# How to decide on my training / nutrition plan…



## goose11 (4 Jan 2011)

Hi all,

So in the last couple of months I have signed up for boththe Etape over Alpe d’Huez as well as the Dragon Ride in June.

As a n00b to sportive / event based cycling I am absolutelyfocused on getting the training / eating right. Last weekend was the first rideout and took in 50km in Surrey which is about 1 hr 15 mins door to door via thetrain from where I live in London.

As I do live in London I felt that the long hills I need weresomewhat lacking and had slightly too many traffic lights etc to be useful sobought a second hand turbo also (Tacx Satori). I’m also keen not to let a lackof light and time hinder my progress…




So my current plan is a bit vague – was looking to follow aCycling Fitness 12 week plan in the first instance, essentially building baseendurance with Zone 2/3 rides, 3 times a week, between 1 and two hours which Iwill have to do in the turbo and get in an ‘actual’ ride at least once a week,likely at the weekend to Surrey or similar. This is all on top of roughly a 9mile round trip to the office almost 5 days a week. Considerably more cyclingthan I have ever done before. 

This is (hopefully) going to be backed up by a session ofyoga once a week on one of my rest day’s too.




Therefore I’m looking to take action with my nutrition also.At the moment likely to be a banana before the turbo session in the morning andfruit / oats for breakfast. I’m loading up on (the right sort of) snacks at mydesk and lunch will consist of either soup that I muster myself, chicken withwholemeal pitta’s and houmous, cottage cheese or similar or maybe salads withcarbs. Finally looking at lean meats, fish, potatoes, carbs and hefty amountsof vegetables at dinner.

I also am looking at getting a couple of ‘starter packs’from the likes of Science in Sport to see how I feel about their drinks / barsas want to find something I get on with here also.




Can but can anyone offer any advice, tips, resources orexperience that might be able to help me get the most out of the time in the saddle?Am I barking up a tree, thinking I can get in what is likely to be the majorityof my training in central London via the turbo trainer? Am I biting off morethan I can chew? Speaking of which – do the general food outlines seemreasonable or should I have a more rigid diet plan?

Appreciate you reading a long and hopefully not too vagueshout to use my time efficiently!


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## lukesdad (4 Jan 2011)

I assume your doing the long Dragon ride ? and the 2 will be 6-8 weeks apart ? Thats some target youve set there for your first dip into sportive/ Grand Fondo territory  . These first 12 weeks will be very important, and looking at your plan it looks as if you are spending about 12 hours in the saddle a week ? How many days are you riding ?

Building your base fitness, Is all well and good, the surrey hills are short and steep, good for sharpening your climbing ability, but nothing like the sort of terrain your going to encounter on these 2 events as Im sure you appreciate. The Dragon while not particularly steep does have some long grinds one after the other and the etape well...Ill leave that to your imagination  

You really do need to look at some long rides over some serious hills at some stage, and dont leave it too late. Taper your riding down in the 3 weeks before the Dragon and think very carefully about the weeks between the 2. You will not want to go past your peak for the Etape.

As for diet if your training hard dont sell yourself short on calories it will set you backwards. Follow a sensible healthy diet, pay particular attention to carbs and protein within 30 mins of your sessions. There is really no need to bother with supplements on a good diet unless you ve got money to burn. Youd be better spending it on some good compression tights to aid recovery. As important is to make sure you are well hydrated on and off the bike.

Best of luck, let us know how you are getting on .


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## goose11 (5 Jan 2011)

lukesdad said:


> I assume your doing the long Dragon ride ? and the 2 will be 6-8 weeks apart ? Thats some target youve set there for your first dip into sportive/ Grand Fondo territory  . These first 12 weeks will be very important, and looking at your plan it looks as if you are spending about 12 hours in the saddle a week ? How many days are you riding ?
> 
> Building your base fitness, Is all well and good, the surrey hills are short and steep, good for sharpening your climbing ability, but nothing like the sort of terrain your going to encounter on these 2 events as Im sure you appreciate. The Dragon while not particularly steep does have some long grinds one after the other and the etape well...Ill leave that to your imagination
> 
> ...



