I figured I should probably say something here regarding exactly why I'm blogging all this. After all having done an etape, training for the Marmotte isn't really that big a difference.
The reason is (as I have briefly mentioned before) is that due to illness I had to take a 2 month break from training. Thing is, I'm not actually any better. I got a chest infection in September (nothing unusual for me) but this one either never really went or it left something else behind. I got (and still get) shortness of breath after exercise, and also after eating. What happens to my heart rate outside on the bike just isn't funny.
Having had all sorts of x-rays and tests my specialist has agreed there is a problem and I'm now increasing my asthma medication to see if this helps fix it. While this may sound like they were not taking me seriously, I guess its hard to see the results of a cardio pulminary exercise test (i.e. bike test with mouth piece to monitor oxygen levels etc) that shows well over the predicted values of someone my age while still being told that there is a problem. To them the results look great, but I know I'm well below par. Still we're there now so hopefully things may start to improve. The cold weather and a cough isn't helping matters at all though.
That's why I'm blogging all this, because I really don't know how it going to turn out. Kind of weird now to accept being slightly out of breath as normal, but there you go. They have said I can keep training, so train I shall.
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
It's on!
So its done. This morning I entered (along with my new taxi ride - sorry - I mean training partner, Simon Oxenham) the Marmotte 2010! I'm genuinely very excited.
But the South of France is a long way to go for one day, so while on Saturday July 3rd we will ride the Marmotte, on the 4th we will ride the Grimpee de l'Alpe, which is another ride "just" up l'Alpe d'Huez.
Now this may sound nuts, but its a big part of why I'm so excited about it. I know I can do big one day rides (granted though none have been this big) but I really want to know if I can do something this hard, and then something still pretty tough the very next day. For me that is a much bigger challenge than just the Marmotte on its own.
And if I needed any more motivating a very handy fact is that I love mountains. I love them covered in snow and equally covered in lush green trees, I think they are simply stunning. The prospect of spending a day (and a bit) riding through scenes like the picture above just adds to the excitement. My time could be seriously affected by stopping to take photos!
So there we are, gauntlet thrown down. Errr, to myself.
But the South of France is a long way to go for one day, so while on Saturday July 3rd we will ride the Marmotte, on the 4th we will ride the Grimpee de l'Alpe, which is another ride "just" up l'Alpe d'Huez.
Now this may sound nuts, but its a big part of why I'm so excited about it. I know I can do big one day rides (granted though none have been this big) but I really want to know if I can do something this hard, and then something still pretty tough the very next day. For me that is a much bigger challenge than just the Marmotte on its own.
And if I needed any more motivating a very handy fact is that I love mountains. I love them covered in snow and equally covered in lush green trees, I think they are simply stunning. The prospect of spending a day (and a bit) riding through scenes like the picture above just adds to the excitement. My time could be seriously affected by stopping to take photos!
So there we are, gauntlet thrown down. Errr, to myself.
Monday, 14 December 2009
Sticking to the plan (Motvation)
Thanks to Red Bike for your comment about sticking to the plan. This has prompted me to bring forward a post I was going to do about my own motivations. I am certainly not claiming to be some guru or master of this, its just my own thoughts based on my experience of what does (and lets be honest here, what doesn't) work for me. If someone else can learn something from my cock ups, then that's great.
I created my training plan for 2009 by listing every weekend in the year up to the etape, putting in some other goals along the way (Fred Whitton / Dave Lloyd Mega) and simply working backwards from where I had to end up, allowing a gradual build up. I didn't take this from a magazine or anything like that, in truth I just made it up and it looked good. In addition to the "plan" I kept a track of my actual weekly progress against it.
Taking May as an example (and I just checked the numbers to be sure) I rode 539 road miles (including a successful Fred Whitton) and did 21 spin classes (or 15.75 hours). Not a bad month hey? Problem was that it was (for whatever reason) 5.5 miles less than the "plan" target for that month. So it went down as a big red cell, a failure. And so many of the following weeks followed the same pattern, although I was cycling a hell of a lot and improving all the time, some small differences in miles meant those weeks were "failures". I found the whole thing was actually have a very strong de-motivating effect. After all here I was busting my gut (literally, hurrah), doing things most of my friends thought was madness but here was my own plan telling me I was failing. Hmmm, that's just too harsh, too black and white (even for me). This is based on a plan that I made up after all.
