[question]how do I train for faster recovery?

studiorat · 03-05-2011 01:27PM #1

So here's the problem, most of the time I can drag my arse up pretty much any hill. The problem is it takes me a couple of minutes to get over that and back up to speed again. Worse still if there's another hill before I do, causing me to loose the will to live.

So my question, obviously, is how can I help to bring this recovery time down? Is there specific things I can do on my spins?

Cookie_Monster · 03-05-2011 02:54PM

Lose weight. lighter = less effort needed to haul yourself up.

slow steady pace up the hill, less exertion overall, less recovery time

miles = the more miles in your legs the easier it gets.

type of training: maybe try and do one evening a week which focuses on climbing rather than anything else. Do a lot of climbing, up and down the same hill even. The more you do it the more used to it and fitter you'll become.

physically stop for a couple of minutes and concentrate on slow deep breaths at the top of a climb, though not long enough to start to cool down.

keep well hydrated throughout your spins, being dehydrated makes everything seem harder

Hungrycol · 03-05-2011 03:03PM

IMO fitness is all about recovery i.e. the fitter you are the less time it takes you to recover from exertion. That's how I sometimes measure my fitness, a) how much effort I have to put in to reach close to my max HR which I find harder the fitter I become and, b) how quickly my HR can return to relative normal after exertion. Maybe also the fitter you are the faster you ascent the hill and recovery time is the same!

Lumen · 03-05-2011 03:13PM

Sustained work between tempo and threshold (somewhere from "steady breathing, concentration required" to "heavy breathing, chewing the stem").

Decent cadence (90rpm+), as fast as possible for as long as possible, e.g. 2 hours three times a week.

The pain should be in the mind, not in the muscles.

Lusk Doyle · 03-05-2011 04:04PM

Lumen wrote: »

Sustained work between tempo and threshold (somewhere from "steady breathing, concentration required" to "heavy breathing, chewing the stem").

Decent cadence (90rpm+), as fast as possible for as long as possible, e.g. 2 hours three times a week.

The pain should be in the mind, not in the muscles.

Nicely said Lumen!

As Yoda said "Try not. Do or do not"!

As Mark Hammill (Luke Skywalker) said to Homer Simpson "The forks. Use the forks"!

And no, before you all start asking, I'm not a star wars nerd!!!

Lusk Doyle · 03-05-2011 04:08PM

Not like this one...

http://amazingdata.com/mediadata20/Image/interesting_nifty_funny_amazing_StarwarsNerd200907241531394199.jpg

But more like this one...

http://westsidewill.com/newblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/megan-fox-682x1024.jpg

...only the male version... :cool:

Lumen · 03-05-2011 04:13PM

I should add that whenever I've attempted to train like this for any significant period of time I've found myself becoming very interested in anything that isn't cycling. :pac:

studiorat · 03-05-2011 05:58PM

It's hard to get a balance alright, some days I feel like going right back out and doing it all again, other times I couldn't look at a bike for a two days afterwards.

I've a decent enough cadence, easily 90+ and can chip along like that for a good while. Getting back to that after the handlebar biting sessions is the difficult bit. I guess it's just a question of overall fitness.

I can definitely work harder before getting to what I reckon is my max heart rate, than before. But it still seems like an age before I'm ready to get to that again, and I'm definitely not fit enough to be reaching any sort of plateau yet!

100Suns · 04-05-2011 12:32PM

To quote Greg LeMonde 'training doesn't get any easier, you just get quicker'.

[question]how do I train for faster recovery?

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