How can I break a distance plateau??

bobtbuilder

Hi,

I really want to achieve some 100M rides this year, as last year was disrupted with injury.

I am fine on distances up to 70 miles, but have nothing left after that. I quite often reach the stage after that sort of distance where my legs have "Gone", and then even riding on the flat becomes a Herculean effort, and even a 3% gradient will have me spinning in my lowest gear.

I drink enough during the rides, but my food intake could probably be more.

My training consists of a 30 mile each way commute 2-3 times per week, and a ride at weekends. The morning commute is genarally steady as I hate mornings!), and I quite often use the commute home for interval training, which has helped with my speed.

Is there any other forms of training, or exercising that would help?

Any advice please?

Rob.

Kléber

You admit it yourself, you need to eat more. So long as you don't go into the red, if you eat and drink you can go all day. Think walking, not running. You just have to eat and drink a lot.

bobtbuilder

Thanks Kleber - Is there some sort of guide to food intake anywhere?

In a 70 mile ride, I would probably get through 3 energy bars and a couple of gels.

Kléber

It depends on your weight and speed but assume you are an average build and even gentle riding on a flat route burns 400 calories an hour. So average about 17mph, that's 6 hours and 2400 calories.

An average energy bar has 250 calories in it, you arithmetically you need to eat 10 of them during the ride, but your body has roughly 2000 of blood sugar and you can tap into fat reserves. You can take energy drinks too, with starch in them. So think about 7-8 bars and remember, it is better to finish the ride with a spare bar in your pocket - which can be used the next time - than to blow up and crawl to the finish.

Anyway, this is back of the envelope stuff. Give us your full details, like weight and your intended speed, and I'm sure a learned coach on here can be more precise.

ColinJ

I was going to ask you how much you drank, but I've just noticed how long your commute is :shock: ! Are you sure you aren't just tiring yourself out doing 60 mile commuting days?

Getting back to the subject of drinking - I get through about 0.5 L per hour so that would be about 2 L for 70 miles. I know people who drink less than that, and some people who drink more. It is a personal thing really, but 0.5 L an hour is what is typically recommended; more in hot weather.

Weigh yourself before and after your 70 mile ride. If you are significantly lighter, you are dehydrated. 1 kg = 1 litre. I once finished a 70 mile summer ride in the Yorkshire Dales more than 2 kgs down, despite drinking 3 litres on the ride. It was a hot day and I'd sweated buckets. I should have drunk another couple of litres. Take a look at this article.

I drink 2 parts of water to 1 part of orange juice and add 3 level scoops of carbo-powder per 0.75 L bottle. I use the OJ for the taste, but there apparently is evidence to support getting your carbs from a mix of sources. Take a look at this article. I would have thought that your body can extract energy from a drink faster than it can from a bar which has to be broken down more first. Obviously gels give an almost instant hit, but I don't like having to cart lots of them around with me (nor having to pay for them!). Not to mention the ever-present danger of accidentally knocking back your degreaser...

bahzob

Ditto above.

There is a lot more detailed info here http://www.tri-talk.com/TopicalIndex.asp (look for nutrition and read the text or download the podcasts. The site also has a nutrition calculator here http://www.tri-talk.com/TriTalkNC/TriTalkNC.htm.

However as mentioned it all boils down to eat and drink the right stuff little and often. The right stuff in terms of drink is an isotonic sports drink that you like the taste of, the right stuff in terms of food is something with a mix of sugars that you find easy to eat/digest on the move.

Gels have a place as well, but need to be taken 20mins or so in advance of when you need them.

If your rides include group rides one tip can be to set a timer every 20/30minutes or so to remind you to eat couple of mouthfuls of something and take some sports drink. It can be easy to forget.

bobtbuilder

Thanks guys - that's really given me something to think about.

As for my stats:

Weight: 87kg
Average speed 18 mph
Drinking - 800ML - 100ML per hour, depending on temperature

Doom

bobtbuilder wrote:

and I quite often use the commute home for interval training, which has helped with my speed.

Can I ask why you're doing intervals?

