Today's question is how can I get stronger on my bike? I'm stumped to know whether it's a power thing, an efficiency/technique thing, a power to weight ratio thing or whether I'm perhaps just lazy and ease off when the pain starts. I rode with several of the (fast) Gearshifters again tonight and, although I kept up with them most of the way around, I got dropped on the hills. What is up with that??? I don't want to beat everyone, I just want to be able to keep up.
Sigh. Frustrated.
It wasn't that big a ride either. We went around the Bays and up to Brooklyn then some of the pack decided to ride on up to the Turbine and the rest of us rode back through town. So it was short, but for me it was fairly fast. I guess I should also remember that this is day six of a week of stepped-up cardio.
Other than that I had a lovely day. I had lunch with a friend (hi Fi) who has just returned from London. She's interested in buying a road bike so I took her into Pennys. We wandered around and had a look at a few bikes and it turned out that the bike that seemed to best suit her needs was - Cleo. I said it would just be too weird for us to be riding the same bike so Dave offered to put some (truly hideous) pink bar tape on hers. He also showed me a gorgeous new full carbon Scott in my size. Only $9,000 (cough, splutter) and at 6kg, as Dave put it, scarily light. I don't think I'd ever feel brave enough to ride it in this city! We did talk about upgrading my (Tiagra) front derraileur, which I may do at some point. I really don't like the way it shifts.
I have another dilemma as well. I was planning on running tomorrow and doing some leg weights (bumping up the leg press incase my power issues are strength-based), then swim and Balance on Friday, a 100km ride on Saturday then a long run on Sunday. However Dee is riding Saturday (I'm not sure where), then on Sunday riding out to the Akatarawas and back to Wellington via Waikanae, which I really want to do. She's then planning a light ride on Monday. I want to ride with the Squad as much as possible but am also conscious that I need to start thinking about preparing for the Rotorua Marathon. I really want to do the ride on Sunday, but it will be quite long. So do I do my long run tomorrow and a shorter, easy run on Saturday so as to not completely smash my legs? Or do I just suck it up and do my long run on Saturday anyway and suffer trying to keep up on Sunday?
I need to get in touch with Dave and find out where that programme is. Perhaps I should just give him a call!
Showing posts with label cycling general workouts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cycling general workouts. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Thursday, October 23, 2008
I can ride, I can ride, I can ride
So the physio thinks it's a GOOD thing that my knee got me through that ride up to Hawkins Hill. She reminded me it's only been a week and a half since I damaged it. She has banned me from spin classes for the interim, but ...
I can ride this Saturday, provided I'm sensible and don't ride up Moonshine Rd if I know I'm hurting. She said that I should keep moving as much as possible, since my knee hurts more after I stop. She said I am allowed to replace the spinning with actual riding.
How much do I love my physio?
Having said that, I will still forgo Saturday's ride if I don't feel in myself that I'm improving. I will keep icing, keep taking Voltaran, continue to wear my one pair of office-friendly loafers, keep updating this blog.
It's not over till it's over, and it's not over until I'm over Hatepe and the finishline is in sight.
I can ride this Saturday, provided I'm sensible and don't ride up Moonshine Rd if I know I'm hurting. She said that I should keep moving as much as possible, since my knee hurts more after I stop. She said I am allowed to replace the spinning with actual riding.
How much do I love my physio?
Having said that, I will still forgo Saturday's ride if I don't feel in myself that I'm improving. I will keep icing, keep taking Voltaran, continue to wear my one pair of office-friendly loafers, keep updating this blog.
It's not over till it's over, and it's not over until I'm over Hatepe and the finishline is in sight.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Blitzed
Or Pip gets things done and nurses a quiet sense of achievement.
It has truly been a good week. Yes, it's been another of those weeks where my fitness levels have taken a jump. This week it's been about bike fitess, and it's not surprising really. Consider this:
Saturday: Gearshifters time trial and ride through Brooklyn
Sunday: Homework ride - around three hours including some hills
Monday: Commute to work, circuit workout, hour ride home
Tuesday: RPM and Balance
Wednesday: 20-10-20 time trial on spin bike, leg weights session
Thursday: Upper body weights session, RPM
You know how I was complaining about my heart rate during Wednesday's time trial? Well in RPM today my heart rate stayed stubbornly low. I could get it up to around 140 and I got it up to 150 a couple of times. I managed to get it to 160 once, and that was during a particularly gruelling power interval on the last hill track. I was absolutely dying and couldn't have sustained that level of exertion for any longer. How did I ever manage to get my heartrate over 170? Hmmm, interesting.
