40, first race 30 days, what to do?



stormer94

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May 19, 2004
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Hi guys and gals. :)

Here's the scoop and my background in a nutshell. I used to ride a lot with a buddy about 10 years ago. Never raced or anything just rode, sprinted, had fun, He moved, I lost my riding buddy, and well, it isn't the same to ride around by yourself, so I found other things to do, got fat, etc. I was approaching 40 at 230 pounds and thought this is no way to go through life, so for the last year I have been working my way into shape through regular cardio and weight lifting. I now weigh 180 (dropped 50 pounds) and I would say I am reasonably fit, and look good in Lycra, can't ask for more than that. and that's quite a stretch for some people, pun intended... lol.

I'm in a small town in Montana, and we have no organized racing, riding, or anything within a 5 hour drive in any direction. Our town has a large foot race every year that has grown to huge proportions, and this year they expect 400 runners. Last year they started a cycling class last year. I went, I watched, I drooled, and wished I was out there with them.

Well, this year, I'M FREAKING GOING!!!

Here's the scoop on the event. It's local, I'm sure adhere's to no national standards of any kind. It's once around a 10 mile loop (mostly flat). I've got a trek oclv5200 with Rolf wheels on it. Wheels are new, bike is about 8-9 years old, but looks new, and I'm happy with it. (Crikey, it's only got about 500 miles on it!)

I have 30 days to get myself as ready as possible. The weather has been rainy and crappy here for about 3 weeks, and I can't get outside to ride. I normally do about 30 minutes of good elliptical cardio every other day after a 30 minute ab workout which alternates with about 30 minutes of upper body weights every other day.

My resting pulse is 49. Today, I did about 40 minutes of cardio with an average wattage around 250 with some occaisional stuff in the 275 watt range, with pulse in the 145-150 range the whole time, with an occaisonal surge to 160 while chasing 275-280 watts. I'm no couch potato, but am at least actively pursuing health. :)

Here's the open ended question. If I have 30 days to train for a race that I'm going to guess I can do in 35-40 minutes, what should I be doing for excercises and recovery periods?

I intend to have fun and enjoy myself, but want to give myself every opportunity to shine if possible. I feel I can endure some suffering but don't want to kill myself. Just some local pride and the personal knowledge that the chubby guy got his act together.

Any and all help appreciated.

Thanks for your input,
 
Short answer: ride, ride, ride.

What do you mean, it's too rainy and crappy to ride? There is no such thing as bad weather - only bad clothing!

I don't think you will have good results training for a race on an elliptical machine, so get on your bike and practice the course, or a route that is similar.

To be honest there is not a lot of structured training that can be done to get results in 30 days, so consider this year an experiment, to get your bearings and find out what you need to focus on for next year. If you are looking for advice for a training program for a race that is 13 months away, you will get lots here, but start by reading through some of the older threads first. Also, there are good books out there, check out Joe Friel's books for starters.

BTW, awesome weight loss - way to go!
 
Start training 4 months ago, that's what I suggest. ;-)

Above poster has it right, although you can try a couple weeks of 2 or 3 workouts/week of some really hard intervals. Make the week going into the race something less difficult, though.
 
Yep I agree, four months ago would have been good. But its too late for that now so I'd spend the next three weeks doing intervals aimed at raising your lactate threshold, I reckon that will be your biggest limiter, especially for a ten mile race. Then get some rest before the big day.
You should find loads of info in older threads, if not buy Joe Friels book.

Good luck
 
Originally posted by Goldfishboy
Yep I agree, four months ago would have been good. But its too late for that now so I'd spend the next three weeks doing intervals aimed at raising your lactate threshold, I reckon that will be your biggest limiter, especially for a ten mile race. Then get some rest before the big day.
You should find loads of info in older threads, if not buy Joe Friels book.

Good luck

Actually, I've been doing a lot of cardio, just not on a bike, all elliptical (but nearly 4-5 times a week for almost a year). BUT, I feel there are some similarities, and cardio fitness is cardio fitness. The question is will the legs hold? I dragged out the computrainer I bought in 1994 (and never used... kids, commitments, yadda...) outta the closet and had a good ride today indoors. 40 degrees and raining cats and dogs.

The wattages shown were different from what I've been seeing, but the legs, and pulse felt good. I did the 10 mile beginner course in 33 minutes, pulse never went over 160 and I felt I was spinning good circles (but had to concentrate).

No cramping, no lactate issues, at 85-90% of my max heart rate. I wouldn't say I suffered, but it was work. I went and bought a fan today to put in front of the bike so I don't overheat.