It seems strange to want to go further when part of your training is is short bursts of speed. If you want to ride further then steadily increase your long rides by about 10% of total distance per week so as not to overload the system. As others have said just make sure you eat and drink often throughout.

If you want to get there faster then thats a different matter but you need to be able to do the distance before hand in any case.

bobtbuilder

Can I ask why you're doing intervals?

Faster is always better - but really is was just something to spice up my regular commute. After 4 years, it needs a bit of exceitement!

Doom

bobtbuilder wrote:

Faster is always better - but really is was just something to spice up my regular commute. After 4 years, it needs a bit of exceitement!

Is it though? I understand the need to change up the dullness of the commute route once in a while but that for me means going a different way home. It clearly isnt serving your purpose and target of riding 100miles.

Focus on endurance first and then when you are ready lift the intensity to gain some speed. Bad analogy warning:

You need to build a quality foundation before you worry about the finish!

guv001

Surely he has a good foundation doing 120 - 180 miles a week commute as well as weekend riding. If he is doing that year round he will have a real steady "foundation".

bahzob

You dont say what intensity you do the commute at when not doing intervals or what type of intervals you are doing. If they are short and sharp, then as noted above they wont be of much direct benefit to a 100 mile run, though longer, steady intervals (see elsewhere for loads on 2x20) are worthwhile.

If not already done one idea would be to increase intensity to just about the point where it starts to feel hard and you need to breathe quite heavily but are not gasping (I judge this by when I need to start breathing in through mouth rather than nose). Then keep at around this intensity for the full ride. If you cant manage for full ride then do for as long as you can, rest and repeat. Probably best to do this on way back as you will need a shower.

bobtbuilder

You dont say what intensity you do the commute at when not doing intervals or what type of intervals you are doing.

The morning commute is very relaxed - no focus on speed, and probably the same avergae mph as a 70 mile weekend ride.

If I don't do intervals on the way home, then I just try to go as fast as possible. Usual average mph 20-21 for the way home. I haven't really trained scientifically before, but got an HRM for Crimbo, so will be using that soon.

If I do intervals, I use a variety of different ones. 2 mins max effort / 3 mins recovery is my favourite.

The commute is a March-September thing, so by May, I feel like I have a good base fitness in place.

From what I have read in this thread, it seems like I need to eat more. My drinks are always energy ones (SIS electrolyte). There just comes a point on my weekend rides where my legs don't recover after each incline, and then I can barely push 12 mph on the flat!

SteveR_100Milers

somethings fundamentally not right here...if you are riding 60 miles in a commute 2-3 times per week, and at weekends you ought to be able to ride 200 miles non stop after 4 years of riding, even without doing intervals. Thats more training than some of us do for 100 mile TT's and 12 Hr TT's.....its also hardly overtraining at what? 10-12 hours a week?

sounds like you're simply not taking enough calories during the ride if your legs "go". Hunger knock, the bonk or hypoglycaemia isnt funny, and can be dangerous if you become dizzy and fall off.

ut_och_cykla

My take would be - food - even tho' your a biggish guy, adn pace yourself. If its distance you want flogging yourself teh first hour or (regardless of how much you eat) will leave you feeling 'flogged'. Your body can't 'recover' much while its still on the go. Use a hrm or RPE (feel!) to stay within your comfort zone and practice this before you try and cream out an extra 2 km /h or so. Make sure you eat and drink about equivalent to 60g carbohydrate per hour - about 240 kcal of easily absorbed carbs - from the start, perhasp with a tiny bit of protein added. Real food is probably nicer - white bread sarnies, low fat biscuits etc.Test & see
& Good luck![/u]

ricadus

For distance, take things steady - optimum not maximum. Which probably means doing 100 miles isn't going to happen at this time of year without an early start. so wait for the clocks to change and the weather to improve.

bahzob

Ditto again all above. What you're doing should make you ready for a 100m. As suggested eat regularly and often, e.g. a cereal ba/sarnie whatever every 30minutes or so from the start.

Would suggest also keeping an emergency gel. If you find yourself going at 70m or whatever eat it (with water). It wont help immediately but 10-20 minutes later you should feel a bit better. If this happens/and it works its a sure sign you haven't been eating enough.