no improvement in 2 months

samsbike

I began commuting in April about twice a week, a round trip of about 32 odd miles.

Its takes me about 1.5 hrs each way and its pretty much been that since I started. I have upped it to 3 times a week this week and suffered on Monday and Tuesday but am not so bad today.

However, its a bit irritating that my times have not improved despite trying hard to push harder during the runs.

What I am doing wrong or is this normal?

I guess what is driving this is that other peeps on the forum say that they improved considerably in a few months.

cheers

corshamjim

IME pedalling harder doesn't make me go much faster. I don't think getting fitter has increased my speed much either - it has just make the same journey seem a whole lot easier and I can ride a lot further than I used to when I first got back in to cycling.

The only thing that improved my speed much was getting a lighter bike with drop bars for a more aero position. I don't use that bike for my commute very often though as it's too dainty to take the knocks and filth of year round all-weather commuting.

What bike are you commuting on?

tallmansix

Hi,

You are doing well if you started in April, it does take time. I hadn't cycled for 15 years when I started in Sept last year after 3 months daily cycling I felt like you, I had reached a plateau and didn't seem to feel any fitter or have much bigger legs, so I took some advice from a body builder.

In my opinion, I think the problem with long distance cycling is the high amount of nutrition required to fuel those muscles and repair damage and also build some new muscle for stamina on the next time. I was disappointed with 6 months of daily cycling and finally changed things when I took advice from a body builder about nutrition. Basically I needed to boost my protein intake massively when I work out, just like a body builder. Average intake would be approx 1g protein per kg body weight, but on training days this can double or triple. So I started two basic body building supplements that are totally normal dietary elements found mostly in meats and dairy.

I must say all such supplements need qualified medical advice and should not replace a proper diet and extra protein should really come from a proper fresh diet not supplements, however work, family etc means the ideal body builder eating 6-7 high nutrition meals can't fit my lifestyle.

Anyway I took Whey Protein and Creatine for 2 months and the change was noticeable and has held out since I stopped taking them. I take protein before I cycle, to prevent my body breaking down muscle cells for energy, and afterwards to help repair and build new muscle for increased power. Creatine has moderately boosted muscle mass also.

The net result was going up a gear or two more than normal on a regular commute and feeling strong enough to tackle a 20 mile commute with 500ft climb on better days instead of using the train for that section. Only my opinion though.

raymondo60

We're all different; we're all individual and we all react differently. If you're enjoying it, then you'll improve. Keep going and good luck.

cookeeemonster

I've also been cycling for the first time the last 3 months and have a similar distance and for me, the biggest improvement has come from more regular cycling 3 or 4 times per week (and this doesn't all have to be during the week on your commute).

I've found that on the weeks where I've cycled less regularly than I hoped then my times stagnated, but after a couple of weeks doing it 3 or 4 times my times improved.

Also I changed to a thinner, slicker tyre plus added power grips pedal straps which seemed to knock a good 5 mins off...but ultimately, I do think improvements to your fitness and desire to go faster will do the trick

And heads up to the everyone's different comment

iPete

Where do you ride?

I'm a hell of a lot faster than I was 3 years ago but my commute is no faster but that's the nature of stop/start London riding.

It'll take time and you just need top keep building it up, when you can comfortably do 5 days a week you'll know you have improved. A lot will depend on your body, a few hard weeks at 5 days a week tends to shock me into adapting to higher mile commutes.

jonomc4

All replies above are sensible - but my understanding of creatine is that it helps with more power exercise than endurance. I would give a definite thumbs up to whey supplement as apart from anything else I notice better recovery - I would suggest drinking a pint of milk has the same benefit though!