So, while 2010 certainly has a plan, the goals are much less specific. As I put in my Training post earlier my main targets are distances for rides by the end of each month, increasing as they go. Now if I don't match that number but I'm very close, then I'm following the main idea behind the plan and I'm going to be happy and count that as a success. Don't get me wrong though its not an excuse to start slacking, if I'm way off the planned distance then something will need to be done. Slacking off won't get me up Alpe d'Huez after 100 miles of mountains.
Like I said, this is just my view on what works for me. But I do find it an interesting subject (I admit I over analyse the sh*t out of everything) and hence this post.
I created my training plan for 2009 by listing every weekend in the year up to the etape, putting in some other goals along the way (Fred Whitton / Dave Lloyd Mega) and simply working backwards from where I had to end up, allowing a gradual build up. I didn't take this from a magazine or anything like that, in truth I just made it up and it looked good. In addition to the "plan" I kept a track of my actual weekly progress against it.
Taking May as an example (and I just checked the numbers to be sure) I rode 539 road miles (including a successful Fred Whitton) and did 21 spin classes (or 15.75 hours). Not a bad month hey? Problem was that it was (for whatever reason) 5.5 miles less than the "plan" target for that month. So it went down as a big red cell, a failure. And so many of the following weeks followed the same pattern, although I was cycling a hell of a lot and improving all the time, some small differences in miles meant those weeks were "failures". I found the whole thing was actually have a very strong de-motivating effect. After all here I was busting my gut (literally, hurrah), doing things most of my friends thought was madness but here was my own plan telling me I was failing. Hmmm, that's just too harsh, too black and white (even for me). This is based on a plan that I made up after all.
So, while 2010 certainly has a plan, the goals are much less specific. As I put in my Training post earlier my main targets are distances for rides by the end of each month, increasing as they go. Now if I don't match that number but I'm very close, then I'm following the main idea behind the plan and I'm going to be happy and count that as a success. Don't get me wrong though its not an excuse to start slacking, if I'm way off the planned distance then something will need to be done. Slacking off won't get me up Alpe d'Huez after 100 miles of mountains.
Like I said, this is just my view on what works for me. But I do find it an interesting subject (I admit I over analyse the sh*t out of everything) and hence this post.
Sunday, 13 December 2009
Training
Weight is important, the nutrition is vital, but both of those are dwarfed by the obvious point of training. Sadly nothing else will get you down those long miles or up those big climbs.
As I've said, I've done this before and the 2010 plan is very similar to the 2009 one. Lay out all the weekends in the year on a spreadsheet, put the main goal at the bottom, various milestones along the way (e.g. the Fred Whitton, entry depending of course) and work backwards to get where you need to be.
There will be one key difference though. This year all I did was cycle, nothing else at all. This was a conscious decision because I really was worried about the goals coming up (The Fred is a bit steep, and Ventoux is a bit long). The advantage of having done it once is that I now know I can, so next year in addition to all the cycling I will be doing one class each (per week) of body pump and body balance. Body pump is a weights based class, and maintaining some muscle (you can't really bulk up doing high rep weights) is good even for cyclists, plus of course it includes work on the core (abs / back). Body balance is a blend of yogo / pilates and other stretchy stuff, plus more core work. This is absolutely vital for cyclists and I cannot stress the importance of core work enough. After 7 months of riding this year my lower back really was a horrible mess, despite stretching after every ride. So this year the extra stuff is in, and hopefully it will make a nice change.
While I do have a very detailed plan, the general idea is this:
Every week - 6 spinning classes in the gym (2 * 45 minutes, 3 times).
Every week - 1 body pump class, 1 body balance class.
December - anything is a bonus.
January - indoor trainer work to burn fat and build endurance (2 hours each Sat & Sun building to 3 hours).
February - Outdoor Saturday ride building to 70 miles by end of month, Sunday easy 30 miles.
March - Saturday ride building to fairly hilly 100 miles, Sunday easy 42 miles. Easy weekend at end of month (30 miles each day). Oh and a week snowboarding too I hope!
April - Saturday ride building to very hilly 120 miles, other details yet to be confirmed.
