Cycling training for Double Century

So its been a very very interesting 4 weeks. I woke up with the realisation 4 weeks ago that my riding, well… sucked. Before Ironman in 2006 I was able to push out much larger amounts of power on a heavier weight and felt really good on the bike. I went through a period of “non-excitement” about cycling for about a year where I just didnt feel like riding the bike hard or long or much at all. The two longest rides I did were in races.

Then in the distance loomed the Double Century with a epic team who look super strong on paper. 4 weeks ago I decided that I was going to practise what I preach, to do the same week for a few weeks. Here is the starting point;

weight : 77.6 kg
CP60 power output : 290 watts
comfort on the bike : minimal
power to weight ratio : 3.73 watts per kg

I spent 4 weeks training indoors during the week and outdoors on the weekend. This gave me extra motivation to train in the rain on the weekends, I had not spent all week re-lubing my bike and drying out my shoes. I would do a 10min warm-up to AeT pace (around where you cant breathe through your nose anymore and need your mouth for more oxygen) and then hang there for an hour. 5 min cool down and on with the run shoes and run 20-30mins at the same AeT (aerobic endurance threshold i.e. your all day pace) pace. I did the spin indoors on a spinning bike and the run outdoors (cant stand treadmills). this I did monday, wednesday, friday. swam in the afternoons and just ran on tues and thurs. Saturdays and Sundays I tried to ride at least 3 hours hoping for 4 with a 30min run off the bike. All AeT pace.

I also changed my diet to being happy about not taking in fizzy drinks. I cut out as much as possible wheat and dairy and went to eating lots of fruit for snacks instead of nuts or chocolates. So i now eat alot more than I used to. Note that, ALOT more. Im eating fruit before morning workout, then muesli after, fruit before lunch, lunch, fruit before training, dinner, and a protein shake before bed. I lost 2.8kg in 3 1/2 weeks. rocking.

So lets look at the numbers now:

weight : 74.8 kg
CP60 Power output : 330 watts
comfort on the bike : fantastic
Power to weight ratio : 4.41 watts per kg.

considering its Double Century this weekend, the difference gives me on the 6% Op de Tradouw 7km climb, about 4min extra time to play with.Thats alot of time. I feel I have tapped back into the base that Ironman created in my legs and I just accessed it through regular riding and better eating. I rode on HR and Power the whole time, making sure to take it EASY in every session.

Thought maybe someone could benefit from reading this, as its been sucha confidence booster for me.

next challenge - gaining flatline speed for Jailbreak.

till then………….

This entry was posted on Friday, November 23rd, 2007 at 5:06 pm and is filed under Double Century, Indoor, cycling, outdoor, power, watt, weight, weight-loss. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.