It takes time to build a core fitness up and remember all the time you are training your muscles they are sore - therefore they will not be as fast - eventually your muscles will get to the point where the 32 mile a day ride is standard and there will not be so much healing required, therefore your times will start to improve. I would definitely advise you to alter your schedule - don't push hard every time - either push hard in the morning and relax on the way back - or go easy two days a week and then hard for one. This will definitely help you currently, as a gentle ride will help you muscles heal whilst at the same time keeping fitness up. Use the gentle ride to concentrate on improving your cadence and pedal technique.

If you are using a road bike also concentrate on a bit of gym time to strengthen your core (and lower back) and additionally get some stretching in - this will help you hold a more aggressive and aerodynamic position.

Finally I would also suggest going on longer rides at the weekend - if you have time doing a 30 to 50 mile weekend ride in one go will have a major impact in your riding speed and fitness - that more than anything helped me!

But the point above about riding through London is very true - lights and traffic will make your speed increases seem far less - no matter how fit you are sitting at a traffic light you will still be doing 0 mph.

Most importantly - just enjoy it. Life is not always about being the fast - just being on a bike - getting out in the air and getting some exercise is reward enough.

thiscocks

tallmansix wrote:

Hi,

Anyway I took Whey Protein and Creatine for 2 months and the change was noticeable and has held out since I stopped taking them. I take protein before I cycle, to prevent my body breaking down muscle cells for energy, and afterwards to help repair and build new muscle for increased power. Creatine has moderately boosted muscle mass also.

Think Creatine isnt of much help for endurance excersizes and some people de-hydrate on it. Totally ridiculous taking it just for commuting on a bike if you ask me anyway.

The only time your body is going to be breaking down muscle is if you are strving to death.

Just eat a balanced diet with more fish/meat if you want protein.

godders1

Agree with CokeeeMonster, I started a commute of exactly the same distance back in December but the times only really started to drop once I'd built up to doing it more regularly (eg. both ways, 4-5 times a week).

samsbike

Thanks all. I ride a road bike and my journey is mostly a canal path into Camden. Some bits are probably worthy of a cyclocross bike. I do have an old mtb but prefer riding my road bike more.

godders1

samsbike wrote:

Thanks all. I ride a road bike and my journey is mostly a canal path into Camden. Some bits are probably worthy of a cyclocross bike. I do have an old mtb but prefer riding my road bike more.

What width tyres? If you're on 23s going up to 25s (maybe even 28s if they'll fit your frame) will make things more comfortable without noticeably effecting speed. In fact I've heard it said that 25s are a bit quicker than 23s although not sure how true this is.

Either way you won't notice the difference speed wise.

samsbike

I am running 25s

tallmansix

thiscocks wrote:

Think Creatine isnt of much help for endurance excersizes and some people de-hydrate on it. Totally ridiculous taking it just for commuting on a bike if you ask me anyway.

Hi thiscocks, a fair point about the creatine not improving endurance but I didn't claim it helped with endurance on a-commuting bike though, all I said was that it helped build muscle mass so not sure why you quoted (mis-quoted) me and made a different point?

We are all different, creatine maybe is not for most most people and I agree with the warning about dehydration, I needed to stock up on fluids when taking it, but now I've stopped I have more resilience to thirst now my muscles hold more water.

Creatine may help reduce fatigue when high power is needed on a short burst (e.g short hill climb <5min) as per this research:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9721002

and this

http://www.researchgate.net/publication ... _threshold

and for those that can't be bothered reading, in summary a test done using cyclists found "This means they were able to sustain a 14.5% greater power output before showing evidence of fatigue. "

thiscocks wrote:

Just eat a balanced diet with more fish/meat if you want protein.

I did suggest proper nutrition and medical advice as the first options in my post, the rest was clearly stated as just opinion. Again why did you quote (mis-quote) and make that comment as if I'd not said that?

I have skinnier than average muscles, we are all have different body types and muscle types, some people need a little help with their physical performance and can benefit from varied opinions instead of home brew science...which leads me on to my next response to your post.

