Are hill reps what I'm after?
dinyull
Posts: 2,979
A bit of background. I was on here about 6-9 months ago asking about possible training I could incorporate into my 8 mile commute.
General feedback was to extend it which at the time I didn't think I could do, because our first child was on the way and wasn't sure how that was going to work.
Anyway, we have a 6 month old who likes his sleep, so I'm looking to extend my commute in a couple of days to 90mins instead of the usual half hour.
I don't have a power meter, but have HRM. Not looking at anything too structured but was thinking 1 ride in at sweetspot and another one where I do hill reps.
Not looking at improving my climbing - just looking to get faster.
The reason I'm thinking hill reps is because I find it easier to go into the red uphill than doing intervals on flat. But worried hill reps are a waste of time for what I'm looking for.
Hill I'm looking at is probably a 7-8 min effort - ave 5% with 20% sections - is this suited to hill reps?
Sorry, bit of waffling, but other than Trainerroad I'm completely out of my depth when it comes to training. Time on the bike is pretty limited now so don't want to lose what I've built up over the past few years.
Thanks
General feedback was to extend it which at the time I didn't think I could do, because our first child was on the way and wasn't sure how that was going to work.
Anyway, we have a 6 month old who likes his sleep, so I'm looking to extend my commute in a couple of days to 90mins instead of the usual half hour.
I don't have a power meter, but have HRM. Not looking at anything too structured but was thinking 1 ride in at sweetspot and another one where I do hill reps.
Not looking at improving my climbing - just looking to get faster.
The reason I'm thinking hill reps is because I find it easier to go into the red uphill than doing intervals on flat. But worried hill reps are a waste of time for what I'm looking for.
Hill I'm looking at is probably a 7-8 min effort - ave 5% with 20% sections - is this suited to hill reps?
Sorry, bit of waffling, but other than Trainerroad I'm completely out of my depth when it comes to training. Time on the bike is pretty limited now so don't want to lose what I've built up over the past few years.
Thanks
0
Comments
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make the most of it - hill reps up a 20% - off you go! It'll improve your power and being reps, you can cut it shorter or make it longer if required...
It won't be long before your training will be cycling around in circles bumping over drains and laughing like a toddler ...
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"Don't buy upgrades, ride up grades."
The Prophet0 -
Yeah, hill reps will do it, but the key thing is making the hard effort (rather than just sort of hard efforts).
Another approach would be to create an extension loop, ideally over fairly challenging terrain, without too many junctions or traffic lights - something that is all left turns is ideal! - then each time you do that extension, try to better your time - save it as a strava segment so you can track your progress.
As a commuter I spend most of my time in sort-of-hard limbo, I only tend to properly push myself when riding with others unfortunately.0 -
Personally, I think you're barking up the wrong tree with the hill reps. If you want to get faster, by all means extend your commute, but extend it onto roads which will enable you to hold a higher effort for longer. If you are repeating a 7-8min climb, then you will have to come down it again in order to go back up and all you will eventually do is become better at riding tempo up a 7-8min climb.0
