Basic Training for Mini but Hilly Sportive

kingrollo

Hello,

I currently commutte to work most days (11 mile round trip) at present with the weather and family committments- I get out and do 25 miles on a weekend . The sportive I have entered is 62 miles - but supposed to have a very hilly section at the end .

My weakness has always been on the hills - I don't think the distance will be a problem - anybody any ideas on how I can prepare for this.....eg training programmes - HRM \ Turbo etc.

sportbilly1976

kingrollo,

not the most scientific piece of advice this......but if your ride has hills in it and you are not particularly good at hills...


...the best way to get better at them......

....is to ride them. short sharp ones, long dragging ones...all sorts so that you are conquering the thing you fear...

the first few times will be hard, but gradually you will get better at knowing them, your capabilities, the bits on an incline where you feel it most, and you will start to see an improvement.

then, by the time the ride comes up, you have the confidence and the fitness i and strength in your legs, body, lungs (and also the mental strength) to get yourself up them.

sounds simple I know....but it beats spending a few hundred ££ on a piece of kit that, coem the ride, wont get you up the hill - you will still have to ride up!

Bronzie

With your current mileage, I think you get the most benefit by just gradually increasing your long weekend ride to the point where you are comfortable riding the sort of distance and terrain that your event is. ie Just get out and ride more.

If you want to improve climbing, then as has already been suggested, doing more and more climbing will help.....................upto a point.

However, sooner or later you will reach a point where this alone will not help you improve anymore and maybe then you will benefit from doing turbo intervals etc but why make it more complicated than needs be at this stage?

softlad

at the risk of repeating what has already been said - ride more hills. Ride tempo up the long ones, ride hard up the short ones, but there is no better preparation....

Mettan

kingrollo wrote:

Hello,

I currently commutte to work most days (11 mile round trip) at present with the weather and family committments- I get out and do 25 miles on a weekend . The sportive I have entered is 62 miles - but supposed to have a very hilly section at the end .

My weakness has always been on the hills - I don't think the distance will be a problem - anybody any ideas on how I can prepare for this.....eg training programmes - HRM \ Turbo etc.

Another aspect - the camaraderie and adrenaline on the day will carry you through the later stages - as has been previously mentioned, for a hilly 62 miler, you don't need to be too "scientific/structured" - rather, simply "approximate" the challenge during your "training" - ie a few hilly ~ 45 milers (in addtion to your commuting) will set you up nicely.

kingrollo

ok - I went out today and did a 30 mile ride - and took the hill route home - but I was down to 3-4 mph over the last big hill .......is this helping ?

I have been cycling for quite a few year - and I don't know if this is correct - but it feels the more hills I do the worse I get.

The only time I notice an improvement - is when I loose a lttle weight - hence my question - was more based -should I train to loose weight ?

Mettan

If the last big hill's over 10 % and you're possibly on "tired legs" (5 days commuting/6th day hilly ride??) then you might be down to 3 or 4 mph for a few seconds here and there - doesn't sound particularly abnormal for a non-racer.

Many people have off-days on hills, often down to muscle fatigue, lack of rest/recovery, lack of food/energy, winter/windy conditions etc, etc - again, perfectly normal - doubt you're getting "worse".

Assuming you're not already skin and bones, yes, lose weight - always helps for when going uphill.

In combination with a healthy diet, 5 days a week commuting + 1 hilly 25-35 miler at the weekend will likely be sufficient to lose weight.