dharma66
Regular
- Location
- Manchester, UK
So, I've got the bike, and I've remembered how to ride one (mostly).
What I need now is motivation, and for me, that means a goal.
Thing is, I have no idea what a realistic and reasonably challenging goal might be on a bike. I know it's hard for anyone to say what that might be for me, but perhaps if I give a few bits of background and info, someone might be able to narrow the range. At the moment, I simply don't know if I should be aiming to cycle 20 miles, or 120.
The basics. I'm 46 years old, and significantly overweight. I'm 5' 11" and just knocking 20 stone. I've been inactive for about 3 years, during which time I went from 17 stone, up to 23
, and now back down to 20, so far just by changing eating habits.
Prior to the weight gain, I spent about two years training on indoor rowing machines (Concept 2 if anyone cares). After a couple of months of unstructured rowing, 3 times a week, for up to 40 minutes a session, I adopted a structured half marathon training program. This is what I used as motivation on the indoor rower, and it was a good, achievable but (very) challenging goal.
I followed the training program 'religiously' (sorry, no wish to offend anyone religious) for a year, rowing up to seven times a week (with rest days and double session days), for up to two hours at a time.
I eventually rowed the half marathon, but didn't get the time I wanted...I rowed it as my section of a 100km team charity event, and because of the time required to row 100k when most of the participants are novices, I volunteered to row at 6:30AM. This caused me to have a massive attack of indigestion which took a full packet of Rennies and nearly 15 minutes of idling to resolve. If I knock this time off, then I did achieve my goal of 1:45:00, but that's cheating, and I prefer to count my actual time of 1:54:07.300.
After a couple of weeks rest, I started a full marathon training program, but just a few weeks in, changed jobs and gyms. A lot of my motivation came from the fact that I worked with another very keen rower (he rowed in the UK indoor championships), and he used to really help me out with both technique and motivation. So, when I had to move jobs, I lost the impetus, and the weight came back.
So, basically, what I'm saying is that whilst I'm presently on the larger size 'feasibly human', I have quite a lot of history of some fairly intense sporting activity, which I now fancy translating into cycling.
My initial aim is weight loss and cardio fitness, and I'm definitely built for endurance rather than speed.
I've been on my bike just three times since I bought it (on Friday last week), and I've gone from the first session being a bit of a wobble round a school yard, the second being a flat 3.3 miles, to tonight being 4.4 miles with about 80 meters of ascent and descent, completed in 33 minutes. Very slow, of course, but after that I still feel pretty fresh, and to an extent was pacing myself, as I didn't know what to expect from the route, and wanted to make sure I could get back home! But I'm feeling that same buzz I felt on the rower, and I want to catch it and keep it.
So. That's where I'm at. Like I said at the start, what I'd like to know is, what might be a good goal for, say, 6 weeks to start with. Should be I be looking to reach 10 miles? 15, 20? At what sort of speed?
Another question:
In rowing, Concept 2 (who make the decent gym machines) have a fantastic guide book which gives several training programs, covering all levels of ability, and they even provide a web site that will generate training programs based on training period, start point, end goal and commitment, giving a progressive structure for every training session, leading to the completion of the goal. Is there something equivalent for cycling?
Thanks for reading a long post!
What I need now is motivation, and for me, that means a goal.
Thing is, I have no idea what a realistic and reasonably challenging goal might be on a bike. I know it's hard for anyone to say what that might be for me, but perhaps if I give a few bits of background and info, someone might be able to narrow the range. At the moment, I simply don't know if I should be aiming to cycle 20 miles, or 120.
The basics. I'm 46 years old, and significantly overweight. I'm 5' 11" and just knocking 20 stone. I've been inactive for about 3 years, during which time I went from 17 stone, up to 23
, and now back down to 20, so far just by changing eating habits.Prior to the weight gain, I spent about two years training on indoor rowing machines (Concept 2 if anyone cares). After a couple of months of unstructured rowing, 3 times a week, for up to 40 minutes a session, I adopted a structured half marathon training program. This is what I used as motivation on the indoor rower, and it was a good, achievable but (very) challenging goal.
I followed the training program 'religiously' (sorry, no wish to offend anyone religious) for a year, rowing up to seven times a week (with rest days and double session days), for up to two hours at a time.
I eventually rowed the half marathon, but didn't get the time I wanted...I rowed it as my section of a 100km team charity event, and because of the time required to row 100k when most of the participants are novices, I volunteered to row at 6:30AM. This caused me to have a massive attack of indigestion which took a full packet of Rennies and nearly 15 minutes of idling to resolve. If I knock this time off, then I did achieve my goal of 1:45:00, but that's cheating, and I prefer to count my actual time of 1:54:07.300.
After a couple of weeks rest, I started a full marathon training program, but just a few weeks in, changed jobs and gyms. A lot of my motivation came from the fact that I worked with another very keen rower (he rowed in the UK indoor championships), and he used to really help me out with both technique and motivation. So, when I had to move jobs, I lost the impetus, and the weight came back.
So, basically, what I'm saying is that whilst I'm presently on the larger size 'feasibly human', I have quite a lot of history of some fairly intense sporting activity, which I now fancy translating into cycling.
My initial aim is weight loss and cardio fitness, and I'm definitely built for endurance rather than speed.
I've been on my bike just three times since I bought it (on Friday last week), and I've gone from the first session being a bit of a wobble round a school yard, the second being a flat 3.3 miles, to tonight being 4.4 miles with about 80 meters of ascent and descent, completed in 33 minutes. Very slow, of course, but after that I still feel pretty fresh, and to an extent was pacing myself, as I didn't know what to expect from the route, and wanted to make sure I could get back home! But I'm feeling that same buzz I felt on the rower, and I want to catch it and keep it.
So. That's where I'm at. Like I said at the start, what I'd like to know is, what might be a good goal for, say, 6 weeks to start with. Should be I be looking to reach 10 miles? 15, 20? At what sort of speed?
Another question:
In rowing, Concept 2 (who make the decent gym machines) have a fantastic guide book which gives several training programs, covering all levels of ability, and they even provide a web site that will generate training programs based on training period, start point, end goal and commitment, giving a progressive structure for every training session, leading to the completion of the goal. Is there something equivalent for cycling?
Thanks for reading a long post!