May - Hopefully The Fred, then alternating shorter weekends (80 + 50 miles) with big ride (hilly 120).
June - One massive hilly ride (130 miles), shorter weekend (80 + 50), Dave Lloyd Mega, then very easy weekend.
July - The Marmotte!
Sounds so easy when I say it like that…
The one thing everyone knows about plans (or should know) is that they change. Constantly, and quite right too. I can't see the future and don't know exactly how it will turn out. If I'm really lucky I'll pick things up quicker and can bring some training forward. If not I will just amend it as required. But you (and when I say "you" I mean "me") need somewhere to start from, some idea that you will gradually build to where you need to be. And for me this is it.
As I've said, I've done this before and the 2010 plan is very similar to the 2009 one. Lay out all the weekends in the year on a spreadsheet, put the main goal at the bottom, various milestones along the way (e.g. the Fred Whitton, entry depending of course) and work backwards to get where you need to be.
There will be one key difference though. This year all I did was cycle, nothing else at all. This was a conscious decision because I really was worried about the goals coming up (The Fred is a bit steep, and Ventoux is a bit long). The advantage of having done it once is that I now know I can, so next year in addition to all the cycling I will be doing one class each (per week) of body pump and body balance. Body pump is a weights based class, and maintaining some muscle (you can't really bulk up doing high rep weights) is good even for cyclists, plus of course it includes work on the core (abs / back). Body balance is a blend of yogo / pilates and other stretchy stuff, plus more core work. This is absolutely vital for cyclists and I cannot stress the importance of core work enough. After 7 months of riding this year my lower back really was a horrible mess, despite stretching after every ride. So this year the extra stuff is in, and hopefully it will make a nice change.
While I do have a very detailed plan, the general idea is this:
Every week - 6 spinning classes in the gym (2 * 45 minutes, 3 times).
Every week - 1 body pump class, 1 body balance class.
December - anything is a bonus.
January - indoor trainer work to burn fat and build endurance (2 hours each Sat & Sun building to 3 hours).
February - Outdoor Saturday ride building to 70 miles by end of month, Sunday easy 30 miles.
March - Saturday ride building to fairly hilly 100 miles, Sunday easy 42 miles. Easy weekend at end of month (30 miles each day). Oh and a week snowboarding too I hope!
April - Saturday ride building to very hilly 120 miles, other details yet to be confirmed.
May - Hopefully The Fred, then alternating shorter weekends (80 + 50 miles) with big ride (hilly 120).
June - One massive hilly ride (130 miles), shorter weekend (80 + 50), Dave Lloyd Mega, then very easy weekend.
July - The Marmotte!
Sounds so easy when I say it like that…
The one thing everyone knows about plans (or should know) is that they change. Constantly, and quite right too. I can't see the future and don't know exactly how it will turn out. If I'm really lucky I'll pick things up quicker and can bring some training forward. If not I will just amend it as required. But you (and when I say "you" I mean "me") need somewhere to start from, some idea that you will gradually build to where you need to be. And for me this is it.
Nutrition
I like eating. In fact I love eating. Sadly my genetics are such that my natural body shape is a fat b*****d, so I have to be careful. Obviously exercise helps ease the strictness, but still I can't go nuts (all the time at least, ahem).
Due to my weight gain over the end of 2009 my first goal in 2010 is to trim the fat off. Along with the training this needs a carefully constructed food plan (diet is the right word here, but its so badly mis-used these days I dodge it altogether). And in its first appearance in my blog, this is where my obsessive side really starts to kick in.
Everything I know about eating for fat loss comes from . It’s a bit gung-ho American in style, but its not a gimmick (just an e-book) and I'm not trying to sell it to you. I use it and I like it. Pointing you there also gives you the option to find out how I cobbled all this together and saves me detailing stuff you may well not care about. The main points I take from this (I don't take all the points, one thing it repeats is that you have to find what works for you) are:
The book uses a formula (using your current weight and body fat %) for how many calories you need for a given number of days training per week. In order to burn fat you create a deficit by subtracting a percentage. A common mistake here is to subtract a percentage that is too big, in most people any more than 15% and you will lose muscle too. I will stick with the deficit until about April, at which point the amount of training (i.e. distance) will increase to a level that I just can't do without the full daily calorie allowance. Hopefully by then the fat will be down at an acceptable level.
