Easy does it, now...

One_Time

So I've been cycling for about a year now, and I'm feeling a good bit stronger than I was at the beginning, but I just got myself a flash new frame so I want to stake out a few aims to work towards and put a bit of structure around my training. I have a Garmin 500 with HRM strap, so I'm going to use Heart Rate training zones for that.

So, first of all the targets:

1) Lose 15 pounds by 21/10/12 (to get me to BMI of 20)
2) Join a club and keep up on one of the quicker spins (was planning on joining around the Autumn and just keeping up with the odd Sportive in the meantime)
3) Keep up in an A4 race
(and the stretch targets)
4) 10km TT in 15 minutes
5) Place in an A4 race

Here's my training plan, comments welcome!

Tuesdays - 90 min hill climbing (live beside Wicklow, so 15 min warm up before I hit some proper climbs)
Wednesdays - 2hrs Zone 3
Thursdays - 60 min HIIT
Saturday - 3hrs Zone 2
Sunday - 4hrs Sportive/Solo Spin

Looking at it now it looks like it might be a bit much time, so I might do the 3hrs Zone 2 only on weekends I don't do a Sportive.

All thoughts and suggestions gratefully received!

One_Time

Managed to not fall at the first hurdle, which is good :-)

Did an eighty minute spin with 4 shortish but steep climbs I went all out on, about 500m climbing in total, but tried to keep my heart rate in zone 3 in between. TBH, even keeping it down in zone 3 was a challenge, can't wait to see me try three hours in zone 2!

Still, the first step taken, so let's see if I can keep it up tomorrow...

One_Time

Just realised I worked out my zones wrong, and what I though was Zone 3 was actually Zone 2, and so on

So, it's going to be a bit easier sticking in zone 2 than I thought it was, and it also means that what I thought was a 90 minute zone 2 endurance spin last night was actually a zone 1 recovery ride :P

I'm meant to be doing 60 minutes intervals this evening, but at least it'll be a lot easier to get into my top couple of zones than I was thinking...

One_Time

When you're pedaling as hard as you can.

I went out for my first Interval training session last night, aiming for a 15 min warm up, 6 sessions of 30sec on/270 sec off, and a 15 min warm down.

So after a warm up with heart rate in zone 3, I got a nice, straight, clear stretch of road, clicked it up onto the big ring and pedaled as hard as I could. 30 seconds never seemed so long in my life! I did get it up to a decent speed though, and my heart rate went straight up to the edge of zone 6. After about 5 mins easy pedaling, I went for it again, with much the same result. My third one was on a hill and I nearly died.

The fourth one I had to give up on after about 15 seconds , so I took a longer recovery spell after that before doing my last two, which weren't nearly the same intensity as the first couple.

When I got home I was kind of light headed and my legs were buzzing, like after a long hard spin. I hadn't felt that shagged after just over an hour on the bike since I got back on it a bit over a year ago. I guess that means it's working? I hadn't thought about it, but I guess I never really just cycle as hard as I can at all - I might try to get up a hill as fast as possible, or over a 5 or 10k stretch of road, but this was very different.

Next thing is an easy enough spin on Sunday (zone 3 with a few spells in zone 4)...

One_Time

So that's one week of my training program down! I went out for an easy enough Zone 2/3 spin with a few lads yesterday (2 1/2 hours, 55k, 10 mins in Zone 4) which was really nice, but I think next week I want to go for something a bit tougher over the weekend :-) Might cycle up to the folks on Saturday morning.

Overall on Wk 1, cycled 140km in 6hrs. I'll be wanting that to ramp a fair bit, but it's a good start. The weight loss seems to be working well too. My actual weight is down 1.8lbs over last monday, and my trended weight is down by 1.6lbs. Total loss since I started tracking 24 days ago is 5.3lbs actual, 3.8lbs trended, which is pretty much on schedule.

This week I'm hoping to get out for some hill climbing tomorrow - I've got my eye on a route with ~700m climbing in 33k - then cycle in and out of bouldering on Wednesday (55km in zone 3) with similar intervals to last week on Thursday, then possibly a decent length solo ride on Saturday...

One_Time

Went out and did my scheduled climbing today. 18 minutes warm up in zone three, then straight into 4 decent climbs for a total of 590m ascent over a 32k route. Got my heart rate right up into zone 5 on each, and got a PB on each of them too, so that was encouraging.

Easy spin in and out of Bouldering tomorrow...

One_Time

Went out last night for a 2hr easy spin in zones 1&2. Got pretty wet for the first hour, but dried off on the way home. Took the mountain bike for a change, which was nice. Haven't had it out in a while

One_Time

1 hr Intervals tonight (including warm up and down), 30sec on, 4m30 off. Only did 5, had wanted to do 6, but I felt they were 5 good ones, and I was definitely able to keep pushing it at a higher level for longer than last week. Day off tomorrow, then a 100k solo spin on Saturday morning. Hope the weather's nice!

