Training/Dip in Form help

craigleese

Hi

I need some advice regarding my current training/drop in form.

I have steadily been increasing my monthly mileage over the past 3 months: June 455 miles. July 586 miles. Aug 388 so far. This was mainly because i wanted to complete a few 100 miler sportives & also because i wanted to get faster/fitter. During June i felt very sharp enabling me to attack the hills & beat my friends by a number of seconds.

Entering the month of July, my performance/form started to dip week by week to present. From beating my friends on the climbs to falling seconds away from them.
I continued to train hard ensuring i had my 1-3 days rest when required but as of yet my performance is still below what i was in June. but why ? overtraining ? :roll:

I'm taking part in the Pro Tour Stoke sportive ride 90 miles on Sunday 1st Sept, can anybody give me any advice on training from now to then ?
I completed 45 mile ride on Tuesday, was planning the same today (Thursday) & another 80 miles Sunday. Followed by 30 miles on Tuesday 27th. Then rest ready for Sunday 1st.

Any help/advice is very much welcome.
Craig Leese, 25, http://www.strava.com/athletes/991830

imposter2.0

when you say your 'current training' - can you be a bit more specific? There's a big difference between training and simply riding.

craigleese

Hello Imposter, cheers for the reply.

My overall goal has been to complete the stoke tour ride, completing rides of a similar distance/terrain. I have a goal in mind every time I ride so I'm unsure if thats classed as 'training or simply riding'.

I'm extremely simple minded so you may need to bear with me.

sloppyschleckonds

How are you measuring your performance?

craigleese

Strava, avg speed & generally how I'm feeling on the bike.

Just purchased a garmin 800 so I'm hoping that will help measure my performance.

ozzzyosborn206

I would say you need to rest up, you will have already done the hard work and are unlikely to gain much on 1st Sept from what you do between now and then, add into the fact that anymore long/hard rides will just dig you further into the hole. Just have a few easy spins and 1 or so will do the trick to keep you ticking over and have a couple of days completely off the bike. Do that should be enough to make you recover and feel fresh ready to reap the benefits of the past 2/3 months training.

craigleese

Thanks very much for the advice Ozzyosbourne206.

I will take your advice, rest & do a few small rides over the next 2 weeks.

Thanks

imposter2.0

craigleese wrote:

Thanks very much for the advice Ozzyosbourne206.

I will take your advice, rest & do a few small rides over the next 2 weeks.

Thanks

That's a good way of seeing your performance drop even more. I doubt very much if you are over-training. Under-training, possibly. But you still haven't actually said what specifics make up your training.

craigleese

Imposter wrote:

craigleese wrote:

Thanks very much for the advice Ozzyosbourne206.

I will take your advice, rest & do a few small rides over the next 2 weeks.

Thanks

That's a good way of seeing your performance drop even more. I doubt very much if you are over-training. Under-training, possibly. But you still haven't actually said what specifics make up your training.

Normal week.. Tuesday & Thursday 30-40 miles each, then 80-100 at the weekend. Doing the odd turbo session as well for an hour at zone 2.

Thanks a lot.

frisbee

Is it possible your friends have just gotten fitter?

craigleese

Terrain is normally hilly with bit of flat.

craigleese

frisbee wrote:

Is it possible your friends have just gotten fitter?

Possibly but I'm putting in an extra 40 miles a week more than them plus I'm 15 years younger than them. I'm not bitter though

imposter2.0

craigleese wrote:

Imposter wrote:

craigleese wrote:

Thanks very much for the advice Ozzyosbourne206.

I will take your advice, rest & do a few small rides over the next 2 weeks.

Thanks

That's a good way of seeing your performance drop even more. I doubt very much if you are over-training. Under-training, possibly. But you still haven't actually said what specifics make up your training.

Normal week.. Tuesday & Thursday 30-40 miles each, then 80-100 at the weekend. Doing the odd turbo session as well for an hour at zone 2.

Thanks a lot.

Sorry - that's not training - that's riding a bike. What I'm getting at is how hard are your rides and how do you mix up the pace and effort? Not sure what you mean by 'zone 2', but that turbo session sounds like a waste of an hour.

craigleese

Imposter wrote:

craigleese wrote:

Imposter wrote:

craigleese wrote:

Thanks very much for the advice Ozzyosbourne206.

I will take your advice, rest & do a few small rides over the next 2 weeks.

Thanks

That's a good way of seeing your performance drop even more. I doubt very much if you are over-training. Under-training, possibly. But you still haven't actually said what specifics make up your training.

Normal week.. Tuesday & Thursday 30-40 miles each, then 80-100 at the weekend. Doing the odd turbo session as well for an hour at zone 2.

