I was reading something by a tri coach that was in favour of a constant training plan that did away with rest weeks etc and aimed to have the athlete at optimal condition all the time.

You just want an excuse not to rest! 😛 I doubt very much it’d be possible to maintain peak performance right the way through the season without easier weeks, on top of having a full time job and every day life. I’ll be sticking to whatever my coach sets me after the ramp test.

I know what works for me for recovery. I was just curious as to why sometimes chocolate works better than energy products. I decided after yesterday (when energy products didn’t give me anything but a slice of chocolate cake did) to always carry chocolate with me now for emergencies.

@lucien, I’ve tried energy drinks and was hoping not to use them this year, in favour of gels/chews and water. I’m talking (mostly) short road races of 50miles or so. I can’t eat proper food as i’m working hard so chocolate or gels is about my only option – plus i shouldn’t need to eat during a race of that length if i’m well fed before it. Its different if its a longer ride/event though.

How long are you riding for in the races/ chaingangs?

Work out calories out… then address this with calories in.

Calorie burn (according to the polar) is usually around 1,500 – 2,000 for a ride…can be around 700 an hour if i’m racing, or around 600 normally. Don’t count calories in, i just eat til i’m full and then eat some more when i get hungry again! This is what happened last year, and I put on 4kgs and then stayed that weight til touring and I can see similar happening asap at this rate.

Are you coming to Majorca with us then? Do you ever wear your compression top after riding? Yesterday my upper body hurt after battling into the wind and thinking a compression top would be good for days like that?

I got home yesterday about 5pm, having ridden/driven most of the day and not had lunch due to riding. I had lunch and dinner combined in one sitting, and then proceeded to eat pretty much constantly til 10pm and then went to bed! 😀

I’m actually interested to know what to do about post exercise hunger…these days i’m pushing myself much much harder on the bike in an attempt not to get dropped during the fastest chaingangs/RRs. It leaves me so hungry afterwards. It is only at the weekends I get that hungry so its connected to a hard ride – with the emphasis on hard. I can ride for 3/4 hours without needing to it if i’m just bimbling. (I would normally eat a honey stinger bar or two during the ride, hot chocolate in the cafe stop after the ride, then normal lunch asap when i get in which is a mixture of carbs and protein and normal dinner plus anything else i can get my hands on!). How can I curb this? I’m not going to stay this light for much longer at the rate i’m going!

I like mine and don’t care what anyone else thinks of it. If everyone liked/disliked the same sort of things, life would be very boring. I love the tatts that littlegirlbunny has.

Cynic-al, mine cost about £125 though i’m sure your q is just a troll! 🙂

The social club run I go to on a Sunday morning is about 16mph, continental chain gang style with a cafe stop half way round and no-one gets dropped…unlike the Saturday morning where people will get dropped/no cafe stop til the end, and its a much harder ride.

Hi Hels. Braveheart is one place. There’s a new fb group set up for women interested in racing, it has nearly 200members in 24 hrs! Pm me and I’ll add you to the group. Filles a velo blog is another. I’ll post it on my blog which will also be on VeloUK. Can you give me some info on it – I’ve entered an RR the day before but may prefer the crit depending on length etc.

I don’t mind where the women come from as long as they enter! 9 more are needed or it’s cancelled 😥

I’m getting it done for £10 to see if i can make the race squad and monitor progress from the training that the coach will recommend for me, so its cheap and i’m also interested in it too, being a number geek for fitness things 🙂

I get restless legs with a need to move them when i’m over tired – usually from staying up too late, rather than from exercise.

Think its also caused by a magnesium deficiency.

Interesting read! 🙂

And about as addictive as crack it seems.

Heh, that’s exactly what my bf said too!

I don’t think there’s any way to avoid eating the whole bag, unless you have strong willpower! Either eat it in a oner and then get out and ride it off, or don’t buy a bag in the first place.

I don’t eat meat either and am very conscious about getting enough protein. As mustard said, we eat fish, eggs, plenty of beans, cheese and nuts. I also eat good quality yoghurt too.

I doubt eating more protein would help increase power/speed though – IME, i perform better when i’m heavier and more importantly, eat more than i used to (i’m 5’3 and i usually weigh around 54kgs but went up to 58kg last year and set many new PBs). It took hard work on the bike and in the gym with weights to get there.

I’d steer clear of protein shakes having tried them before. I much prefer choc milk for recovery after a ride, a good mix of carbs and protein to be consumed within 15mins of finishing exercise.

No, i oddly had no nerves at all. I had a big energy crash on Friday night when i finally got my shifter working and that combined with too much rest wasn’t a good combination. Active recovery is better for me i think. Still, everyone gets bad days on the bike, i’ve not had one for a long time and glad i’ve got it out of the way now!

I know they aren’t comparable across people 🙄 He was curious as he didn’t know anyone with a high hr.

