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Post by thistle on Nov 1, 2009 20:24:30 GMT
My "training" at the moment has been a 15 mile ride in the morning around Wrexham Industrial Estate and it takes about 50 minutes. It is pretty much a flat route, pedalling constantly at about 20mph all the way.
Last Thursday I was fed up of picking fights with the articulated lorries so I did a 15 miles ride from Wrexham to Bwlchgwyn and back which is pretty much uphill for 8 miles (max gradient is 1 in 7), downhill for 7 miles. This ride also took about 50 minutes.
I expected the hilly ride to be slower but the downhill must have made up for the slowness going up.
Any opinions on which is best for mountain biking training?
The hilly route is probably better for improving at climbing, but it's only 7 miles of really hard work compared to 15 of quite hard work for the flat route.
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Post by danevs on Nov 1, 2009 20:40:31 GMT
Neither sounds a great way of training but the constant flat route is a true 50mins training where the hill ride is less due to the downhill section (although I realise you're probably still pedaling). When mountain biking you're looking for varying cadence and lots of high intensity bursts followed by slight recovery when you're off down the other side. Your road rides sound like they'd benefit your performance on the roadie more to be honest bud, lost of constant cadence and steady speed which if you were on the bike for 2hrs plus (for example) would improve your base endurance but unfortunately not over 50mins.  What are you looking to improve Pete? |
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Post by Russ on Nov 1, 2009 20:43:43 GMT
Neither, well both are the same, it's what you do on either route that matters most. I could go on for ages about the subject, but basically you should aim to do a mix of both varying your speed/intensity on either, remembering that a rest day or two a week plus having one easy week in a 3 or 4 week period is essential.
As an example of it's what you do that matters most, have a read up on Google on Tabata Training
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Post by danevs on Nov 1, 2009 20:55:48 GMT
having one easy week in a 3 or 4 week period is essential. I'd only recommend an "easy" week if you were tapering before an event or had a particular problem Pete. Rather than a rest day try picking a flat route, going out on the bike for an hour and keeping your heart rate in zones 1 and 2 for an hour or so. I always feel really re-invigorated after doing this.  |
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Post by Russ on Nov 1, 2009 21:07:13 GMT
having one easy week in a 3 or 4 week period is essential. I'd only recommend an "easy" week if you were tapering before an event or had a particular problem Pete. Rather than a rest day try picking a flat route, going out on the bike for an hour and keeping your heart rate in zones 1 and 2 for an hour or so. I always feel really re-invigorated after doing this. It's why I recommended the easy days/week. Knowing what zone 1 or 2 is without a HR monitor and keeping a health/fitness diary is quite a challenge. I find it hard enough to go out and do a TE1 type ride with a Suunto T6c nagging me, as a recovery ride is at a lot lower level than you would expect. Agree with the recovery ride feel good factor thou. |
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Post by danevs on Nov 1, 2009 21:17:00 GMT
It's why I recommended the easy days/week. Knowing what zone 1 or 2 is without a HR monitor and keeping a health/fitness diary is quite a challenge. I find it hard enough to go out and do a TE1 type ride with a Suunto T6c nagging me, as a recovery ride is at a lot lower level than you would expect. Agree with the recovery ride feel good factor thou. How is the T6c training function Russ? Does it incorporate any periodisation or is it just a continuous plan it runs? I was quite interested in one before I bought my Garmin and I still miss the TE function of my T3c. If you don't have a HRM (which I know Pete has) then you're not likely to get the most out of any training anyway in my opinion. There's a big difference between training and riding after all. |
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Post by Russ on Nov 1, 2009 21:37:51 GMT
Dan, the Training Effect is based on the peak EPOC for an exercise session, so over time as your fitness level changes so will your peak EPOC and the time/curve taken to reach it. You have to be really honest on the body variables you input, height/weight/max HR/Activity Class and over time your Activity Class goes up or down based on your measured training over a weekly interval. When you sync up the watch to your PC it will recommend changes to be made to make sure you are measuring correctly.
On my road bike I use the cadence pod and the mavic road pod and on my MTB's I use the GPS pod.
To be honest now it's just to make sure week on week I'm at a slightly improving TE or at a maintenance TE, come spring the number of rides and times will increase and then it will come into it's own mixing a number of 1,2,3,4 & 5 type rides.
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Post by thistle on Nov 1, 2009 21:52:30 GMT
I've kind of had 4 rest weeks in a row Just want to keep ticking over ready for next spring when the weather gets better, not looking at anything specific. I'm still trying to get out around Llandegla and Coed y Brenin etc. but they require more time (and motivation) to do the ride. I might throw an up+down route into the mix as well. No point getting the HRM out for these morning rides as it's dark and I can only see it when I go under a streetlamp  |
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Post by Russ on Nov 1, 2009 22:00:27 GMT
My tip is don't do the trail centres week in week out as you will then adapt to riding them, mix it up at the weekends then during the week get in what you can. An interval session can be done in 45 mins so should be easy to fit in during the week, a couple of commute type rides in the week too and you've go the beginnings of something to keep you ticking over.
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