Coaching - Now I have no excuse!

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Comments

  • Bronzie
    Bronzie Posts: 4,927
    Nice work indeed - keep it going fella
  • hopper1
    hopper1 Posts: 4,389
    Well done, Alex...

    Hopefully, the ash fcuks off in time for me to get to my first race... In May!

    :wink:
    Start with a budget, finish with a mortgage!
  • CarbonCopy
    CarbonCopy Posts: 492
    Ive been seriously scouring your legs for these awesome quads.I,m still looking :lol:
    On a serious note WELL DONE!!! i shouts.
    Your a big old bruiser aint ya! That big frame will cause some major wind resistance.
    Some of the weaker riders in the race would be glad of your company as your an ideal candidate for a bit of slip streaming. :D
    Just a thought on your diet it will be even harder for you to strip the weight with those un earthly shifts you do, your going to have to be extra cautious on nights :lol:
  • rokkala
    rokkala Posts: 649
    congrats! For a sec there i thought your jersey said 'gimp racing' :shock:
  • Jeff Jones
    Jeff Jones Posts: 1,865
    Well done NapD, that's an excellent result!
    Jeff Jones

    Product manager, Sports
  • Bronzie
    Bronzie Posts: 4,927
    Rokkala wrote:
    congrats! For a sec there i thought your jersey said 'gimp racing' :shock:
    Now THAT would be something to watch! :lol:

    How the hell you'd be able to breathe with the ball-gag in place I dunno
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Bronzie wrote:
    Rokkala wrote:
    congrats! For a sec there i thought your jersey said 'gimp racing' :shock:
    Now THAT would be something to watch! :lol:

    How the hell you'd be able to breathe with the ball-gag in place I dunno

    It probably wouldn't make much difference to my aerobic fitness...
  • Where was this race? somewhere warm down south? :)

    its been nowhere near shorts weather up north yet. :shock:
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Lancaster...
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Great interval session today replicating a hard (for me!) Chaingang. Was difficult on the road to get the efforts bang on thet watt, would be much more controlled on the turbo. Very hard but very enjoyable!

    Got my nutrition report today but can't open it due to lack of computer :c

    It must be a good training plan as I'm buzzing after that and looking forward to tomorrow!
  • rokkala
    rokkala Posts: 649
    What do you put your very good result at the weekend down to?

    I might be wrong but your previous races you said you ended up out the back of the bunch etc, so what do you think you did this time that made the difference? If you were/have been doing anything different?
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Rokkala wrote:
    What do you put your very good result at the weekend down to?

    I might be wrong but your previous races you said you ended up out the back of the bunch etc, so what do you think you did this time that made the difference? If you were/have been doing anything different?

    I have just been doing what the coach has said to the letter!

    The big difference I think comes from the amount of rest and quality of what I have been doing (although for the first two weeks I was just testing for him).

    Despite that race being the fastest one I've done I had a new found confidence in the 'nouse' side of things, I made much better decisions than before.

    I was so shocked I was still in the mix at the end I messed it up tbh! I reckon I could have done much better, I stayed seated during the sprint yet still overtook a fair few. My max power seated is around 800 watts but stood it's around 11-1200 at the moment...

    Bad positioning at the end :c

    In a nutshell -
    1 - better quality of training
    2 - more rest
    3 - gaining experience
  • rokkala
    rokkala Posts: 649
    Good stuff. I feel for the poor saps who are going to feel the full fury of QuadPower next time then :lol:
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    Just caught up with this - great result at the weekend.

    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Cheers!

    sweet spot intervals yesterday, did them on the TT bike. I am still bemused by the huge gulf in my ability on the TT bike and the road bike.
    These would have been very comfortable on the road bike, RPE of 6 or 7. TT bike it's 8 or 9! :s
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Hardest hour I've ever done on the turbo today I think! Mentally as much as physically as I'm pretty sure it would have been more bearable out on the road...
    Level 3 tempo with 30s flat out every 5 mins...
    Tasted blood, felt like I wanted to puke, but chuffed I stuck it out despite what my body was trying to tell me.

    My natural cadence seems to be getting higher.
    I have noticed however that when I go into the drops I start to feel like I do on the TT bike, so I'm now pretty sure it's a flexibility issue that is being addressed through both practice and stretching.
  • birdy247
    birdy247 Posts: 454
    NapoleonD wrote:
    Hardest hour I've ever done on the turbo today I think! Mentally as much as physically as I'm pretty sure it would have been more bearable out on the road...
    Level 3 tempo with 30s flat out every 5 mins...
    Tasted blood, felt like I wanted to puke, but chuffed I stuck it out despite what my body was trying to tell me.