Indeed – the long Dragon Ride lukesdad. It was intended thatyes, I would get around 12 hours in the saddle however a small obstacle hascome up…this morning jumped on the turbo for the first time and within 5minutes the neighbour downstairs was bashing on the ceiling. A littleunnecessary but will have to stop that before I’ve even started! I can set upthe turbo in the shed, but cycling in the garden, in the dark at 6am – not alot I can do to distract from the inevitable boredom!

I am keen to get some decent long inclines in – it’s justhard to find suitable routes. Especially those that are accessible for medirectly before / after work for a few hours. Is there any sense at all in justsetting the turbo to a high resistance and pedalling for a couple of hours? Orwill normal interval type training be more beneficial?


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## accountantpete (5 Jan 2011)

Good luck - you'll need it!

Couple of points.

Try a book or two under the front wheel when on the turbo to simulate climbing.

If you are training hard then a protein shake or better still a protein based recovery shake taken just after training will help the muscles and they won't feel quite as tired the next day. Try and eat a normal healthy diet around this.

When training try and get a feel as to how long your body is taking to recover - keep a log on how strong you feel with the aim of identifying a pattern. This way you can plan your workouts immediately prior to the event so that you peak on the day.

Make sure you have the best bike kit available.




.


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## goose11 (5 Jan 2011)

accountantpete said:


> Good luck - you'll need it!
> 
> Couple of points.
> 
> ...



Thanks. Appreciate it. I might be biting off a bit more than I can chew, I know...


So with the recent 'neighbour' issues, I've spent a lot of today trying to work out a plan that I can stick to. By setting up the turbo in the shed - what do people think of the following plan?

*Jan – Mar 2010*

Monday - rest

Tuesday – Training ride – turbo 60 mins or out 35km +

Wednesday - Training ride – turbo 60 mins or out 35km +

Thursday – Yoga

Friday – Training ride – turbo 60 mins or out 35km +

Saturday - rest

Sunday – group ride Surrey or similar 50km+



*Apr – Jun/Jul 2010*

Monday - rest

Tuesday – Training ride – out hills 2hr circuit

Wednesday - Training ride – out hills 2hr circuit / 60 min turbo

Thursday – Yoga

Friday – Training ride – out hills 2-3hr circuit

Saturday - rest

Sunday – group ride Surrey or similar 80km+

A couple of the turbo sessions would be spin classesinstead. This would all have an additional 9 miles a day 4/5 days a weekcommuting. Assuming a few mishaps along the way (missed day due to work orpersonal commitments, extra rest days…) I reckon this gives me around 3,600 –4,000 miles in the saddle before the Etape.

Too much? Not varied enough? Too little??!


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## accountantpete (5 Jan 2011)

I'd be a bit more "scientific" on your 60min session - I assume you know the basic 2x 20 session here.

How do you pedal?


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## Hugo15 (5 Jan 2011)

After many years of just riding I'm trying to be a bit for "scientific" this year. I started off by reading Joe Friel's "Total Heart Rate Training", which gave me a good understanding of how to train using a HRM and to start to put together a plan.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Total-Heart-Rate-Training-Customize/dp/1569755620/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
I also attended a talk by Dr Garry Palmer at Sportstest which covered how to train for cycling. It was fantastic. Covered how to train with a HRM and how to put a plan together. He is doing another session in Ruislip on 12th Jan. Don't know if there any places left but I would recommend it 100%. Cost is £15.

http://www.sportstest.co.uk/Successful_Seminars.htm

I also got a copy of Pete Reed's Black Book, which is more a plan of what to do when.

I've also benefited from having a plan for each and every session, particularly on the turbo. I used to struggle to do 30 minutes as I used to get on with no plan ride a bit do some half hearted efforts, decide it was too hard and stop. Now every session has a plan and 60 minutes is easy to achieve without getting bored.