My only regret is the absence of any running. However this week's workouts weren't very long, just numerous. Next week I'll try to fit a bit more running in again. My legs are feeling it of course, but a rest day tomorrow will do them good and I'll be good to go on Saturday, when Dee says we will be riding hills. Yay!
Of course I raved to Grant at Penny's about how much I was loving Cleo yesterday. The guys fitted some spacers on my brake levers (so I can actually reach them from the drops now) and a cycle computer. She's all new again and I'm looking forward to Saturday's ride. The weather forecast is looking good. The only question is whether I will be too hung over from dinner at Maria Pia's to fit in a one and a half hour hill ride on Sunday. My aim is to try to fit it in before everyone else surfaces, then get home around the time they are all thinking about blueberry pancakes. It would be rude to disappear for too long when we have guests from London! I plan to ride from home down Farnham Street, up Alexandra Rd, down Carlton Gore, around the Bays to Mt Crawford, down and back around back up to Mornington again. I can always fit in some hill repeats somewhere.
Oh, and the blitzing? Today I managed 27 full pull-ups - 10, 10 and 7! I totally wiped out my previous record ... Pleased much? Oh yes!
It has truly been a good week. Yes, it's been another of those weeks where my fitness levels have taken a jump. This week it's been about bike fitess, and it's not surprising really. Consider this:
Saturday: Gearshifters time trial and ride through Brooklyn
Sunday: Homework ride - around three hours including some hills
Monday: Commute to work, circuit workout, hour ride home
Tuesday: RPM and Balance
Wednesday: 20-10-20 time trial on spin bike, leg weights session
Thursday: Upper body weights session, RPM
You know how I was complaining about my heart rate during Wednesday's time trial? Well in RPM today my heart rate stayed stubbornly low. I could get it up to around 140 and I got it up to 150 a couple of times. I managed to get it to 160 once, and that was during a particularly gruelling power interval on the last hill track. I was absolutely dying and couldn't have sustained that level of exertion for any longer. How did I ever manage to get my heartrate over 170? Hmmm, interesting.
My only regret is the absence of any running. However this week's workouts weren't very long, just numerous. Next week I'll try to fit a bit more running in again. My legs are feeling it of course, but a rest day tomorrow will do them good and I'll be good to go on Saturday, when Dee says we will be riding hills. Yay!
Of course I raved to Grant at Penny's about how much I was loving Cleo yesterday. The guys fitted some spacers on my brake levers (so I can actually reach them from the drops now) and a cycle computer. She's all new again and I'm looking forward to Saturday's ride. The weather forecast is looking good. The only question is whether I will be too hung over from dinner at Maria Pia's to fit in a one and a half hour hill ride on Sunday. My aim is to try to fit it in before everyone else surfaces, then get home around the time they are all thinking about blueberry pancakes. It would be rude to disappear for too long when we have guests from London! I plan to ride from home down Farnham Street, up Alexandra Rd, down Carlton Gore, around the Bays to Mt Crawford, down and back around back up to Mornington again. I can always fit in some hill repeats somewhere.
Oh, and the blitzing? Today I managed 27 full pull-ups - 10, 10 and 7! I totally wiped out my previous record ... Pleased much? Oh yes!
Monday, September 15, 2008
Cleo Love
The results of the time trial are in. They prove conclusively that my love for my bike is justified, and they prove Kathryn wrong when she argues that a new bike doesn't necessarily make you faster.
Out of 24 riders I came in 9th equal. I was the fifth woman home. I beat Kathryn (who finished the Grape Ride 10 minutes ahead of me), if only by a few seconds. I came equal with one of the veterans of last year's Taupo squad. This woman finished the Grape Ride over 25 minutes faster than me. I am not a sprinter; I am a climber, so to do so well on the time trial is remarkable. I have a secret goal, planted in my head by evil trainer Duck at the very end of our last session. Her passing comment showed that she knows how competitive I am and how to push my buttons. I am totally on track to meet my goal.
