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4 years ago
Monday, 29 March 2010
Physiologically ill-suited?
If I wanted to get good at tennis or golf the first thing I would probably do is get some tennis or golf lessons from an experienced coach. This seems to be an obvious and natural course of action. Why not do it with cycling then?
So I was interested to read on Bike Radar today an article about coaching. The case study #1 caught my attention about 32 year old Phil Montgomery. Phil says, “My goal was to ride La Marmotte but after a ļ¬tness test Marc [his coach] discovered that physiologically I wasn’t best suited to this type of event". It intrigues me what it was about Phil's physiology that led his coach to draw that conclusion. If I get some coaching, which I am tempted to do because I am seriously concerned about my snail-like pace up hills, will the coach say "forget the Etape, do time-trials"?
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the marmotte is an entirely different mammal to the etape...ie add on another 2000m of climbing. Its likely he didn't have the base fitness, or the time to achieve such, and hence wouldn't have managed too well. What with your training and dedication i'm sure finishing and timing well in the etape is a definite for you Andrew.
ReplyDeleteTips on improving climbing. Nothing new but i improved my climbing ten fold by doing the following;
- Power to weight ratio. increase leg power and reduce weight. not too much too quickly, a good balance is key
- hill repeats. these hurt and are not fun in the slightest but have big benefits. ideally a hill that takes about 10mins to climb at a steady gradient. ride hard to the top, roll down and recover for 5mins. repeat until you lose the will to live!!
- 2x20's. will help build more leg power. 10mins warm up, then 20mins hard @ around threshold HR or Power, 5 mins recovery, another 20mins @ threshold, then warmdown.
- enjoy climbing hills. i used to dread going uphill, but its amazing what a small change of attitude can do. see every hill as a challenge and embrace it. you'll be amazed at how quickly you start enjoying climbing and wishing the summit wouldn't come so soon!
- ride at your own pace, at your own rhythm. this is hard on club runs as its tough being dropped (i know all too well!) but trying to ride at someone else's pace / rhythme / cadence won't do you any good and you'll never develop your own natural style, be that a Lance esq high cadence spin, or Ullrich like big gear knee grinder.
sorry for the long post, just thought i'd share what has worked for me!
Rich
Brilliant detailed response Rich and very much appreciated. By far the best thing about starting this blog is getting these insights from people like you. Now the lighter evenings are here I can do some of the stuff you suggest after work. Its funny what you say about "enjoy climbing hills". On Sunday my heart sank when I saw another hill coming but mentally you are spot on with this. I think I should put into context my anxiety. Compared to the club riders I've been out with so far I'm about bottom of the pile when we hit hills - without doubt the slowest. I should also be open and say that just finishing the Etape is not what I'm after. On the day I might be happy with 10 hours but if I can get that down to 8 1/2 then that's what I want to do.
ReplyDeleteGreat advice Rich
ReplyDeleteI agree with the base fitness issue and someone not beign physiology suited to an event like the La Marmotte.
You do have to get the miles in and I would say be comfortable spending at least 10 hours in the saddle!. Some cyclists just can not do that or do not even want to spend time doing that.
But if your doing the etape or la marmotte it is essential training.
I think if you can spend 9 hours cycling at 15mph over here in the UK then you can do the Etape. The climbs are long in France but you just drop in to the wee gear and spin away. Physical and mental endurance is the key.
The training book I use recommends a cadence of 70-85 just below LT. I think it is important you do not blow up on a climb if you do that you achieve nothing.
It might be a good idea to get squats done during gym visits over anything else Andrew. You want to focus on exploding when coming up from the squat. This will build up the force you put out on the pedals.
Cheers Alec too. Squats are part of my routine and I've been doing lots of leg presses/lunges. I'll try and be more explosive as you suggest (jumping squats?). I'll be doing that tomorrow along with some intervals.
ReplyDeleteAndrew i'm enjoying your blog and following it with particular interest as someone in a similar situation to you with regards to relatively limited previous cycling experience who has set appropriately "challenging" goals quite quickly.
ReplyDeleteI too have entered the Etape but only started cycling seriously at the turn of the year. Many people (including myself on occasion) have questioned the wisdom of this and insinuated i should maybe build up to this challenge more slowly and "earn my spurs" as a cyclist over a number of seasons. My response to this is that i am extremely determined, a fast learner, goal focussed, already have good general endurance and am something of an obsessive sponge at acquiring knowledge once i am focussed on something. Besides, what's wrong with challenging goals and don't some of us need a buzz to shake us out of the daily grind of everyday life?!
I think the traits and have a go determination displayed in your blog posts bode well for a successful etape build up but one thing i would recommend from my limited experience thus far is to get yourself entered into lots of long Sportives. They may not have Tourmalet style climbs but 6 to 8 hours spent in the saddle regularly has got to be good preparation. I've done three Sportives over 80 miles thus far (including last weeks 102 mile Cheshire Cat, my first century) and have others lined up every couple of weeks or so for the next 2-3 months. I notice you are in the Fred Whitton (thats one i have saved for another year, but i am doing the "mini Fred" style Lakeland Loop) , have you got any others lined up? Good luck with it
Hi there Zugz, I'm really glad you've stayed in touch and your 2nd paragraph really hit home with me. I've had moments of doubt and at times I might come over a bit negative but deep down I'm just putting everything into this and don't intend to fail. Yeah I'm doing a mad May with 3 sportives (the Fred, Etape du Dales and King of the Downs in Kent/Surrey). I've also planned a training camp for next week and that should see me do some serious climbing. More on that soon. Sounds like you are going great guns keep me posted please.
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