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## ttcycle (5 Jan 2011)

I'd second the joe friel book- very useful tips in there for proper scientific training- I would also add since you're ramping up the cycling amount by a hell of a lot- to see how you cope with the initial amount of cycling in the early months- your early amount may well well be too much cycling-I'm inclined to say allow a bit more time for rest and also at an easy pace do a long, long ride as your focus in the early days - I found when I was training (distant memory but would like to do it again) my weakness was not getting the basic amount of long rides in at the start which meant my base fitness was not as strong as it could be when it came to the higher intensity intervals/sprint training. If your rides are really long distance (mine weren't) then ultimately work your way up to longer distance cycling. You do kind of address this but you need to be more specific as others have mentioned as to what each ride is to achieve- some should be easy spin the legs out kind of affairs and others to build endurance and others to have a balls out sprint.

What I was into was cycling in the winter to build up my base fitness - the crap weather and dullness from my point of view really gets your mind into the space where you will need it. Basically what I'm saying is that you also need to develop the mental strength to keep forging ahead when the ride seems hard and my way of doing that (this might not be your thing) is to ride through the winters (she says not having been on her bike for ages but you get the gist!)

As always eat well and eat more carbs and protein - obvious thing is to stay hydrated and drink loads of water.

Good luck and have fun.


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## goose11 (5 Jan 2011)

Hugo15 said:


> After many years of just riding I'm trying to be a bit for "scientific" this year. I started off by reading Joe Friel's "Total Heart Rate Training", which gave me a good understanding of how to train using a HRM and to start to put together a plan.
> 
> http://www.amazon.co..._pr_product_top
> I also attended a talk by Dr Garry Palmer at Sportstest which covered how to train for cycling. It was fantastic. Covered how to train with a HRM and how to put a plan together. He is doing another session in Ruislip on 12th Jan. Don't know if there any places left but I would recommend it 100%. Cost is £15.
> ...






ttcycle said:


> I'd second the joe friel book- very useful tips in there for proper scientific training- I would also add since you're ramping up the cycling amount by a hell of a lot- to see how you cope with the initial amount of cycling in the early months- your early amount may well well be too much cycling-I'm inclined to say allow a bit more time for rest and also at an easy pace do a long, long ride as your focus in the early days - I found when I was training (distant memory but would like to do it again) my weakness was not getting the basic amount of long rides in at the start which meant my base fitness was not as strong as it could be when it came to the higher intensity intervals/sprint training. If your rides are really long distance (mine weren't) then ultimately work your way up to longer distance cycling. You do kind of address this but you need to be more specific as others have mentioned as to what each ride is to achieve- some should be easy spin the legs out kind of affairs and others to build endurance and others to have a balls out sprint.
> 
> What I was into was cycling in the winter to build up my base fitness - the crap weather and dullness from my point of view really gets your mind into the space where you will need it. Basically what I'm saying is that you also need to develop the mental strength to keep forging ahead when the ride seems hard and my way of doing that (this might not be your thing) is to ride through the winters (she says not having been on her bike for ages but you get the gist!)
> 
> ...



Thanks. Understood that I need to focus somewhat on what exactly I want to achieve not only in the long run, but also in each session. ttcycle - You are right that it is quite the ramp up in amount of cycling, so I have accounted for some additional rest days there so there is a margin for some 'give'. It's just tough to know exactly how much is too much.

I'm just keen to get value out of this so if there are any thoughts around specific drills on the turbo, would be great to hear from those that have already done this sort of training.


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## goose11 (5 Jan 2011)

accountantpete said:


> I'd be a bit more "scientific" on your 60min session - I assume you know the basic 2x 20 session here.
> 
> How do you pedal?



When you say 'how do I pedal' not sure I fully understand?


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## ttcycle (5 Jan 2011)

don't worry about drills at this stage Goose- you're going to do yourself in as the intensity at starting out will be too much- just try and get some endurance built up first at this early stage- ie longer rides and consistent riding ie not stopping and starting which can be a hinderance in London. 

You want to increase the amount of cycling in terms of miles (OR INTENSITY-NEVER BOTH) by 10% each week for three weeks, the third week should be quite highly intense then have a fourth recovery week which is just easy rides and lots of rest and maintenance level riding to allow your body to repair and adapt to get better and stronger. Once you've done the fourth week of rest you can then increase the amount of training you do- work in blocks and as mentioned above taper it down in terms of amount for the week before the big ride.

