It has been brought to my attention that I have had a cough/cold virus since Queens Bday weekend (mid June) and I haven yet to recover. This has been reflected in my training, especially my long rides with LOC. The last long ride with LOC was 8th July 2017.
We have started our "cram-training" for Amy's Gran Fondo. This block consists of 5 training sessions a week with Monday and Friday as trainer sessions and Wednesday and Sunday as rest day. Personally, I will do a swim on Wednesdays and Sundays to aid in my recovery.
It started off with a trainer session on Monday morning. Luckily I an idea of the session ahead and did them at my own due to the technical issues the coaches had. My session was over an hour as I started on the bike around 5:50am and finished just on 7am. Once I am done with these sessions, I will have to rush to get ready for work by 7:30am to get there in time.
This morning was the VO2 sessions at Richmond Blvd. I enjoy these sessions as I get to push my limits without the pressure of keeping up with the group or letting the TTT down. Heading back to the carpark works better for me due to my weight and the slight downhill compared to the other way towards Melbourne Girls. I arrived early this morning and did a quick warm-up half-lap before the start of the session as I am the only one who drives there. Different if this session was on a Thursday where I would have had to ride in from West Melbourne.
As I had mentioned before, tomorrow will be my swim session after work and Thursday will be at Albert Park lake working on our Steady State Tempo (SST) with a few sprints. I also enjoy this session as I get to work on the sprints which is my (pun) strength rather than endurance or climbing.
Friday will be VO2 trainer sessions and Saturday will be a long ride from Kew and we will be doing the Mt Pleasant Loop. The last time I attempted the Mt Pleasant loop, I was so exhausted at the end that I nearly cried. Fingers crossed that I will be able to get through this week's session. Extra fingers to be crossed that my anxiety won't be that strong that it stops me from getting out of bed and heading towards that training session early Saturday morning.
It is hard to manage my anxiety with these cycling sessions as I don't have a fool-proof solution. If I don't think too much about it then I won't stress too much and will be able to sleep and get myself out the door and do the session however if I don't think about it then I won't be prepared. Being prepared for me is being in control of the kit I am going to wear, nutrition, hydration, charging lights and Garmin, sometimes I even pack the bike in the car the night before.
I will only be doing the Mt Pleasant loop for 2 weeks as I will be doing Ol'Dirty on week 3. As much as I stress about doing the long ride on the weekend, it will be beneficial for me for the climb-training required for Ol'Dirty, Amy's Gran Fondo, Daylesford and Giro della Donna.
Tuesday 15 August 2017
Tuesday 1 August 2017
Update on Cycling
I have been training with Lead Out Cycling for nearly 7 months now. The reason for this post is give others an update on my progress but also it allows me to get a few thoughts down.
I had mentioned before how my cycling skills have really improved. This includes riding in groups, doing constant rolling turns, track turns and even cornering and descending. One of my goals for improvement over the next few months is my endurance. I am much stronger on the bike compared to when I was in triathlon but I am finding that because I am pushing myself on the bike, I am not able to hold that "speed" for a long period of time. I have noticed that my breathing and lung capacity is not what it used to be, maybe because I have stopped swimming and therefore, not really training my lungs to be more hypoxic.
I have registered for Ol'Dirty 2017. Ol'Dirty 2016 totally broke me. To be honest, I am still traumatised from last year's OD but the organisers have promised that this year's route won't be as "nutso" as 2016. Maybe I am naïve to believe that they will be better organised this year and take into account the riding abilities of the greater cycling community...we will see.
I am yet to register for Amy's Gran Fondo but most likely, I will pay during August or post-tax-return. $200+ for a 120km ride is a bit steep. Another event which I have entered is Giro della Donna and this will be the A-event to train towards for 2017. So in summary for 2017:
Moving forward in training, I will aim to do at least 5 sessions a week, this includes the 3 Lead Out sessions along with at least 2 trainer sessions at home on the Zwift, beach road recovery, commute rides or a session on the track bike. To be honest, I haven't brought the track bike out since we moved out of Aspendale. When it gets too warm, not being able to carry water on the bike and not being able to coast on the bike
The best way for me to keep myself accountable for these sessions is to actually schedule them in and then tick them off. I can't be bothered with Training Peaks as I am not reporting to a coach so an excel spread sheet will do for me. For the month of August, I have my training schedule done as I know where my work locations are - working out at Glen Waverly on Wednesdays and West Melbourne on Thursdays.
In terms of body recovery and maintenance, I am going to invest in air compression sleeves for my legs to help with my DOMS and fatigue. My inflammations last longer than the normal person as I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). Weekly massages are good but I would like to use the sleeves on a daily basis to prevent lactic accumulation.
In terms nutrition, I have really cut down on consuming gels during training. I only take gels on the long weekend rides and only every 60min (not 30-45min). The sessions during the week tend to be 45min through to 1:15, no need for supplements. My weight has not gone down but I am confident that I am getting stronger.
I had mentioned before how my cycling skills have really improved. This includes riding in groups, doing constant rolling turns, track turns and even cornering and descending. One of my goals for improvement over the next few months is my endurance. I am much stronger on the bike compared to when I was in triathlon but I am finding that because I am pushing myself on the bike, I am not able to hold that "speed" for a long period of time. I have noticed that my breathing and lung capacity is not what it used to be, maybe because I have stopped swimming and therefore, not really training my lungs to be more hypoxic.
I have registered for Ol'Dirty 2017. Ol'Dirty 2016 totally broke me. To be honest, I am still traumatised from last year's OD but the organisers have promised that this year's route won't be as "nutso" as 2016. Maybe I am naïve to believe that they will be better organised this year and take into account the riding abilities of the greater cycling community...we will see.
I am yet to register for Amy's Gran Fondo but most likely, I will pay during August or post-tax-return. $200+ for a 120km ride is a bit steep. Another event which I have entered is Giro della Donna and this will be the A-event to train towards for 2017. So in summary for 2017:
- Ol'Dirty on the 2nd Sept, riding the CX bike
- Amy's Gran Fondo on the 17th Sept
- Daylesford Ride on the 28th October (tentative)
- Giro della Donna on the 26th Nov
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| Art of Cycling - Wattbikes |
Moving forward in training, I will aim to do at least 5 sessions a week, this includes the 3 Lead Out sessions along with at least 2 trainer sessions at home on the Zwift, beach road recovery, commute rides or a session on the track bike. To be honest, I haven't brought the track bike out since we moved out of Aspendale. When it gets too warm, not being able to carry water on the bike and not being able to coast on the bike
The best way for me to keep myself accountable for these sessions is to actually schedule them in and then tick them off. I can't be bothered with Training Peaks as I am not reporting to a coach so an excel spread sheet will do for me. For the month of August, I have my training schedule done as I know where my work locations are - working out at Glen Waverly on Wednesdays and West Melbourne on Thursdays.
In terms of body recovery and maintenance, I am going to invest in air compression sleeves for my legs to help with my DOMS and fatigue. My inflammations last longer than the normal person as I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). Weekly massages are good but I would like to use the sleeves on a daily basis to prevent lactic accumulation.
 |
| Smiling on the home trainer - just finished 2:45 on the Zwift |
In terms nutrition, I have really cut down on consuming gels during training. I only take gels on the long weekend rides and only every 60min (not 30-45min). The sessions during the week tend to be 45min through to 1:15, no need for supplements. My weight has not gone down but I am confident that I am getting stronger.
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