I try not to be too self indulgent with my blogs. It is all too easy to write about yourself and lose sight of your original aim, which should always be to pass on valuable information with each blog.
However, as I started blogging to inform you all, of my struggle to get race fit, it is important I analyse my training along the way.
I am currently out in Lanzarote for 2 weeks over Christmas. This is my annual vacation and although the weather is unseasonably wet, it is a vast improvement on the snow in the UK. As is typical over here there is always someone famous to bump into. Last week it was Mark Cavendish and Team Columbia, and the Rabobank Cycle Teams. Unfortunately they were a little too fast for me on the bike!
This week I met Harry Wiltshire (www.driventotri.com) and Robin Brew, (www.robinbrewsports.com) one of Britain’s top swim and triathlon coaches. Harry is here to avoid the British weather and to get fit, while Robin is here coaching the Kelley College swimmers. Robin was an Olympic swimmer, but I first met him when we raced for the GB elite Triathlon Team back in the late 80’s. He is still very fit and was happy to tow me round the island to kick start my cycle training.
The great thing with riding with someone with so much experience, is that neither of us felt the need to be competitive (if we had been, I think Robin would have pulled away from me at will). We just settled down into a long slow conditioning ride. Although we both try to limit our easy running because of the muscle damage it causes, we both agree that the bike is the place to do long slow conditioning work. Whereas some of my friends go the Starbucks and chill out over a coffee, we were quite happy to chat and put the world to right, while pedalling. If we were unable to talk the pace would have been too high!
An interesting note is that quite a few age groupers out here commented that they had over taken a bunch of Columbia riders, while cycling. It made me wonder who was going too fast at this time of year!
Unfortunately, I am just one week into my bike training, after many years off, and my legs are very weak. Robin reminded me that at our peak when we trained together, we would regularly lift over 175Kg leg press, sadly I would struggle to lift 100Kg at present.
While chatting, Robin reinforced my views that apart from this easy conditioning work, cycling is a power game, and I have lost most of my power. In the 80s and 90s there were no power meters so we used speedometers and heart rate monitors to try and judge our perfect pace, now I can monitor my improvement much easier as I have set up my bikes to measure my wattage output. I can visibly watch my power output increase over the next few months.
It will take a combination of steady conditioning riding, some big gear work (either hill reps or on the indoor trainer) and after talking with Robin, I think that regular visits to the local gym will need to be built into my training programme.
It is well documented that although pushing a heavy weight on the leg press does not guarantee a fast bike time, an inability to perform well at leg pressing, will ensure that you are not able to cycle fast!
Today’s take away lesson for me; is an need to get back in to the gym and start pushing some leg weights if I want to cycle well next summer.
And even though I am targeting a drafting race, never underestimate the bike leg, because if you are weak on the bike, you may still be able to hang on to a fast bunch, but you will suffer on the run afterwards…
I hope the snow eases in the UK and you can all get in some steady rides over the festive period.