Pedalling is related to having a push/pull no dead space in the complete circle when you pedal -easier to do with cleats and shoes - since accoutantpete mentioned it, it should be for him to explain - not to jump in!


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## ttcycle (6 Jan 2011)

Also on reflection- useful to do some intervals but for the length and distance of your type of rides what you need to be focusing on is some very, very long rides and working your way up to this kind of distance as well as building in a lot of hills - this imho is the way to go - focus on what your ride will be =- intervals at this time of year could lead to some early gains if you don't toast yourself but those gains will be for speed (which is not necessarily the most important aspect for a long ride like the ones you're attempting) but those gains may well be lost closer to race date as the important base endurance hasn't been built and you may just tire yourself out too early. high intensity intervals I would steer away from right now as a relative newcomer to this or unless you've figure out a stronger plan (they may be useful a bit later on for tapering and high intensity/low mileage stuff when you come closer to ride dates but not right now)


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## goose11 (6 Jan 2011)

ttcycle said:


> Also on reflection- useful to do some intervals but for the length and distance of your type of rides what you need to be focusing on is some very, very long rides and working your way up to this kind of distance as well as building in a lot of hills - this imho is the way to go - focus on what your ride will be =- intervals at this time of year could lead to some early gains if you don't toast yourself but those gains will be for speed (which is not necessarily the most important aspect for a long ride like the ones you're attempting) but those gains may well be lost closer to race date as the important base endurance hasn't been built and you may just tire yourself out too early. high intensity intervals I would steer away from right now as a relative newcomer to this or unless you've figure out a stronger plan (they may be useful a bit later on for tapering and high intensity/low mileage stuff when you come closer to ride dates but not right now)



OK - Fair enough - so time on the turbo would be better spent just pedalling with increasing resistance? Or is the turbo a waste of time and should be sold in favour of only doing as much riding on the road as I can manage?

Appreciate the clarification on how I pedal. Commute to work on SS with SPD cleats, on the Etape bike with Look road cleats. Thats the real difficulty with this time of year for me to train - I ride to work on a SS as my 'main' bike is far too expensive and precious to lock up outside my office (had another stolen before now...) so SS would be all I could get on either early or late daily, either way in the dark.


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## Banjo (6 Jan 2011)

Hi goose. The Dragon has some training weekends advertised on the website which could be usefull if you have the time.

I am entered in the Dragon and trying to start getting some mileage in now inbetween flu snow etc etc.
I have ridden all the roads on the dragon before but not in one go. No stupidly steep bits just a lot of climbing miles.

Right now I dont think I could get round the 200 km in the 9.5 hours time limit. I intend to do the 200km but If I dont feel confident on the day I am going to drop onto the medio route .

4000 riders should be quite a spectacle.


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## accountantpete (6 Jan 2011)

ttcycle said:


> Pedalling is related to having a push/pull no dead space in the complete circle when you pedal -easier to do with cleats and shoes - since accoutantpete mentioned it, it should be for him to explain - not to jump in!



Well you can simply push down on the pedals Goose . 

With cleats though you can improve on this by firstly developing the muscles to push down,pull back, pull up and then push foward on the pedal.

Once you have got a semblance of muscle development then you put them altogether and pedal in circles -although this takes a bit of practice. The advantage is that momentum is maintained (esp on hills) and more muscles are brought into play therefore sharing the work load.


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## goose11 (6 Jan 2011)

Banjo said:


> Hi goose. The Dragon has some training weekends advertised on the website which could be usefull if you have the time.
> 
> I am entered in the Dragon and trying to start getting some mileage in now inbetween flu snow etc etc.
> I have ridden all the roads on the dragon before but not in one go. No stupidly steep bits just a lot of climbing miles.
> ...



Cheers Banjo - good to know that there is nothing too steep - likewise, just need to get the miles in. I just want to make sure that its the right miles!