So my general diet (ignoring December) is good. But one problem I have, which I really should address, is that it's not varied enough. I figure out one menu plan and pretty much stay with that. Yep, all the time. Told you I was obsessive. But I need more variation, especially with fruit / vegetables and the nutrients that come with them. Currently I'm still figuring out how to rotate it all around.
One tip I can offer (apologies if you already know this) is that when you eat fruit you should eat dark fruit (like berries) because they are very high in antioxidants. You need these because high levels of exercise (especially the insane hours we spend on the bike) produce a lot of free radicals, which in short are very bad. Antioxidants combat free radicals. So do yourself a favour and swap that banana or apple for something darker.
So that's nutrition, roughly speaking. Next will be training, at which point I will try to stop spamming my own blog and leave it to the more regular planned updates.
Due to my weight gain over the end of 2009 my first goal in 2010 is to trim the fat off. Along with the training this needs a carefully constructed food plan (diet is the right word here, but its so badly mis-used these days I dodge it altogether). And in its first appearance in my blog, this is where my obsessive side really starts to kick in.
Everything I know about eating for fat loss comes from . It’s a bit gung-ho American in style, but its not a gimmick (just an e-book) and I'm not trying to sell it to you. I use it and I like it. Pointing you there also gives you the option to find out how I cobbled all this together and saves me detailing stuff you may well not care about. The main points I take from this (I don't take all the points, one thing it repeats is that you have to find what works for you) are:
- I eat 5 meals a day, starting with the biggest (calorie wise), then 3 meals of the same calories, ending with dinner being the smallest. This is hardly a new thought, but one society seems to have lost these days.
- To maintain muscle (and as cyclists I'm guessing we want more muscle in our legs, I know I do) I eat every 3 hours and it must contain protein.
- Dinner has no carbs and lots of green veg.
The book uses a formula (using your current weight and body fat %) for how many calories you need for a given number of days training per week. In order to burn fat you create a deficit by subtracting a percentage. A common mistake here is to subtract a percentage that is too big, in most people any more than 15% and you will lose muscle too. I will stick with the deficit until about April, at which point the amount of training (i.e. distance) will increase to a level that I just can't do without the full daily calorie allowance. Hopefully by then the fat will be down at an acceptable level.
So my general diet (ignoring December) is good. But one problem I have, which I really should address, is that it's not varied enough. I figure out one menu plan and pretty much stay with that. Yep, all the time. Told you I was obsessive. But I need more variation, especially with fruit / vegetables and the nutrients that come with them. Currently I'm still figuring out how to rotate it all around.
One tip I can offer (apologies if you already know this) is that when you eat fruit you should eat dark fruit (like berries) because they are very high in antioxidants. You need these because high levels of exercise (especially the insane hours we spend on the bike) produce a lot of free radicals, which in short are very bad. Antioxidants combat free radicals. So do yourself a favour and swap that banana or apple for something darker.
So that's nutrition, roughly speaking. Next will be training, at which point I will try to stop spamming my own blog and leave it to the more regular planned updates.
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Weighty matters
So then, while I am still finalising the training schedule and nutrition side of things, its time for some numbers (and public humiliation). I have decided that Tuesday will be the weekly weigh in, after work. This gives me the day to get hydrated as my scales do a full body composition (fat etc.) and if you have scales like this you will know that hydration is vital. Even a small change massively skews the numbers, so along with my overall weight I will give my hydration, body fat % and muscle.
Week on week I will give the new numbers along with that weeks change (good or bad). But as this is the start I will give this years best figures as comparison - this is called From Fit To Fat after all.
So that's 3.8kgs of fat to lose. Bugger. Although as the hydration was a little low I think that number is a tad high, but, numbers are numbers and I can't edit them because I feel like it (well I could, but I won't). Also a note on that record low of 12.4. That might have been because I had been ill, I honestly can't remember the exact timing. I rode that etape around 12st 10.
Obviously my fitness levels are more important than my weight, but lets face it, when you're cycling up mountains or bloody steep hills you don't want to be lugging around extra lard. If you're reading this I'm sure you have spent (possibly a fair amount of) money to shave grams off your bike, I know I have. So to me it seems only right to trim the lard from my good self. This has obvious vanity benefits too, ahem, but here lets focus on the training.