Thanks a lot.

Sorry - that's not training - that's riding a bike. What I'm getting at is how hard are your rides and how do you mix up the pace and effort? Not sure what you mean by 'zone 2', but that turbo session sounds like a waste of an hour.

Clearly my understanding of training is different to yours but if it makes you feel better, we will just say I ride my bike 3/4 times a week. My rides are hard but obviously you & others might think differently.
I enjoy doing plenty of climbing around Staffordshire & Derbyshire, on the hilly rides I generally put maximum effort into the climbs then tend to take it easy on the flat in preparation for the next climb.
When I do flat rides my effort & pace is much more consistent, averaging around 20-22mph, cadence & hrpm same area.
My week day rides are purely 2 hours of busting my gut getting round as quick as possible.
On the turbo I use my heart rate monitor and keep my heart rate between 126 & 145, I was told this was good for base fitness.

Thanks for your help & you persistence.
Craig

imposter2.0

craigleese wrote:

On the turbo I use my heart rate monitor and keep my heart rate between 126 & 145, I was told this was good for base fitness.

Base fitness on a turbo is a waste of an hour, especially if you are already putting steady hours on the road. A good 2x20 session would make more sense in terms of bringing on your fitness. Where does 145 sit in terms of your MHR?

craigleese

Imposter wrote:

craigleese wrote:

On the turbo I use my heart rate monitor and keep my heart rate between 126 & 145, I was told this was good for base fitness.

Base fitness on a turbo is a waste of an hour, especially if you are already putting steady hours on the road. A good 2x20 session would make more sense in terms of bringing on your fitness. Where does 145 sit in terms of your MHR?

Ok, i'll take your advice on board thanks. 145 is 73% of mhr.

Cheers
Craig

imposter2.0

craigleese wrote:

Ok, i'll take your advice on board thanks. 145 is 73% of mhr.

Cheers
Craig

73% sounds a bit random, tbh and is unlikely to bring on any sort of adaptation. Holding it at something like 85-90% (depending on how you feel at that level of intensity) for the 2x20 will give you more of a benefit.

craigleese

Ok, I'll give it a bash tomorrow am. Cheers.

Any other recommendations to improve my riding ?

ozzzyosborn206

Imposter wrote:

craigleese wrote:

Thanks very much for the advice Ozzyosbourne206.

I will take your advice, rest & do a few small rides over the next 2 weeks.

Thanks

That's a good way of seeing your performance drop even more. I doubt very much if you are over-training. Under-training, possibly. But you still haven't actually said what specifics make up your training.

Your not going to loose form and especially your endurance base from having 10 days a bit easier. If he feels with the increase in duration he has become slower and more tired then this points to not recovering fully from the added duration. This is the problem with a internet forum your only getting other peoples ideas and everyone reacts to training differently, it is up to you what you do depending on how you feel but doing a bit less before the ride is safer than doing more effort. Also doing 20minute threshold efforts for the first time before a bit ride isn't going to be that beneficial IMO

imposter2.0

ozzzyosborn206 wrote:

Your not going to loose form and especially your endurance base from having 10 days a bit easier. If he feels with the increase in duration he has become slower and more tired then this points to not recovering fully from the added duration. This is the problem with a internet forum your only getting other peoples ideas and everyone reacts to training differently, it is up to you what you do depending on how you feel but doing a bit less before the ride is safer than doing more effort. Also doing 20minute threshold efforts for the first time before a bit ride isn't going to be that beneficial IMO

He shouldn't need that much rest on that level of intensity, and just because he has been beaten by his friends a couple of times, does not necessarily mean he is becoming slower or more tired - there could be any number of reasons for that.

2x20 may not be absolutely necessary in terms of what his aims are, but it will a) improve his threshold, which can only be a good thing and b) it will do him a lot more good than riding for an hour on the turbo at what is effectively a recovery pace.

craigleese

The Beauty of forums! I've only been riding 16 months so my knowledge of fitness/training/riding is not very good so any help at all is great.

LegendLust

Sounds like your doing the same intensity of riding, no matter how much you increase the mileage. So your body has plateaud. You need to keep 'shocking' your body, by varying the intensity of your rides, so mixing up tempo rides, steady endurance base rides, interval sessions at varying intensities and durations and also factor in very slow recovery rides.

Cycling Fitness is a very good magazine, that has various training plans you can follow, depending on your level of fitness and goals. This should give you a good intro to smart, structured training.

http://cyclingweekly.ipcshop.co.uk/shop ... gazine5620

craigleese

That is great LegendLust. Thank you very much for the tip.