One_Time

Finished the week off with 99k up to visit my parents. Was quite flat - 750m climbing - and winds were very light but still very pleased with the time of 3hrs 20mins.

Overall for the weeks came in at 195km and 1720m climbing over 7hrs 43mins, which I'm pretty happy with.

I'm a little less happy with my weight. While my trended weight is down 1.3lbs from last Monday, my spot weight is actually up 1lb, and was high on Saturday and Sunday too, although that was weighed on a different scales. This is after consistent good improvement in the early part of last week. I'm thinking pints have some sort of effect beyond the pure calories, because I had 3 on Thursday and 2 on Sunday and while I've been tracking the calories and I should still be in fairly substantial deficit my weight situation suggests otherwise. It had been a long time since I'd had more than two pints in a week though, so maybe I'm just retaining a load of water or something as my body tries to adjust. Will see how things progress during the week.

One_Time

35km in 90 mins with 600m elevation last night. Did 4 climbs, got three top 10s in Strava, including 1 "Real" one with over 100 names on the leaderboard. Got my heart rate up well on the climbs, then took it easy on the descents, so pleased with that. Maybe not quite as tough as last week's one though - now need to start thinking about next week's route. Might try doing 2 longer ones rather than 4 smaller ones.

Weight concerns have eased - must have been a water retention thing like I thought. Now showing 6lbs lost in 4 weeks.

One_Time

42k with 550m climbing in 1hr 51 mins - kept the HR in zones 1 & 2 throughout - max 150, avg 125 - so the average speed is up 3kph on last week's recovery ride, with lots of extra climbing.

Cycling with a max HR so low is a funny business though - I was on one climb, pretty much just crawling up, and there was a guy out for a jog who was going pretty much the same speed as me. I only just stopped myself screaming "I'm on a recovery ride - I'm usually much faster than this!" at him. I also got 4 people shouting encouragement at me, which I never usually get when I've got all the gear on. I think two of them were sincere as well...

One_Time

Just back from my hour of intervals. Once again, felt a bit light headed at the end of the fifth one, so skipped the sixth, but felt like I was pushing harder during them this week. Got my heart rate up marginally higher than last week (193 vs 190) and was able to push all five of the intervals for the full 30 seconds.

Need to start working on my technique though - must be pedalling squares when I get up out of the saddle as I can feel the back wheel start to jump around a bit when I'm sprinting...

Now to decide whether to do the An Post Meath tour this weekend or go to a festival!

One_Time

I had a fairly busy weekend, so I was only able to get in a 2hr spin on Saturday, but that still got me up to 156km over 6:30 with >2,100m climbing which I'm quite happy with. I felt strong on the climbs, with enough in the tank to take 15 secs off my PB on a short but steep climb I do a lot near the end, after doing a monster 7.3km @ 5.1% gradient earlier on. Managed to get on the first page of Strava results on that one too (still 5:30 behind Ryan in first though, so i've got a fair bit of improvement to do )

Weight wise I've lost 3.8lbs on spot, and 4.26lbs on Trended, which is slightly ahead of plan after three weeks.

I'm going to try and take it a bit easier this week, with the intention of coming into my holidays next week feeling strong and getting in a lot of cycling down the west. I'll take an easy spin on Tuesday to keep the legs loose, do my Intervals on Thursday and take a moderate ride over the flat on Saturday/Sunday. Hopefully do ~120km for the week.

One_Time

Since this is a rest week I took tuesday night off and went out for my easy spin last night. 45km in 2hrs 10 mins with 560m climbing. Apart from one bit where I got distracted I kept the HR down below 150. Average speed down a bit on last week's easy spin, with similar climbing, but the wind was ferocious and in my face for a good bit of it.

The interesting thing is that looking at some of the segments I've done a fair few times is that I'm doing them in similar times to what I did 6 months ago, but with a HR 30 or 40 lower, so something's definitely happening.

One_Time

Wasn't feeling too great yesterday, but went out for my Intervals anyway. I wanted to shake things up, so I decided to do 3x3 minute intervals at TT pace. Towards the end of the second one I felt a sudden compelling need related to my not feeling the best so I decided to cut them short and get home to my comforts.

Got a nice surprise when I got home though - the stretch I'd picked for my intervals coincided pretty nicely with a Strava segment, and on my first run I'd got the KOM with an average speed of 41.2kph over 2.4km which was pretty awesome! I'd taken 24 seconds off my previous best time along there.

That really gives me some hope that I'm making progress towards one of my stretch goals - 10km in 15 minutes. All I need to do is do 4 of them one after the other, that should be easy enough, right?

One_Time

My easy week turned out to be just skipping my hill climbs on Tuesday. Finished off with a 70k spin with 1,000m climbing in 2hrs 35min in awful conditions early on Saturday. Had a particularly hairy moment descending by Lough Bray when the heavens opened heavier than anything I've ever cycled in, but had an awesome experience coming over the top of Bohernabreena after 5.5km of tough climbing in the rain and seeing a rainbow over the Liffey Valley in the distance. It's the little things, right?

