Early training - a newbie's story

Zap_Brannigan

Hi all,

Loving the forum, lots of great tips and stories and here is mine.

At 5ft8in and over 14st (mostly around the belly) 1.5 months ago, I dusted off and cleaned my 2012 Boardman Comp bought 3 years ago. After a month of doing 7.5 mile rides, I took a small 4 day break as the top of calves were seized. Would appear that my saddle height was way too high, saddle way too far back and cleats in the wrong position. Never got a proper set-up on purchase but after trawling the internet and a lot of tweaking, got a comfy position in the saddle (does not include hills).

So last 2 weeks been doing 4x 7.5 miles (150ft Elev, 30 mins) and a 11mile(350ft Elev, 45 mins) run per week. The inclines hurt but trying to keep a constant cadence, my avg speed usually 14.5mph . I've got my next 15mile (950 ft Ele) planned once I'm happy that my 11m run isn't as tough as it is now. I suppose what I'm saying is, is this a sensible approach or should I push harder? It's only been 1.5 months of cycling, we'll 2 weeks of doing it properly. Plan is to hit next summer and be capable of doing 60/80 mile runs as well as a lot leaner. I know this isn't massive distances ATM but this is from doing zero exercise, but Is it a good approach ? Any tips welcome

Moonbiker

Ride distances seem very short, and sounds like your pushing hard on every ride.

I would try some longer rides say 20/30 miles at a slow easy pace don't worry about averge speed on them at all, just relax go visit somewhere stop of at a cafe etc.

So don't push harder spend longer on thre bike & ride futher then once you can do that try pushing harder etc.

cyclingsheep

Totally agree with moonbiker. You need to walk before you run. This means building a base first and that means working at a certain zone. In this case the zone should be 2-3 which means you should be able to cycle and hold a conversation without struggling to breath as you speak. Ideally you need to spend 1.5+ hrs at this level but how ever long you have is fine and you need to do this for 10-12 weeks then you can start working on getting quicker. It seems counter productive to what you want to achieve but it is necessary and is actually better at burning the fat than intense work outs from a limited base.

sloppyschleckonds

Forget the numbers, just go out and enjoy riding, pick some nice quiet roads and stop clock watching

Zap_Brannigan

OK so today went out with my Brother and did some back country lanes that I wouldn't usually do (lot's of Hills). I've been so worried about getting up them that I've kinda avoided them. But we just chatted and took it really easy and was a nice good run, best yet. Decieded not to clock watch either. I Understand where you guys are coming from. Was too bent on time trials and doing something new was way more fun. It's quite hilly around me but if I just take it easy and do some miles at a slow pace, it's not that bad and It's great exercise.

So next few months, gonna mix up my routes a lot and try doing longer distances, starting at a slower pace and see where I get to. Thanks for you're advice and it's greatly appreciated, I'll update in a month or 2 and see where I am.

frisbee

It's surprising how quickly you can go from doing 30-40 min rides to 3-4 hour rides. It seems to be more a confidence thing than anything else.

Zap_Brannigan

Just a quick question. Completed 2 rides 18.5 and 16 miles over last 2 days. Both took around 80 mins, latter had a lot more hills and had small amount of fatigue in legs so took a rest say today. So should I ride 1 day and rest the next or is riding 2/3 days and then rest? Or simply as and how I feel day by day. Again I'm still in early stages of road cycling and I'm alternating routes also. I appreciate this should have been a topic in the beginners section.

supermurph09

Zap_Brannigan wrote:

Just a quick question. Completed 2 rides 18.5 and 16 miles over last 2 days. Both took around 80 mins, latter had a lot more hills and had small amount of fatigue in legs so took a rest say today. So should I ride 1 day and rest the next or is riding 2/3 days and then rest? Or simply as and how I feel day by day. Again I'm still in early stages of road cycling and I'm alternating routes also. I appreciate this should have been a topic in the beginners section.

Just go with how you feel, I had to take 2 weeks off recently, then rode Saturday (40 hilly miles), felt ok, Sunday (20 hilly miles), felt ok, Monday my legs were tired so I just took it steady for the 40 miles I did, rested tuesday and then last night I felt back to normal so did 20 hilly miles with some hard efforts on the climbs. Without family commitments I'd happily ride 5-6 days a week, as it is I can ride Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and the odd bonus thrown in.