Kingston Wheelers

I've finally had enough of training on my own and have joined a local club called the Kingston Wheelers. They have a club ride every Sunday that usually has 3 different ride choices, a fast training ride, something a bit longer (but not as quick) and a much shorter "easy" ride. I liked the sound of this as it should make it easier to work into my plans (i.e. turn up and choose which ride matches my plans the most).

My first ride was a couple of weeks ago now and I've got to say it was a hell of a shock! It was the end of 3 very hard training weeks out of 4. That week my coach had given me my first ever block of 3 anaerobic sessions on consecutive days. I knew that was going to be tough and it was, so come Sunday I was OK but definitely feeling the effects. My plan basically said "ride as you feel" with no HR restrictions, so I went along to the club meeting point.

After introducing myself I was pointed to the guy running the "training ride" which is the quick group. He explained the route (which I know well due to Simon liberating it from the club website well over a year ago) and said it would take about 3 hours. That's fine I thought as I can do it in 3 hours from my place, let alone starting 6 miles into the route. From then on things went downhill, although not literally.

For reasons I still don't fully understand the pace was quick and (as described by one guy several times) "its not usually this quick". One member quickly bailed on the ride due to the speed. I was left for dead on the climbs and struggled to keep up. Once at the top of Box Hill we stopped. A couple of young guys peeled off soon after that and the pace become, lets say manageable. But to put it in perspective on a nice smooth, wide, every so slightly downhill road coming home where I would expect to be doing between 24-27 on a good day, feeling great with a smug grin, here I was doing 34 (mph) just to stay on the back. I'm not sure of the exact numbers but we did something like 45 miles in 2hr 15mins, so a 20mph average

As I said I was tired and the legs were pretty empty, but to be honest I really don't think I would have kept up even in top shape, certainly not up the hills.

Still it was an enjoyable experience even if I did go home and have to sleep for most of the afternoon!!

I went along the following Sunday and went out with the next group down as I wanted something longer and easier (it was not in the plan to beast myself 2 weeks before the Marmotte). This was huge, huge fun. Again I was exhausted and was so close to not getting up. But soon after setting off I ended up next to a good bloke called Kevin who did the Marmotte last year, is doing it this year, has a lovely bike and also watched all the recent pro races. So I just geeked out on cycling for a few hours, had some silly yet highly enjoyable moments of male bravado racing up hills. It was a great tonic to just get out and enjoy riding again. Stopped for a cup of tea, waited for the group, loved it. I have spoken with my coach and I will be working these rides in every week now.

I'm not buying the club kit though unless I start racing (and have no plans to do that) as it doesn't match the bike :-)

Nutrition

As I have mentioned before I was worried about nutrition this year. Last year I got my weight and fat down, but as the regular long rides increased so did the calories and so did my weight.

This year though I think I've sussed it, and its very much related to the new style of training I have from my coach. Where last year I just blanketly increased my calories I now only do it on the days when I know (from experience, ahem) I will need it. I can do one week's hard training on a small calorie increase, but if another hard week is coming (or more specifically a week with some very hard days) then for a few of those days I will really have to pile in the food. Not crap mind you, but calories all the same. So I take more food with me to work so that if I do need more then its there and I don't have to worry about it being junk from the machine. This week has been very easy (was due an easy week and the Fred is coming) so I have been able to drop the calories back to normal levels and literally a couple of kilos have come off. Not complaining about that :-)

Last year I increased my eating a lot because every other weekend was a "big" ride, so a hilly century or more. I ate the week after to recover, and I ate the following week to prepare. The training this year though has worked a lot on my base endurance and aerobic fitness, and getting my body more used to using fat as a fuel. This means I know now I don't need as much before big rides, 1/2 days of eating more before is fine and any more is just going to stack the weight back on.

Hindsight is a great thing and I can see the improvements in what I'm doing now. But I still understand why I ate like I did last year, and I don't think I can turn around and just say it was stupid. Maybe a little mis-guided, but we live and learn.

So now my weight is lower than ever (77.5kg) and my body fat is its lowest ever too (10.1%). I hope this theory holds or I'll be eating humble pie soon (except I can't eat the pastry, so that ruins that idea, doh).

Training Progress

I have recently blown, sorry, spent rather a lot of cash on some new kit. Without doubt though the best money I've spent this year (and possibly at all re. cycling) is on my coach.

The first evidence of this came on the Burgess Hill Classive sportive *. Up to that point I had done NO hill training outside at all, and only 1 or 2 real hill like classes in spinning (i.e. nothing but hills). Yet on this ride I found I could attack right from the start and found I was so much better on the hills than this time last year. On the longer ones I was spinning up them much quicker and on the steeper ones I could stand for far longer than I ever used to be able to. I've also stopped zig-zagging (although I reserve the right to bring this back for the Fred). I was 5 minutes off a gold time having lost the use of the big ring before half distance (which meant a 2-3 minute stop at a food stop to see if they had a mechanic). Without that I could well have managed gold. I didn't and am happy with silver but even to be considering what might have been without the bike playing up is a big step.

Away from sportives I'm also feeling the progress on my usual training roads. On a local (ish) hill where I first found my maximum heart rate I am now going up there 13-16 beats lower. On a longer steep hill I can now stand all the way (comfortably). And a week ago I knocked nearly 4 minutes off my 10 mile tempo time trial time.

So its all going well so far. My coach is obviously playing a huge part in this and I'm really grateful to have his time.

* I had a text when I finished the ride from my friend Simon calling me an "antisocial git". He was without question quite right as I sodded off right from the start. Given that he's training for an ironman and I only cycle I guess this is how it should be. But he put in a great time just 10 minutes behind me. Show off.