So overall I did 134km in 5hrs 42mins, with 1730m climbing this week, which is down a bit over last week, in line with the plan. I'm also starting to actually feel my progress. I was bombing it along in interval training on Thursday, and I was able to push over the top of my big climb on Saturday. According to the Strava calcs (which I know are pretty much nonsense, but I hope they're at least roughly consistent nonsense) I'm doing about 4.6 WKg over 5 mins (similar in the Thurs and Sat, which is some comfort), up from 3.8 in a Sportive I did the weekend before I started this plan, and would have been enough to let me stick with the lead few lads over the climbs on that.

On the weight loss side, things are a bit worse. I was at a music festival last weekend, so I was low on willpower to do the whole calorie counting thing. Combine that with the OH's birthday on Monday, with much cake (enough to have leftovers for lunch every day last week) and a big family Sunday dinner yesterday (where I went back for thirds at dessert) means my spot weight is up 2.6lbs on last Monday! That's out of trend for the last week though, so I'm hoping I'm just retaining liquids again. My trended weight isn't great either. It's flat on last Monday, so at this point according to that I've lost 4.25lbs in 4 weeks, so still just on schedule there.

The problem is going to be maintaining progress over the next couple of weeks. I'm heading off on holidays tomorrow - down the west to do a bit of driving about. I'm not going to worry about what I'm eating cos hey, it's my holidays? I'm bringing the bike and I'm going to try to get at least one interval session in each week, and also try to get a couple of long distance spins in. I've been neglecting the long distance stuff lately and I feel like I need a few more miles in the legs as I head towards the SKT. The main thing is to enjoy them cos I really feel like I need a holiday at the moment!

One_Time

Started me quest to get more miles in the legs yesterday with 120km with 1400m climbing over 4hrs 45mins in zone 3. Felt pretty good, it was a beautiful day with a good bit of sunshine and went over a lot of back roads I'd never been down before. Legs were a bit heavy by the end but still seemed to have plenty in the tank on the last stretch which wouldn't usually be the case after such a long spin!

What was really encouraging was looking at my results and seeing that on 6th Aug 2011 I went for a 45k spin with 500m climbing and only averaged 24.2kph with an average HR 10 higher! In fact, I did one particular climb in almost exactly the same time last year but with an average HR almost thirty higher! That means tht was pretty much as quick as I could go at that time. Now I can do it and barely break a sweat. Massively encouraging to see such progress

One_Time

Got a very strange look from the better half as I crept out of my big, comfy bed in my big, comfy hotel room at 7 o'clock this morning to head off for an hour on the bike before breakfast. I'm starting to think I may have a problem.

Did 15 mins warm up, then 3x3 min intervals, with 6 min easy pedalling to recover. Back home for 8:30 and a nice fry (I am on holidays, after all). On the intervals averaged 40kph just inside zone 5 (perfectly flat road with no wind whatsoever) which I was delighted with. Slowed down marginally from the first to the third.

Overall keeping up the same speed from the session last Thursday, but managed to do one more interval. Taking the day off tomorrow, then hope to sneak off for an easy spin on Friday.

One_Time

Went for a nice spin around the Burren this morning. Was keeping my average speed up around 30kph for the first 70km or so, then got a couple of punctures, the second of which I couldn't get up to proper pressure afterwards cos I was running out of CO2 canisters, so I took it slower after that and averaged just over 25kph for the full spin (I was already getting pretty tired by then though, so I probably would have slowed down anyway). Came in at 95km in total, so for Wk 5 my totals were 245km in 9hrs 30mins with 2,300m climbing, which are my highest ever totals for distance and time and one of my highest ever for climbing.

No idea where I am on weight cos I'm still on holidays

One_Time

Got up early this morning and climbed up to the Conor Pass from Dingle twice. Took the first one handy enough, keeping my heart rate in zone 3, then took it up into zone 5 for the second attempt. Took about 4 minutes off my time, which was just enough to get me in the top ten on Strava :P It's a long climb, but it never gets too steep. Just under 400m climbing, so came in at 800m total inn 32km for the morning.

Back to the B&B for yet another cooked breakfast, secure in the knowledge that a pizza and a quiet few pints are the ideal preparation for a morning's climbing.

Go2Guy

One_Time wrote: »

Got up early this morning and climbed up to the Conor Pass from Dingle twice. Took the first one handy enough, keeping my heart rate in zone 3, then took it up into zone 5 for the second attempt. Took about 4 minutes off my time, which was just enough to get me in the top ten on Strava :P It's a long climb, but it never gets too steep. Just under 400m climbing, so came in at 800m total inn 32km for the morning.

Back to the B&B for yet another cooked breakfast, secure in the knowledge that a pizza and a quiet few pints are the ideal preparation for a morning's climbing.

Nice work!!