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## goose11 (6 Jan 2011)

accountantpete said:


> Well you can simply push down on the pedals Goose .
> 
> With cleats though you can improve on this by firstly developing the muscles to push down,pull back, pull up and then push foward on the pedal.
> 
> Once you have got a semblance of muscle development then you put them altogether and pedal in circles -although this takes a bit of practice. The advantage is that momentum is maintained (esp on hills) and more muscles are brought into play therefore sharing the work load.



As I say Pete - always with cleats for me - still always trying to get the push, pull, pull, push motion right.


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## ttcycle (6 Jan 2011)

Hi goose

My suggestion is to get out on the road for now- it will build you up mentally battling against the coldness and the weather etvc and if it's a really grim day go on the turbo but worth being out on the roads as it will be better training-turbo is best used for one legged sprint drills or intervals that you can't do on the road.

That however, is just my opinion and you need to work out what is best for you and how you'll find it easier to get the miles in for the training!


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## Hugo15 (6 Jan 2011)

Garry has just posted on the SportsTest Facebook pages to say that there are a few places left at his Successful Sportives seminar in Ruislip next week.

http://www.sportstest.co.uk/successful_seminars.htm

I went to one in Harrogate and thought it was great. Well worth the £15

BTW I have no connection to SportsTest other than from attending the seminar.


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## Broadside (6 Jan 2011)

Goose11, it's difficult to know what advice to offer without knowing what you have done already and a bit more about you in general. I get the impression that you already have a very good base fitness, at least I hope you do because the two rides you have signed up for are not going to be easy.


Riding a bike starts to get a bit more technical after 2 hours in the saddle which is when you can expect your stored energy to exhaust, this should be around the 50-60km mark. You therefore need to keep topping the energy stores up before they deplete - there is a term called bonking (runners call it the wall) which you need to try and avoid getting to. When you haven't done it before it is really hard to get right. Lots of people get by with ordinary foods which will certainly do the trick, but personally I mix this with carrying gels in my back pocket to get me out of a hole if I get the normal foods nutrition slightly wrong. I also add maltodextrin carb powders to my water to try and give me a bit more endurance.


My longest ride to date is 125 miles (which is not a lot compared to many on this forum) and I got by on sandwiches, cakes, flapjack and Jelly Babies and then just used one gel toward the end when I was running in to trouble. I work to the idea that I burn approx 50cal/mile and try to replace that while eating on the bike - it is very hard to take in enough calories so you will need to graze continuously - at least it feels like that because you will need to eat when you don't feel hungry. Others on this forum will recommend only replacing half or a third of what you burn.


There is really only one way for you to find out how your body will cope and what fueling technique works for you - get out and regularly ride some big distances (100km+). Before attempting the Dragon you need to be entirely comfortable with knocking out a lot of miles pretty much non-stop. You can obviously do it at whatever pace you like but if you're not ready for a big distance then it is not going to be enjoyable. When you are fit for it the distances are a lot of fun. Alpe D'Huez will be another matter entirely, I've only ever skied there in the winter but I would love to ride up there one day. That will be a once in a lifetime ride, I have to admit to being surprised to hear you're attempting it with no previous significant bike experience but that certainly doesn't mean you shouldn't have a crack at it. How hard can it be??!!


Lukesdad is entirely right that sports nutrition stuff is expensive, but to use your own words you have bitten a lot off here. I would recommend you get stuck in to all the sports nutrition kit you can lay your hands on so you have one less thing to worry about. You should prioritise getting out on the road rather than relying on the turbo.


What bike are you doing all this on?


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## goose11 (7 Jan 2011)

dmoran said:


> Goose11, it's difficult to know what advice to offer without knowing what you have done already and a bit more about you in general. I get the impression that you already have a very good base fitness, at least I hope you do because the two rides you have signed up for are not going to be easy.
> 
> Riding a bike starts to get a bit more technical after 2 hours in the saddle which is when you can expect your stored energy to exhaust, this should be around the 50-60km mark. You therefore need to keep topping the energy stores up before they deplete - there is a term called bonking (runners call it the wall) which you need to try and avoid getting to. When you haven't done it before it is really hard to get right. Lots of people get by with ordinary foods which will certainly do the trick, but personally I mix this with carrying gels in my back pocket to get me out of a hole if I get the normal foods nutrition slightly wrong. I also add maltodextrin carb powders to my water to try and give me a bit more endurance.
> 
> ...



