Day 564\ Back on the wagon....again

Right it has been a while since i wrote anything and that pretty sums up my volume of cycling between January and the middle of March. Since then i've been back on the bike and up to 2hrs 45min after a couple of weeks. This has been interrupted the last 2 weeks by what can only be described as really pish weather. It has highlighted 2 key flaws in my manly lycra collection. 1 is only suitable for hot weather the other for cold however i shall not yeild and my kit collection shall remain relatively basic.

A wagon upon which i am beleived to be on....

I'm still to heavy but am on a push to get back to my pre winter (carbs) weight of 99.5kg and on the plus side banging out 3x3 @ 97.5kg for the clean, 3x4 @90kg for the bench and 3x4 @102.5 for the front squat. Will be of F-all use in 35degrees wit ha 20 degree incline in front of me.

Have entered Lapinarello, the long course seems a bit friendlier than last year and also entered the Granfondo di Marostica at the start of next month!!! Better get out with a group of people and soon.

Day 355\ back in the game....and the challenge of via pirio

Haven't written anything for a while but july in essence till about the 22nd of August i did very little kept ticking over on the bike but nothing particularly long or intense. Since the 22 of my main objective has been weight loss. I've been eating loads of salad and cold cuts and almost eliminated all carbs, in general i've managed about 5 days each week like this. The good news is that after about 2 weeks of nothing i'm now on the brink of getting under 100kg for the first time since 1996!!!!

last time i was less than 100kg donovan bailey was the 'cock of town'

This has been assisted by my return to the gym. I really missed the core and back work i had been doing when i wasn't able to get to the gym. I now have better access to facilities and will not only be able to do  the pre-hab and core work i want but also just work at getting strong again.

Goals

Current Weight 100.2kg Goal 97kg

Gym Goals
Front Squat 120kg
Deadlift      180kg
Pull Ups       20
Chins            12
DB Bench      55 ea


All things being equal strength is the difference plus if you consider last year i was 103.5kg when i did Lapinarello if i can get to 97 or a bit less plus maybe change the wheels on the bike that'll make a massive difference. I'm already miles ahead of where i was this time last year.

THE CHALLENGE OF VIA PIRIO
When i did Lapinarello i did feel a touch disappointed that i didn't do the long course because i felt so good. However this was dispelled when i had to get off my bike and take a break during a climb up Via Pirio. This is a climb of about 250 and about 20% climbing much shorter and less than the Salta Di Capra. Goal is to do it on my longer run before the bad weather sets in.

Training at the moment, is 2 sessions in the gym of about 40mins, 2 fat burners of about 1hr 20mins and a longer cycle of about 2hrs with some hills.

Day 290\ 2 days to go......& some numbers

2 days to go and i'm actually looking forward to it. last 2 weeks i've really throttled back on the riding and today i woke up feeling pretty fresh!!!!! I've had my shirt printed with the ilsognodistefanologo logo and we're all bike fooded up. The team now only Scherrit arrives this afternoon. Tomorrow we'll probably go for a final ride into the colli before heading to Treviso for registration. Sunday 06:45 we head off into the hills.

sweater and bike...all ready to go

Here are some numbers....

Of an original 13 positive responses, 1 have made it to the start line.

I have lost 3kgs

I have cycles a total of 3420km

Spending a total of 9156 minutes in the saddle and

climbing 11470 meters, 2630 more than Everest.

I have breathed 659, 232 litres of air

My legs have rotated 677, 544 times and

my heart has beaten 1,208,592 and i've burnt 105, 294,000 Calories

All this to cycle for 134km and climb 1400m!!!! 

Day 282\ Hypoxic Update....

Right finished my loading phase of hypoxia and i can't say i'm sorry about that by the end it is a bit of a pain in the knackers, but if you lay it out as an equation i.e. knacker pain v worthwhile. The worthwhilelyness of doing the whole thing far out weights the knackerpain and it is far more convenient than driving up to 6,500m for and hour or so. in the end the last 6 days of the protocol i did following the more conventional protocol of 6mins on 4mins off x 6 and i did 3 days on day off 2 days on day off day on. Which contributed to the knacker pain as it dragged it out a bit.

on track...