One_Time

Went on a long spin today with the SKT in mind. 127km with 1800m climbing in 5hrs 15min. I'd been feeling like I was starting to get the hang of climbing after my effort on the Connor Pass on Tuesday, but today put manners on me in a big way! The Priest's Leap between Bantry and Kenmare is definitely the toughest climb I've ever done. It's kind of like doing the full Wall in Enniskerry from the bridge three times in a row, then going back and doing the second half of it. Plus the surface is in bits and you have to scare cows off the road and it's raining Really glad I did it though. I kind of feel like I felt the first time I got up to Sally Gap - like I don't have to be scared of climbing now. I came back via the Healy Pass, which was a kitten compared to it, but I was feeling it in my legs by then so I still wasn't bombing it up. Home from my holidays tomorrow, so I'm going to try to get some intervals in on Sunday.

One_Time

Last week I did 183km with 2,800m climbing in 7hrs 40 mins. My average weight over the two days since I got back from holidays is up 1.3lbs from where I was before I left, which I suppose isn't so bad considering I had more five course dinners and cooked breakfasts than you can shake a stick at, but it means that overall I've only lost 3lbs since the start of the training plan, which puts me three weeks behind schedule.

I'm also a little concerned about my condition - in wk 5 and up to Tuesday of last week I felt really strong, like I was improving, but my spin on Friday was tough. I thought it was just pushing too hard in the early parts of the Priest's Leap which knocked the stuffing out of me, but I felt quite weak on my sprint intervals yesterday. It was the same route as the one I did three weeks back, but my speed on the corresponding intervals is down a few KPH and I was getting a bit light headed and slight tunnel vision on my warm down, so I don't think it was due to a drop off in effort. Heart rate was getting high on the intervals as well.

I think that points to over-training. While I was on holidays all I was doing was intervals, hill climbs and hard tempo rides, I'd cut out the recovery spins, and I think I'm suffering from that change in mix. Also, I've had seven weeks now of minimum six hours on the bike, with an increasing trend. I was going to take it easy this week for the SKT on Sunday anyway, but now I'm definitely going to. Easy zone 2 spin on Tuesday and Thursday, an hour at zone 3 on Saturday to wake my legs up, then hopefully around 7 hours for the SKT on Sunday!

I'm also back looking at what I eat, so hopefully I can get back to target weight pretty quickly.

One_Time

Went out for a real easy spin yesterday - 1 hour in zone 2 - 23km with 324m ascent. Felt OK while I was out but my legs feel completely dead this morning. Going to just go rock climbing tomorrow, I think, then another easy spin on Friday, try to let the legs recover

One_Time

Went to take an easy spin in and out of bouldering last night, but got a puncture a couple of minutes after leaving, so bombed it in to avoid being late to meet herself after work. Felt really strong, and got a good few PBs on a route I haven't done since March. Hope I haven't taken too much out of myself for the weekend, but I was only cycling for 55 minutes so I'd say I'll be OK.

Feeling very stiff after the climbing though - going to try to do a good bit of it over the winter to build up my core, but it's a couple of months since I was on the walls. Hot bath tonight, and if I don't feel better tomorrow I might consider a massage...

One_Time

Last week was all about the SKT! Did the 160k yesterday in 5hrs 59mins, which I was delighted with. Average speed of 27.3kph, which compares pretty favourably with the W200 at 25.5kph, so I feel like I'm making some progress. Felt good on most of the climbs, only really suffered on Mahon Falls, but the biggest problem was that my shoulders and neck were still really stiff after climbing, which just got worse and worse while I was out on the road. Learning is that I shouldn't leave it so long between sessions again!

Overall for the week I did 210km with 2,700m ascent over 7hrs 50mins. I was really pleased with the way my tapering for the event went - I felt so much better at the end of this than the W200 (granted on 40k less) and was even able to sprint it a bit over the top of the last climb.

Weight loss is in progress again - I'm down almost 2 pounds from where I was last Monday (using 7day rolling average - trending is still off due to not weighing during my holidays) and similar on spot. Since I started this I'm down 5 lbs, which is about 2lbs behind schedule, but I was 3lbs behind last week!

For this week I'm hoping to do some climbing on Tuesday, intervals on Thursday, a long spin on Sunday and a recovery ride when I can fit it in. Also want to get some climbing in - maybe recovery spin in/out on Saturday morning or something?

I also feel like I should start making progress on another one of my targets - joining a club. I'll get in touch with a few people during the week.

One_Time

My legs were still pretty heavy after Sunday yesterday, so I listened to my body and went for a recovery spin rather than hill repeats. Did 36km in zone 2 over 1hr 45mins with 600m climbing. Was a lovely evening out!

Revised plan for the rest of the week is now to do hill repeats on Thursday, do some intervals on Saturday morning, then do a longish spin in zone 3 on Sunday.

The great thing about having over a year's worth of data in Strava is that I sometimes get concrete instances of progress. For example, one of the segments I covered last night I did 53 weeks ago as well. Did it in the same time to within 1 sec, but my HR was over 30 higher last year. Really helps with motivation.

