Best way to increase watts and be a strava KOM Beast

allez

so according to strava im averaging 310/320w over my climbs, which probably means nothing because im not even sure how accurate that really is!

Anyway im wondering can anyone suggest a suitable training plan or plan of action to get my average speed up over the climbs. Ive heard of interval training but to be honest i havent got much of a notion about it or how to implement it into my training rides.

as a rough starting point my current stats on a local climb are as follows-

elev diff- 101 m
dis- 2.4km
average gradient- 4%
average speed- 21.1 km/h
Best time 6:45
weight and height- 75kg- 1.75m

how can i go about trying to improve this? im not trying to be smart in case anyone is wondering i do genuinely want to improve my cycling and performance. so what the best way to do this? i could probably shift a few pounds id say, that's my first port of call!

any help appreciated

Briando

Buy a new bike!

allez

Briando wrote: »

Buy a new bike!

haha or a car cough cough, get the oul heart monitor on while driving up the climb, no one will know! I have a lovely bike thank you

Zyzz

Shaving my legs is what led me to become a KOM beast

Lumen

If you want to go faster over short climbs, do VO2Max intervals. Or hill repeats, which amounts to much the same thing but with less control over interval and recovery length.

There are a gazillion web pages on VO2Max intervals, but they typically involve several repeats of 3-5 minutes as hard as you can with 2-4 minutes recovery in between.

CramCycle

Beetroot, lots of beetroot.

Beasty

Let's get one thing straight here - there's only one "Strava KOM Beast"

allez

CramCycle wrote: »

Beetroot, lots of beetroot.

I've heard coconut water is worth nine beetroots and beyonce drinks a litre an hour six days a week?

colm_gti

Start racing, it's great training for being competitive on strava

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Lose weight, do some BG work oh and stick a dinner plate on up the front.

Inquitus

http://www.windfinder.com/

allez

Cristian Few Maroon wrote: »

Lose weight, do some BG work oh and stick a dinner plate on up the front.

You calling me fat lol Im a loose 32 inch waist haha what does bg stand for?

doozerie

allez wrote: »

I've heard coconut water is worth nine beetroots and beyonce drinks a litre an hour six days a week?

Yeah but check on Strava and you won't find Beyonce in the top 25 of any segments, despite all that coconut water. There is a moral in there. Somewhere.

Beasty

doozerie wrote: »

Yeah but check on Strava and you won't find Beyonce in the top 25 of any segments, despite all that coconut water. There is a moral in there. Somewhere.

Have you got a link to her profile? - I'd like to check out some of her "stats"...

IM0

Lumen wrote: »

If you want to go faster over short climbs, do VO2Max intervals. Or hill repeats, which amounts to much the same thing but with less control over interval and recovery length.

There are a gazillion web pages on VO2Max intervals, but they typically involve several repeats of 3-5 minutes as hard as you can with 2-4 minutes recovery in between.

yes OP lumen hs it covered, thats what I suggest too

it gonna hurt A LOT! but its the best way to improve for what you want

manwithaplan

IM0 wrote: »

yes OP lumen hs it covered, thats what I suggest too

it gonna hurt A LOT! but its the best way to improve for what you want

Typically, you would get a good base with lots of steady miles along with a couple of months of longish threshold intervals before you hit the V02 Max intervals. It's nice to have a good high cruising speed to accelerate off. That's what makes a true beast*.

*Well that and beetroot

Seaneh

Beasty wrote: »

Let's get one thing straight here - there's only one "Strava KOM Beast"

Yeah, the hoor.

IM0

manwithaplan wrote: »

Typically, you would get a good base with lots of steady miles along with a couple of months of longish threshold intervals before you hit the V02 Max intervals. It's nice to have a good high cruising speed to accelerate off. That's what makes a true beast*.

*Well that and beetroot

very true. about the beetroot I mean

Brian?

Find a big hill. Climb it a lot

joker77

allez wrote: »

You calling me fat lol Im a loose 32 inch waist haha what does bg stand for?

You're 75kgs, @ 1.75m?

Not fat.

But for a climber? Heavy

Lose 10kgs. You'll go a lot faster up those hills.

IM0

Brian? wrote: »

Find a big hill. Climb it a lot

and imagine you are being chased up it by a dog with big teeth and hasnt eaten in days

Surveyor11

IM0 wrote: »

and imagine you are being chased up it by a dog with big teeth and hasnt eaten in days

Ha that happened to me on Rugged Lane the other evening, wasn't hanging around to see when the dog had eaten last, but got PR unsurprisingly. So dogs and hill repeats seem to be the secret formula.

Beasty

IM0 wrote: »

and imagine you are being chased up it by a dog with big teeth and hasnt eaten in days

Unfortunately in my imagination I'm being chased by Beyonce, which seems to have slowed me down a bit ...

allez

Beasty wrote: »

Unfortunately in my imagination I'm being chased by Beyonce, which seems to have slowed me down a bit ...

Ok so to summarise what i need to do is hire beyonce as my director sportif, sadly were not mates in Facebook, loose ten kg, purchase a beetroot plantation, ask my mate to release his Doberman on me and then start pushing my vo2 max.

Going to do some careful research into vo2 max intervals.

One day I hope to achieve a shiny 2d gold cup saying 1st after a ride.

maloner

I joined a club before Christmas and doing hill training with the other club racers is really helping I think. These hill spins have involved short sharp climbs (a few around the scalp - pucks castle, quarry road and others). They take maybe 5 mins and I find myself pushing harder in the group than I ever would on my own. The incentive not to be completely left behind is a strong one.

mp31

CramCycle wrote: »

Beetroot, lots of beetroot.

Cooked or raw?

ryan_sherlock

Until you have ridden for a few years, it mostly goes down to riding hills, lots (it is what I did).

I'm 74kg, 186cm - if heavy, you just have to produce a lot of power.

Climbing lots is what you need to do, sometimes easy, sometimes hard, sometimes (rarely) hard enough to make you dizzy

On food, and getting lighter, these are a few straight forward guidelines I give to folks I coach.

- Try to eat only foods that have 1 ingredient... i.e. the food itself
- If more than one ingredient, your granny must know what all those ingredients are
- Try to avoid foods that have extra sugar
- Avoid anything that is marketed as "Low Fat"
- Avoid artificial sweetners
- Avoid vegetable oils (other than olive oil)
- Eat fresh - eat lots of veg
- Fruit is natures candy - eat around training, not elsewhere
- Eat oily fish
- No takeaways - too easy to overeat and take on toxins etc.

Just a few things there.

deandean

joker77 wrote: »

You're 75kgs, @ 1.75m?

Not fat.

But for a climber? Heavy

Lose 10kgs. You'll go a lot faster up those hills.

Nope!
Put on 10kg and keep the same pace. That'll burn more watts for you.

colm_gti

deandean wrote: »

Nope!
Put on 10kg and keep the same pace. That'll burn more watts for you.

Wrong!

It'll burn more calories, but it'll take more watts to get up the hill at the same speed than if you were 10kg lighter...

NeedMoreGears

ryan_sherlock wrote: »

.....
I'm 74kg, 186cm .....

I'm 74kg, 166cm so it's clear what I need to do - grow another 8 inches or so.

Craig06

I'm 73kg and 189cm and I'm getting quicker going up the hills everyday. I'm not particularly fast or very fit at the moment but I find short sharp climbs help me and vary standing and sitting down while climbing to change up the pace.