Certainly my weekend ride on sunday and the climb up the monte madonna suggest that training and the hypoxic stress are on track.

Day 276\ Heart rate down....

I have just completed a 45km ride with about 12km in town and a climb of about 520m, it's a fairly tough climb up the monte madonna above Teolo south west of Padova. The first climb into teolo, about 200m, i went really strongly without dropping down onto the small front ring and my HR didn't go above 154bpm plus my time to teolo was only 41mins and i didn't go above about 120bpm on the ride to the start of the climb.

heart rate.....

The climb from from teolo to the tope of monte madonna is quite tough and the last time i did it my heart rate was at 174 for most of the ride to the picnic area and for pretty much all of teh ride to the top. This time it didn't exceed 164 on the way to the pic nic area and didn't exceed 168 on the way to the top. What makes this more impressive is i still have 3 days of Hypoxic work to do and my body won't have fully adapted to it for at least 7 days after finishing. What makes it more impressive is i had quite a late night last night with some friends so my HR would of been elevated as a result of the alcohol intake. NICE.

Day 257\ Two days till my first Granfondo.....

Right 2 days till i cycle in my first Granfondo and i am nervous and excited. I am wondering if i should stick an L-plate on my back to help communicate to those around me my general ineptitude. I do think however my training has made a bit of a breakthrough the last 2 weeks.

the start

3 hrs is generally reckoned to be a bit of a landmark and on my 3rd 3hr cycle last week i finally felt i'd made some progress. I didn't fell destroyed when i got home and it was enjoyable for most of the run. Added to this my hr was much more controlled on the ascents plus for the first 90km of my 108km sunday cycle i felt good.

This week i've tapered right down,

Monday Rest
Tuesday 30 mins easy with 4x3mins at threshold
Wednesday 14 maximal test ( i had to do a medical certificate so i can compete)
Thursday 42km easy 93min (trying to stay about 120bpm @ 90rpm)
Friday Rest

Tomorrow i'll do about an hour on the bike then the race Sunday. The race distances are 104km or 144km. I'll make a call on which one to do on Sunday. I want to do the 'Lungo' because then i'll have  achieved 75% of the race distance for 'Lapinarello' and can concentrate on group riding climbing for the last 4 weeks of preparation.

One mistake i have made is pedaling too slow. I should of been working at 90 not 80, this would definitely of helped for cycling in groups and i was informed on Saturday that once your doing 200km of 'Agilita' then you can start working on 'forza'......

Day 245\ Lots of new things.....

Right the last few weeks have been full of change and progress. On the training front i am edging towards  the 200km a week mark. I've manage 2 stints of 3 hrs, i only managed 70km on one but it was a slow ride just to spend time in the saddle. I've also been trying to get in 2 runs which include 2x20mins at threshold.

new things.....

Yesterday was pleasing as it was the first ride i've done where i actually felt i'd made progress. On the ride up the hill to Rovolon my HR was under threshold compared to when i did it for the first time a few weeks ago where it was coming out my mouth. Also on the second climb up to Castelnuovo my HR was much more controlled.

The bike has changed too. I was struggling getting my hands properly onto the brakes during descents so i took it back to the shop and they rotated the bars up slightly and the brake levers down a touch. This has made a huge difference as i can now brake during the descents........

Alongside this the shims for my Speedplay pedals arrived. After longer runs or hard climbs my left patella knee tendon would be sore and require icing because i was compensating on the LHS for a difference in leg length. Add to this my left ankle would play up from an old injury. To deal with the later i've tilted the shoes out 3 degrees using seperate shims. After yesterdays 66km these modifications seem to have done the trick nicely.

Day 227\ yet more NUMBERS.......

The numbers are in for april. And it was a good'un, most time on the bike, top for km's and similar for total load to march but much better for strain as the monotony was only 0.92. Am going to start recording m's climbed also. Need to be careful now to not jump up the km's too rapidly and look at boosting restoration.

Monthly totals below and weekly averages above

Day 225\ 190km in a week..