    My natural cadence seems to be getting higher.
    I have noticed however that when I go into the drops I start to feel like I do on the TT bike, so I'm now pretty sure it's a flexibility issue that is being addressed through both practice and stretching.

    What in particular would you be stretching?
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    All of me...

    Why?
  • hopper1
    hopper1 Posts: 4,389
    Is it just down to stretching, Nap?
    I find that going down onto the drops used to make me feel restricted, 'closed in', as it were. But never felt any stress on hamstrings, etc...
    I just deliberately spent longer and longer in the drops and got used to the position...
    Start with a budget, finish with a mortgage!
  • SBezza
    SBezza Posts: 2,173
    As above, you need to get your body used to producing the power in an aero position.

    I do all of my turbo sessions on the TT bike, I even now go out for road rides on it, just so I can get used to being in the aero position for long periods of time. Your body will adapt, and eventually you will probably be able to put out as much power in an aero position as you do on the road bike.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    I am doing that but I need to keep the stretching going too as I can feel it in my glutes too...

    All my threshlod type sessions are on the TT bike...
  • SBezza
    SBezza Posts: 2,173
    Your level 3 session would have been an ideal one to do on the TT bike. Even out on the road. It does depend on what your main aim is though TT or road racing.

    I don't road race so alot of my riding is on my TT bike whether it be a road ride or turbo session. I even did a 5 hour ride on the TT bike the other week, as I need to get used to it for long durations.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Today's session was geared at road racing. Anything that is geared towards the racing side I'm doing on the road bike as that's what I ride when I race!
    At the moment I seem to be doing two TT sessions and two RR sessions a week...

    Seems fair enough as I do both!
  • SBezza
    SBezza Posts: 2,173
    Thats fine, but you have to accept that when in an aero tuck, the power might always be lower, unless you train in an aero tuck for the majority of the time.

    The body adapts to riding positions, if you mix them up, then you will not adapt to one position 100%. I actually spend more time on the drops on my road bike now rather than the hoods, as it feels more comfortable, and I can put the power down better.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Got my nutrition report this morning from http://www.optimumnutrition4sport.com as Adrian recommended I speak to them as it will aid my training no end (well, just speaking to them won't, only if I do what they say...)

    Very interesting stuff.

    I now have a big shopping list and lots of food for thought (see what I did there?).

    Apparently, now get this! - I was wrong, the grapes in wine do not constitute a 'fruit' :(

    Could be interesting to see how this goes as Adrian said his athletes that follow their doctrines have been getting great results...

    Now to see if they work for an overweight, asthmatic 34 year old...
  • thetrotter
    thetrotter Posts: 258
    NapoleonD wrote:
    .

    Apparently, now get this! - I was wrong, the grapes in wine do not constitute a 'fruit' :(

    So I can't count my blueberry muffin as part of my five-a-day either :shock: Complex stuff this nutrition.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Well, 24 hrs of banging headache which I am putting down to caffeine withdrawal!
    But managed yesterday fine...
  • BeaconRuth
    BeaconRuth Posts: 2,086
    NapoleonD wrote:
    Well, 24 hrs of banging headache which I am putting down to caffeine withdrawal!
    But managed yesterday fine...
    Is eliminating caffeine something your nutrition expert has recommended? If so did he give an explanation why?

    Seems to me that caffeine is a far more potent drug than most people care to give it credit for - I switched to decaf tea and coffee a while back and I can definitely feel significant effects when I have a dose of caffeine now.......... quite alarming to think I'm experiencing those effects constantly if I'm on normal tea and coffee. :shock:

    Ruth
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Neither the nutritionist or coach have mentioned it, but it isn't in my eating/drinking plan so I haven't had any!

    Nutritionist says to drink 2-3 cups green tea per day and suggests a peppermint tea 30 mins after dinner to aid digestion...

    I'm of the same opinion as you, it is potent stuff!!
  • CarbonCopy
    CarbonCopy Posts: 492
    BeaconRuth wrote:
    NapoleonD wrote:
    Well, 24 hrs of banging headache which I am putting down to caffeine withdrawal!
    But managed yesterday fine...
    Is eliminating caffeine something your nutrition expert has recommended? If so did he give an explanation why?

    Seems to me that caffeine is a far more potent drug than most people care to give it credit for - I switched to decaf tea and coffee a while back and I can definitely feel significant effects when I have a dose of caffeine now.......... quite alarming to think I'm experiencing those effects constantly if I'm on normal tea and coffee. :shock:

    Ruth
    I gave caffeine up also, and switched to redbush tea,green tea and also decaf coffee.
    When i have real coffee now i some times feel very anxious.followed by a visit to the tolietta often pebble dashing the loo.caffeine is stronger then given credit for i think.