Flying Already

Brian B

Had quite a bad first half of winter due to injury and did not cycle much as I would like. In the later half though I have forced myself out in all types of weather in order to get race fit for my first sportives that start in May. I have lost way over a stone in order to climb a bit faster and it seems to be working as I was out today and was flying up the hills I passed a few cyclists out today with the recent good weather who obviously had not trained as hard over the winter and I passed them like a train on the hills.

I want to improve right up to May in preparation for the Fred Whitton(I intend to improve on last years time) and I have few severe sportives/events all through the Summer and want to maintain my peak fitness right up to Sept as I am off to the Dolomites to try my hand on the Stelvio, Mortirolo etc.

Is it possible to keep peak fitness right through summer?

ut_och_cykla

Keeping peak fitness all summer is unlikely but you can probably get close enough if you are prepared to have some off weeks now and again. Get a diary or calendar where you can see teh whole period up to your last 'bike thing', plot in the most important three or four things in red, teh next 3 or 4 in orange and perhaps 3-4 that you could take as 'training'. Use another colour to mark in 3-5 rest weeks where you either ride much less or much less hard (not the same as tapering for events) - oh - you can choose your own colours by the way- teh importatn thing is to get a grip of the weeks involved and find time for recovery so you can remain close to peak at several periods during teh summer.
Have fun!

bahzob

Agree with above. Would add couple of comments:
- Joe Friels Training Bible or similar is a good investment if you are planning to ride a schedule similar to yours. It goes into a lot of detail with examples of how to plan for a varying schedule of events.

- Any plan should have a focus in terms of training areas (Bible above covers this). Races (and maybe sportives, thats a different argument) typically require focus on being able to deliver above threshold power when needs arise. Unless you are setting target times for your Dolomite climbs you wont need to be above threshold much, it will be your endurance that gets you through. Fortunately this is easy to keep up once you have it and has less need to peak.

PS Take plenty of warm, waterproof clothing to the Dolomites. Last year it snowed in the middle of August.

Kléber

Are you sure you're at your peak? It's easy to feel better as you make progress but chances are you just a lot fitter than a few weeks ago and you have more room to improve? Maybe compare you times on some hill to previous times or do a TT when training to measure yourself?

Mettan

Brian B wrote:

I have lost way over a stone in order to climb a bit faster and it seems to be working as I was out today and was flying up the hills I passed a few cyclists out today with the recent good weather who obviously had not trained as hard over the winter and I passed them like a train on the hills.

To an extent, I've found that aswell - I've lost approx 1.5 stones in 9 months - it's a lovely feeling when you've got say a 350-400 meter 7 or 8% incline and you can "power up" the whole way with a big-ish gear and a sort of "stomping" continuous rythmn - it's almost as if you don't feel the fatigue as you're so focussed on the rythmn.

Jeff Jones

Kléber wrote:

Are you sure you're at your peak? It's easy to feel better as you make progress but chances are you just a lot fitter than a few weeks ago and you have more room to improve? Maybe compare you times on some hill to previous times or do a TT when training to measure yourself?

I like this time of year because I notice regular improvements on hills and training TTs, especially in nice weather. But then I look back at the times I was doing for hills last 'summer' and realise there's still a bit to go - not too much though. On the plus side, I'm quicker than I was last Feb. without doing any high intensity work.

To the OP, keep training and resting and you'll have a good long season. If you feel knackered, take it easy for a few days to a week.

Mike Willcox

This form thing is illusory. It's all relative to to your training load and recovery phase. I've learned never to get carried away with what on the face of it looks like top form as the alternative when things are going badly is to get too much of a downer.

When I trained twice a day I would often go out in the evening with a couple of riders after having ridden a solid 2 hour tempo ride in the morning. Riding at their pace was challenging. You might pass a dozen riders out training but you don't know if they are out for a poodle, have covered 100 miles already, or are plain unfit.

Keep your powder dry or IOW keep your form to yourself.