Fitness

markpotts147

A couple of questions from a newbie (Been riding ~ 2 weeks)

How much fitness do you guys lose over the winter period? I read this forum quite a lot and see lots of numbers being thrown around - distances covered, av speeds etc. I was out riding today and was overtaken by a guy, so I started to chase after him and soon found out he was doing around 22mph on the flat which I would say is quite fast (I didn't keep up for that long :oops: ) I know given that I having been riding long that I shouldn't be too concerned about the numbers, just racking up the miles - I'm just interested is all.

Cheers

Mark

jibberjim

markpotts147 wrote:

How much fitness do you guys lose over the winter period?

The aim obviously is not to lose any fitness - losing fitness is rather wasteful. However as I don't like the turbo, and there's been a lot of ice, I have perhaps lost a little fitness, but very little more importantly I've lost time when I could've been getting better.

You will go slower in winter, but there's no reason to lose fitness unless you're very fit indeed and need very high loads to even maintain it, but that rarely applies to anyone who's an amateur.

MikeWW

Yes not really lost any fitness. Putting in 150-200 miles a week
Not sure what your second question was

hubba

for me thats a huge question, if you don't train like anything you will loose the fitness level you have so if you don't train say for a month during christmas then when you come back the first handful of rides will be hard work because your more than likly to have gained a few pounds and have the crimbo belly pouch hence less fit more weight = harder to go faster or further..

22 is a good pace to be cycling at if it's constant, i useually have a wide range of actual speed from 16mph - 23mph, and after crimbo around a 6mph up hills !!! dam those mince pies !!!!!..

but on a average 60 odd miles i guess i do a 14/15mph average speed which is good enough for me for a while until my weight goes back down, the next step up in my club runs are aroun 16-18mph average, then the next group up on that are anything 20mph plus !....


best thing you can do is keep it in the saddle, fit a computer and work out what as an average your speed is on a set distance, then over the weeks of cycling see if you can increase the overall average speed over the same distance.

your probably best to join up in a club somewhere and attend some club runs or search for group rides in your area, you'll find in a group you'll tend to put more effort in to keep in with a group.

twotyred

I started to chase after him and soon found out he was doing around 22mph on the flat which I would say is quite fast

Yep that's a pretty classy average speed. Although it could be that once he burned you off and got you out of sight he was spitting his lungs out across the bars.

danowat

MikeWW wrote:

Yes not really lost any fitness. Putting in 150-200 miles a week
Not sure what your second question was

This ^

I was out today, avg speed of 23.2mph, although I was on my TT bike, in the aero position doing a 2 x 20 session!!!!

mattward1979

I gained 4-5 lbs over Xmas and lost LOADS of endurance, but my power and explosive burst was still present...

Currently Im struggling up the main hill of my commute where before I used to get to the top winded, but feeling good and strong!!

Christmas is a bitch... Next year its Gin and Slimline instead of Lager, and grilled turkey breast with salad rather than a full roast!!!

rake

mattward1979 wrote:

I gained 4-5 lbs over Xmas and lost LOADS of endurance, but my power and explosive burst was still present...

Currently Im struggling up the main hill of my commute where before I used to get to the top winded, but feeling good and strong!!

Christmas is a *****... Next year its Gin and Slimline instead of Lager, and grilled turkey breast with salad rather than a full roast!!!

thats very strange because your body has a better memory for work volume than it does high intensity. hence why runners build up the volume over weeks and only incorporate speed work when they taper off.

meanredspider

rake wrote:

mattward1979 wrote:

I gained 4-5 lbs over Xmas and lost LOADS of endurance, but my power and explosive burst was still present...

Currently Im struggling up the main hill of my commute where before I used to get to the top winded, but feeling good and strong!!

Christmas is a *****... Next year its Gin and Slimline instead of Lager, and grilled turkey breast with salad rather than a full roast!!!

thats very strange because your body has a better memory for work volume than it does high intensity. hence why runners build up the volume over weeks and only incorporate speed work when they taper off.

That's interesting. We had an endurance athlete/coach/physio give a talk and one of the points I remember was that he said there's evidence to show that fitness falls at the same sort of rate as you built it up - ie, if you got fit quick you'd lose it quickly. I have no idea how correct that statement is btw

mattward1979

meanredspider wrote:

rake wrote:

mattward1979 wrote:

I gained 4-5 lbs over Xmas and lost LOADS of endurance, but my power and explosive burst was still present...

Currently Im struggling up the main hill of my commute where before I used to get to the top winded, but feeling good and strong!!

Christmas is a *****... Next year its Gin and Slimline instead of Lager, and grilled turkey breast with salad rather than a full roast!!!

thats very strange because your body has a better memory for work volume than it does high intensity. hence why runners build up the volume over weeks and only incorporate speed work when they taper off.

That's interesting. We had an endurance athlete/coach/physio give a talk and one of the points I remember was that he said there's evidence to show that fitness falls at the same sort of rate as you built it up - ie, if you got fit quick you'd lose it quickly. I have no idea how correct that statement is btw

Luckily this seems to hold true for losing weight too... its dropping off pretty fast, and I feel better in the saddle already after a week. But there was a definite drop in performance over Xmas.

rake

meanredspider wrote:

rake wrote:

mattward1979 wrote:

I gained 4-5 lbs over Xmas and lost LOADS of endurance, but my power and explosive burst was still present...

Currently Im struggling up the main hill of my commute where before I used to get to the top winded, but feeling good and strong!!

Christmas is a *****... Next year its Gin and Slimline instead of Lager, and grilled turkey breast with salad rather than a full roast!!!

thats very strange because your body has a better memory for work volume than it does high intensity. hence why runners build up the volume over weeks and only incorporate speed work when they taper off.

That's interesting. We had an endurance athlete/coach/physio give a talk and one of the points I remember was that he said there's evidence to show that fitness falls at the same sort of rate as you built it up - ie, if you got fit quick you'd lose it quickly. I have no idea how correct that statement is btw

that fits in with the tapering idea. build up over a substantial time you can afford to bank down much more steeply before the event with little loss of fitness and energy levels ready to go bang from losing a heap of work.

meanredspider

mattward1979 wrote:

Luckily this seems to hold true for losing weight too... its dropping off pretty fast, and I feel better in the saddle already after a week. But there was a definite drop in performance over Xmas.

I've noticed that too which has made me wonder if it's fat or something else going on.

kettrinboy

During the all the recent snow and ice where i was forced to stay off the road, and only did four rides in a month compared to my normal 15 or so,i definitely lost some form, even now though its still winter and cold, i,m still struggling to get above 16.5 mph ave, this time last year i was doing my usual 17-17.5 mph on every ride, but having done 350 miles so far, this month i,m getting back to where i want to be,i was getting very close to buying a turbo trainer because i couldnt get out on the road ,if we get another load of snow and ice i think i will get one to avoid losing fitness.

Mark Alexander

danowat wrote:

MikeWW wrote:

Yes not really lost any fitness. Putting in 150-200 miles a week
Not sure what your second question was

This ^

I was out today, avg speed of 23.2mph, although I was on my TT bike, in the aero position doing a 2 x 20 session!!!!

Why?

Mark Alexander

Oh I have as I was Lazy and did very little of concequence in December. The last 3 weeks have been club rides (not terribly constructive and turbo work.

Mark Alexander

oh, testing too is good as resting HR is 48 and 1/2 stone lighter than the same time last year, or ever actually Feeling confident