I don’t know why my weight needs to go up, I didn’t say it did. I just find that when i push it on the bike, I get very hungry and last year, my weight went up a result. I don’t know if it will this year but I’m already seeing an appetite increase with upping the distance/intensity of my rides. My race was shockingly bad. I had the worst day on the bike that I’ve had in a long time, I had nothing in my legs and energy levels were so low. The worst bit was I went out for the club run the day after it and feeling so strong and good – the complete opposite from Saturday!

TSY, I generally can’t get my hr up quite as high when training indoors (ie turbo intervals/spinning) as I can outside – maybe try Tabata outside, depending on what you are doing? 188 is also pretty comfortable for me…a few weekends ago when i was riding in a chain gang, my hr was sitting at 175 and i was talking easily/not out of breath and felt fine. My hr was showing up on an older blokes hrm which kept setting his alarm off as 175 was his max and he was very curious to talk to me to find out my max since i was so comfortable at 175. I only start to feel uncomfortable when i get into the 190s and hold it there for a while. Booked my ramp test with the club last night, time to see just what my max hr is and power is! 8)

As for me, now i’m racing/doing much harder efforts, i’m finding (as i did last year) i have a huge appetite and i can’t see me staying at 53kgs for long 😡

I must admit though after what, 9 months of doing it to varying degrees of strictness (with a few off patches) my body’s response to it is changing so I’m learning and adapting.

What sort of changed response?

From what i’ve read, if you ride/run in them, your muscles won’t get damaged as much as they would without wearing them. In theory, you should be able to run for longer without muscles tiring. I don’t know if this is the case as i’ve not worn them for running but if i was running my previous mileage per week, then i’d wear them for running. I’d prob have the recovery ones too on the basis that i’d not want to lounge around in/sleep in the same ones as i’d just been exercising in. Most of the studies I’ve read have been focused on the recovery aspect rather than when exercising.

Recall for what reason?

Royal Mail hasn’t shown up with the replacement as promised either 😡

Edit, thanks TBC, appreciate it lots. Will be in touch and am popping in tomorrow anyway.

MC if you can, try on before buying. I tried on Skins and 2XU. 2XU weren’t a good fit on me (despite trying one or two diff sizes) I’m an XS small in skins tights and XXS small in the calve guards.

I use mine for recovery only. I love mine and wouldn’t be without them. They make a huge difference to me. I use them after running, cycling and weights. If I don’t wear them, I tend to get DOMs after weights.

I think they work best when put on asap after exercise and then sleep in them. I’ve had mine for maybe 3 years now, and they have been well worth the money.

The bf said he’d read a study recently which suggested wearing them for 24 hours to get the best benefit.

Bring the caravan and them with you, make it a wee holiday. 4 races in 1 weekend… It might allow amd the TSY to see who is closest to the 25mph challenge too! 😀

Given I’m probably as fast as Yeti I reckon that’s good value

Care to put your money where your mouth is Mol? We can all try it out at the rothesay weekend! 🙂

As for me, about 14-16 hours atm – commuting, interval sessions on the turbo, weekend chaingangs, weights and climbing.

I’ve tried skimmed milk, choc milk, whey protein shakes and cherry active concentrate. IME choc milk / skimmed milk / cherry active concentrate are much more effective (for me) than whey protein shakes. If you don’t want to take supplements, make sure you’ve a decent amount of protein in your diet and refuel within the 15min window.

Compression tights make a huge difference to DOMs as well.

I’ve read – but it might be guff – that eating protein before a weights session helps stop muscle being broken down so much.

You do also need to rest otherwise muscles won’t get a chance to repair themselves. Haven’t tried creatine, but iirc you should use it in 6 week cycles and around more explosive/dymanic exercises ie for 6 weeks of concentrating on sprinting. Personally i’d steer clear.

Heh 🙂 I went out to dinner with a friend wearing my compression tights under tight skinny jeans. 3 courses at my favourite Italian later, I had to take my compression tights off as the skinny jeans over the top was just too much!

PS, you are back now?

TR, mustard and I slept in the tent on and off for a month touring last October. I hadn’t camped since i was about 14 and i like my comforts when i’m riding day after day. I didn’t have any issues with mustard’s tent; only issues were spanish camping grounds which was like sleeping on rock, a few cold showers and i missed having a chair to sit on during meals. 🙂

Mine will be used mostly for road riding/racing, the odd xc race, plus long distance touring.

It is the change in pad thats complicated matters – the new pad in the Siren sounds good. “The new eXo pad in the Sirens has 3D padding on both the inside and outside – more cushioning but with less bulk. More critically the pad and shorts’ outer fabric are laminated together as a single layer for increased precision, with minimal movement between the fabrics and your saddle.”