One_Time

Went out yesterday for some climbing - did 700m over 40km in 1hr 40mins. Got the heart rate up well on my efforts - a total of 16 minutes in zone 5. Overall was pretty pleased with how I got on. Took 4 minutes off my last time up Kilmashogue - had to get off the bike and have a sit down afterwards! - and a couple of top tens on Strava which really helps the motivation.

One_Time

Last week I did 213km with 2,700m climbing in 8hrs 30 mins. Got in plenty of climbing, but no dedicated intervals sessions - had intended to push myself quite hard on my commute in and out of climbing on Saturday, but it just didn't happen. Still pleased with what was a good solid week of training though, including some good indications of improved performance.

Yesterday I made some progress towards one of my goals, and went on a club spin. I really enjoyed it - a nice bunch of lads, in great weather, and it was good to go over some roads I didn't know. Kept up pretty well, but schooled on some of the climbs which is only going to spur me on! Thanks to the Bray Wheelers - I hope to join officially at the Joe Loughman.

I'm now planning on doing two sportives next weekend - a flat 120km and a hilly 90km, which should be a good test for me, but that means taking it handy enough over the next five days. An easy spin on Tuesday evening, then in and out of climbing on Wednesday or Thursday. After this week the evenings will really be drawing in, so it's on to thinking about how to work training over the winter.

Weight wise I had a pretty good week - down 1.7lbs on spot and 1lb on trended, total since the start is down 5.1lbs on spot and 5.5lbs on trended. I'm starting to feel a bit skinny though, so I may reassess the total weight I wanted to lose.

One_Time

So much for my easy spin! Went out on a quickish club spin last night. Had a really good time and felt like I was stretching myself, which is great. Big thanks to the Bray lads for showing me the ropes and letting me skip a few turns on the front in the second half. Wasn't so sure I'd be able to keep up but managed it, just about, so that's one of my initial goals met. Maybe I deserve a reward :P Now I'm definitely taking an easy spin on Thursday though, I need a rest...

One_Time

More progress (and another missed easy spin - this is becoming a problem). Did a quick 27k lap with 350m ascent that I usually do about every two months last night. I'd been cutting about a minute off it each time up to now, but yesterday I improved my time by 2 minutes, to 53 minutes. Also got 4 PBs on Strava on the climbs, including one top 10, so very pleased with that. Just hope I'm not knackered for the weekend now! Got some good advise on my cadence which I tried to put into practice and I think helped.

Also, I've been thinking about my weight loss targets. I'm pretty skinny at the moment, and I think if I were to lose another 9 or 10 pounds as I'd intended I'd be starting to lose muscle. I'm going to revise that goal from 15 lbs down to 10 lbs down, which would get me to the 2lbs per inch of height rule of thumb weight for climbers. That leaves me about 4.5lbs to go, so I'll bring my target date forward to 8th October.

Plastik

Good call on the weight loss, you definitely don't look like you're carrying an extra 10 pounds O_T.

One_Time

Yeah, I think I was getting a bit carried away there! Mind you, I reckon there's gotta be at least an extra pound or two of excess weight in my beard...

One_Time

Finished off the week with the Joe Loughman Randonee from Bray yesterday - including the ride in from home came to 121km with 2000m climbing over 4hrs 40mins. I found it really tough - probably the toughest day in the saddle since the Wicklow 200.

Set off in Bray in a big enough group, having lots of fun cruising down the N11 to Ashford. Felt pretty good going up the first hill towards Barnbawn, but when we got to the plateau at the top of that the lads started jumping about a bit and gaps started to open up. I was hopping onto wheels as much as possible, but when I snatched a glance at the garmin and saw my HR was up in the high 180s on a descent I thought "This isn't good". Kept up with the group until the turnoff for the Shay Elliot, but couldn't find any strength in my legs when the gradient kicked in. Struggled up as far as that little downhill at the switchback, but recovered a little there and settled in for a climb at threshold, thinking I could recover on the descent and at the food stop.

Made it there and had a couple of cheese sandwiches, a heap of Jaffa Cakes and a gorgeous cup of tea, met up with the remains of the group hoping I could do a bit better after that break. Was feeling pretty good on the flat, but the moment the road started going up out of Greenane I knew it wasn't going to happen. I felt like my legs had been replaced with that polystyrene they used to make cheap model planes out of. I sat back and kept my eyes on the HRM as I dragged myself over Ballycreen, Slieve Mann and Shay Elliott (again!).

That stood me in good stead though - I started to feel a bit better around Annamoe (funny enough, just as the wind came behind me), and I took advantage of the tailwind to take two and a half minutes out of my PB from Annamoe to Kilmacanogue, with an average speed of 34kph. Back home then for a really hot bath to try to get my legs to relax!

Overall, it was a tough day out. I pretty much broke myself trying to stay with some seriously fit and fast cyclists, and ended up in bits going over the climbs, but I'm actually really happy about that. Found out a good bit about my limits, hopefully did a bit to improve my fitness and should help my focus too. I think I may have been becoming a bit complacent about my progress after finding the SKT relatively easy and doing OK on a few fast spins, but yesterday reminded me I've still got a fair ways to go!

