Early Morning Training

simwilli

Hi My 11 month old son gets me up every morning at 5am ish. I thought i might as well get a quick hour of training (between 6am - 7am) as i'm up so early. Can anyone recommend any training sessions i can do within this time (1Hour). I dont race but do sportives mainly.

Cheers
Simwilli

amaferanga

2x20

Zoomer37

Just a suggestion, but if you have a limited time frame each morning it may be worth investing a turbo trainer.

Good hour workout on that each morning and you'll see big gains in your fitness for genral riding and the sportives you enter. Only trouble is unless you have a garage or quite a sound proof room, noise can be a issue. Especially at 6am in the morning.

Herbsman

http://www.turbotraining.co.uk/turbo_tr ... p?uid=1933

griffsters

I cant add anything to this really other than to say what a great time it is to be out on the bike at this time of year!

I've been out a couple of times recently at 5am for an hour or so really because I get frowned at for disappearing in the evenings (childcare etc etc you know the score) so a ride first thing is often more convenient. I've worked out a few routes that take me between 45 mins / 1 half hours to do so have a choic ethe night before depending on how knackered I am etc.

It would be a shame to be on a turbo when you could be out on quiet roads enjoying a fresh morning on yer bike! Save the turbo for winter I say.

Buckled_Rims

amaferanga wrote:

2x20

+1

I can't think of anything better. It gives enough time to warm up, rest between sets and warm down. You really don't need to push for 60 minutes to increase fitness. It's the intense 20min session followed by the recovery that increases you body's fitness.

crom7

probably being a bit thick :oops: but could you explain what a 2x20 is, apart from being 2 blocks of 20 mins cycling.

What intensity should be sustained?
How should i feel during / at the end of each block?
Should the intensity be constant?
How long should the rest between the 2 blocks be?

cheers

Buckled_Rims

2 sets of 20 minutes training.

The intensity will depend on you and your training regime. If it's just to get fit and not race, then a lot of cyclists use a heart rate monitor and train within a zone. there are about 5 zones and each zone represents a percentage of your max heart rate.

For example if you max heart rate is 200 (yes, I'm keeping this simple for maths reasons!) then the intensity might be keeping the heart rate at about 70% for 20 minutes ie 140 bmp for zone 2, or 80% which is 160bmp for zone 3.

Chances are your heart rate will be more like 185 bmp.

Here's an example website that'll explain better then me.

http://improvecycling.com/index.php/articles/cycling-training/pulse-training/137-training-zone-calculator as an example.

Bronzie

crom7 wrote:

]probably being a bit thick :oops: but could you explain what a 2x20 is, apart from being 2 blocks of 20 mins cycling.

Good explanation here:
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com/2007/01/ ... wenty.html

Basically 2 x 20 minute intervals at or around threshold pace (the sort of effort you'd ride a time trial at) with a short recovery in between.

crom7 wrote:

What intensity should be sustained?

Usually Level 3-4 - see the link to Coggan Training levels in my sig line for more detailed description. Probably around 85-90% of Max Heart Rate but it will take time for your heart rate to reach this level (certainly on the first interval c.5 mins)

crom7 wrote:

How should i feel during / at the end of each block?

Initially the effort will feel solid but comfortable, but as the interval progresses you'll probably have to focus to get to the end. The start of the second interval will usually feel pretty hard but once you get through the first few minutes, it'll feel a bit easier although again it should be a solid effort. There is no need to finish the session completely spent, but you'll probably feel it in the legs for a few hours afterwards and maybe the next day.

crom7 wrote:

Should the intensity be constant?

Yes - try and maintain the same effort for both intervals. Using rear wheel speed on your turbo is a good proxy for measuring power (although some turbos can be more variable than others)

crom7 wrote:

How long should the rest between the 2 blocks be?

Most tend to use 5 minutes but it's not that important. You could probably do it as one 40 minute effort and get the same benefits, but mentally it's easier to split it, especially if riding an indoor trainer.

crom7

Great info, thanks.

holker

OK so lets sayI haven't got lots of computery heart rate thingies to measure my bodily functions, how can I sensibly judge a hard threshold pace that I could do 2 * 20.

Bronzie

From the good Doctor (Coggan that is) himself:
Essentially continuous sensation of moderate or even greater leg effort/fatigue. Continuous conversation difficult at best, due to depth/frequency of breathing. Effort sufficiently high that sustained exercise at this level is mentally very taxing - therefore typically performed in training as multiple 'repeats', 'modules', or 'blocks' of 10-30 min duration. Consecutive days of training at level 4 possible, but such workouts generally only performed when sufficiently rested/recovered from prior training so as to be able to maintain intensity

SteveR_100Milers

Jeez, 2x20 for breakfast. That's mentally taxing before you even get into the dark physical place....I think you would have be slightly unhinged to follow that training regime!