Hills, I just dont get them!

JimboPlob
JimboPlob Posts: 397
edited June 2011 in Training, fitness and health
I am fairly light at around 69kg and 6'.

I have been working on improving my FTP and can now keep a good pace of the flat. One area I am noticing I am weak on is short sharp hills. When out on a group ride, I will get dropped on the short and steap hills but then seem to be able to come off the top, bridge the gap and then pull away from many that passed me on the hill.

I would have thought being fairly light I would be good on the hills.

I never train my top end power as it were. Generally do 2 x 20's, chaingangs or longer rides.

Could it be that I simply dont have enough high end power to keep pace on the hills?

I want to start training for these type of hills, so should I simply go out and every time I see a hill try and smash it up it? Is the best way to do this seated or out the saddle??

Thanks

Comments

  • GiantMike
    GiantMike Posts: 3,139
    JimboPlob wrote:
    I never train my top end power as it were. Generally do 2 x 20's, chaingangs or longer rides.

    Could it be that I simply dont have enough high end power to keep pace on the hills?

    I'd say you are correct. For 20 min invervals you're working at around 105% of your FTP. At maximum power on a 3 minute hill you'd be looking at around 120%, for 5 mins around 110%. Over this time your HR shouldn't be the limiting factor, but your muscles should.

    I'd redcommend finding a hill where you can do maximum performance efforts for between 3 and 5 minutes. Time yourself and do around 3-6 with a rest in between each. Over time you should see your times reduce. I did this on my local 8 climb and I reduced my time from 8:40 to 8:02 (enough to be closer to the group at the top of a climb).
  • JimboPlob
    JimboPlob Posts: 397
    Should these be seated or standing? Or a micture of both to put out the msot power?

    I was also thinking of doing longer rides with the focus of riding steady until I find a hill, then just blasting it up the hill in the quickest possible way. Most likley standing until I tire then seated.

    Does that sound ok?
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Do short sharp steep hill repeat sessions.

    Preferably on the exact same hills you get dropped on!
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,681
    For what it's worth, I'm shite on short sharp uphills too.

    Being light isn't particularly an advantage on the short sharp climbs anyway.

    Take a look at the pros on comparable climbs like Flanders. It's the big guys who do well on them.
    _
  • MountainMonster
    MountainMonster Posts: 7,423
    You seem to lack the brute power needed for them. I'm quite a bit larger, and have problems on super long hills (30-45 minutes of climbing) but fairly short hills (1-2min) I can just stand and power my way through. If you don't hit the gym already, I would highly recommend doing some leg exercises, particularly lunges, squats and quad presses. That should help boost sheer power, and make the climbs much easier to tackle.

    Second option of course is to do hill repeats until you die, which is also extremely effective. 100% success rate with that!
    My London Road
  • TheBullet
    TheBullet Posts: 58
    I used to be the same but now fly up all hills. I put this mainly down to short intense interval training. I got a lot of ideas form this link: https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AR0O ... bmQ2&hl=en

    Check out the anaerobic workouts section particularly the tabata intervals.

    Good luck.
    Winners never quit and quitters never win!!
  • springtide9
    springtide9 Posts: 1,731
    TheBullet wrote:
    I used to be the same but now fly up all hills. I put this mainly down to short intense interval training. I got a lot of ideas form this link: https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AR0O ... bmQ2&hl=en
    Check out the anaerobic workouts section particularly the tabata intervals.
    Good luck.
    Just what I was looking for :) thanks!
    Simon

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