More Haste Less Speed

There are a number of mountain bike races organised throughout the year by a bike club called Gorrick. The club is based in Swinley Forest in the Crown Estate and they do a great job in maintaining the trails there, the routes are in great condition and are generally unaffected by bad weather. The club also runs the Gorrick Hundred Enduro Challenge which I try to enter in May every year. This weekend was round 4 of the Saddle Skedaddle Spring Series cross country races and Ben, my 14 year old son fancied having a go, so we both planned a day of racing. Unfortunately with the clocks going forward we ended up rushing out of the house and in my haste I left my bike shoes at home, I also neglected to check the race worthiness of my bike having not been on it for a few weeks. Without my shoes and only in trainers I decided to enter the same race category as my son: the Fun category comprising just 2 laps instead one of the 3 lap more serious categories. The course was in great condition, a slightly damp surface on a firm base and the route was surprisingly hilly with a combination of longer gradual climbs and short steep hills. The downhill was quite technical with winding single-track to follow; not the ideal terrain for riding without being clipped in to the pedals. I bounced around the bike on the descents and having discovered soon after race start that my bike wouldn’t drop into the smaller gear set I couldn’t get any control on the damp root laden climbs; so I opted out of trying to get a fast time and waited for Ben then we cycled the route together. All in all a nice race in which to participate and Ben is now keen to enter round 5 in three weeks time. I am always impressed with the size and quality of the racing field at these events, having come from Mountain Biking in the Alps I have always had the impression that I am a proficient Mountain Biker but I generally fair pretty poorly at these events coming in the bottom 30%. I shall see how I get on during the Enduro in May as I have a few years of results to compare should be able to see if my l’etape training has helped my MTB bike fitness and endurance.

Hills and the “Build” phase

Now is when the sense of progression really starts. Training so far has been focussed on endurance and general fitness as opposed to speed or strength. It is now time to start the “Build” phase of the season’s training plan. The Build phase is all about building strength and speed off a good aerobic base, with a goal to be able to ride/run faster for longer. This is done by reducing the number of Long Slow Distance (LSD) sessions and replacing them with short high intensity drills. There is also a need to maintain the aerobic base otherwise general fitness declines. My aerobic base is better than this time last year after a good few months of training and considering my key events are later in the season compared to last year then this is good news.

The Build phase for me will be focussed on building strength and “muscular endurance” on the bike; the strength will hopefully enable me to get up a 10% hill whereas muscular endurance will enable me to keep going up that hill for 22Km. The end result being a “finishers certificate” on July 20th!

One way of gaining strength is to repeatedly climb short big hills, muscular endurance is attained by climbing longer less steep hills. This can also be replicated on a gym bike, turbo trainer or treadmill. Even though the sessions are shorter than before, they do hurt a lot more and require a good recovery period. The mental aspect of training is very different at this phase, whereas it is no longer about boredom but more about continuing the exercise when the legs and lungs are burning. My first two weeks have been good and according to my training logs I am around 10% stronger on the bike than this time last year – I wonder what that translates to in real terms?

Training Done: Bike: 6x2’ Intervals; 8x2’ Intervals; 2hrs40 Z3; Run: 6x80” hills; 35’ Z3/4; 30’ Z3; Swim: 2xsDrills

Dr Jekyll to Mr Hyde in one easy step

How do you go from Dr Jekyll to Mr Hyde in a thrice? The answer I think is to cycle in London. I cycled into work for the first time on Wednesday; around 70Km door to door from rural Hampshire to Central London. I paired up with Michael who works in outer London and was planning on riding with me up to his office. We left at around 6:15am, travelled at a good pace up the A30 and averaged over 35Kmh until we passed the M25 and got into Hounslow. Here it clogged up significantly and we had to dodge a lot of traffic; the main concerns were cars turning left without looking. Michael would have been knocked off if he had not been alert, a swift bang on the side of the car elicited no response from the driver so we are still unsure if he is aware how close he was to causing an accident. We separated in outer London and I was left to the perils of the London Rush Hour; busses and taxis were the main concerns, the former for their size and inability of the driver to see nearby cyclists and Taxis because they are so unpredictable: stopping, pulling out suddenly and doing all the things they need to do to on a normal day. Actually it was fine and the ride quickly became a series of short sprints from traffic light to traffic light, it is surprisingly easy to out accelerate a car in London and beat them to the lights. I turned into Mr Hyde as I watched the clock get nearer to 9am and started to “anticipate” the lights, the number of cyclists on the road started to increase as I got to Chiswick and they generally kept me honest, I was surprised at how well behaved they all were with very little rule bending. Anyway, I got to work in good time and even had the luxury of a shower before 9:00. I really didn’t fancy the cycle home in the dark as I want to be clearly seen by the cars in Central London so I shall wait till the clocks go back next weekend before cycling home, at least if I can get out of Central London in the light I will be pretty happy.

