This year is MY YEAR!!

Xommul

Thats right people,

Im gonna do it, Im gonna get off my arse and cycle a sportive. I have set myself the challenge of getting superfit (comparatively) and cycle 100miles in a day. Sportive here i come.

My options are limited due to my summer being ruined by the olympics and having to work 7-8 days in a row with one off for 10-12 weeks.

I live in the south ,East (london ish)and would love a recommendation of a decent beginners sportive.

I am training 6 days a week, 3 days of moderate weights, 3 days of cycling, and on the rest day doing yoga. My cycling is structured as i can make it by doing research in t'internet. Day 1, chest n back, plus core in gym, day 2 hill climbs on turbo, day 3 arms n shoulders plus core, day 4 threshold training on turbo, day 5 legs n back plus core in gym, day 6 LSD outside weather permitting or on turbo. I take recovery shake after each exercise, and i use a HR monitor to check im in the zone.

Im working on my health this winter, lots of vitamins, B, C, D, Omega 3n6, Multi Vit, ive cut down on carbs in evenings, very few bad foods, tonnes of veg n salads, proteins with each meal, nuts fruit etc.

Yup, being very disciplined and looking forward to taking my fitness and life seriously this year. Plus a great goal is a cycling trip to italy in September.

Any comments and suggestions welcome, esp about sportives n training.

Cheers

Xommul

Brakeless

All sounds abit OTT to me.
Just ride your bike, slowly increase your distance and enjoy yourself. If you can find a weekend clubrun to join it'll teach you about riding in a group and motivates you to get out on a wet winter morning.

SouthernSportive

Hi Xommul

Do forgive me for plugging our own events, but we have plenty going on in your part of the world. We welcome new and experienced riders alike and have options to suit both. most of our 2012 events are online now at http://southernsportive.com/. Check us out and feel free to drop me a line if there's anything you want to know.

I agree with Brakeless to an extent, although there's nothing wrong with going on a good all round fitness kick if you're motivated to. Good luck with it. Do listen to your body though, and don't underestimate the importance of rest and recovery in the process. I've seen some people properly mess themselves up through overtraining. If you're aiming for a level that's new too you, don't go too far too fast, you want a sound base fitness to build on first.

Where are you going in Italy? I was out there touring in Tuscany this year, and planning to tour Umbria next year. Fantastic place to ride a bike!

Bobbinogs

Great to have a target, so good on ya!

I cannot work out what your long ride of the week is but why not set a mini target, such as a 100k sportive at the end of March? I can also thoroughly recommend joining a club or getting a cycling buddy (no, not to race against but to share the ride and encourage each other ). It is amazing how quickly the miles go by when chuntering.

I think you know this from seeing another post but turbo training is great as a training tool... but there is no short cut to spending time out on the bike. A sportive 100 Miler should normally take anything between 6 and 8 hours so you need to gradually toughen your bits up to be able to spend that much time out on the road. You will also need to learn when you need to feed (I have to start at 90 mins, for example), drink, etc., ... and an hour of thresholds won't do that.

Keep at it fella! Here's to suffering

rodgers73

You've only got a few weeks of it left...

Xommul

All very sound advice, many thanks .

OTT - hell yeah, i guess im just very enthusiastic and like to take the bull by the horns, never do things by halves.

Rest and recovery - check, make sure i give my body parts time to recoup and i plan every 4-5th week to only do light exercise and plenty of stretching.

Italy - no idea where, going with the wife and sister in law and her partner. They are quite fit so thats a big goal for me to be ble to keep up but the hol will involve sight seeing, wine tasting etc so not full time cycling. Got any suggestions on where to go?

I fancy doing a sportive in 1st April, cant remember the name of the one i picked but its my primry goal for the fitness boost this xmas. I usually chcuk on weighht this time of year so this is a great way to stay trim'r.

Agree, need to join a club, have put feelers out to a local group who are very friendly but i have not had the chnce to meet them yet, also agree i need much more time outside on the bike "toughening the bits"

Cheers people for all the advice.

Any ideas on better rest and recovery

Xom

SouthernSportive

Xommul wrote:

Italy - no idea where, going with the wife and sister in law and her partner. They are quite fit so thats a big goal for me to be ble to keep up but the hol will involve sight seeing, wine tasting etc so not full time cycling. Got any suggestions on where to go?

