Day 79\ Weather Problems....

There has been some fairly brutal rain here the last week and i didn't get my long cycle done at the weekend. Overall last weeks training was good. Interval sessions good and gym was ok. With the Interval sessions now giving me some intensity in my training am going to shift the focus of the gym workouts from circuit type work to simple strength work. WIth the TRX i'll do this by progressing the difficulty of the exercises and the sequencing.

TRX Stuff

Day 73\ Wet feet..

After last weeks easy week i am feeling much fresher. Sunday went out on the bike and it started to pish down. It was amazing how with completely inappropriate equipment my hands and feet became really cold on the bike. It could also be said i'm just turning into a soft italian twat. Anyway that was Sunday 70mins on the bike and around 30km, monday gym, yesterday 12km + 5x4mins @ 160bpm with 60s recovery. Rest today, back into it tomorrow. Done.

Day 67\ 'My' composite guide to starting training for Lapinarello......

Right at last my composite guide for us 'Cycling Veneto Tourists'. I have stuck the 3 articles i found a few weeks back together and added some of my own so it should help us all crack on and not look a complete set of knobs next year.

Totally overdid things the last couple of weeks, after missing three days due to weather and touch of the lurgy felt the need to catch and this week it all cought up with me. Not least really poor sleep quality sun, mon & tues. However two regen sessions in  the gym a day off and then last night felt much better on the bike doing 6km warmup then 5x4mins started off taking 2mins rest but felt it was too long so changed ater rep 3 to a HR of 125 which was taking about 90s. Backed up this morning with a good TRX session;

Movement Prep on Vibration plate + Abs Side Plank & Superman (30s +10)x 3

then 3x8
Superman
Power-row
OH Bulgarian Squat
Power Press Up
Sprinter Start
Saw & Pike
Single Leg Squat

15mins accupressure

Nice Work.

Day 64\ Fatigue, Dehydration and the Immune System...

I am knackered. The last couple of weeks has seen my numbers shift along quite nicely with an increase in volume and intensity plus the inclusion of 1 big ride, for me,  a week. What has probably made the fatigue worst is that in reality i have actually done the last 2 weeks training in only 11 days not 14. Training is not addititive ie A+B+C+D+Rest ≠  A+B+Rest+D+C. As a result of missing 3 days at the start of the week 2 weeks ago i have done 11 sessions in 11 days with 2 days rest. Rather than maybe doing 14 sessions in 14 days with a rest day every 4th and 7th day. Alonside this the long cycle leaves me feeling really tired. I feel great that i've done it but it leaves me feeling pretty knacked.

I think part of this is Hydration or more precisely Dehydration. Riding the bike i don't think i realise how much fluid i'm losing because there is very little residual sweat in my top or shorts, because it's being wicked away by the movement of air while cycling but also because the air is cold and dry and I'm not working at a huge intensity. Alongside this I'm probably losing alot of fluid through Exhalation.

As a result i've woken up a couple of times the last week feeling quite rough with a sore head and during the day felt as though i was coming down with something. One of waters key roles in the body is to flush out toxins etc. A lack of water means there are more of these in the body and it is the immune systems responsibility to deal with them.

The Lurgy Attacks an Immune Cell

This is probably further compounded by the change in seasons and an increase in 'lurgy' instances. Putting my immune system under further pressure. Best way to deal with all this, is plan a bit better, eat a bit better and drink more.

Day 58\ Interval Training

Having for the past 6 weeks concentrated on getting into the habit of exercising again and, almost more importantly, making records of what i'm doing i'm now ready to kick on a bit with the introduction of some Interval Training. Very briefly Interval Training is comprised of short bouts of high intensity work interspersed with brief periods of recovery, the volume of work done and ratio of work to rest will determine what adaptations to training are obtained and when they are completed in the training calender.


When performing intervals cyclists have traditionally used Heart Rate information to determine training intensity. This has shifted in recent years to Power Output. As i have not had any testing done as yet and am reliant on a Heart Rate Monitor and will be using an old spinning bike for my Intervals i will be using the age old method of 'can i feel captain lactic?' and 'am i breathing out my arse yet?' to determine my work intensities. 