First Event of the year

Spring is in the air and thus a raft of Half Marathons are taking place, my interest this weekend lay in the Fleet Half Marathon. This is a really well run event with 2,500 runners, mostly training for the London Marathon. I used this to measure my running strength bearing in mind that I have neglected my running in favour of swimming over the last three months. The good news is I beat my target by 7 seconds and I beat last year by two minutes so I was pretty happy with my fitness if not my absolute speed. I messed up my pacing completely which meant I made hard work of the race; I got carried away at the start went out too fast at a pace that was 8 minutes inside my goal time and a heart rate that was too high, after a couple of miles I managed to slow it down but then slowed too much and ended up a minute behind schedule with 3 miles to go. I had to run a 20’30” 5Km to hit my goal time which really took it out of me; I was exhausted at the finish and couldn’t have run another mile. For me the result means that I can still focus on my swim for the next few months and still put in a respectable run leg.

Training Done: Run: Interval Session; Weights; Bike 20Km Z1; Run: 13.1 Miles 89’52”

A Heavy Weekend

I had my longest ride to date this weekend. Actually it was a heavy weekend all round: Some friends announced their engagement which entailed a party at “The Old House” which was great, the food was scrumptious and the night was long. That was followed by a 16Km easy run in the morning and a game of rugby in the afternoon. We had a group of 8 friends for dinner Saturday night which ended up being late as well and then I did my 90Km ride on Sunday. The weather was great for the first weekend this year so I set out in with high hopes. It turned out to be very windy and it appeared to be head on the whole way round; I know this isn’t the case but it always feels that way doesn’t it! It was so blustery I almost lost the front of the bike a few times. After 75Km it started raining and hailing and I was soaked through to the skin, even my nice new waterproof socks couldn’t cope with the heavy weather. I tucked my head down and kept going even though I was close to calling it a day, I was adamant I was going to break 80Km or 50miles.

I took out my new Planet X for the first time and I now know what it is like to ride a compact up some of the hills I will face on L’Etape; I ascended the 5% gradient of “Farleigh Hill” but I still need to see whether I can get up a 10% hill on the compact.

“Farleigh Hill” was a "breeze" but I struggled to get a good speed up it and also failed to raise my heart rate above 140 bpm which is not normal for me; I regularly climb at about 160 bpm so I decided to turn around and do it again straight away, alas with the same result. At the end of the ride my average heart rate was 129 bpm which is also low, it usually stays between 135 and 140bpm on a Zone 2 ride, my average speed was also a good 3Km/h slower than my normal Zone 2 ride pace. I had a quick dig around the inter-web and I may be fatigued or over-trained. On Saturday I had noticed that my heart rate took hours to drop to its normal resting level after rugby so I think I am just tired after 2 heavy training weeks after my ski break. I shall plan a very quiet taper week prior to the Half Marathon on Sunday.

Training Done: Run:3x4' intervals; Run: 90' Z2; Rugby (got spanked); Bike: 3.5 hours Z1/Z2; Bikram Yoga!

L'Etape Hill Profile

Here are the average gradients for L’Etape. A little daunting but I now know I can climb a 5% hill quite easily (if not fast) so I am relatively happy with where I am at the moment in terms of climbing ability.



Here is a profile taken from MapMyRide, the whole route is also available here.



I still need to improve overall speed significantly if I am to hit my sub 6 hour goal. I am aiming for 28Km/h on L’Etape and managed 25Km/h over half the distance with only 500m of climbing: Not good enough!

Found my Mojo!

It was hiding for a few weeks there but I managed to get it back. Back into training, the rest has clearly done me some good.

Two weeks at altitude however have done nothing for my fitness. I have done a few sessions since coming back but neither of them was magnificent. I started off well at good pace but didn’t last; maybe it was jet lag that stopped me from keeping going.

Training done last week: Run: 25' Z4; Run Z2 35'; Bike 70' Z2; Run 65' Z2; Bike Intervals 4x10' Z4; Run Intervals 4x6' Z4/5; Bike 30' Z4; Swim: Bilateral Breathing drills; 2 x Strength Training (that is a big week!)

Revised Event Plan

I have revised my event plan and reposted it below. I have removed the Vitruvian as I have decided to go for the New Forest Middle distance; the timing is better and it is nearer.

I have also entered the Hampshire Hilly Hundred which is a 100mile sportive ride which will be great training for l’etape. I know a couple of others who are riding it as well so it should be fun, I will use it to see how my hill legs are and also to practice taking nutrition on the ride with me.

March 15th is looming large, I have foregone a significant amount of my running to focus on swimming over the last few months and I have now left it too late to get in any real run training prior to the Fleet Half Marathon. I imagine that my aerobic and endurance fitness levels are good but I have no idea what running shape I am in compared to this time last year. I shall start out on a 90 minute pace and see how I feel after a few miles, I can always up or down it mid race.