Dmoran – thanks for yourinsight. Base fitness is pretty reasonable I think. Until recently sports 1 or2 times a week along with a ride to work average 4 days a week (circa 10m roundtrip). Also maybe 2 bigger, Sunday rides a month. A long way from enough, buthave always been fairly sporty.

Eating or grazing is somethingI need to work on a bit – I invariably leave getting bars, drinks etc until toolate and come the Sunday ride I am with water and a banana, hopeful ofrestocking along the way. I’ve just ordered a pack from SiS of a few bars, pre,during and post drinks mix to see how I get on with them. Would rather order inbulk if I am going to add this process into my set up and haven’t tried SiSbefore. I’m remembering now to keep drinking and eating though – 2/3 gulpsevery 10-15 mins.

My thought with attemptingthese rides was not to try and pull off some sort of impressive feat – reallyit’s more about getting a focus for my riding – and something to aim for.Whilst I am hopeful that Dragon and the Etape will both be a lot of fun all myriding to now has been without anything in mind. I’m concentrating on the ‘oncein a lifetime’ element right now! I’m not sure I have mentioned, but I am keenon getting a couple of additional less taxing sportives in between now and then– practice the group riding and keeping the distances up.

Appreciate the focus on gettingthe miles in dmoran – I think the consensus I have had here suggests that theturbo, although useful later, right now could have been a wrong call on mypart. Maybe I am better off selling it on, getting a Garmin or similar and justcracking on with some routes that I can find in London…

My ride for this is anLitespeed C3 – far more money than I intended to spend (Ride 2 Work took careof over half), but was researching and test riding bikes for about 6 months beforesettling on this so not an impulse decision. I have spent the money though toget onto a bike that I hope will last me a few years, I can upgrade as I getbetter and most of all I can enjoy riding.


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## ttcycle (7 Jan 2011)

Nice bike mate! 

No need to sell the turbo - it may be useful when you happen to need it either to do some specific training or when you really don't want to head out in the rain (as long as you don't do this too often)


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## lukesdad (7 Jan 2011)

Miles and hills are what you need goose . The events you have entered are endurance events. You are not training for a 50 mile road race or a short TT. Short intensive training sessions are not a priority. IMO less days riding and longer distances are what you need with good time to recover.


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## goose11 (25 Jan 2011)

Hi all,

Bit of an update since the last post.

Keeping rigid as I can with the training and essentially taking a lead from Pete Reads Black Book as to what and when. I read through a copy of the book and found it really, very useful (so thanks). The training is for season racers obviously so will no doubt need to adapt later to ensure endurance ability.

At the moment building the base as if it were November with 1hr Zone 2 sessions on Tues, Weds, Thurs (all single speed bike). Then come the weekend 1 - 2 hrs on Saturday Zone 1/2 and Sunday 3hrs Zone 1/2 (on my 'nice' bike). Making sure I am keeping pedalling and minimizing stopping (essentially avoiding traffic lights).

Also riding to work 4 days a week, adding a few additional miles. I hope this looks OK for a base building.

So far so good - I'm keeping the carbs and proteins high and every meal is with as many veggies as I can lay my hands on.

Looking to maintain the pace this week and next - then skiing the week after (which will be my week off the bike). Assuming I come back in one piece the training plan will continue with maybe the turbo starting to get a little bit of use and adding 30 mins to each of the weekend sessions - which will equate to about an additional 10% in effort. 

Feeling a bit of fatigue in the legs, but working through it - which is much easier knowing I have a plan.

I've signed up to a couple more sportives as well in Feb / March. 

Hopefully will start to see the difference's creeping in...

Thanks again for all of the help.