I like the sound of less movement between fabric and saddle, and more cushioning but less bulk also sounds good… But then the pad in the witches britches is comfy and minimal.

I know clareymorris has some ground effect kit but haven’t seen her on the forum for yonks?

I’ve done it a bit. In fact a wee group of us did a couple of “intentional” long distance night rides late last year (Carlisle -Edinburgh, Berwick – Edinburgh). I think it works better in a group, away from street lights. You are very visible to any other vehicles (more so than during the day) so I never felt unsafe. A good choice of (quiet) roads obviously helps.

And don’t forget our 18 hour adventure; i have fond memories of the stop on the forth road bridge gone 1am, slightly hysterical with tiredness and dolly mixtures 😀

+1 for the rest of what Druidh said – climbing is less of an issue, descending is slower. I enjoy it. I feel happier in a group than i would on my own, and more visible too.

How come your demotivated? Am sure Majorca will fix that!

idave, the intervals are done at perceived efforts ie, 1 min at 7/10, 1 min is 7.5/10, 2 mins at 8/10 with ‘attacks’ at various points at 10/10 and then back to the effort i was at. I think this should help with the changing pace of RRs/attacks* However, i’m using a reasonably old turbo and find i can run out of gears as the resistance isn’t great so my 10/10 effort on the turbo doesn’t match what a 10/10 effort outside would be. I’m looking forward to lighter nights when i can get outside for intervals/sprints.

*but the reality is i’ll be hanging off the back rather than attacking as anything over 35kph at the moment means i’m dropped. 😥

Not sure I want to chuck all my eggs in the Tabata basket at the mo, I understand it’ll improve overall fitness, but for a long hill climb finish or a long attack surely a set of longer intervals 5-8 minutes would be preferential? maybe? and for crits, longer 20minute tempo sessons with very short intervals chucked in for the corners / attacks?

I also want to know this.. i work on longer intervals (4mins) and just wondering if this is useful at this time of year (for the road racing season)?

+1. My intervals on the turbo are between 6-8mins long with 2/3mins off and my weights are based around 2 mins on, 1 min rest for 20mins before some more slower/more endurance style weights. I have noticed a difference having done the longer intervals – the 2mins on at the gym is now much easier.

Jumping squats seem to be having a good effect on my riding, as has lots of mountain climbers and bridges.

First road race of the season in a weeks time, far too early in the year for me and i’m nervous…and about a month behind my training too.

Brain farts of a bike tart. I think he did race but can’t remember for sure. I’m only stirring mostly, i have had to live with Mustard’s indecisiveness over wheels which has delayed the ordering of spokes/hubs for me so i’m glad a decision has finally been made. And I encouraged him to buy bling 😀

I could be wrong, but i don’t think BFoaBT rated tubs that highly? 😈 *stirring*

Since you copied me by buying carbon soled shoes, does this mean i should copy you and buy carbon wheels now too? This could be a slippery slope… 😛

being 250grams)

That’s as much as my new shoes weigh! 😯

poached eggs on toast is one of life’s pleasures

+1. Hmm, i want poached eggs on toast now 😥

rumbledethumps, thanks for the link. Bargain tastic £68 for carbon soles. Result! Just hope I like the Giro’s…

*reads with interest* Mustard and I are hoping to do similar next year, or maybe year after, depending on work/finances.

McMoonter, had been meaning to get in touch with you – can you give me a rough budget figure for your time away?

Yup, all my shoes are Spesh, get on well with them on and off road so probably sticking to them, although i’ll try on a few other pairs from Velo Ecosse to see how they fit.

Although i’ve just noticed the shoes i’d really like are US only 😡

Edit: njee20, yes i have small feet but the 39s in your link are too big for me.

I like mleh and was on there a fair bit when it first started. Its nsfw (my work anyway!) and i’m rarely online at night so hardly ever on these days, unless i want to win an endo challenge 😛

*waves at everyone*

Mol, i had a weak vmo (just above the knee) muscle which caused me tons of knee pain when i started to run years ago. All my gym work now works each leg individually to make sure i don’t end up with any imbalances/stronger side (after a nasty cycling crash which left me in a lot of pain for years, i tend to favour my right side without realising it) Things liked one legged dips are great for strengthening up the muscles around the knees….i stand on the bosu ball for the dips.

Also check you don’t have tight IT bands as they will pull on the knee.

Get to a physio if you want fixed properly!

I found this too when i was looking to order recently. However have got some set aside for me at the bike chain who have just placed an order. Not heard of any issues.. High 5 zero poor substitute imo!

Tuesday night I did baked haddock with lemon and herbs on a butternut squash, butterbean and cauliflower mash. Served with stir fried onion, peppers, cabbage and mushrooms, all in pretty tasty.

This sounds yum!

I seem to have fallen off the chocolate wagon and am currently addicted to it again 🙁