It was a great day out in general - well organised, deadly food stop, challenging route and a good bunch to cycle with. Fair play to the organisers. Hope they did well for the charity.

Overall for last week I did 208km with 2,900m climbing in 7 hours 30 mins. Biggest week of climbing ever! Weight is down 1.6lbs on spot and 1.4lbs on trended. Still feel like I'm making good progress every week, but getting an idea it's only going to get tougher as I go on.

One_Time

Did 52k with 540m ascent over 1hr 45mins with a small group last night. We kept a pretty steady pace for the first two thirds, with me taking a few goes on the front, then started pushing it a bit on a couple of uphills. Clawed my way back on to wheels for about 5k, then hit the only climb of the route. Took it at my own pace, but possibly hit it a bit hard at the bottom. Managed to take 30secs off my PB up it. Didn't feel as strong on it as last Tuesday, could definitely feel Sunday in my legs, but it must be doing me good, right?

One_Time

The last seven days had been pretty intense - 260km at an average speed of 28kph over a lot of climbing - so I took a recovery spin yesterday. 34km with 470m ascent in 1hr 20mins. Was a nice sunny evening, but quite windy. I'd done a similar spin about a year ago, and it took me about 5 minutes longer with a HR about 30 higher. Have some idea I'm going to do some intervals this evening, but the legs are feeling quite dead at the moment. Have to see how it goes.

One_Time

So went out to try to get some intervals in yesterday evening, but my legs were fading even on my warm up. Within 20 seconds of starting the first interval I knew it just wasn't going to happen. I ended up struggling around 23km in just over an hour, and my legs feel so tired this morning.

I guess my body's been telling me it's wrecked and I just haven't been listening to it. My weight suddenly dropped just over a kilo on Wednesday and has stayed there, my resting pulse rate is slightly higher than it was last week and I've been getting cravings for sugary foods.

I'm going to go visit my folks this weekend, and I'd been planning to cycle up on Saturday (there's a 100k route I took the last time that I've been itching to try again) but I think I might just bring the bike with me and do an easy spin on Sunday to give me an extra day to rest. I think it's also time for me to stop running a calorie deficit, so I need to start getting an extra 600 calories a day into me. I'm only 2lbs off my target weight anyway, so I'm calling this an achieved target :P Judging by my nutrition mix from the last month or so, at least half of that should be coming from protein, so I'm going to go down the butchers today and buy a bag of meat for my lunch (partner's a vegetarian, so there's none in the house usually since I don't like cooking 2 dinners).

Onwards and upwards!

One_Time

I ended up taking the whole weekend off - legs just didn't feel up to it at all - so I only(!) did 110km with 1300m ascent over 4hrs last week. Lowest distance and time in over two months though, so I think I was entitled to a rest!

Got back on the bike yesterday evening for a quick 1hr 20 mins of hills (600m climbing in 30km). Didn't feel great, legs felt very heavy and couldn't get my HR up, but when I came back I had a bunch of PBs on the climbs as well as a decent top 10 on Strava - taking minutes off my times, so I felt better then. Had to have my overshoes on for the first time in months, so hot bath to warm up when I got back! Relaxed spin for a few hours this evening I hope, then some training tomorrow. I've got a stag night this weekend, so I'll try to get out for a quick spin on Saturday morning too, or it'll be two weekends off for me in a row :P

Actually hit my target weight on Saturday morning, but I think I was just really dehydrated and that was part of what was making me feel so rough. May have been running too much of a calorie deficit the last couple of weeks, so I've made a deliberate effort to get more food into me the last couple of days. Mostly whole foods - went to the butcher and the green grocer on Friday, and I've made a few bologneses and stir fries to go in the freezer so I can eat well for lunch. Feeling a good bit more alert than usual this morning, so hopefully that's a good sign.

It's really starting to feel like autumn now, so I'm starting to think about what my schedule's going to be like over the winter. Will I be able to get out in the dark, or should I invest in a turbo trainer?

One_Time

I felt better after taking a weekend off, so I went out and did some climbing on Tuesday - 563 m over 31km in 80 minutes, pushed it hard on the climbs, took it easy in between. I was pretty happy with it - took a fair bit of time off my PBs on three of the climbs, and matched it on the last. Wednesday I did an easy spin, then did 4x3 min intervals on Thursday on the flat. Felt really strong, but looking back over it wasn't as fast as I thought I was relative to times I've done that in the past, and definitely wasn't as wrecked as I could have been when I finished, so don't think I was pushing myself as hard as I could have done. Finished off the week with a nice spin early on Saturday morning. Had a stag night to join in the afternoon, so couldn't get much distance in, so went straight up over the Sally Gap and back home. Again was pretty happy with it - taking a good bit of time off my PBs on pretty much all the strava segments I went through.

