than racers depart for longer relaxed spins. think they start mid spring...? ideal for you.

blorg

Whether you can improve your speed by 20% really depends on what your speed is at the moment, e.g. it is easier to go from 17km/h to 20km/h than from 30km/h to 36km/h.

What is the route of the charity cycle? To Paris by any chance? 150km/day is a fair bit to be repeated four times.

Regarding hills, losing weight is really the key. On the flat it doesn't matter so much but still important for general fitness.

tunney

NeilMcEoigheann wrote: »

do speed and hill intervals.
set yourself a monthly plan and stick to it.

NeilMcEoigheann wrote: »

lose as much weight as you can, so continue to eat carbohydrates and protein for growth and repair, but cut down on
pastry and sweets. also don't eat after 7.

Disagree with this. You're trying to lose as much fat as possible not weight. It might seem like semantics but its not.

I agree with the cutting down on pastry and sweets however the "not eating after 7" is bogus. The research that showed that eating after 7 promoted greater gains in body fat has been proven to be flawed.

Concentrate you main meals of the day for as close to after training as possible.

NeilMcEoigheann wrote: »

try to get your BMI down to about 19/20 http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmi-m.htm

Concentrate on BF% rather than BMI. BMI isn't strictly applicable to athletes. (My BMI is 22.5, or the high side of normal while I'm actually less than healthy for BF%)

tunney

ba wrote: »

it may not be easy, but back-to-back spins are essential. it means getting out sat and sun morning.

6 months is plenty of time to get in shape, i would think.

back when i wanted to improve my riding, the quickest way to do it was join a club. i think most clubs have a touring section, like the dublin wheelers, soon enough tourers rather than racers depart for longer relaxed spins. think they start mid spring...? ideal for you.

I think the tourers aspect of DW is already out.

ROK ON

blorg wrote: »

Whether you can improve your speed by 20% really depends on what your speed is at the moment, e.g. it is easier to go from 17km/h to 20km/h than from 30km/h to 36km/h.

What is the route of the charity cycle? To Paris by any chance? 150km/day is a fair bit to be repeated four times.

Regarding hills, losing weight is really the key. On the flat it doesn't matter so much but still important for general fitness.

Not Paris. TourdeMunster.
Regarding speed. It would be ideal to get from 23km/h to 27.5km/h to be comfortable, and to be able to repeat it for four days. This wold be across a variety of terrains. Some pretty flat, some pretty hilly.
Now, I am aiming to do Wicklow 200 in just under 9hrs, whereas my current times on 100km around Wicklow would suggest 9.5hrs, if I could sustain the effort (most I have ever done in one trip is 160km). I guees that will give me an indication as to where I am in terms of readiness.
Hear you on the weight loss. Already making some progress, but have stalled in last few weeks. Aim is to shed another stone to get to 14st by W200.
However I just can't live without sweets and pastires. Life just wouldn't be worth it. A man needs some vices after all:)

blorg

If you keep working on it the flats in a group will be no problem, it will just be when you hit a hill that it kills you. Training on the bike will help to an extent but addressing the weight through diet will be easier and get it off quicker.

Chips Lovell

Lots of good advice there. Intervals and hill repeats should help improve your power.

However, I would say not to underestimate the effect of riding in a bunch. It really can make a massive difference on your average speed, so much so that I'd say 28kph is easily achievable with the same effort of 23kph riding on your own. With that in mind, joining a club might be a good idea. It'll give you the experience of riding in close proximity to other riders, so you'll be well used to it when your event rolls around.

scottreynolds

My advice differs slightly from that here. Technically what you trying to do is increase your ability to sustain a pace that you currently find it diffcult to sustain but at the same time keeping your endurance base. 150km per day at 25km per hour means 6 hours per day on the bike.


So my recommendations are

• Start adding intervals to either your current long rides or adding a few shorter rides in where you can focus on riding at 30km +. Nothing special just something like 2x20 where during a ride of 90 minutes you could do something like 20 warming up enjoying the day, 20minutes at pace, 10 minutes relaxed riding at normal pace, 20 minutes at pace, finish ride cooling down. Now when I say pace pick something acheivable to you like 30kph. Between the intervals just up your pace slightly as you get fitter. You may end up cycling at 28kph and having intervals at 32kph. Its a very fluid workout you change chage the paces always.
• Do at least one ride of 4 hours per week to build you endurance base. This should be done at a brisk but comfirtable pace. I use a heart rate monitor to keep me at the correct pace. If you can't do 4 hours you still need to ride but harder.
  
  I hope that all make sense.

scottreynolds

NeilMcEoigheann wrote: »

but cut down on
pastry and sweets also don't eat after 7.

Raam wrote: »

Neil's advice looks sound. I am doing similar myself.

Raam - You ate all my biscuits after 7pm.

TinyExplosions

scottreynolds wrote: »

Raam - You ate all my biscuits after 7pm.

Everyone knows free biscuits don't count!

Raam

scottreynolds wrote: »

Raam - You ate all my biscuits after 7pm.

I had one cookie!

ROK ON

scottreynolds wrote: »

• Do at least one ride of 4 hours per week to build you endurance base. This should be done at a brisk but comfirtable pace. I use a heart rate monitor to keep me at the correct pace. If you can't do 4 hours you still need to ride but harder.
  
  I hope that all make sense.

Thanks for that. Presently i do a commute of 24km per day. I have a training plan for Wicklow 200 that will take me from 70-100km spins at the w/e to 180km spins by May. So far I am following it.
Because of work, family and kids, I can't join a club or do 2 w/e spins. It would end on divorce.
I can comfortably spend 6 hrs in the saddle (with odd few minutes break here and there), and feel ok after it. But I would be doing that at a reasonable (not fast pace.
Before I had this idea, my idea was to train for Mt Leinster, Wicklow 200 and 160km Sean Kelly by spening almost every w/e in wicklow and gradually increasing milage and length of time in saddle. reasoning was to build climbing ability and endurance. Have not focused on doing it at pace previously.
Key issue for me is weight and poor lung capacity (always been an issue).
I am working on the former, the later is something that I have to live with I guess.
Thanks for all the ideas folks.

scottreynolds

Raam wrote: »

I had one cookie!

Thats 4% of your body weight.