I guess this is the point at which I stop protesting that I'm slow.
I managed step one of this week's homework programme today. I was out the door and on Cleo by about 6.50am. I wasn't so happy with the huge backpack I had to carry and my legs felt dead on the short little climb up to the Ridgway. My eyes watered badly in the early morning air. All the same I made it safely down Brooklyn hill and managed somehow to hit nearly every green light all the way up to the Terrace. I was on the gym floor by 7.20, ten minute earlier than I would have if I'd caught the bus. I raced through my circuit programme then hit the showers, only to discover they were once again stone cold. That was the only hiccup on an otherwise smooth day.
I left work early with the one hour homework ride to get out of the way. I have to be honest and admit that I wasn't looking forward to it. It had been overcast and windy all day and I was tired. However once I was out there I found myself enjoying the ride immensely. I treated it as an easy recovery ride so kept my pace steady but easy. Sure, the wind made things interesting but I just chose an appropriate gear, tucked in and slogged onwards. Turning right onto the Southern coast at Lyall Bay the sun was out and the mild temperatures had coaxed a number of walkers and their dogs out into the evening.
I was a bit over it as I rode up through Happy Valley to Brooklyn. The headwind was hitting me full on and I was in a far lighter gear than normal. I had to grind up Mornington Rd, having used everything on the long, slow climb up to Brooklyn. It was wonderful to turn down onto Farnham and then left onto the short flat street leading to home. I realised that I'd actually had fun and that it had felt a lot easier than when I'd last ridden that particular commute on Lola.
I'm signed in for Dee's 6.30am RPM tomorrow and it will be hard not to enthuse about how much I'm enjoying riding at the moment. Riding is the high point of my life right now. It's helping me get through a particularly difficult patch at work.
Out of 24 riders I came in 9th equal. I was the fifth woman home. I beat Kathryn (who finished the Grape Ride 10 minutes ahead of me), if only by a few seconds. I came equal with one of the veterans of last year's Taupo squad. This woman finished the Grape Ride over 25 minutes faster than me. I am not a sprinter; I am a climber, so to do so well on the time trial is remarkable. I have a secret goal, planted in my head by evil trainer Duck at the very end of our last session. Her passing comment showed that she knows how competitive I am and how to push my buttons. I am totally on track to meet my goal.
I guess this is the point at which I stop protesting that I'm slow.
I managed step one of this week's homework programme today. I was out the door and on Cleo by about 6.50am. I wasn't so happy with the huge backpack I had to carry and my legs felt dead on the short little climb up to the Ridgway. My eyes watered badly in the early morning air. All the same I made it safely down Brooklyn hill and managed somehow to hit nearly every green light all the way up to the Terrace. I was on the gym floor by 7.20, ten minute earlier than I would have if I'd caught the bus. I raced through my circuit programme then hit the showers, only to discover they were once again stone cold. That was the only hiccup on an otherwise smooth day.
I left work early with the one hour homework ride to get out of the way. I have to be honest and admit that I wasn't looking forward to it. It had been overcast and windy all day and I was tired. However once I was out there I found myself enjoying the ride immensely. I treated it as an easy recovery ride so kept my pace steady but easy. Sure, the wind made things interesting but I just chose an appropriate gear, tucked in and slogged onwards. Turning right onto the Southern coast at Lyall Bay the sun was out and the mild temperatures had coaxed a number of walkers and their dogs out into the evening.
I was a bit over it as I rode up through Happy Valley to Brooklyn. The headwind was hitting me full on and I was in a far lighter gear than normal. I had to grind up Mornington Rd, having used everything on the long, slow climb up to Brooklyn. It was wonderful to turn down onto Farnham and then left onto the short flat street leading to home. I realised that I'd actually had fun and that it had felt a lot easier than when I'd last ridden that particular commute on Lola.
I'm signed in for Dee's 6.30am RPM tomorrow and it will be hard not to enthuse about how much I'm enjoying riding at the moment. Riding is the high point of my life right now. It's helping me get through a particularly difficult patch at work.
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