I will post this update every Tuesday from now on (or as close as I can), and to make it more interesting, for me at anyway, I will change a bad habit and ONLY weigh myself at this time. Of course December is a rubbish month to start all this, but hey ho, got to start some time. While I will be getting my nutrition pretty spot on (detailed in the next update I hope) I have to admit there will be some indulgence in the next few weeks. While I would be happy to start getting the pounds off straight away I do enjoy living and I don't want to starve myself of mince pies. Just not eating all of them would be good.
Week on week I will give the new numbers along with that weeks change (good or bad). But as this is the start I will give this years best figures as comparison - this is called From Fit To Fat after all.
So that's 3.8kgs of fat to lose. Bugger. Although as the hydration was a little low I think that number is a tad high, but, numbers are numbers and I can't edit them because I feel like it (well I could, but I won't). Also a note on that record low of 12.4. That might have been because I had been ill, I honestly can't remember the exact timing. I rode that etape around 12st 10.
Obviously my fitness levels are more important than my weight, but lets face it, when you're cycling up mountains or bloody steep hills you don't want to be lugging around extra lard. If you're reading this I'm sure you have spent (possibly a fair amount of) money to shave grams off your bike, I know I have. So to me it seems only right to trim the lard from my good self. This has obvious vanity benefits too, ahem, but here lets focus on the training.
I will post this update every Tuesday from now on (or as close as I can), and to make it more interesting, for me at anyway, I will change a bad habit and ONLY weigh myself at this time. Of course December is a rubbish month to start all this, but hey ho, got to start some time. While I will be getting my nutrition pretty spot on (detailed in the next update I hope) I have to admit there will be some indulgence in the next few weeks. While I would be happy to start getting the pounds off straight away I do enjoy living and I don't want to starve myself of mince pies. Just not eating all of them would be good.
Monday, 7 December 2009
Bike swap - the winter edition
Great things start with small steps. That's either a very philosophical statement or a nice sounding load of crap. Either way my small steps are under way.
First off was to clean up the summer bike to a sparkle in order to put it away for the winter hibernation. This is ironic really as the first time I have touched it in almost 2 months was at the weekend when it received such a clean. But then today my consultant told me to go out and ride (while fitted with a heart rate monitor thingy) so it got filthy again. So to stay on top of the motivation side of things (I won't find it motivating to have a outstanding job like that hanging around) I have cleaned it up again ready to go away, leaving me ready to crack on with the new training. And it gives me a tiny excuse to post a picture of my baby. See you in 4 - 5 months petal.
So out comes the winter bike. In fairness this was my summer bike until I upgraded.
I got a warranty replacement on the frame in the summer and took the opportunity to go up one size. This means the bars and maybe stem need replacing in order to bring the reach back. I will get this done at the weekend, as well as getting mud guards put on. I know, they are not sexy and add to the weight, but this is the winter bike so weight does not matter. And trust me, once you've spent a few months washing road dirt off your clothes and from all over your bike after every ride, you'll agree.
Next posts will be on nutrition / training. And maybe some depressing (or funny if you're not me) numbers if I dare get on the scales.
First off was to clean up the summer bike to a sparkle in order to put it away for the winter hibernation. This is ironic really as the first time I have touched it in almost 2 months was at the weekend when it received such a clean. But then today my consultant told me to go out and ride (while fitted with a heart rate monitor thingy) so it got filthy again. So to stay on top of the motivation side of things (I won't find it motivating to have a outstanding job like that hanging around) I have cleaned it up again ready to go away, leaving me ready to crack on with the new training. And it gives me a tiny excuse to post a picture of my baby. See you in 4 - 5 months petal.
So out comes the winter bike. In fairness this was my summer bike until I upgraded.
I got a warranty replacement on the frame in the summer and took the opportunity to go up one size. This means the bars and maybe stem need replacing in order to bring the reach back. I will get this done at the weekend, as well as getting mud guards put on. I know, they are not sexy and add to the weight, but this is the winter bike so weight does not matter. And trust me, once you've spent a few months washing road dirt off your clothes and from all over your bike after every ride, you'll agree.