Overall for the week:

Distance: 163km
Ascent: 2,141m
Time: 6hrs 18mins
Avg Speed: 25.9kph

This week hope to do much the same thing during the week, but get a decent distance ride in over the weekend to get myself back up around 8 hours. Trying to get as much as possible done before the clocks go back!

One_Time

Went out on Tuesday planning to do 90 minutes, but the weather was so bad I slunk back home after only 50 :$. Did 22km with 285m ascent and got a couple of PBs on some climbs despite the wind.

Skipped my easy spin on Wednesday and then did some intervals on Thursday. Did 6x30sec max efforts with 5mins recovery in between. Was quite happy with them - maxing out slightly over 60kph on the flat, and managed to hit 50kph on a slight uphill. Shattered afterwards! Overall did 25km in 55mins with 165m ascent.

Hoping to do a long spin on Sunday (after painting the living room on Saturday :P)

One_Time

Week 12:
157km
1876m Ascent
5hr 50min
26.9kph

The weather forecast for Sunday dictated a quick reschedule - do the spin on Saturday and paint on Sunday - so I headed off on the local club spin Saturday morning. A big group set off at an easy enough pace, then after about 40km six of us split off to do a recce up to Turlough Hill. We were taking it at a moderate enough pace for the first section, then my turn on the front came just as another new fella injected a bit of pace. I managed to stick it for about two minutes, then all my strength went and I dropped off the back sharpish. The guys were good enough to take it handy when the road flattened out a bit, and I struggled my way back up to the group, but once we went through the gate I'd lost my rhythm and then really suffered the last 3k. As a wiser head said "That's what you get for trying to drop me!"

The good news is that I've learnt a good bit about how long I can keep my HR high before losing performance, and I also know I need to learn how to recognise I'm getting close to that point before I hit it. A bit more power in the legs couldn't hurt either!

After that had a really enjoyable descent to Laragh for coffee and a brownie, then bombed it back home up through Roundwood. All in all did 110k in 4hrs moving. Really good fun, but was wrecked painting the place the next day!

One_Time

BTW, best of luck to everyone doing the Hill Climb next week!

One_Time

Distance: 90km
Time: 3hrs 20mins
Ascent: 1,246m
Avg Speed: 27.2kph

Lowest distance for a week since June! I was feeling shattered in the early part of the week, so I didn't go out for my usual spin on Tuesday. I felt the need to get some confidence back on the hills though, so I went out for a tough enough ride on Wednesday evening. 64km with 1,040m climbing in 2hrs 25mins. Went over some serious climbs and felt very happy with my performance on them, but got completely soaked! Going over Sally Gap my garmin says the temperature dropped to about 3 degrees, at which point my Sealskinz ceased to be waterproof and my hands turned into blocks of ice. Every pull on the breaks coming down past Luggala turned into its own challenge and I was accompanied by a soundtrack of "Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow" the whole way down. Overall pretty pleased with the average speed I managed to maintain over route with a lot of climbing, and some good PBs on climbs despite the windy conditions.

I took Thursday off, then did a quick hour of HIIT on Friday. Didn't manage to get out at all over the weekend though cos I've got some commitments at home I definitely couldn't get out of. May not be able to get out of them this week either, but unfortunately I can't set the schedule for this event

One_Time

Distance: 87km
Time: 3hr 20min
Ascent: 1,089m
Avg Speed: 26kph

Due to personal circumstances I really can't get out of the house for more than an hour or so at the moment, so another week of low distance/time, but I think it was pretty solid anyway. 36k with 730m climbing on Monday - very happy with my speed on the first two climbs. Not my best time on the third one, but I'd pushed myself pretty hard up to then. Then out for 3x3min intervals at 8/9 out of ten effort on Wednesday (the rain really made me feel like I was building character!) and 6x30sec intervals at 9.5/10 on Friday. Wanted to get out for a couple of hours on Sunday, but I was talked into going out for a hike instead.

Picked up a turbo trainer from Letape yesterday, so looking forward to giving that a go over the next few months. Probably be another fortnight before I can go out for a long weekend ride as well so need to keep pretty focused when I can get out.

One_Time

Had my first session on the turbo trainer last night - 50 minutes with 4x3 mins @ 8/10 up to 9/10. It was pretty tough in general - sweating buckets by the end! It was also hard to get the rhythm up at the start, and there was a fair bit of messing round to get the resistance right. Think I got there in the end though.

Don't know if I'd have made it without this though!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvNvlhzTS54

One_Time

Back on the bike again in a big way after a few enforced weeks off it...

Dist: 234 km
Time: 8hr 30min
Ascent: 2,000m
Avg Speed: 27.5kph

Went out on the bank holiday, planning to get a decent long spin with a couple of big climbs done, but felt really weak and ended up only doing 42km at a much lower speed than I'd be used to recently. I think it was a combination of the two weeks off the bike, a lot of lost sleep and an awful lot of slices of cake and choc biscuits during the break. I went out on Thursday and felt a bit better - got 70km in, fairly flat, but it was so windy it was very tough. For a good long stretch I was pushing myself pretty hard and only doing 25kph.

