Whats wrong with me? I am getting worse!

NITR8s

Ive been cycling now for just under a year and although I have been doing some decent mileage I just dont seem to have improved like my friends have.

For example about 3 months ago I went out with my local club and at the same time another new starter was there. He is a lot older than my self and at that point I was a lot stronger cyclist than him. Sunday just gone we were both on the club ride again and he actually beat me up a hill and was telling me he done a 50 miles sportive in about 3 hours, which is a lot faster than me.

Another example is a friend of mine started cycling the same time as me and when we started i was constantly having to wait him, however now even though I cycle more than him after about 30 miles + he is having to contstantly wait for me.

Ive been doing 100k rides every weekend and have recently been training for a 100 mile sportive so its not like I havent been training. I just dont know whats wrong with me, I actually seem worse than I was about 2 months ago and I am defonatly not improving. Its kinda embarsing that I am putting in more work than people who are all getting better than me.

schweiz

Parents!

You're not getting worse, it's just that the other people to whom you compare yourself are getting 'better' quicker. Training, diet, rest, stress and genetics all play a part. There's not a lot you can do about the last one, except blame your parents.

Are you still enjoying your cycling? If so, forget the rest and have fun!

NITR8s

Yer of course I am enjoying my cycling, hence I am still doing it. Gonna get on the phone to my parents and complain to them.

LegendLust

Your friends might be training smarter. Just going out and doing long rides at the same pace isn't going to make you quicker. Take a look at the Cycling Fitness Magazine - this has good training plans to follow for beginners

daxplusplus

NITR8s wrote:

I actually seem worse than I was about 2 months ago.

Just to be clear, are you actually worse than you were 2 months ago? And is that consitently worse? eg just about every ride you do now is comparable to previous rides (length of ride, amount of climbing, wind, same kit) and your performance is worse?

No point comparing one off ride .. or when you've had a head wind to contend with .. or if you've switched to a winter training bike.

TommyB61

LegendLust wrote:

Take a look at the Cycling Fitness Magazine - this has good training plans to follow for beginners

+1

Also, a useful training plan from Nicole Cooke can be downloaded as a pdf from here:

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/G ... larly2.pdf

NITR8s

Ive been reading into genetics and I think I am cursed with having more Fast Twitch muscles than Slow Twitch.

I am naturally a very fast sprinter (runner) and reading up on fast and slow twitch, people who are naturally fast sprinters will tend to have a higher percentage fast twitch muscle fibres to slow twitch. Where as endurance athletes will be the other way round. Although it hasnt been proven it is the beleif that fast twitch muscle fibres cannot be converted to slow twitch or vice versa. You can however slightly improve them to work the otherway but they will never be as good as the oppersites intended use.

Not that I am trying to use science to make an excuse, I do beleive the above factor does have an effect on my cycling performance. Hence on a short quick burst up a hill i can fly up it but over a long gradual hill i will eventually be left behind.

Ps. Gonna read up on the recommended training plans. Thanks.

TakeTurns

NITR8s wrote:

Ive been reading into genetics and I think I am cursed with having more Fast Twitch muscles than Slow Twitch.

I am naturally a very fast sprinter (runner) and reading up on fast and slow twitch, people who are naturally fast sprinters will tend to have a higher percentage fast twitch muscle fibres to slow twitch. Where as endurance athletes will be the other way round. Although it hasnt been proven it is the beleif that fast twitch muscle fibres cannot be converted to slow twitch or vice versa. You can however slightly improve them to work the otherway but they will never be as good as the oppersites intended use.

Not that I am trying to use science to make an excuse, I do beleive the above factor does have an effect on my cycling performance. Hence on a short quick burst up a hill i can fly up it but over a long gradual hill i will eventually be left behind.

Ps. Gonna read up on the recommended training plans. Thanks.

Makes sense actually. Could justify why Cav isn't good on the hills and I can't see him winning a TDF. He's just a sprinter, not an all rounder. Which presumably have a mix of both slow twitch and fast twitch muscles. Whereas cav is majority fast twitch.

