Am I Cr@p?

bombdogs

Been cycling for just over 10 months now. In that time I have done two big (ish) sportives - first one, a 52-miler that I finished in 3hrs 1min after just two months of being in the saddle, then an 80-miler that took in two cat 1 climbs in 4hrs 55mins, which I completed three weeks after the other one.

Things is, have been getting the mileage in with my clubs and I am getting better on the climbs (tackled the two biggies on sunday and was second to the top in the group), but I have also started going along to the chain gangs and not sure if i am making any progress.

Last week was the first time I had been and I really enjoyed it. We averaged about 22.5mph for an hour with a sprint at the end and I felt good afterwards.
Last night tho, I kinda struggled to keep up. Dunno what was up with me - just felt like i didnt have the 'eye of the tiger' to keep going, so pulled up with two laps to go.

Now I am the type of person who doesn't like not being able to do something at a decent standard, so it's really got to me. My max speed last night was 30.1mph and, like I said, we averaged 22.5mph.

How can i get faster for longer or do you think I have just overdone it at the weekend with two really hard, drawn out climbs zapping my energy.

I am 28, 13.4st, with quite a muscular build (been doing the weights for years to help with the football), but work until 6pm every night, so didn't have a great deal of time to warm up or put the miles in during the week. I mostly use my turbo while the nights are still dark.

Can anyone point out what I can do to get better?

Bombdogs.

P.S. Thanks to everyone who offered advice on my fear of descending. Well and truly conquered it last week. Have spent the last few weeks gradually going down steeper and steeper drops until i 'got a taste for it'. Love every minute of it now, so thansk again guys.

Wooliferkins

You might be overtraining, it's easy to do. You don't say if you use a heart rate monitor. Until I bought a heart rate monitor I must have been overdoing it for years. That and a proper training programme may sort the problem. You may as you say just have overdone it at the weekend.

bonk man

28 years old,,,, you are on the slippery slope :?
Yeh could be over training I did loads of that in my early 30's and got lots of colds and felt crap. Frustrating though it is have some time off occasionally and take it easy with the other stuff.
Having time away from the bike makes it really good when you get back on it. A few days isn't going to screw up your fitness but will give you some recovery which is part of training , you could do some stretching, get a massage and do very gentle pedalling on the turbo,,, ie 10 - 15 mph whilst listening to chill out music.. 8)