As you will have seen in the recent club news on the website -  I have finally been awarded the level 3 British Cycling Coaching Qualification - Road and Time Trial Award.  I am your club coach and I do offer personal coaching for riders or one off consultations.  This consultation can be formal testing or a ride out.  Prices and details are in the website under the 'training' section.

However as club members if you have any general  questions about training then you can post them on this forum and I will answer your questions and give you some general advice.

mike scott said:

Well done on your level 3, what are your plans from level 3 how far can you go.

Anyway for a ride about 80 miles, what food would you take with you if you was not planning any cafe stops.

Hi Mike

Good question especially with our 80 mile hilly ride on 14th Nov.

Two things to consider when out on the bike hydration and nutrition.  With regard to hydration I would recommend:

On the ride consume 100ml or 150ml of water every 15 - 20 mins so around a 500ml or 3/4 of a 750ml bottle per hour would be a good guide.  

Remember dehydration results in poor performance as much as 20% for 2% dehydration.   So you may need to top up at the cafe stop!

With regard to nutrition

This will give you your energy and anything over 60 mins and therefore your 80 mile ride you will need some carbohydrate with the water.  This will boost energy levels.  You should look for a drink or powder supplement that is isotonic that will provide some salts to help absorpton but also aim for around 5-8% carbohydrate.   There are plenty of commercial products available from Torq or SIS.  You can also make your own up using glucose or maltodextrin with squash.   If you need the exact details on this homemade version let me know.

You should drink on the bike and start within the first 20 mins of the ride and take a drink little and often which will maintain hydration and energy throughout the ride.

On the 80 mile ride I would also supplement your hydration with some solid food.  The amount you will require is dependent and different for each rider it is also dependent as to the pace of the ride as different levels of fat and carbohydrate is consumed at different paces. 

To give you an idea a 3 hour ride at steady state effort (around zone 3 HR) will exhaust your reserves of carbohydrate in your body and it can take 36 hours to regenerate them.  This gives you an idea of the importance of the carbo drink but this carbo drink will not give you enough for our hilly 80 mile ride.  So my suggestion would be something like - bananas, dried fruit, cereal bars (low fat ones) or commercial energy bars. to supplement the carbo drink.  Again little bites and often start taking small amounts within the first hour and continue throughout the ride dont wait until you are hungry to eat. 

On your return home  eat some carbohydrates and protein on a ratio of 4 parts carbohydrates to 1 part protein.  Make sure you eat about 50g (average) within 30-60 minutes of your return home.  This 50 g would be equivalent to three slices of toast or two slices with jam or honey or  2-3 bananas.

Thanks for the question and your congratulations for the level 3.  I cannot do anything else at the moment this course is the highest level offered by British Cycling but eventually they will go up to level 5.  My plans are just to get as much experience as I can and I hate to think what a level 4 course will be like.  To give you an idea level 3 took 9 months and took 8 days instruction, assessments and plus a portfolio and evaluation of my training which took 3 months for British Cycling to mark.    

What about training on a turbo trainer in bad weather, how long should I warm up and down and how long should I be on it for.

mike scott said:

What about training on a turbo trainer in bad weather, how long should I warm up and down and how long should I be on it for.

Mike all depends how hard you are working in the session.  However generally 10 mins warm up fast easy cadence before you start the session.  The cool down again around 10 mins - 5 mins easy spin and bringing the HR back down then some stretches would suffice.  Generally I find most riders can only do around 60mins at the most including the warm up and cool down although I met one triathlete who did 4 hours one afternoon……but he was an exception to the rule and I dont think he rushed back to do that again. 

If you want to do a turbo session I would recommend the chris carmichael training DVDs which you can watch whilst doing the session and just follow the instructions makes it a bit more interesting. 

Keep turbo session as hard sessions and generally with intervals around zone 4 82-89% of Max heart rate or zone 5 89% - 94% of max HR.

are turbo-trainers any good? i'm thinking about getting one but I don't know much about them or what spec to look for in one

Matt Schofield said:

are turbo-trainers any good? i'm thinking about getting one but I don't know much about them or what spec to look for in one

Matt

Love them or hate them they are good for training when the weather is bad, you are short of time or you want a controlled interval session.

The turbos have different types of resistance:

1. air resistance - these are noisy with a fan wheel.  These were the original type but not good for using in the house>
2. Fluid - the fan is sat in some oil so it is quieter and smooth.
3. Magnetic - not as smooth as fluid but still quieter than air resistance.
4. electronic - expensive very expensive! .
5. Last is an indoor trainer that is seeing a large comeback and is good for balance - rollers. Difficult to master. 

