"jumping, "intervals", and "gear chasers

Okay, I read some things and I have some questions.

Coach Carl's website refers to "jumping" as a way to train for climbing hills. What exactly is he referring to? Jumping on my bike? What?

And, can someone give me a brief explanation or example of interval training?

Also, Coach Carl has a whole section on "Gear Chasers". The section is written to tell you how to train to climb hills better and easier. Quite honestly, I read the thing several times (I'm not stupid...college degree and everything) but, maybe I am just lost on the lingo. I don't know what he is saying to do or not to do. Sounds like many of you know of his site. Anyone want to give a stab at explaining this to me?

 

My you sure are "persistent". Anyway, "jumping" refers to getting out of the saddle and pedalling hard. This is most often done on hills and enables you to accelerate more forcefully when climbing. They can also be done on the flats to increase sprinting ability. "Intervals" are basically what they are. They can be either intervals of time or distance in which you increase your intensity over that prescribed time or distance. This is followed by a brief rest period in which you recover. (i.e. heart rate returns to pre-"interval" state, lactic acid flushes out, etc.) The volume of intervals should be relative to your fitness level or for what you may be training for. I suppose you're wondering how you can increase your intensity. Well, for one, you can increase cadence. Two, you can increase resistance. (Crank bigger gears) And three (also in a way increasing resistance), change terrain- DO HILLS. I personally would recommend getting in at least 500 base miles before you attempt any intervals as they are very demanding. Also, I would start off doing like one session a week. I don't claim to be an expert as I am fairly new to the game myself. But, I do have some basic knowledge of training through years of other training and reading. "Gear Chasers" is something I'm not familiar with but I'm sure someone else on the site can answer that one for you. They are very knowledgeable. Good luck and keep spinning!

 

Good morning Pesistence!

Inerval training is God's gift to athletes. Why? Because it boosts our cruising speed. With enough interval training, you will notice that you are cruising faster. Intervals are usually done after you have established enough base training.....otherwise, it will not do much good for you. OTOH, I have read articles stating that intervals may be done as a part of base training. For example, you may do a 2 hour ride, and do intervals for say, 30 mins of it. I don't know if that is good for your training though...no negative remarks about it yet from this or the other message boards I visit.

Ok, so let's get into explaining what interval traiing is. If you check Coach Cantrell's website, he gives an example of interval training:

15 secs. all out pedalling
45 secs. easy pedalling

Do 4 sets of these then rest 5 minutes then do 4 more sets, rest 5 mins., then do 4 more.

Basically, interval training is going hard for a period of time, resting (longer than the length of going all out), then going hard again, and so on.....

Hope this helped you. The others may give a more 'experienced' explanation of intervals. Like you, I am sort of a newbie having just started 'training' less than a year ago.

Cheers!

 

Persistence Gidday ;D

One thing you can do is during your rides lift the speed for between 300 and 500 metres. Return to your cruising speed then take it back up for a further 300 to 500 metres.

By doing this you will increase your strength and overall cruising speed. 8) 8)

 

Okay, I guess experience answers most questions...

Mook, as you said, I got up out of the saddle. I tried this on a trail that I knew had some relatively short, less steep hills, to sort of get the feel for it. I noticed a difference right away. Where my friends used to cream me, I was now keeping up. Can't say that I am ready to do this on my steeper trails, but I can work up to it. Also noticed my average speed was way up because I wasn't loosing so much time on the hills as before. Cool!

I think that I will do intervals at a later stage in my training. Right now, I think I will concentrate on "jumping" those hills, increasing my speed, and my distance....and getting stronger in general.

Anyway, just rambling over my morning coffee and Harry Connick Jr.

Thanks again, guys!

 

Oh, and I figured out what Coach Carl meant by "gear chasers".

These are the folks that run around looking for that perfect gear to help them climb better, instead of "jumping" those hills. So, gears help, but learn to jump those hills and that will help you more than trying to search for that perfect gear. That was what I got out of it. And, I think it is true. My friend has a triathalon bike (Quintana Roo) and he doesn't have the exquisite choice of gears that I do. Yet, he was still creaming me on those hills. With all the gears in the world on my Trek, it wasn't helping me that much. Yet, when I got out of the saddle, I found myself having to slowdown a bit to keep from half-wheeling him on the hills. Cool!

 

Persistence-
You mentioned getting a TT bike someday.
When you get it, you will want to practice climbing on it. It probably isn't that he does't have as many gears (most TT bikes have at least 16+), it is that he most likely has a bigger front ring and smaller rears. Most TT riders crank harder gears, there are every few great spinners out there who do well in TT because it is difficult and uncomfortable to spin in an aero position. My TT bike is geared so that I can't even do our hillclimb ride on it without tearing up my knees. TT bikes because of the gearing designed for speed are also GREAT to use for intervals.

When you climb also try sitting an spinning for 1 minute and standing for 30 secs...repeat etc. It's a great way to get you legs used to standing on long climbs. Switch to a more difficult gear to stand and switch back down when sitting.

ciao!

 

Remember persistence that it is more efficent to climb in the saddle than out of the saddle at any given pace. Standing up may make you go over your lactate threshold or even achieve VO2 max even though you were comfortable at the same speed when seated. Standing up is usefull as it alows you to produce more power, so that you can accelerate or get over that hard bit of the hill. But you should always think about returning to the saddle as soon as you can in races to (1) save energy and (2) use the energy more efficently. Remember all you have to do as a bike racer is go forward as fast as you can (well at least in TT's)!