Getting the Right Balance

The bike tote was up to 665ks in less than 5 weeks. My target was 1000ks in 6 weeks and I was seriously in need of a reality check. Neck stiffness was kicking in and 30ks into a 70k ride, turning the pedals was a struggle. A couple of months before, the last 10ks of a 75k ride were tedious due to neck pain, but managing less than half of that before the injury kicked in was telling me a couple of things.

First up, I'd definitely overcooked it on the mileage. Keeping up 150k average a week might have been possible in my early 30s, but my joints can't cope like they used to do. Second up, cardiovascular fitness is only and good as the body that carries it. Last up, I'm carrying too much excess fat.

The reality is my short-term goals are going to have to change if I'm going to achieve my long-term goals. I definitely have the cardio-vascular fitness to ride Half the Lake next year. Going by where I was last year compared to where I am now, K1 is achievable. Doing the full Round the Lake Challenge could be in my sights also but not if I continue to be overweight and don't sort my neck out.

To solve a problem, however, you need to know the cause. I couldn't understand why three months ago I'd ridden 75ks with some tough climbs no problem to end up struggling to do more than 30ks flat due to neck injury. I figured out, three months ago I switched focus to riding more and completely taken out strength and conditioning from my training regime. This also meant I wasn't doing as much stretching.

The solution to the problem was putting it back in, but the question was how much do I need to do? The difficulty is, if you're preparing for an endurance event, you need to get your Ks in. Doing HIIT classes is going impact on how much you can ride because your legs seriously ache afterwards. Stretching you can do daily but not HIIT.

I decided last week to lay off the bike completely and do neck strengthening exercises every day along with a stretch routine. I also included one HIIT class and did 10 minutes of weights for my shoulders and back.

Wow!!! The results were incredible. I felt like a new woman on the bike today. We did 62ks on the bike. The terrain was undulating with a few long drags. I felt able to push myself the whole time and didn't feel there was any let up in my power to the end of the ride. My neck was still sore because it hasn't recovered fully yet, but it wasn't affecting my riding. I was even surprised how supple my neck was when I was checking behind before manouevres. My legs were still aching after HIIT; that class worked muscles I forgot I had, but I guess the important thing is that it strengthens the muscles which support those used in cycling.

I really noticed how much faster I could rotate the pedals whilst also being able to push bigger gears when I wanted. When I got home, I could tell my flexibility had improved.

Note to self: never neglect strength and conditioning. If things can improve in a week, imagine what it can achieve in a month.

Forget crunches - Turbo Train

It's pretty much a given that the worst thing for abs is crunches. Planks and push-ups are en-vogue for fast-tracking to a six-pack. I've tried planking four minutes a day for a month. Yes, it made a difference but nothing in comparison to a week of turbo-training.

I did 8.5hrs on the turbo-trainer last week. Not going particularly hard. Enough to break sweat and get out of breath. The results are incredible. Even when I was doing crazy miles on the road, I never noticed such an impact on my mid-section.

Post 40, your hip to waist ratio decreases causing you to lose the hourglass figure you once had. Perhaps that's why, for me it's more noticeable than it was ten years ago.

I'm guessing also, the sustained high-rep, low intensity workout on your obliques is making them lean as opposed to crunches, which bulk them out.

During last year's 41 Days of Fitness, I was swimming and doing all sorts of fitness classes which I continued throughout the year. I never expected to get better results from turbo training. Even better is that it is such a convenient method of training. The trainer and bike are on the deck ready for me to hop on.

The enigma of Turbo Training

I've set myself a goal of doing 150ks a week on the bike. So far so good. I've kept it up for three weeks bringing my total now to 450ks. I'm on track to meet my ultimate goal of 1000ks over the 47 days of fitness.

Problem is, there are days when I swap in a road ride for a turbo set and I really am confused as to how the two equate. Websites give conflicting advice. Some say a turbo set is double a road ride, others are more conservative. If the former is true, I've done the equivalent of 300ks this week on the bike and I certainly don't feel like I've ridden that much. They're working on the logic that on a road ride you freewheel as much as you pedal. That depends on the terrain. Even though you have downhills, 20ks with steep hills is much harder than 20ks flat.

Putting a speedometer on the bike is also going to be misleading on the turbo trainer. Once you get going, your back wheel is going to be spinning at a constant speed whatever gear you're in, yet this is changing all the time on the road.

Perhaps what I'm going wrong is measuring my goals through distance. The reason I do this is because I'm training for events which will be a specific distant. That said, there's no point training for a hilly event on the flat. Even if you put your turbo trainer on the highest resistance, I don't think it's quite the same as actually riding the hill.

One thing I will say about the turbo trainer is that it's helping me with one stumbling block I've had which is really slowing me down on the road: sustained, consistent pedalling. I struggle to keep pedalling over a long period of time.

This week, it's all been on the turbo trainer, largely because the start of the week was recovery, so the turbo helped in ensuring my sets were easy to moderate. When I was ready to hit the road, we had torrential rain. At least you can stay dry on the TT.

Easing back in

Very gentle hour on the turbo trainer today. Enough effort to give myself a work out without putting too much stress on my muscles. Pain is always and indicator of overdoing it. I know some people want pain because it builds muscle, however, it's not good to rip them to shreds. I'm in a recovery phase at the moment. Being gentle on yourself and having a nice steady workout, that doesn't hurt can assist with recovery. I also added some creatine to my water. That stuff is brilliant. It really takes the aches out of your muscles, so hopefully, later this week I'll be able to get another 70k ride in.

Recovery is part of training

Taking advice from some of my old training gurus from the UK. A big part of your training is recovery and if you don't take time out after heavy training (or even heaps of moderate training) your regime can become counter productive. 

Soooo I took a day off today. It's unlikely after 18 hours of training over two weeks, I'll be ready to smash out anything hard. Athletes train in cycles and week three tends to be the take it easy week. That's what I intend to do.

Ouch!!

Gotta lay of cycling for a bit. 300ks now in two weeks, 200ks in the space of 5 days at one point, and my quads are suffering.

Today's 20ks is the last for a few days.

Timing is important

My aim is to do 150ks on the bike every week. Your mileage total varies, however, depending on what day it is. After yesterdays ride, my weekly total was at 207ks, 'cos I did 75ks last Tuesday and did a further 125ks through the. That's now down to 137ks 'cos a week has now elapsed since I did the 75ks. Pretty pleased with myself though 'cos it's years since I've totalled that amount in less than 7 days.

Bloomin' peeing it down at the mo so it's 20ks on the Turbo trainer today.