4 week speed programme

amaferanga

I'm doing the Bealach na ba challenge in September and would like to work on my speed. I think I can probably manage a sub-6 hour time, but would like to go just a bit quicker. I've never really worked on speed before as most of my cycling is very long distance stuff (just completed a 'tour' of 1500km in 5 days).

Now, I have a turbo trainer (an old tacx flow with no power measurement) and can either set up a single speed bike as a dedicated turbo bike or if I buy a chain and BB and use some old bits I can make a geared turbo trainer bike.

So first question is would there be much to gain from using a geared bike in the turbo? My turbo has 4 or 5 resistance settings so there is some adjustability there, but will it be significantly better with a geared bike.

I have a HR monitor and a cadence meter and I know my max HR from a ramp test I did to determine my VO2max. I've read numerous training plans (flammerouge, etc.), but the general concensus these days seems to be that HR is crap for focused training and you need power measurements. I can't afford a power meter nor can I be bothered to hire one.

So how can I best use what I have to effectively work on my speed over the next month?

Thanks.

Bronzie

amaferanga wrote:

So how can I best use what I have to effectively work on my speed over the next month?

Fit a rear wheel speedo and use this a proxy for power measurement.

Provided your turbo's resistance is fairly progressive with speed and doesn't vary wildly with temperature fluctuations, rear tyre or roller pressure etc, you can get a good idea of what levels you are training in from heart rate and/or perceived exertion and then set zones based on rear wheel speed at max resistance.

Gears do make things a bit easier to get the intensity right, but a singlespeed will be OK provided your maximum resistance setting allows you to reach the sort of intensities you need.

BeaconRuth

amaferanga wrote:

I'm doing the Bealach na ba challenge in September and would like to work on my speed.

Interestingly, most cyclists and cycling coaches when they talk of 'speed' mean the kind of thing Cavendish does at the end of a stage of the TdF. That is - they mean the flat-out sprint which lasts less than a minute. I'm guessing that's not what you mean you need to improve for the Bealach na ba?

I think I can probably manage a sub-6 hour time, but would like to go just a bit quicker. I've never really worked on speed before as most of my cycling is very long distance stuff (just completed a 'tour' of 1500km in 5 days).

So you want to improve your average speed over 70-80 miles and up a stinker of a climb?

So first question is would there be much to gain from using a geared bike in the turbo? My turbo has 4 or 5 resistance settings so there is some adjustability there, but will it be significantly better with a geared bike.

Yes and yes. In my experience you will need all those resistance settings AND all the gears you can muster to get the most out of time on a turbo. Bronzie's quite right about using speed as a proxy for power but I'd disagree that you could get the intensity right with just 4 crude resistance settings. I fine-tune my training efforts to the nearest 0.5rpm on a given gear and resistance, and a difference of, say, 2rpm could make the difference between training one aspect of fitness or another.

I have a HR monitor and a cadence meter and I know my max HR from a ramp test I did to determine my VO2max. I've read numerous training plans (flammerouge, etc.), but the general concensus these days seems to be that HR is crap for focused training and you need power measurements.

HR isn't much use for certain aspects of training but it's a myth that you need a powermeter.

So how can I best use what I have to effectively work on my speed over the next month?

Assuming it's not speed you're after, but what I'd call muscular endurance and stamina, then get your turbo set up with a geared bike and start doing sessions between 80-90% of maximum HR. You should be able to build up to doing an hour non-stop of continuous riding at about 80%maxHR. If you're pushing up to 90%maxHR you might need to keep your efforts shorter - say 20mins at a time. Your HR will drift constantly upwards, though, so try to settle on a gear/resistance/cadence combination and stick with it for the whole of any training effort. i.e. for an hour at 80% find the settings where you start with your HR at 75% and finish with your HR around 85%, so your average for the hour was 80%.

Ruth

amaferanga

Thanks for the replies. I do of course mean that I'm looking to improve my average speed.

Ruth, I'm not quite sure what you mean by muscular endurance and stamina. I regularly cycle 200 miles in a day so I'd say my endurance/stamina isn't something that needs work for a 90 miles sportive. Perhaps I'm just misunderstanding the terminology. What I want to do is increase my cruising speed which from what I've read means increasing my lactate threshold. Will doing what you're suggesting be more effective than doing intervals?

Unfortunately I decided to set up a singlespeed bike in the turbo (a Tacx Swing, not a Flow) as it proved to be far simpler. If it doesn't work then I can put a geared bike in it, but I'd rather not. I've got cadence and a rear wheel speed sensor as well as an HRM.