Next posts will be on nutrition / training. And maybe some depressing (or funny if you're not me) numbers if I dare get on the scales.
The beginning
Well here we are, and to be honest I don't really know where to start. Maybe a brief introduction.
My name is Ed and I am a keen amateur cyclist. This year I competed in numerous sportives culminating in the etape, up Mont Ventoux. It all went swimmingly well.
Then in September I got a chest infection that from mid October completely stopped me exercising. Its now early December and I think I've got the all clear to start training again. I won't go into all the symptoms but they are not all gone. Apparently though I need to start exercising again to get completely better (and I needed a doctor to tell me that? Hmmm).
Anyway, this is good news. And while not wanting to seem like I'm just copying my friend Simon (http://rideandrunsimon.blogspot.com/) I thought I would start a blog to detail my efforts. To be honest I'm not sure on the main goal for next summer but I am trying to talk another Simon into taking on the Marmotte 2010, and if I can replicate this years efforts it should be very attainable.
I hope that this blog may be different (and therefore interesting?!) from others in that I have - to a certain extent - been there and done it, but am now forced to start again. This is quite depressing in many ways but I have to ignore all that and get on with it. Hopefully I can apply what I know and get back to being better than I was in July. Or to put it another way, I have all the kit I could possibly need, I'll be damned if its all going to waste :-)
If you are kind enough to spend your time reading this then I must say a genuine thank you. There are a million things to do nowadays (especially online) so if you spend some time here I am grateful. You can expect to find details of the training I have planned, what actually gets done, my motivations (I expect to find that bit interesting myself) and the end results. There will also be some numbers, like mileage, weight, fat etc. And knowing me quite a bit on nutrition too. Probably worth mentioning at this point I have a mild obsessive compulsive side, so don't be surprised to see that cropping up. Having said that lets be honest, when it comes to getting down to 7-8 months training, its not a bad trait to have.
If you have any comments you would like to make or advice on starting again please do let me know. Or if you are new to all this and have a question please do ask. I will not profess to know everything, but am more than happy to pass on anything that may be of help. I have gained a lot of knowledge through trial and error - as well as from others - which has helped me hugely, so it only seems fair to pass it on.
So then, deep breath, here goes... :-)
My name is Ed and I am a keen amateur cyclist. This year I competed in numerous sportives culminating in the etape, up Mont Ventoux. It all went swimmingly well.
Then in September I got a chest infection that from mid October completely stopped me exercising. Its now early December and I think I've got the all clear to start training again. I won't go into all the symptoms but they are not all gone. Apparently though I need to start exercising again to get completely better (and I needed a doctor to tell me that? Hmmm).
Anyway, this is good news. And while not wanting to seem like I'm just copying my friend Simon (http://rideandrunsimon.blogspot.com/) I thought I would start a blog to detail my efforts. To be honest I'm not sure on the main goal for next summer but I am trying to talk another Simon into taking on the Marmotte 2010, and if I can replicate this years efforts it should be very attainable.
I hope that this blog may be different (and therefore interesting?!) from others in that I have - to a certain extent - been there and done it, but am now forced to start again. This is quite depressing in many ways but I have to ignore all that and get on with it. Hopefully I can apply what I know and get back to being better than I was in July. Or to put it another way, I have all the kit I could possibly need, I'll be damned if its all going to waste :-)
If you are kind enough to spend your time reading this then I must say a genuine thank you. There are a million things to do nowadays (especially online) so if you spend some time here I am grateful. You can expect to find details of the training I have planned, what actually gets done, my motivations (I expect to find that bit interesting myself) and the end results. There will also be some numbers, like mileage, weight, fat etc. And knowing me quite a bit on nutrition too. Probably worth mentioning at this point I have a mild obsessive compulsive side, so don't be surprised to see that cropping up. Having said that lets be honest, when it comes to getting down to 7-8 months training, its not a bad trait to have.
If you have any comments you would like to make or advice on starting again please do let me know. Or if you are new to all this and have a question please do ask. I will not profess to know everything, but am more than happy to pass on anything that may be of help. I have gained a lot of knowledge through trial and error - as well as from others - which has helped me hugely, so it only seems fair to pass it on.
So then, deep breath, here goes... :-)
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