...and I thought I was fit...
Cannon71
Posts: 92
Entered the 50km CRC MTB Marathon at Builth Wells this weekend. Had a great time! 
I was considering changing to the 65km route but just before the routes split, I fell off (which I'm fairly sure was down to exhaustion from the monster-climb just beforehand!) so thought "I just wanna go home now!" (Perhaps my concentration/carb-store was diminshed from such a high intensity climb, anyone?)
I got back in 3hrs35. I was ecstatic! Mainly because I'd done more overtaking than had been overtaken, if that makes sense...
Anyway, 10minutes later, our tent-neighbour pulled in. He'd just finished the 80km route?!?! :shock: 80k in 3hrs45?! JESUS H. CHRIST! (Sorry for the blaspheme, but I was that astonished!)
I'd put in a solid 6wks of training, I'd carb-loaded beforehand etc. I appreciate that some people are fast, but the above was just ridiculous! (Oh, and I've been riding for a while, the "6wk" thing was the point at which I really turned on the taps.)
What should I change first? My diet, or my training plan? Nutritionist, or personal trainer?! And do I really want to put in the time required to be that fast?! ("No" is the answer to that one, btw!)
I was considering changing to the 65km route but just before the routes split, I fell off (which I'm fairly sure was down to exhaustion from the monster-climb just beforehand!) so thought "I just wanna go home now!" (Perhaps my concentration/carb-store was diminshed from such a high intensity climb, anyone?)
I got back in 3hrs35. I was ecstatic! Mainly because I'd done more overtaking than had been overtaken, if that makes sense...
Anyway, 10minutes later, our tent-neighbour pulled in. He'd just finished the 80km route?!?! :shock: 80k in 3hrs45?! JESUS H. CHRIST! (Sorry for the blaspheme, but I was that astonished!)
I'd put in a solid 6wks of training, I'd carb-loaded beforehand etc. I appreciate that some people are fast, but the above was just ridiculous! (Oh, and I've been riding for a while, the "6wk" thing was the point at which I really turned on the taps.)
What should I change first? My diet, or my training plan? Nutritionist, or personal trainer?! And do I really want to put in the time required to be that fast?! ("No" is the answer to that one, btw!)
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I'd move into the tent next door...0
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Geez that around 21-22 km/h, which is farkin quick for those hills!
Maybe he just happened to be one of the quickest on course? I managed to keep in sight of the leaders up until about the 15km mark but then lost em.
As said in other thread re Builth Wells I too shortened my course to 50kms because of the heat and relentless hills, finishing in 3hr20.
From what I was told the bits after the 50km mark weren't as tough as the beginning and there was a fair bit of tarmac at the end for them.
You weren't the guy I helped up after falling off a ridge were you? He was on a Ghost AMR7500.
I think some people have been training for years at a high level so is hard to catch up to them in several weeks.0 -
Yes!! :shock: (But rather than repeat my thanks again, I've replied to the other threads!)0
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Chances are that guy probably races quite a lot and trains for racing, riding your bike lots and being fit is completely different to being fast. It may sound a bit too simple but if you want to be fast you have to train fast. So, if you've got a good base of aerobic endurance start doing speed work i.e intervals. Long ones, medium ones, short ones, do race laps on short courses, do hill repeats, if you only have 1 hour go as hard as you can and most importantly keep it fun. Yes they hurt (some more than others) but that's really the only way to get fast.
Massive amounts of time is not needed and you probably don't need to commit any more time to your training you just need to ride at the right intensity. Hope that helps and good luck.0 -
Yep, pretty astounding isn't it? I'm always in awe of the times posted by the Elite riders at our local XC races. And its good fun spotting the newbies, who thought they were pretty good, until putting it to the test. Their confused faces looking down the time sheets are a picture. Sorry, but its true!
I think for most people, if you can get to within 1.5 times of what the pros are doing, that's a pretty decent effort (like running a sub 3hr marathon). After a couple of yrs racing, I'm making this almost all the time now, and gradually getting quicker. Damn hard though, but still good fun!Scott Scale 20 (for xc racing)
Gary Fisher HKEK (for commuting)0 -
i think you're being a bit harsh there! I've always worked on if i can get within twice the time of the pro's i'm beginning to get reasonable!
A 3hr marathon for someone who doesn't live for running and competing in running is pretty immense! that's the same pace as a 43min 10k, just 4 of them end on end. Most people would be happy to get that time over just the one 10k!
Agree with the post about intervals. You of course need to be able to do the distance comfortably, but once there, look to do speed and hill intervals to get quicker0 -
Or just ride faster all the time.
Unless you're training twice a day 6 days a week ('cos you need a rest day) any low intensity work is a complete waste of time. If you're doing one session 6 days a week you should be able to manage going flat out for the entire time and be ready to do it again the next day.
It does take a period of adjustment to go from pootling most days to effectively racing yourself every time you get on the bike, but you end up much quicker.0 -
The running comparison is a bit weak against XC racing though, as Elite races are longer than the other categories, so not only do you have to be quicker, you have to be quicker for longer!
6 weeks is pretty much nothing when it comes to training, even if it was someone's first season of racing it's safe to assume they've got 7-8 months decent training behind them at this point!0 -
Cannon71 wrote:Entered the 50km CRC MTB Marathon at Builth Wells this weekend. Had a great time!
I was considering changing to the 65km route but just before the routes split, I fell off (which I'm fairly sure was down to exhaustion from the monster-climb just beforehand!) so thought "I just wanna go home now!" (Perhaps my concentration/carb-store was diminshed from such a high intensity climb, anyone?)
I got back in 3hrs35. I was ecstatic! Mainly because I'd done more overtaking than had been overtaken, if that makes sense...
Anyway, 10minutes later, our tent-neighbour pulled in. He'd just finished the 80km route?!?! :shock: 80k in 3hrs45?! JESUS H. CHRIST! (Sorry for the blaspheme, but I was that astonished!)
I'd put in a solid 6wks of training, I'd carb-loaded beforehand etc. I appreciate that some people are fast, but the above was just ridiculous! (Oh, and I've been riding for a while, the "6wk" thing was the point at which I really turned on the taps.)
What should I change first? My diet, or my training plan? Nutritionist, or personal trainer?! And do I really want to put in the time required to be that fast?! ("No" is the answer to that one, btw!)
That is quick- 50 miles in 3 hrs 45
As a point of reference, the Leadville 100 course record is 6 hrs 30- set by some road cyclist called Armstrong......0 -
Edited, as what I said was sort of wrong, whoops...0
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carrock wrote:mea00csf wrote:i think you're being a bit harsh there! I've always worked on if i can get within twice the time of the pro's i'm beginning to get reasonable!
Exactly- I can run 100 metres in exactly 19 seconds!!!!
What's really, really depressing is that your 100m sprint pace is slower than the pace Gebrselassie ran the 2h4m world record marathon in....that's 100m in just under 18seconds for the entire marathon :shock:0