If you want a holiday mix like that, Tuscany would be perfect. Fantasic cycling and scenery everywhere, and loads of great sights, and food and drink. Riding wise, the road surfaces aren't the best (similar to UK roads really), but the scenery is incredible and there are massive hills everywhere. Not exactly alps, but certainly tougher you'll find in most places over here. And there's a beautiful little town, village and restaurant or bar on top of nearly all of them as an incentive.

Pisa and Florence are both easy to fly into. Pisa is a small airport and easy to get into and out of, but Pisa itself is a bit crappy away from the tower and Duomo. The countryside from Florence down to Siena is stunning, and both cities are too, and 'the Crete', the area south of Siena is breathtaking. You're passing through the Chianti region here too, so great for wine tasting!

Other areas worth seeing are the Val 'dOrcia around Pienza, and the Tufa cities of Pitigliano and Sorano in the far south of Tuscany, which are built on high volcanic outcrops and quite jaw dropping. The whole region is just worth touring though, you're spoilt for choice really. The people are really friendly too, particularly in the smaller towns and villages , where you get the best food as well, I found.

fossyant

Brakeless wrote:

All sounds abit OTT to me.
Just ride your bike, slowly increase your distance and enjoy yourself. If you can find a weekend clubrun to join it'll teach you about riding in a group and motivates you to get out on a wet winter morning.

+1

Your training doesn't mention riding the bike for real. Hill climb training on a turbo. Erm.... what's wrong with real hills. :shock:

Xommul

Southern sportive - cheers mate, sounds amazing will get onto the net and research,

Fossyant - yes mate, would love to be able to get out more and soak up the milage on the bike, However, working long hours and most rest days are spent with family, cant get out often esp with short daylight hours.

So most of what i can atm is on the turbo,

Cheers for the advice tho,

phreak

Re locations in Italy, I can recommend Trento. I've stayed at this place twice now and it's ace

http://www.villabertagnolli.it/

Set in a vineyard, the owners run a grappa business as well so lots of nice wine/grappa to be had. There are lots of good climbs in the area so you can easily do 3-4 hours in the morning and then enjoy the rest of the day doing whatever you like. My personal favourite climb was the Bondone

http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?qryMountainID=31

Kamzter

I do various challenges around the country etc but dont bother with any form of gym work as I find cardiovascular/endurance work is what you need to be able to cycle long distances and you are using the muscles that you will need when you actually start your challenges.
I used to be 16 stone, I am now 14 stone and counting down, purely with cycling whether speed bike or road bike and a calorie watching day.
Good luck with what ever you do, but as a family man, I also have to work that around work and cycling.

rob13

Xommul wrote:

Southern sportive - cheers mate, sounds amazing will get onto the net and research,

Fossyant - yes mate, would love to be able to get out more and soak up the milage on the bike, However, working long hours and most rest days are spent with family, cant get out often esp with short daylight hours.

So most of what i can atm is on the turbo,

Cheers for the advice tho,

I take it you're emergency services judging by Olympic moan, long hours and rest days?! Try and set aside one of your rest days to hit the roads and put some miles in. You will notice the difference come February when we start seeing some improvement in daylight hours. I'm in a similar boat and I'm also aiming at my first Sportive and first hundred. Havent quite hit the 100k yet, but very close to it. Aim is to do a 100k Sportive at the beginning of March to kick start the season. Good luck!

cougie

I'd not bother with the weight training to be honest unless you really think you need it. And you do need to get out on the bike. Its one thing sitting on a turbo, but you need to get your bike handling up to scratch.

Don't do too much too soon or you'll burn out.

BruceG

Xommul wrote:

Southern sportive - cheers mate, sounds amazing will get onto the net and research,

Fossyant - yes mate, would love to be able to get out more and soak up the milage on the bike, However, working long hours and most rest days are spent with family, cant get out often esp with short daylight hours.

So most of what i can atm is on the turbo,

Cheers for the advice tho,

Every minute you are on the turbo you could be on the road, so this excuse for not doing real miles doesnt stack up,...

phreak

I mainly did turbo work this year and managed to do a 160km sportive over the Gavia and Mortirolo. Living in London I'd waste 45 minutes just getting out of town. I could have that time spent doing quality work on the turbo and train specifically for the kind of riding I want to do.