Mettan

amaferanga wrote:

Ruth, I'm not quite sure what you mean by muscular endurance and stamina. I regularly cycle 200 miles in a day so I'd say my endurance/stamina isn't something that needs work for

Do you do Audax's Amafer?

BeaconRuth

amaferanga wrote:

Ruth, I'm not quite sure what you mean by muscular endurance and stamina. I regularly cycle 200 miles in a day so I'd say my endurance/stamina isn't something that needs work for a 90 miles sportive. Perhaps I'm just misunderstanding the terminology.

I think confusion in this area is very understandable. Many of these terms are used in an extremely woolly way by cycling coaches and sport-scientists, (and, AFAIK, there are no precise definitions within sports science for some of these terms) which is why people get so confused about what training to do. Your opening gambit is a perfect example of how muddy the waters are. Wanting to improve your speed is precisely what you want to do (taking the strict definition of speed). But 'speed' is in most cases used to refer to 'maximum speed' not average speed in the cycling world. So if someone says they need to develop speed, it is usually assumed they have a poor sprint.

Muscular endurance is the ability to use your muscles to generate a high power for a long time. (What is a 'high power' and what is a 'long time'? All very inprecise isn't it.....) Well - you want to improve your power, and you want to maintain it for several hours, ergo I call that muscular endurance.

Stamina? Well Wikipedia's definition is "Stamina: the capability of sustaining prolonged stressful effort;". You may not need to train the duration of your effort but you do need to increase the stress of your effort. So I'd call that increasing stamina.

What I want to do is increase my cruising speed which from what I've read means increasing my lactate threshold.

That's the next term which everyone mis-uses. I don't really want to even go there.

Will doing what you're suggesting be more effective than doing intervals?

Well, if you do 2x20mins at 90%maxHR I would call that doing intervals, all be it long ones. There's probably little benefit in doing shorter intervals than that for a 90-mile ride. People do so love to give out the advice 'do intervals' when in reality most people have a huge amount to gain by just riding harder in general. Spend 50% of your training time riding steadily with your HR above 80% and I bet you'll be a lot quicker in the Bealach na ba. (Make the other 50% long, non-stop rides at 70-75%maxHR.)

Ruth

vorsprung

You have to climb 626 metres in 10km as part of the fun

So let's guess the speed will be approx 15 to 20kph. So the time taken will be 30 to 40 minutes. So you need to train at full pelt for 40 minutes, like Ruth says 2x20 minutes might be good. 10 mile time trials might be good too.

Where I live the longest climbs are only about 200 metres. If I was training for your event I would go out and try and do one of these 200 metre hills 3 or 4 times on the trot as often as possible.

amaferanga

Thanks for the advice. Hills really aren't a problem for me given that pretty much all my riding is done in the Peaks. The Bealach is obviously longer, but I've been over it before and I've done plenty of 20km+ climbs.

My plan is to do 2 or 3 sessions a week on the turbo plus a hill repeat session and a hilly weekend ride in the Peaks.

Its all probably a bit late, but hopefully I'll learn something for next year at least.

DaveyL

Ha ha, I'd be more worried about the coastal road that follows the Bealach, than the Bealach itself.... If you've ridden over the Bealach before, you must know about this.

I did it the first year the event ran. Tried to keep a bit in the tank on the main climb, but it was the constant series of 8-10% gradient digs on the coastal road that totally did me in.

amaferanga

So its a clockwise route?

I rode the Bealach from the west and do remember the lumpy coast road, but I was touring at the time so taking it a bit easier than I will be next month.

DaveyL

Yes, starting from Kinlochewe:

http://www.handsonevents.co.uk/Events/B ... or_map.jpg

amaferanga

Mettan wrote:

amaferanga wrote:

Ruth, I'm not quite sure what you mean by muscular endurance and stamina. I regularly cycle 200 miles in a day so I'd say my endurance/stamina isn't something that needs work for

Do you do Audax's Amafer?

I had a short audax career that lasted for 1 year - 2007. Did PBP, but have only done a few audaxes since. To be honest I find that most audaxes are pretty uninspiring routes (too many main roads) and I'm not exactly keen on the beardie, nerdy audax scene*. Plus, if I ride from home I can cycle nice hilly routes on quiet lanes in the Peaks and be back in time for tea after a 300. If I did an audax I'd either have to get up stupidly early or travel Friday night.

I'll probably do audaxes again in 2011 to qualify for the French ride....

* Obviously a generalisation, but the audax branch on YACF affirms it