I'm gonna take tomorrow off for weight training of the upper body, and ride hard again on Tuesday (indoors). I'm gonna race the 10 mile course again, and then maybe do some ab work for 1/2 hour.

RANDYBAKER99, There is bad weather and bad clothing, and if the weathers bad I don't like to be in it ;) Better to have an alternate plan (ride indoors) or whatever keeps a person motivated. Excercise is excercise, I find my motivation where I can and make it fun for myself. :) Dirty bike, diry water all over youreslf, wet mucky shoes, *ick... heheh If it happens on race day, I'll deal with it and "toughen up". LOL

Based on what I read from those that took the time to post, and my own inclinations, I believe I'm likely to try and do my cardio training every other day for the next 4 weeks on the bike (45 minutes to an hour per session). Hit some hills and get the "Man Hardware" re-aquainted with the seat. I used to have a problem with some numbness in that special area. I picked up a more man friendly seat and am going to try and run it on Tuesday.

I don't feel I'm in miserable shape, but not any kind of tour champion either, as I can pull off 85-90% of my max heart rate with no leg troubles, although I felt they were right on the edge, but I never went over. I feel that for my age, I'm in good shape. The real question is just how good or bad are the people I have to race against? Don't know. I'm guessing some pretty average folks. I've given myself some good advanatage with equipment, but I gotta be honest, if I get beat by a 40 year old dude with a beer gut riding a mountain bike with 15 pounds of air in the tires, I'm gonna huck my bike in the dumpster and take up bowling.... LOL :D
 
I agree with earlier poster...ride, ride, ride outdoors or indoors on trainer. Try 4-5 times per week - most nice and easy, with 1-2 harder rides where you push yourself then recover then push then recover.

Your running/elliptical training has probably been good (especially to lose weight), but if you don't want to get fleeced in the race you will hav eto get out on the bike regardless of the weather. You will be using totally different muscles...(trust me I have done tri's). Good luck in any event....
 
Paul,

I was doing some searching and see you also had posts relating to the computrainer. I have one, dug it out, ordered up the 3d upgrade stuff (got here today, haven't hooked up the upgrades yet.)

I got my sorry **** bolted to it to the old version a few days ago, and have so far done (3) 10 mile rides to get myself some time in the saddle. I did the beginner course, first one in the 10 mile segment and knocked it out in what I'm gonna guess is probably "average" noobie time of 33 minutes 20 seconds. At least I hope it's at the very least "average"... lol

I tried to keep my heart rate in the 140-150 range, and let it drift higher as the race neared completion. Saw some 155-160 for the last few minutes. All 3 rides have been pretty similar as I get used to things. Today I averaged 140 watts for the 33 minutes. I'd like to say it was 210 for my fragile ego's sake, but 140 was what it was... :)

Looks as though my wind and legs are about even. I can hold the pulse where I need to and the legs are fine, not "GREAT" but fine. So far I haven't noticed any lactate buildup or agony in the legs. Whatever my lactic threshold is, it's not at 85-90% of my MHR. But I bet I'm knocking on the door, probably 91%. I have no idea what is good, bad or otherwise for a 40 year old plugger.

Computrainer specific question, I get some squeaking from wheel slippage when climbing. I'm worried that excessive tire pressure on the load generator is going to effect the accuracy of the unit and cause my readings to be low because of the increased drag. Should I "cowboy up" and tighten the wheel to the load generator and add the drag, or let it slip a bit when the going gets tough?

Also, can you run the 3d version on a TV or does it need to be on a PC only and you view the monitor while riding? I really don't mind the old nintendo version on the TV, but want to be able to see my stuff on the computer screen (I suffered through it and kind of feel viewing it later might keep me inspired and interested.)

I'd be curious to see how fast somebody that sounds capable as yourself can run that 10 mile rookie course.... maybe I don't want to know... :D
 
Originally posted by stormer94
Paul,

I was doing some searching and see you also had posts relating to the computrainer. I have one, dug it out, ordered up the 3d upgrade stuff (got here today, haven't hooked up the upgrades yet.)

I got my sorry **** bolted to it to the old version a few days ago, and have so far done (3) 10 mile rides to get myself some time in the saddle. I did the beginner course, first one in the 10 mile segment and knocked it out in what I'm gonna guess is probably "average" noobie time of 33 minutes 20 seconds. At least I hope it's at the very least "average"... lol

I tried to keep my heart rate in the 140-150 range, and let it drift higher as the race neared completion. Saw some 155-160 for the last few minutes. All 3 rides have been pretty similar as I get used to things. Today I averaged 140 watts for the 33 minutes. I'd like to say it was 210 for my fragile ego's sake, but 140 was what it was... :)

Looks as though my wind and legs are about even. I can hold the pulse where I need to and the legs are fine, not "GREAT" but fine. So far I haven't noticed any lactate buildup or agony in the legs. Whatever my lactic threshold is, it's not at 85-90% of my MHR. But I bet I'm knocking on the door, probably 91%. I have no idea what is good, bad or otherwise for a 40 year old plugger.