Can you show me the source of your claim

thiscocks wrote:

"The only time your body is going to be breaking down muscle is if you are starving to death."

please because I found lots of verified research that says that your body does break down muscle cells during exercise, especially during endurance exercise:

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/scni29a5.htm

A quote from the above link

"During prolonged exercise, such as long-distance running or cycling, proteins can be broken down to provide 3 to 5% of the total energy expenditure. When muscle glycogen becomes low, or if initial glycogen stores are low, energy contribution from protein can be up to 10%. One way to prevent the breakdown of muscle protein for fuel is to provide adequate carbohydrate"

thegibdog

http://roadcyclinguk.com/riding/trainin ... uting.html

Initialised

I didn't really start improving until I did it every day and kept it up all through the coldest winter for 30 years. So err good luck for the 2042 SCR season!

daveyroids

You asked what you were doing wrong - pushing harder and looking at other peoples gains.

I would say that cycling 3 times a week is enough for you at the moment and that you probably should not increase the number of days that you commute. The time that you do your commute in is fine. If you try and push harder after such a short time commuting you may get worse and not better. If you don't feel up to it and think your legs are going to ache one day then leave 10 minutes earlier and give your legs a nice light spin for 10 - 15 minutes to get them going.

I returned back to cycling back in November after a long term injury. I did not understand how hard cycling was until I found that I was not cycle fit anymore. It took me about 3 months to start getting comfortable again never mind thinking about improving my commute times. I usually have a 25 mile round trip on my commute and I had to start off commuting one day and training on the weekend as the commute had me worn out. I think your doing great and slightly jealous that you can do that in such a short space of time.

The most important thing is not to push too hard on the pedals. If you are more than slightly out of breath or you just feel like your pushing too hard, ease off. I know that what I am about to say may not make much sense, but you will make faster gains easing off the pedals and being no more than slightly out of breath. If you push too hard and worry about other peoples gains you are just going to be discouraged. Being slightly out of breath loosely compares to a good aerobic workout where you will build a solid base fitness. Without a good base, if you try and go for it on the bike your body will not respond the way you think it should. Loads of people push too hard on the commute and give themselves a hard time, keep it steady and be fresh for work. If you stick to what I have just said for a couple of month you will find that your speed will increase (maybe slight or a lot, everyone is different) and you will be commuting with ease. The other thing to remember is that your rest is as important as your riding. When I went to commuting 3 days a week I chose mon, wed, fri. as that gave me loads of recovery time in between. tallmansix's quote looks at muscle breakdown during exercise, thats why you need plenty of rest at first to let said muscles build back up. Just stick with it and keep it light for now, once you have built a solid base the odd bit of fast riding will do you no harm but at the moment it will!

As for fancy nutrition I would not waste my money. I just have a good breakfast (X2 helping of porridge made with skimmed milk) occasionally take a bottle filled with half orange juice and half water. When I arrive at work I get my priorities right, Kettle on, cup of tea and then I sip a cup of skimmed milk as a recovery drink. Have a look at sports drink and nutrition articles on Bike Radar skimmed milk is brilliant stuff. Not knocking protein shakes, but I used to only use those if I was doing some serious heavy training.

samsbike

Many thanks all.

I think I was setting my expectations too high. Many on the forum have commented huge improvements and I was not experiencing any.

Just need to keep at it I guess

thanks

sam

Moodyman

Eat well, and sleep well.

I could get by on 5-6 hours of sleep before cycle commuting. I now have to get 8-9 hours every night. 24 hilly miles daily.