I myself prefer a race which isn't completely flat and has a few hills. I do better in those than I have done in crits. So I'd assume I have more slow twitch muscles.

Also, a way to improve slow twitch muscles would be to ride long distances at zone2. I do this monthly and cover about 130miles, I have definitely seen it's benefits.

simon_masterson

LegendLust wrote:

Your friends might be training smarter. Just going out and doing long rides at the same pace isn't going to make you quicker.

Exactly. Some of the most brutal workouts are very short. Try some intervals: 20 second sprints followed by 4 minutes steady pedalling and see how long you last. Doing long rides at a steady pace will not do a great deal for you unless you set out to ride for 5 hours and that speed is 20mph, or that ride is part of a structured and varied training programme; it is very efficient and much more so than constantly accelerating and decelerating.

It does perturb me mildly that so many beginners tend to think this way. It might seem impressive that you rode 70-100 miles (+), but there are plenty of fat, unfit old men who do long audaxes, tours and club runs. If you can do it on the back of a little nibble of flapjack on the hour and sugar-free squash, you are probably not working hard enough!

Mikey23

It may be that you have achieved the limits of your capability. I doubt it though

If you are judging your progress by doing loads of mileage at the same pace then start to train SMART. Plenty of info on how to do this on the Internet. I've been a UKA running coach for many years and have seen plenty of folks just plodding around at the same pace day after day ..... And surprise surprise, they become plodders. Mix in some intervals, fartlek, high intensity, hill work kind of stuff with your base mileage and you will start to improve

forward_loop

"Secret training" - all my friends do it

The stuff that never makes it onto strava, evenings unaccounted for, tell tale turbo marks left on the kitchen floor....they are all at it, though I'm not paranoid 8)

length of ride means very little in training terms - read up and organise yourself.

charlie_potatoes

Forward loop wrote:

The stuff that never makes it onto strava, evenings unaccounted for, tell tale turbo marks left on the kitchen floor....they are all at it, though I'm not paranoid 8)

Slack

Ah yes, the old secret training chestnut! Where you haven't seen one of your club mates for a month, and when you do see them the conversation starts off with you saying "been out much on the bike?" their reply is "not much, just one or twice". And whilst out on the ride you notice they're riding up the hills quicker, or you are struggling to hold their wheel....

Also, maybe your peers have lost some body weight....that makes quite a difference.

Don't beat yourself up about it, keep going, vary your intensities on a consistent basis and the tables will turn at some point. We all go through cycles of peaks and troughs.

andyeb

I've been right where you are now. Buy a heart rate monitor and read up on "Base Training".

...and once you've done that, consider getting the advice of a cycling coach. Stock training plans have their uses, but if you have hit a plateau or need other specific troubleshooting, you can't beat the personalised advice of a good coach.

Wrath Rob

TakeTurns wrote:

NITR8s wrote:

Ive been reading into genetics and I think I am cursed with having more Fast Twitch muscles than Slow Twitch.

I am naturally a very fast sprinter (runner) and reading up on fast and slow twitch, people who are naturally fast sprinters will tend to have a higher percentage fast twitch muscle fibres to slow twitch. Where as endurance athletes will be the other way round. Although it hasnt been proven it is the beleif that fast twitch muscle fibres cannot be converted to slow twitch or vice versa. You can however slightly improve them to work the otherway but they will never be as good as the oppersites intended use.

Not that I am trying to use science to make an excuse, I do beleive the above factor does have an effect on my cycling performance. Hence on a short quick burst up a hill i can fly up it but over a long gradual hill i will eventually be left behind.

Ps. Gonna read up on the recommended training plans. Thanks.

Makes sense actually. Could justify why Cav isn't good on the hills and I can't see him winning a TDF. He's just a sprinter, not an all rounder. Which presumably have a mix of both slow twitch and fast twitch muscles. Whereas cav is majority fast twitch.

Cav is an endurance athlete with a great sprint. Jason Kenney/Chris Hoy are true sprinters. Put them all on the track and Hoy/Kenney would wipe the floor with Cav in sprints. Put Hoy/Kenney out on the road and Cav would leave them for dust on the way to the finish line and not even have to sprint.