Computrainer specific question, I get some squeaking from wheel slippage when climbing. I'm worried that excessive tire pressure on the load generator is going to effect the accuracy of the unit and cause my readings to be low because of the increased drag. Should I "cowboy up" and tighten the wheel to the load generator and add the drag, or let it slip a bit when the going gets tough?

Also, can you run the 3d version on a TV or does it need to be on a PC only and you view the monitor while riding? I really don't mind the old nintendo version on the TV, but want to be able to see my stuff on the computer screen (I suffered through it and kind of feel viewing it later might keep me inspired and interested.)

I'd be curious to see how fast somebody that sounds capable as yourself can run that 10 mile rookie course.... maybe I don't want to know... :D

When you are getting wheel slippage as in the case of hills on a program or riding high wattages in manual mode, you should increase the tension against the wheel. However you really should only have to do that at really high wattages. I have done workouts doing short intervals in the 500-600 watt range with no slippage, so maybe you should look at your tire pressure as well.

Before every ride you should manually recalibrate the computrainer before you start a pre-pogrammed course (don't plug it into PC - you should ride for 5 minutes or so and then check calibration by pressing +/- at same time - spinning up past 34 and then stop pedalling - the number should read close to 2.0 - if higher, decrease tension at back - if lower, increase tension - once you get near 2.0, press f3 to calibrate). If doing hills, set tension slightly higher - spin up to calibrate -it should be more than 2.0 - but then hit f3 so the computrainer adjusts for the increased tire pressure when you start program..

I am also 40, but am probably not the right person to calibrate your training against as I have been training for 2 years now pretty religiously. I ride the computrainer in manual mode at 160-200 watts for 1-2 hours for easy zone 1 rides and 280-350 when doing 5-10 minute lactate intervals. My wattage during 15-20 minute TTs on the computrainer is around 300. I think your average 140 watts during that course is a good effort given the amount of training you have been doing. I expect that in the race one of two things will happen...1) the wattage you ride at will allow you to ride in a pack drafting at a pretty good pace ( in the low 30 km/hr speed)....or 2) there may be a number of faster racers that blow out at a speed that you will not be able to hang with. If that is the case, you will need to recognize that and just slip back down to your own hr/wattage capabilities

You may want to do a few higher wattage short interval workouts in the 200s range to give you a chance to stay with the pack when there are some surges..

Finally, in terms of monitors, I think that you can hook up to either a TV or video display. The TV may need a special adaptor though....

Good luck - any other computrainer questions - just reply....
 
Paul, thanks for taking the time to write.

My vesion of the CT is like 3.2 from the end of 1993. Looks like I don't have that option in there to set the calibration. I read the docs and unless I overlooked it, it's not there.

I've got the new version (3d) here, just haven't gotten a PC free'd up to do it yet. I've got an old 450 p3 that might do the trick with a 19" monitor. Gonna start on that this weekend. I just want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row when I convert everything.

I cleaned the tire properly and inflated it to spec. Just seems like there is a lot of static drag. Although I couldn't do the calibration you mentioned (unsupported feature on mine), I did for fun spin it up to 30mph and then let off and time how long it took for rear tire to coast to a stop, took about 9 seconds. By the way 30mph is no easy feat... :eek: I looked at the wattage while I was fumbling away on a -2 downhill trying to get to 30mph and it was 375+ watts... Tough Going... Crikey!!!

I'm going for another ride in the morning. I'm still sore a bit in the quads, I'm hoping that it will lessen by the morning. A good warm up should loosen things up and we'll hit it again.

I'm thinking of doing 10 miles every other day for about another 3-4 rides, and then doing like maybe 13-15 mile rides to get my endurance up a bit. Maybe toss in some interval stuff like you mention. I enjoyed HIIT training on the elliptical, and I suspect it will be the same on the bike.

The intervals I was doing were watt based as you suggested, but just something I worked out that seemed to fit my level of fitmess. 60-90 seconds of hard effort (trying to hit about 90% of MHR) followed by 60 seconds of slowed effort recovery. repeat over and over for about 20-25 minutes.

My recovery seems pretty good, and my resting heartrate is down from the 72 it was a year ago, to 49 or so. I realize that heartrate is no indication of fitness, but something is getting better and I recover faster. :)
 
Road the CT today. I feel I made improvements. I improved my time for 10 miles by about 10 seconds over the last time. Averaged 143 watts up from 140. Pulse for 33+ minutes averaged 150.