Last week i did 190km over 3 seperate cycles. Some of the scenery was absolutely beutiful, Arqua Petrarca, Castelnuovo, Rovolon. What i am finding is the need for food when i'm out. I can really feel my immune system struggling after a cycle of more than 2hrs. Which brings us to cyclists and their strange clothes......thats why i'm waiting for a jumper with pockets in the back to be delivered so i can carry around bananas and soreen bars!!!! I'm also going to look into ramping up the supplements in a couple of weeks, e.g Super Omegas, ZMA and a decent carb solution with BCAAs more on them when they are aquired.

A MB 190 Evo, more comfy than my 190km i imagine

Day 220\ The meaning of numbers....

Well firstly the test. The Conconi or 'step test' measures Maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max), the maximum rate at which an individual can utilise oxygen whilst breathing air at sea level, despite increases in power output (Withers, Gore, Gass & Hahn, 2000). It is effectively a measure of cardiovascular function and provides an indicator of endurance performance potential. It should be included for athletes whose events or training involves continuous strenuous activity (Winter et al., 2006). A wide variation in VO2max can be expected, typical values are 30-80ml∙kg-1 for 20-30year old men and 25-65 ml∙kg-1 for women. Values decrease after the age of 30 by approximately 1 ml∙kg-1 and is heavily genetically influenced (McArdle et al., 2000). VO2max can be a weak predictor of race performance due to importance of other metabolic and neural factors (Noakes, 2000). It is robust to changes in protocol, with no change reported with variations in time and velocity increases (Billat et al., 1996). Exercise mode has a significant (p<0.01) impact on VO2max and is reflective of the specific adaptations to training (Roels et al., 2005). Aside from biological variability small changes in ventilation and fraction of dry oxygen greatly impact on measurement on VO2max and hence the requirement for careful calibration.

meaning of numbers!!!

Now back in the day my VO2max was 57ml.min-1.kg-1 and up until 4 years ago the fitness test on my polar watch was coming out at 52ml.min-1.kg-1. Now this lab test is telling me i've dropped to 40!!! I think that is pish and was probably badly affected by the type of face mask they used. It covered the nose and the mouth and once i got onto the final couple of steps, my breathing pushed the mask off my face, moving the mask, breaking the seal and probably invalidating the result given that only small changes in ventilation can seriously impact on the result.

Day 212\ Fitness testing......and alot more numbers....

Right at last yesterday i did my fitness test, or test metaboloci as they are called here. It was what is know as a Conconi or 'Ramp Test'. Cononi interestingly used to live down the road in Ferrara and was a key protaginist in the use of performance enhancing substances in sport, nice work......

spinning the pedals at 200W

The results were as follows:

max hr: 171 bpm; max power 484W; VO2max 40.7 ml/min/kg

aerobic/anaerobic threshold 143bpm, pwer at threshold 283W

peak VO2max 41.8 ml/min/kg; max power 525W

2min recovery 123bpm

specific max power 4.79W/kg

specific aerobic threshold 2.8W/kg

Training Status Index

An Threshold/Max Hr 83.6% expected 92-94.5%

Max HR/Theoretical Max 94% expected 95-100%

An threshold VO2/VO2max 87.8% expected 86.5-88%

And all this will be discussed later

Day 176\ All good...

Right all good again last week. I've got into the rythm of doing an hour on the bike mondays plus cylcling to and from training tuesday and thursday with 4 and 6min intervals while at the club then the big ride at the weekend.

Last thursday i dropped the cycling and did a cracking session with the skipping rope, because a, i  enjoy it, b its very good for you and c, you can get some great intensity when you combine it with some bodyweight exercises.

skipping..back in the days of the old school yard

here's basically what i did

1min skipping, mixed steps supersetted with OH squats and core exercises x5

(15s 2 feet flat out (45+ contacts), 10 press ups, 3x ea sgl leg squats, 20 abs) x 8 non stop

that worked out of 29mins of top work and a max heart rate of 176bpm. I'm going to keep this work in the programme and progress it for the next 6 weeks.