Increase your food intake - not just volume but type - milk, nuts, fruit, chicken, rice, pasta, lentils, etc.

richie wake

Hi to increase your fitness you need to be hitting the anaerobic system .
If you do long slow duration, i.e your commute your body will just get fit for that.
On a scale of 1-10 if 1 is like sat down and 10 is about to drop dead then you need to be doing intervals of say 1 min fast keep around a 8-9 effort, then spin for 1 min should get back down to felling like say 5 effort 20-30 min of intervals and you give the anaerobic system a total frashing and improves aerobic fitness better than long slow duration. If in doubt then please google it , its what peps include in marathon training. Also better for weight loss as the body burns calories for hours afterwards

richie wake

Just to back up what I have said before I get cut down, this system can be used on any form of excersise http://tabatatraining.org/

daveyroids

richie wake wrote:

Just to back up what I have said before I get cut down, this system can be used on any form of excersise http://tabatatraining.org/

Nothing wrong with intervals, don't see why anyone should cut you down.

some of my training is starting to look a bit like that. Just instead of using the PRE scale I'm hooked on my heart monitor. I would not do them every day and I have had to build up to that level. At the start there was no chance of doing any thing like that. I like to do my interval bit going uphill if I can, just a personal favourite.

When commuting I would not do anything like intervals going to work. I never go any higher than low level 2. My aim is to get in to work in a fresh state and not sweating. Mid to upper level 1 is my target. A couple of times a week I will extend my ride home, maybe do some intervals, maybe some hills but I make sure that I enjoy the session and I leave enough in the tank to ride for the rest of the week. I'm starting to love my intervals again. Once I have finished a session I can't wait till the next one.

Just to note though I agree with what you said about hitting the aerobic system however level 1 / 2 riding is not slow. On a Sunday, (following Pete Read's Annual Manual) if I go out on a solo ride I can now complete a 60 to 70 mile ride at 14 + mph on fairly hilly terrain. Now that isn't super fast yet but at the same time I'm not hanging around. This ride would be a upper level one, going into a bit level 2 on a steep bit.

danieljsoul

All this chat about nutrition and doing intervals, what are you all on about? What about this dude's ROUTE in? In the last few years I've gotten a hell of a lot more serious about my riding (doing 240 miles single speed this weekend) but my commute time stays the same. Why? Because some routes are just slow. The route into work took me 50 minutes 5 years ago, it takes me 40-45 now. Lights, shitty roads, traffic etc. You say your riding on a canal path worthy of a cross bike - you aren't going to improve on that time because you're probably going about as fast as you reasonably should.

But if you had took yourself to the paved hills two months ago and timed yourself and now went to the same hills you'd probably kick your own ass. Nice one for upping the riding, well done.

samsbike

thanks all

Steve@Tern

Just to pass on a tip I was given by the proprietor of my much-respected LBS when starting out - concentrate on keeping in as low a gear as possible. Only change up when you're spinning so fast that it's getting uncomfortable. Just keep doing that, resisting the understandable temptation to change up, and you'll see your average times start to fall on the rides when you want to push on.
I'm not into structured training, just enjoying leisure road cycling to get/keep reasonably fit - but I like to keep an eye on my average speeds (who doesn't really?) and it's certainly worked for me.

samsbike

Well I am taking it much easier and its added about 15mins to my overall journey. However, I don't feel so tired and have managed to do 4 days this week.

sufferingpete

It may be that your body has adapted to your commute.

Try doing one day fast and the rest of the week slow and easy. I made improvements by doing this. But everyone is different.

samsbike

sufferingpete wrote:

It may be that your body has adapted to your commute.

Try doing one day fast and the rest of the week slow and easy. I made improvements by doing this. But everyone is different.

thanks

jae-so

Steve@Tern wrote:

Just to pass on a tip I was given by the proprietor of my much-respected LBS when starting out - concentrate on keeping in as low a gear as possible. Only change up when you're spinning so fast that it's getting uncomfortable. Just keep doing that, resisting the understandable temptation to change up, and you'll see your average times start to fall on the rides when you want to push on.
I'm not into structured training, just enjoying leisure road cycling to get/keep reasonably fit - but I like to keep an eye on my average speeds (who doesn't really?) and it's certainly worked for me.

Might have to try this, I thought riding in higher gears would strengthen the legs quicker?