Saturday went out on a club spin - 122km in total. It was a really nice day out - cold but bright - and we didn't push ourselves too hard, but it was good to get a long run under my belt and I definitely felt better than I had done earlier in the week.

Now we're coming into winter I'm going to dial back on the intensity of training. I'm going to try to do two easyish two hour spins during the week, and a long spin each weekend, with one tough hour on the TT midweek and see how I get on.

One_Time

Just realised the Saturday spin brought me over 5,000 km for the year. Well pleased with that!

One_Time

Distance: 144km
Time: 6hs
Ascent: 1,850m
Avg Speed: 24.3kph

Middling intensity 50k ride on Tuesday, followed by a tough hour on the Turbo on Thursday, which left me falling onto the bed as my legs gave way! Hoped to do another middling two hours on Saturday, but life got in the way, so my 70k on the club spin on Sunday left my distance for the week lower than I would have liked. Had a great time on Sunday though - picturesque ride around Wicklow, including the Sally and Wicklow gaps. Took it fairly easy, but hit the climbs fairly hard (although not all out), and had a savage big slice of apple pie in Laragh.

One_Time

Distance: 149km
Time: 5hrs 36mins
Ascent: 1118m
Avg Speed: 26.6kph

Another week down, and again didn't get as many miles under my belt as I would have liked, but i still feel like I'm progressing so I don't feel too bad about it.

On tuesday, I decided to try to get a couple of hours done at medium intensity on the trainer. Bad idea! Despite setting up a decent DVD to watch, I couldn't get through more than an hour. Just too boring!

On Thursday I was back on the TT for a tough hour with a sufferfest video. Really put myself through my paces, and felt the benefit on the club spin on Saturday.

A big crowd set off down the N11, and we had a nice, easy, chatty ride as far as Rathdrum, where about half the group peeled off towards home. The rest of us went down through Ballinaclash and Greenane, with a bit of climbing thrown in, then coffee and cake in Laragh before upping the pace on the way back home. I felt great on the day - loads of energy, and was able to just about stick with the leading group within myself where I would have been absolutely killing myself to keep them in sight a few months ago. Hopefully I'll continue to progress over the winter, and come into the racing season strong.

Aims for next week are more of the same, but I think I need to get the lights on and out on the road at least one of the weeknights. The high intensity sessions on the turbo trainer are great, but for base miles I think you need to be outdoors.

One_Time

Distance: 182km
Time: 6hrs 46mins
Ascent: 1,840m
Avg Speed: 26.9kph

Managed to up my distance a bit, as planned, but I think I may have gone a bit too hard on the intensity, as my legs are really feeling dead this morning!

Tuesday was so nice I decided to take advantage and dived out of work for an hour long spin locally. Since I knew I had to make it fast I hit it hard. Had a really good time, and got a bunch of PRs on Strava, which is always pretty cheering. Took a couple of days off and then did an hour on the TT on Friday with a Sufferfest video, nearly fell over when I got off the bike! Saturday afternoon I snuck off for a two hour recovery spin, which was really nice but really cold. Wrapped the week up by hitting the road bright and early on Sunday morning. Again, absolutely freezing, but the sun was bright and I managed to avoid the ice. I'd planned on only going medium intensity, but the adrenaline spiked on the first climb and hit it fairly hard. Did 85km in total, of which I'd say about 60k was at 7 or 8 out of 10 intensity. Legs died on me about 10k from home and my avg speed dropped about 5kph for the last bit.

So overall, happy with the time and distance, but got a bit carried away and pushed harder than intended for about 100km of the total :-) Also learned that going out on both days of the weekend isn't well received at home.

For this week, going to try and keep the distance the same, or even up it a bit, with 2hrs medium on Tuesday, 1 hr easy on Wednesday, 1 hr hard on Thursday, then 4/5hrs on the club spin on either Saturday or Sunday. Let's see how it goes!

One_Time

Distance: 161km
Time: 5hrs 55mins
Ascent: 1,543m
Avg Speed: 27.2kph

I didn't manage to up the distance on the previous week as I'd hoped, but still a decent amount, and roughly the same on the last few weeks. They were enjoyable miles too - a nice solo 50k on Wednesday afternoon, followed by the club spin on Saturday. Overall took them handy enough, but there were a few little digs on the way back home to remind me I'd been out come Sunday. A trip up home to visit the folks had put paid to my planned interval session on the turbo on Thursday, but there's no use crying over spilt milk, and looking back over the prior week there's an argument to be made I'd done a bit too much at high intensity then so I've talked myself into believing it did me no harm

For this week I've already made a start with an easy hour on the turbo this evening. I hope to get out for a couple of hours at medium intensity tomorrow, then an hour's intervals on Thursday, and the club spin on Saturday, so I'd like to get over the 200k for this week, then keep that up until Christmas, when I plan to have a week off. I'm putting a good bit of thought into my targets for next year, and I'll tie them down and launch a new training plan in January.