Wednesday 29 February 2012

Winter Base Training – Week 9 (Saturday 4th March) – Start of Base 3

We’re now into our third month of base training and to help this have three progressively harder rides planned for this month. This week’s ride is a nice loop around the Forest and a bit of the ride around Lepe that we did last week. Plan is for an 0900 start at Brockenhurst. For those from the west we will be passing Holmsley Tea Rooms at 0920 and Burley Cricket Club at 0930 so please see free to join at either of those places. If you do be there a little early as I may be a little out in my estimates.

This week’s route:

Brockenhurst, Hinchelsea, Wilverley, Burley, Crow, Ringwood, Moyles Court, Red Shoot, High Corner, Bolderwood, Emery Down, Lyndhurst, Beaulieu, Exbury, Lepe, Blackfield, Exbury, Beaulieu, East Boldre, Norleywood, Pilley, Sway, Setthorns, Brockenhurst.

That’s a 60 mile loop.

Option for a short cut back to Brock if you leave at Beaulieu.

Barry

Friday 24 February 2012

Winter Base Training – Week 8 (Saturday 25th Feb) – Recovery Week

Hopefully you’ve all managed a reasonable amount of base riding this month despite the challenges of February weather. We’re now at the end of Base 2 and as such the plan is for a recovery week and an easier ride before we step it up again for Base 3 next month.
This week’s ride is 35 miles with an optional additional 15 for those that want a 50 mile recovery ride or who haven’t been able to get three solid rides in this month.
The meeting place is by the Watersplash in Brockenhurst outside St Saviours Church. Usual departure time of 0900. Parking is free on Saturdays on The Rise which is opposite the church.

The route will be “Loop Around Lepe”
Brockenhurst, Hinchelsea, Setthorns, Sway War Memorial, Pilley, Norleywood, East Boldre, Beaulieu, Hill Top, Exbury, Lepe, Blackfield, Exbury, Beaulieu, Hatchet Pond, Balmer Lawn and Brock.

The optional 15 mile Burley loop will be:
Brockenhurst, Ornamental Drive, A35, Burley Lawn, White Buck, Holmsley, Hinchelsea, Brock.

Hope that’s OK for everybody.

Barry

Thursday 23 February 2012

Turbo Session 22nd Feb – Power

Copy of training session that we did on Wednesday 22nd Feb. Objective of session was to increase power by repetition of short explosive intervals.

Warm up
5 mins easy pedalling in a low gear
30 seconds at cadence of 100 followed by 30 seconds at 90
30 seconds at cadence of 105 followed by 30 seconds at 90
30 seconds at cadence of 110 followed by 30 seconds at 90
30 seconds at cadence of 115 followed by 30 seconds at 90
30 seconds at cadence of 120 followed by 30 seconds at 90
1 minute left leg only followed by 1 minute right leg only
1 minute left leg only followed by 1 minute right leg only
1 minute left leg only followed by 1 minute right leg only


Set 1 – Long Sprints – Short Recovery
5 x 30 second big gear sprints – 30 seconds recovery
Easy pedalling for 5 mins after the 5 sprints (or shorter – we did 4 mins)
3 sets
30 minutes

Set 2 – Power Jams
Don’t do this if you’re carrying any injuries especially knees.
Start sprints from standing start in a big gear, stay seated
15 seconds with 1:45 recovery (or shorter – we did about 1 minute)
3 sprints then a 3 minute recovery
4 sets
36 mins

Cool down
5 – 10 minutes of easy pedalling in an easy gear
Stretch
Total 1 hour 30

Thursday 16 February 2012

Turbo Session 15th Feb – Leg Strength

Copy of training session that we did on Wednesday 15th Feb. Objective of session was to increase leg strength by long and short intervals in high gear and low cadence.
Warm up
- Nice easy gear rpm 90-100 – 5 mins
- Cadence work 30 seconds cadence of 100+ followed by 30 seconds of cadence around 80 repeat 5 times
- 5 mins cadence 100+

Main sets
Set 1
4 mins in large gear (should feel hard and maintain 80-90 RPM cadence)
1 minute change up one gear (should be a challenge to maintain cadence)
2 mins recovery in an easy gear
Repeat 5 times
35 mins

Set 2
Tempo pedalling for 2 ½ minutes (use gear from 4 minute intervals of set 1)
30 seconds in biggest gear at 50-60 RPM MAX EFFORT – cadence around 50-60
Repeat 8 times
24 mins

Cool down
5 – 10 minutes of easy pedalling in an easy gear
Stretch

Winter Base Training – Week 7 (Saturday 18th Feb) – Long Hilly

With no chance of ice we can plan this week’s ride with confidence. It’s another one of the regular winter rides on a route called “Long Hilly”. Don’t be put off by the name it’s not too hard. There is one hard hill at Dean which we’ll all take at our own pace and re-group at the top. By my calculations about 2000 feet of climbing over the 50 miles. As we’re well into month two of base training we’ll be a little quicker than month 1. We’ll aim to average about 16MPH.
Meet point is Ashurst Station for a 0900 departure. Punctures / mechanicals permitting we should be back at Ashurst around 1200.

“Long Hilly”
Ashurst, Bartley, Calmore, Hill Street, Kent’s Oak, Lockerley, East Dean, West Dean, Whiteparish, Redlynch, Woodgreen, Godshill, Frogham, Moyles Court, Linwood, Bolderwood, Lyndhurst.