On a +5 climb I was able to hold 200 watts for the hill, but don't kid yourself, I was suffering at 155-160 pulse. :)

That ride was about all I had to give at this point. I didn't hold back much. It seems it's harder to hold wattage going down a hill?

Legs are holding out.

Gonna ride again Saturday.
 
Originally posted by stormer94
Road the CT today. I feel I made improvements. I improved my time for 10 miles by about 10 seconds over the last time. Averaged 143 watts up from 140. Pulse for 33+ minutes averaged 150.

On a +5 climb I was able to hold 200 watts for the hill, but don't kid yourself, I was suffering at 155-160 pulse. :)

That ride was about all I had to give at this point. I didn't hold back much. It seems it's harder to hold wattage going down a hill?

Legs are holding out.

Gonna ride again Saturday.

Sounds good - btw - the calibration to spin it up to was just a number that is used on the computraioner 3d - it is not speed but some raw calibration number - it was also 24.00, not 34.00 (I checked this morning)...If you are averaging 145 or so on the ride and did a hill at 200 (how many minutes?), you should try doing 4x (2 minutes up at say 180 watts, 2 minutes down at 140 watts), then recover for a while at around 100 watts. This would be a pretty good check of how you may be able to surge and recover, surge and recover during your race...
 
I'll have to try some interval stuff like that. I haven't looked much but I think you can find some flat ground in the CT somewhere and just ride.

Might try those on Saturday. :)

Thanks for the input. 16 days to race day.

I realize that I'm not going to improve much, Or have much time to recover in the next 2 weeks. I feel time in the saddle, as I've read here before, is pretty critical.

Should I ride every day? The problem I see with that is that if I ride hard, I really should recover for 48 hours. Would I be better off to ride hard one day at 80-90%mhr (144-162), and then sluff the next day in the saddle at 70-75% (126-135) to recover rather than take the day off?

Also, 126-135 doesn't seem like much when I'm working out, seems like I can be at 145 forever and take it, so slacking off almost seems worse to me than taking the day off.

At this point I can roll at 145bpm for what seems forever, it's a comfortable spot. 150 is working, 155 is REALLY starting to be uncomfortable but survivable and 160-165 is where I end up at the top of a climb and I'm about wiped out. I don't know that running myself at 91-93% of mhr is a good plan.
 
This whole thread started with . . . "What do I do in the next four weeks", and the response . . . "start 3 months ago".


First of all, if you have the cash, get the latest versions of the CompuTrainer that allows it to be calibrated. Without calibration, the power measurements are a guess.

2nd, when you ride, the gear you use is somewhat meaningful as it relates to the cadence. You should probably pick a 53x17 gear, and a cadence of 90rpm.

3rd, to improve your overall fitness, you want to train in low zone 1 (depends on the person, but for me that is in the 115bpm-130bpm range). This is how your muscles and heart adapt to doing more work at lower heart rates. Over months your power will improve, and early on, like you are, the improvements are huge in the first 3-4 months.

Intervals are necessary to improve speed, but for someone who has been working their way back to fitness, focus on base aerobic fitness so you don't blow up your body or your plan later.

As for how often? Well, you shouldn't be doing high intensity work too often, maybe twice a week if you disagree that you need to build a great base first. Riding 3-6 days a week (more is better) is good, but whatever you do, take 1 day a week off to rest. No exercise at all, just clean the bike, read the CT manual, build that computer, or go out to dinner and a movie to celebrate all those calories you have burned.

I hope that helps.

Regards.
 
Rode again today. Felt good. I finished faster with less watts and with less average heart rate used. I ran the 10 mile course in about 33:06, the best yet.

Instead of trying to just put out at 150-155 pulse for 30-40 minutes, I might do some longer times at lower pulse, make it a bit more enjoyable. Maybe take an hour long ride tonight at 120-130 or so. Just piddle around. I'm starting to believe that most of your are right on the money. What it comes down to is there is no substitute for time in the saddle.

I'm gonna guess that my aerobic conditioning is "reasonable". that the strength of my legs could be improved, thereby allowing more watts with less perceived effort. At this point, and with 2 weeks to go, I'm gonna concentrate on leg strength, I'd be willing to bet it's my weakest area. And I hate to use the word "weak". LOL... I think I can make better gains in legs strength than in aerobic capaicty at this point.

So, to gain leg strength, it seems to me that time in the saddle, sprinting, and having fun is actually gonna help quite a bit. Oh yea, and I'm trying to keep my cadence up and concetrate on spinning smoothly.