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## vorsprung (25 Jan 2011)

I think your approach is pretty good

Most of your training rides are pretty short. The Dragon ride is 200km and you are talking about longer rides of 100km. It might be an idea to do some events of 200km before hand. If you look at the audax calendar here

http://www.aukweb.net/cal/index.htm
And fiddle about with the controls on the web page you can see there are lots of events in your area. They are cheap to enter and you will get experience with riding with a bunch of madmen other riders. Also riding this kind of distance will let you know how your body will react, it's a good way to try out energy drinks etc and if your saddle is comfy

Two other things you can do. Firstly, the Etape and to a lesser extent the Dragon will have some long climbs in it. You will be climbing for over an hour. Basically this means you will be putting an effort in for over an hour. In your training on the turbo, take this into account. Take a look at the etape profile, work out the maximum time you will spend climbing and ensure you can ride for that time at a heart rate of (say) 85%. This should also help with your pacing during the event

Secondly, part of endurance riding is getting the body to burn fat as fuel. There is a limit to how many energy gels you can stuff in your face while riding up mountains at full tilt. So the way around this is to ride at a reasonable pace ( around 70% HRM) and get your body to burn fat instead of carbs. To help your body be more efficient at using fat many experts believe that riding at a moderate pace for a relatively short period ( ie your commute ) without breakfast is helpful. You are allowed to have breakfast afterwards


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## ttcycle (26 Jan 2011)

Hey, 

thanks for the update.

Good to hear that things are a bit more structured.

As vorsprung has mentioned already, get some longer rides in - a ride once a week of 2-3 hours or doing a much longer distance once a week is essential for the rides you've chosen.

I ask this question to everyone, are you building enough resting time for your body to adapt to the training? 
Glad to hear that you are eating well and staying hydrated.

Keep up the good work!!


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## goose11 (27 Jan 2011)

ttcycle said:


> Hey,
> 
> thanks for the update.
> 
> ...



Cheers ttcycle. 

Rest wise - I'm actually not feeling too bad. The weekday rides are fine - I am tired, but not aching necessarily. For the weekends I've already told myself that listening to my body on this is pretty important so if I need to cut one of the Sat / Sun rides I will. I'm very aware of overdoing it, but at the same time know I need to keep pushing especially when feeling a bit of fatigue - otherwise I wont improve. 
Do you think I should be doing additional 2/3 hr rides on top of the weekends?

Eating best I can - typical day:

Porridge / plain bagel + banana for breakfast
mid morning handful of nuts
Bagel with chicken, lettuce, tomato and humous for lunch
afternoon banana / handful of nuts
Fish / chicken with potatoes / brown rice and as much veg as is available for dinner

1.5 - 2 litres of water a day minimum.


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## Broadside (8 Mar 2011)

hey goose11,

how is your training going?


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## goose11 (9 Mar 2011)

dmoran said:


> hey goose11,
> 
> how is your training going?



Hi dmoran,

Thanks for asking. 

OK - I think...Doing my best to stick to the 1hr 3x weekly + 3hr + weekend ride. Having said that I had my first Sportive on Sunday so only had one 30 minute session in the previous week - wanted fresh legs going in. That was 91km for the actual event + 932m of climbing - which I finished in just under 4 hours - inc a food stop for almost exactly 30 mins. I could have had I think maybe 7/8+ mins better on that, but was drafting for a friend throughout that last 25% - his legs gave up.

The hardest thing as I've seen almost everywhere is fitting this in around actually going about day to day life. I have missed some 'sessions', but doing my best to limit that. Its not been helped by the fact that my the roads on my current spot for training have been dug up as of the last couple of weeks and are being replaced. It means half of my circuit doesn't have tarmac so I need to find somewhere new, quick!

I'm also looking to switch one of my weekly hours to a turbo session, simulating an uphill best I can (something wedging up the front wheel and getting up the resistance). Its tough though - I cant seem to find a wheel to use for training anywhere - any advice on this front is most welcome!

Nutrition wise - I think I am actually eating the rights foods, but in too high a volume. Looking to weigh in this weekend hopefully and work out some specifics on input/output.


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