Forecast has rain for later in the day at present so take a rain jacket and please ensure that you have lights in case visibility deteriorates.

Look forward to seeing a good turnout.

Barry

Friday 10 February 2012

Winter Base Training – Week 6 - RIDE CANCELLED

Once again the conditions are unsafe for a group ride. Therefore the ride from Holmsley Tea Rooms on Saturday 10th Feb is cancelled.

Barry

Thursday 9 February 2012

Turbo Session 8th Feb 2012– Threshold / Leg Speed

Well done to all those who turned up in hte cold last night for another hard session. For those that wish to repeat it or others who wish to do so in the privacy of their home / shed / garage here is last nights session:


Warm up
5 minutes of easy pedalling keeping cadence high but the gear low.
5 minutes of alternate 30 second intervals, standing / seated. More effort on the standing intervals.
6 minutes of single leg drills. 1 minute each side repeated three times.

Main set
3 minute intervals at around 80% of Lactate Threshold. Followed by 30 seconds spinning harder in the same gear and a 30 second sprint in the same gear. Repeat for 5 sets.
Start in an easy gear as there are 4 gears to change up.
Up 1 gear, repeat for 4 sets
Up 1 gear, repeat for 3 sets
Up 1 gear, repeat for 2 sets
Up 1 gear, repeat for 1 sets

10 minute easy warm down, easy gear

Most important thing here is to start in an easy enough gear to allow progression. A couple of us (me included) start too hard and were unable to keep increasing the intensity towards the end of the session. If you look at the data below you can see the first sprint at around 20 minutes. The aim is to reach a slightly higher peak at each sprint but after 10 peaks they start to tail off as I fatigued and was unable to spring in progressively bigger gears. Next time I will start the first set of intervals 1 gear easier, small adjustments will make a big difference in sessions like these.





Hope you enjoy / benefit from the session.

Barry

Monday 6 February 2012

Turbo Alternative to a Endurance Base Ride

As we had to cancel this week’s long ride due to bad weather / risk I thought it worth posting a copy of the session that I did on the turbo on Saturday as an alternative for those days when you cannot get out in daylight or when it’s unsafe to ride:

Warm up
5 minutes of easy pedalling keeping cadence high but the gear low.
5 minutes of alternate 30 second intervals, standing / seated. More effort on the standing intervals.
6 minutes of single leg drills. 1 minute each side repeated three times.

Main set
4 minute intervals at around 80% of Lactate Threshold. Followed by 30 seconds spinning harder in the same gear and a 30 second sprint in the same gear. Repeat for 12 sets.
After 12 sets change up 1 gear and repeat for another 12 sets. This time aiming to be around 85-90% of LTHR.

Lactate threshold is typically the effort that you can sustain for an hour or a 25 mile TT.
For most of us a rule of thumb is around 85% of Max Heart Rate.
For example my MHR is 171. 85% of MHR is 145.
80% of LTTR is 116, 90% of LTHR is 130.

The spin ups and sprints will take you Above these levels but you should recover to the desired zone in a minute or so.

After the second set do a 5 minute cool down of easy spinning.

Total session time was 2 hours 20. You can shorten the session by reducing the number of intervals if you prefer.

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Winter Base Training – Week 5 (Start of Base 2)

Hopefully you’ve all had a good solid base of training for a month now in the phase we call Base 1. Now we’re about to start Base 2 and the training gets a bit more serious. Base 1 was about preparing our bodies to train and laying the groundwork. Now is the time to take it up a notch.
Base 2 and 3 are important in laying the foundations of out fitness pyramid. As with all foundation work it is important to do this thoroughly, methodically and not cut corners. The better we make our base the higher our level of performance will be in the crucial summer months.

For those that train with heart rate the desired training zone is around 80-90% of Lactate Threshold (LTHR). Typically LTHR is around 80-85% of our max.

For example my max is 171 and my LTHR was 145 when I last had it measured. Therefore my training zone for Base 2 is 80-90% of 145 so I will be aiming to ride the long rides in the range of 115-129 BPM. Please be aware that these are guides and all our physiologies are different and that we have to pitch the rides at a pace that suits the majority of club riders and not everybody’s specific needs.

The main focus this month will be improving aerobic performance. If you’ve done your base training well you’ll notice that the long rides at the end of this month will seem less demanding as your body has adapted to those challenges.

The plan for week 1 of Base 2 is the “Minstead Monster”. The published route is as follows:
Ashurst, Bartley, Minstead, Emery Down, Bolderwood, Linwood, Moyles Court, Frogham, Godshill, Nomansland, Winsor, Woodlands, Ashurst

From memory last year parts of the route through Minstead is a bit muddy so if you’ve got mudguards please use them.

The schedule for this week is 45 miles, I measured that route as around 35 miles so plan to put in an extras loop around Fordingbridge, Aldersholt and Harbridge that will add another 10 miles.
However, the forecast this week is for cold nights so if it’s frozen on Saturday we may delay the start and / or use the route that Nick T devised last month that was largely frost and ice free. Please check email and the blog Friday night and before leaving Saturday morning.

http://nfcc-training.blogspot.com/

I advise you to check the blog as mail delivery through the e-group can sometimes get delayed through yahoo or your ISP.

Whichever ride we are doing the departure point will be Ashurst Station car park.

There will be a small increase in pace over Base 1. Hopefully with your improving fitness this will be imperceptible and you’ll take it in your stride.

Look forward to seeing the great turnouts continue.


Barry

barry.wootten@gmail.com