Self improvement

slowmart

So I'm considering some Carmichael plans to target specific areas mainly around hill climbing. Is there any other plan other than Carmichael to consider and I'd rather ride than turbo train

Re diet - I was going with a 55% carb, 30% fat and 15% protein and 1700 calories a day. Between 7-10 hours a week on the bike and adapt intake according to weight loss with a target of 1.5 to 2lbs a week

Any informed feedback

meanredspider

1700 calories a day and, let's say 10 hours at 500kcals an hour puts you somewhere in the the average net 1300kcals per day - which seems very low.

keef66

Only my personal experience. Losing a significant amount of weight had a significant effect on my climbing ability, and I started planning rides to take in as many hills as possible. Living in gently undulating Suffolk I now treat the hills as a kind of interval training, trying to climb them seated and maintaining a pace that sees me going into the red as I reach the top, then recover on the flat / downhills

Counting calories 24/7 and agonising over the carb/protein/fat content of everything isn't for me; it just sucks the pleasure out of eating and I invariably get bored or am tempted by something calorific. The 5:2 diet works though; good for a steady 1-2 pound a week loss, and I can eat normally 5 days a week

I did try the Time Crunched Cyclist training plan once, with the vague aim of building up to a century ride but found that family commitments got in the way of the structured plan. I was more time crunched than I thought. Actually might give it a go again now the kids have flown the nest. I've a 60 mile charity ride in a few weeks so could use that as an intermediate goal

slowmart

meanredspider wrote:

1700 calories a day and, let's say 10 hours at 500kcals an hour puts you somewhere in the the average net 1300kcals per day - which seems very low.

To be fair it's currently closer to the 7 than 10 hour mark but I wanted to moderate the hours considering the light load over the winter and I was going to start a 2 hour Z2 fasted ride on Wednesdays which is between the Tuesday and Thursday chaingang at which point I was going to increase my intake to about 2000 calories a day. Or those were my thoughts?

@ Keef

Yes it's PIA but MyFitnessPal takes some of the pain away and one of the demotivators was cycling around in the rain, dark, wind for 2 hour fasted pre breakfast rides thinking WTF ! It's a balance as I'll always want to be quicker, stronger etc and it's keeping a balanced approach and remembering the reasons why I'm cycling!

bobmcstuff

Personally I would try and avoid massive calorie deficits when training - taking into account that the various calorie estimation methods aren't all that accurate anyway. 500-1000 is as much as I'd normally go to.

When cutting I calorie count and aim for a 1000 calorie per day deficit (accepting that I will eat a bit more than that at the weekends!). I tried the 5:2 and didn't get on with it at all. After calorie counting for a while I now find it quite easy to moderate during the week, the weight has stayed off anyway (2.5 years now, I was 88kg in Jan 2014, currently 71kg and have ranged from 70-75kg since late Autumn 2014).

TCTP is pretty good, I had very good results from it. Might be a bit difficult to do some of the workouts on the road unless you have access to lots of consistent roads with no junctions, lights etc. as the workouts are fairly prescriptive. When I sub out trainerroad workouts with road rides I try to stick in some similar efforts, but it's hard to get it very precise.

Kevlington

keef66 wrote:

Only my personal experience. Losing a significant amount of weight had a significant effect on my climbing ability, and I started planning rides to take in as many hills as possible. Living in gently undulating Suffolk I now treat the hills as a kind of interval training, trying to climb them seated and maintaining a pace that sees me going into the red as I reach the top, then recover on the flat / downhills

Counting calories 24/7 and agonising over the carb/protein/fat content of everything isn't for me; it just sucks the pleasure out of eating and I invariably get bored or am tempted by something calorific. The 5:2 diet works though; good for a steady 1-2 pound a week loss, and I can eat normally 5 days a week

I did try the Time Crunched Cyclist training plan once, with the vague aim of building up to a century ride but found that family commitments got in the way of the structured plan. I was more time crunched than I thought. Actually might give it a go again now the kids have flown the nest. I've a 60 mile charity ride in a few weeks so could use that as an intermediate goal

Are you doing the Framlingham 60m ride? I'm currently contemplating this. Am new to Road Biking

Kevlington

keef66 wrote:

Only my personal experience. Losing a significant amount of weight had a significant effect on my climbing ability, and I started planning rides to take in as many hills as possible. Living in gently undulating Suffolk I now treat the hills as a kind of interval training, trying to climb them seated and maintaining a pace that sees me going into the red as I reach the top, then recover on the flat / downhills

Counting calories 24/7 and agonising over the carb/protein/fat content of everything isn't for me; it just sucks the pleasure out of eating and I invariably get bored or am tempted by something calorific. The 5:2 diet works though; good for a steady 1-2 pound a week loss, and I can eat normally 5 days a week

I did try the Time Crunched Cyclist training plan once, with the vague aim of building up to a century ride but found that family commitments got in the way of the structured plan. I was more time crunched than I thought. Actually might give it a go again now the kids have flown the nest. I've a 60 mile charity ride in a few weeks so could use that as an intermediate goal

Are you doing the Framlingham 60m ride? I'm currently contemplating this. Am new to Road Biking

Midlands Grimpeur

to target specific areas mainly around hill climbing

Do you have an idea of what you would like to improve in relation to hill climbing?

keef66

Kevlington wrote:

keef66 wrote:

I did try the Time Crunched Cyclist training plan once, with the vague aim of building up to a century ride but found that family commitments got in the way of the structured plan. I was more time crunched than I thought. Actually might give it a go again now the kids have flown the nest. I've a 60 mile charity ride in a few weeks so could use that as an intermediate goal

Are you doing the Framlingham 60m ride? I'm currently contemplating this. Am new to Road Biking

No, it's an amble around rural Suffolk in aid of St Nicholas Hospice which is where my wife volunteers. Can't for the life of me remember what it's called. Start / finish at the rugby club in Bury St Edmunds. Sun June 25th I think. £20 to enter and you can raise sponsorship if you like, but no pressure to do so. No numbers or timing or anything high tech. Couple of drinks stops and a cafe halfway round. Helmet and roadworthy bike required etc.

slowmart

Midlands Grimpeur wrote:

to target specific areas mainly around hill climbing

Do you have an idea of what you would like to improve in relation to hill climbing?

There's an off road climb in Skiathos and I'm determined to get up without putting a foot down.

It's hot, technical and ramps up the last 100 plus feet to a stupidly steep and sandy. Oh and I'm on a clunker of a hire bike.

We've been for the last few years and my brother in law manages to do it but he's light and fit....

Midlands Grimpeur

As long as my aerobic fitness is at a decent level I use intervals to tune up climbing fitness. I try and match length of intervals to length of climb so if It's lots of short steep stuff then 5min and 8min intervals work well (done at threshold hr for me, 90-95% of max hr). Anything longer and I use 12 and 20 min.

If I am targeting an event I would do 2 sessions a week. Could be any of the following:

4-6 x 5min intervals (2 min recovery in between)
3-5 x 8min (3min rec)
2-3 x 12min (3-4min rec)
1-2 x 20min (6-8 min rec)

I do a 15-30 min easy warm up before and same warm down after.