Frank the tank

Forward loop wrote:

"Secret training" - all my friends do it

The stuff that never makes it onto strava, evenings unaccounted for, tell tale turbo marks left on the kitchen floor....they are all at it, though I'm not paranoid 8)

length of ride means very little in training terms - read up and organise yourself.

Oh yessss!

When asked "Been getting out a lot"? Deny all the riding you can with a tissue of white lies such as "fake" injuries, overtime at work, diy projects etc, stuff like that.

I was a member of my local cycling club and to hear them at the RV point none of them ever rode their bikes from one week to the next. Then we'd set off and it was like a Santa Pod race meet as they disappeared down the road in a cloud of dust and burning rubber. Lying b@st@rds every last one of 'em.

CRAIGO5000

Junk miles; Endlessly riding without a specific goal at a pace that you could hold for ever.

Get a turbo and do this; http://www.trainerroad.com/

Profit.

DavidJB

What a load of tosh being spouted in this thread. You'll naturally be good at a certain area but genetics will have very little part to play at your level. You're probably just training poorly, probably too much and are always tired.

Why people compare a sportive rider to a top athlete and try to draw similarities between the two is beyond me.

Sprool

CRAIGO5000 wrote:

Junk miles; Endlessly riding without a specific goal at a pace that you could hold for ever.

Depends what motivates you to cycle. The point of the journey is not just to arrive (I think that's taken from the pretentious lyrics of some old Rush song);)

NITR8s

So ive changed my training to short high intensity workouts, yesterday I was dripping wet when I got off the turbo. Fingers crossed this makes a difference. Oh by the way, I dont tell anyone about this training as its secret training.

DavidJB

NITR8s wrote:

So ive changed my training to short high intensity workouts, yesterday I was dripping wet when I got off the turbo. Fingers crossed this makes a difference. Oh by the way, I dont tell anyone about this training as its secret training.

Mate, this time of year you should be doing long slow steady rides and pick up the HI work in February.

I'm pretty sure all that's happening is you're training too hard and not recovering enough. Its pretty common knowledge that you need a good solid base to build your top end on and also short HI workouts are not what you need for a sportive. Training harder != training better.

I know the temptation is to go all guns blazing all the time and to be fair that will get you so far but to really move your cycling to the next level you have to train right.

Trev The Rev

DavidJB wrote:

NITR8s wrote:

So ive changed my training to short high intensity workouts, yesterday I was dripping wet when I got off the turbo. Fingers crossed this makes a difference. Oh by the way, I dont tell anyone about this training as its secret training.

Mate, this time of year you should be doing long slow steady rides and pick up the HI work in February.

I'm pretty sure all that's happening is you're training too hard and not recovering enough. Its pretty common knowledge that you need a good solid base to build your top end on and also short HI workouts are not what you need for a sportive. Training harder != training better.

I know the temptation is to go all guns blazing all the time and to be fair that will get you so far but to really move your cycling to the next level you have to train right.

Agree. Make sure you get enough rest & recovery.

Fr Howie

I too have lots of High-twitch muscle an not much slow twitch. Part of that means that my muscles are relatively inefficient at burning energy. I find I have to consume far more calories on a ride than some of my riding buddies whose buddies are set-up more for long distance work than sprinting. I have a really strong mix of energy drink with protein and make sure I've just eaten lots before I go out, otherwise I just end up feeling weak half-way round.

You may also find that their bikes are stiffer than yours, so as you all get stronger, your bike is absorbing more and more of your effort as it flexes under pressure than theirs. As my buddies upgraded to carbon bikes it didn't make that much difference until we hit the big hills and then out of the saddle they just shot off into the distance leaving me on my flexible friend (6061 Aluminium frame) behind. In the end I had to get a stiffer (Carbon) bike. Ironically they are all now buying cheap aluminium bikes to use in the winter. It's a funny old world!

Oh, and I believe that some people's bodies naturally respond faster to training than others. Not sure how true it is, but seems sensible to me.