You can pick up plenty of second hand indoor trainers.  Have a look on ebay and see if anyone in the club is selling one also speak to debbie and see what you can get new in your budget.  In the meantime if you want to borrow one then let me know I have one you can borrow to see if you like the concept!

Well thats the one I have that you can borrow - the model iI have has resistance. 

Coach - 172.5, 175 or 177.5 ??? and the reasons behind the answer.

(5ft 11in with slightly longer legs than the height would sugest)

Cheers

Yesterday, I went for a run. Its been a few months since my last run and think that it is a good work out for the time you do it. I usualy keep my running to a minimum - just over the bleak winter months.

Why do my legs ache so much the day after? I know after a few weeks of running again, the ache does go, but why the initial “hurt” the following day? What is happening to my muscles?

To spin, or not to spin. You may know that I am a spinner! But I have read that there is a benefit for mixing it up. Ive seen a lot of TT'ers with a really slow cadence. I want to do well in TT's next year - I want to beat Tommo - should I practice a slower, more powerful cadence?

Thanks for the last reply by the way.

matthew said:

Yesterday, I went for a run. Its been a few months since my last run and think that it is a good work out for the time you do it. I usualy keep my running to a minimum - just over the bleak winter months.

Why do my legs ache so much the day after? I know after a few weeks of running again, the ache does go, but why the initial “hurt” the following day? What is happening to my muscles?

To spin, or not to spin. You may know that I am a spinner! But I have read that there is a benefit for mixing it up. Ive seen a lot of TT'ers with a really slow cadence. I want to do well in TT's next year - I want to beat Tommo - should I practice a slower, more powerful cadence?

Thanks for the last reply by the way.

Is the aching from fatigue and not aches around joints?  If it is aching and I think that is what you are talking about then this fatigue will be from microscopic tears from doing an exercise you are not used to this fatigue is sometimes called DOMS or delayed onset mucsle soreness downhill runing causes the most soreness.  There is also some schools of thought that say it is the repair of the muscle which causes soreness.  This repair causes swelling of the muscle in their compartments which causes the pressure and pain.

Spin or not is not the issue - Power is what you need more of it - which is created by faster cadence and harder gears.  You need to build strength to be able to push a larger gear. This strength training can be done on the bike or off with weight training.  The best is weight training.  Yes pushing a big gear will help to build strength but you need to do speed work as well then put them both together.          

Feel is the most important factor when you're on the bike don't forget that.

I dropped my bars down during the summer to there lowest setting which was 15mm down on what I started with at the start of the year. The thinking was 'super low = super aero', wrong I was to cramped up and couldn't breath as well due to the fact that my chest (lungs) were lower as well, also there was more pressure on my lower back. With the bars higher up I am much more comfortable and the result is faster times even though it's less aero. Hutch is the same if you look at his position, it's very 'sit-up' and un-aero.

The change in cranks will therefore not be an issue with knees hitting chest as there are no where near anyway + my saddle is a little too low as it is so the 5mm crank drop might make it just right.

If Bowdler uses 165mm don't worry about it he has a very weird set-up anyway with a mega chainring with 70 odd teeth. I've talked to loads of top TT'ers this year and 177.5's are the norm.

29ers are reckonmended for taller folk, i for one will be sticking to 26 i think

Yes Dan …get your own thread

You can lose the same amount of water in winter and under that warm clothing you can easily lose a bit more…so keep drinking well!

Oh so true. I take out the same amount of liquid as I do when in the Summer. Its cold when it goes down the throat, but its still needed.

Toms said:

coach…. are rollers any good for you other than improving balance?

thank you.

Rollers are also regarded as being not only good for balance but also for developing a good smooth cadence. 

Yes it is & yes they will but make sure there is enough 31.8mm width to fit the tt bars. Some handlebars (eg.Deda) are 31.8 for the clamp but then go down to standard size soon after for the tape area, this looks better as when the tape is fitted as the bars look the same width right accross the top of the bar. I had some in the past and the tt bars would fit but only with 'packer' tape wrapped round the edges of the tt clamps.

matthew said:

Re. an earlier post….

Running is now not a proplem - Great.

Mandy (my partner) has now said “Of course I will support you if you want to do the London Marathon”

How could I fit this in with my training for CYCLE road racing?

Should I bother?

Are the two disciplines that far from each other that it cannot be done.?

Matthew yes you can do two disciplines Triathletes do three.  To do well in both means an increase is training time. 

As a rule road racers will be doing around 13 hours a week then you have to fit in your running…..hope Mandy is very supportive! 

If this it too much of an ask then you have to decide which is most important to you and amend your training to suit.

If you have stayed on it and not fallen off that's a bonus.

coach.. how long away from the bike is too long?

What if you've been off the bike for 3-4 months?