Day 167\ Back to the numbers

 Right it's the end of the month which means the numbers are in and in a nutshell, i'm really pleased with my last 5 weeks training and the numbers are motivating. Above all by the end of next month i'll have done more than 1000km on the steed. Last week i eased back a bit on the training after a really cracking week the week before and this week i pushed on again particularly on today's longer run trying to keep my HR at around 140bpm.

Monthly Totals....times & distance on the bike

In terms of the total numbers it was a best for everything, except skiing time and restoration which was only 4 mins less.

Average Weekly Loads By Month

On the average weekly training loads it was also tip top all round. I just have to be carefull with the monotony rating particularly as i will need to be increasing the volume of work.

Day 157\ Music & Exercise...

Following on from Saturdays blog, i thought i'd look into the effects of music and exercise given my singular experience shows it clearly works. Plus the general consensus from the Sports Psychology teaching community is that if your a bit of a divvy and don't know what to do for your final project you'll get given an 'effect of music on exercise' project because it'll give good results and plenty to wright about.

always put ipod in secure place

Potteiger et al. (2000) found in a study of 27 active subjects that different types of music resulted in lower ratings of perceived exerction and that depending on type of music acted as a distractor during exercise. Music was also associated with increased vigour and reduced confusion in the study of Hayakawa et al. (2000). While Karageorghis et al. (2009) study on 30 subjects using treadmill walking concluded that 'motivational synchronous music can elicit an ergogenic effect and enhance in-task affect during an exhaustive endurance task.'

So all in all listening to music DURING and drinking chocolate milk AFTER...i'm all over it.

Potteiger J.A., Schroeder J.M. & Goff K.L.,  Influence of music on ratings of perceived exertion during 20minuntes of moderate intensity exercise. Perceptual Motor Skills (2000), Dec (91), 848-54


Hayakawa, Y., Miki, H., Takada, K. & Tanaka, K,. Effects of music on mood during bench stepping exercise. Perceptual Motor Skills (2000), Feb (90), 307-14


Karageorghis, C.I, Mouzourides, D.A., Priest, D., Sasso, T.A., Morrish, D.J. & Walley, C.L., Psychological and ergogenic effects of synchronus music during treadmill walking. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology (2009). (31) 18-36.

Day 153\ Nailed it....

This week i have probably knocked out my best weeks training since i did my Boxing challenge a few years ago. The numbers on last week were

Total           Av.RPE      Weekly Load     Monotony    Strain
456mins      6.50          2942                 1.37            4021

plus my highest number of Kms at 91km. What's is interesting with the numbers is that this was the most training i've done by 19.7%, weekly load by 31.3% and with improved intensity Av. RPE of 6.5 v 5.79, and better than 2nd best week of 6.33 where i only worked for 288mins.  Because i'm working better in the Gym and finding the cycling easier (monday night cycle RPE 4 v's 6 in October)  there is less monotony. All in all the upshot is, more work, improved intensity, less monotony, less strain down 9.3%. Yip you read right, 20% more volume, 30% more load, 10% less strain.

the images for 'Nailed' were a bit more risque

Alongside this i did my longest time on a Bike 114mins today to Teolo. Nearly 14 mins more than before. The diference.....no music! Without the music i just pootle along, with it i turn the legs over in time to the tunes.....NIce.

Day 134\ Numbers Numbers Numbers.......

Right it's a numbers game this training lark and training for cycling is the biggest numbers game of all. Last weeks numbers are in and i'm pleased to say it's my best weeks training since november and i'm feeling all the better for it. It looked like this

mon am gym 45mins pm 2x30mins bike
tues 27mins intervals bike and core
wed rest
thurs 30mins intervals bike and core
fri gym 45mins
sat 60 mins bike

Which when put in numbers is like this 288mins Av RPE 6.33 Daily Mean Load 199 Monotony 1.32 Strain 2348. Monotony was a bit high which made it the 3rd most 'Strainful' week. But that can be rectified with the bit between my teeth on the interval session, and a longer gentler ride to give more variation in intensity and duration thus less monotony and therfore strain.

Numbers Numbers Numbers

Month by month the numbers tomorrow.

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 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 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.