So tuesday sessions will comprise of the following for the next few weeks


17mins (6km) warmup
5x(4mins high intensity + 2min low intensity)
5 min cool down

'This program is supposed to increase your maximum oxygen consumption. It gives you 20 minutes at very high oxygen consumption, but it is not designed to be ridden to complete exhaustion. Your VO2 max may gain improvements even at a more comfortable pace. It is, however, still important to push yourself very hard during the intervals. In the resting periods you should maintain intensity at about 60% of VO2 max.' Says the man in the white jacked....

Day 56\ First bigish ride.........

Ok so i did my first bigish ride on the 'STEED' yesterday, 40km, 1hr 41mins. I stopped for a few mins to take an early morning double espresso at Bar Centrale, Teolo.

Teolo, Padova

I was out on the road about 6:45, wired up to the U2 playlist from the concert in Rome and i have to say i really enjoyed it. I set of too quick i reckon and my legs were quite tight by the time i reached the climb into Teolo which was more challenging than expected. I probably wasn't helped by not eating since the night before either. However the rest and coffee seemed to sort things out. 40km in 102 mins av speed 23.5km/h. The journey back was spent dreaming of what it'll feel like on a tailor made road bike......reduced barse ache i hope. 

Day 54\ Some web trawling....

Now i have been trawling the net for some simple programmes and advice for training for 'Lapin' and the closest i can find is for a 'Century' - 100miles/160km - one programme courtesy of The maine cycling club puts the recomendations in of the previous plan in the shade but containing some good tips the other by Doug Katona has some excellent info for getting going, planing and also competing. Probably the best article is this one from Training4cyclists.com . Anyway stick the 3 together and i'd say it's a pretty good start.

Day 53\ KM's........

You may be able to see that day 50 has been updated with my weekly KM totals. This is slightly distorted by the type of bike i am riding which is why at the moment i am more concerned really with time in the saddle. However i have found some info on tacking a Century (100miles) which will need to be built into preperations for Lapin

Century Training Plan

Week	Length of Long Ride	Total Miles/Week
1	25 (40km)	55 (88km)
2	30 (48km)	65 (104km)
3	35 (56km)	73 (117km)
4	40 (64km)	81(130km)
5	45 (72km)	90 (144km)
6	50 (80km)	99 (159km)
7	57 (93.4km)	110 (176km)
8	65 (104km)	122 (196km)
9	50 (80)km	75 (120km)
10	Century Ride	Yeah!

I don't think a progression like this is feasabile give the ball knackering ability of the 'Steed' but it does give some goals to aim for.

Day 52\ Finding some intensity...at last

This morning i found some intensity in the Gym, for the first time in a long time. I go to the gym early doors and i can't say i'm over enthusiastic. To counter this i've stuck 6mins of cycling in at the begining of the session 3mins steady then 20s sprint 10s rest x 6 to get the HR up prior to using the TRX, and i have to say its working quite well. Here's what i'm getting up to in my Gymtime.....

Movement Prep on a Vibrating Plate 2 x 5ex, 30s each @ 30Hz (6mins)

Walk On Walk Off
Sit Back & Twist
Aductors
Sgl Leg Rm. Deadlift
Plank

Cycling (6mins)
3mins steady, 6x20s on 10s off

TRX-Prehab (6mins)
Y-Squat
W-Fly
Rev-Fly

TRX Circuit 2x10 ea exercise (10mins)

Row
Superman
Single Leg Squat
Atomic Press Up
Sprinter Start
Saw & Pike
Overhead Sprinter Squat

15 mins Accupressure

Job Done

Day 50\ More numbers more pissy weather

sun & mon dreadful weather. I still fall distinctly into the category of fair weather cyclist and as a result i didn't get a long run done this week. Leason to be learn't is if there is some sun on saturday move the ride and rest the next day.

      Week 1    Week 2    Week 3    Week 4    Week 5   Week 6
Time    299       245       150       240       260     295
WL      1592    1298        555       1307      1390    1097
M       1.63      1.79      0.55      0.9       1.07    1.21
Strain  2595      2324      307       1173      1494    1323
KM      70.6     15         0         72        51      61

So not a bad week, what is positive is that if i had't trained so poorly on the monday my average RPE would of been the best to date and the strain would of still been less than week 1. Nice...