First 5 hour training ride of 2016

First 5 hour training ride of 2016

Now five hours riding with a coffee shop stop sounds like my ideal kind of day! However 5 hours non-stop on a training ride where you are not supposed to stop at all is hard work both mentally and physically to do.

Last weekend I rode my first five hours since my knee started to give me pain. I sorted out my nutrition before I left making sure I had fuel for every hour and enough water to keep me going for a good few hours too. I have recently started using a water bladder in my run sac so I can carry 2 liters on my back as well as a water bottle. My new Specialized Era only has room for one waterbotttle as t has a very compact frame to increase the stand over height for women.

long ride snacks

When I set out the weather was good as I rode towards buster hill and had a loop planned which would include all the good hills in the area.

The first two hours went by quickly and I felt good keeping my heart rate over 150bpm as much a is could, on long rides, especially on the road on your own it can get a bit dull I always look for spots in the distance or if I’m on a route I know only allow myself to think as far as the next hill or obstacle this keeps me focused on riding at a good even pace and means I don’t get phased by the distance still to go.

Butser Hill

By hour 3 I had reached my next considerable climb, Harting hill this one was a killer and left me with not much left in the tank! I had my third snack, a banana and carried on towards my next goal.

The weather had started to close in and the wind had picked up as I rode past Funtington it took all my energy just to stay in a straight line against the wild wind.

Long rides are as much psychological as physical and as I got near the turning for home with just under an hour to go it was hard to turn back away from home but by this time I had a new goal! I had been doing around 20km per hour so my new plan was to hit 100km this was really motivating and helped me push on when my legs were so tired, I piled in the food eating a Torq energy bar, handfuls of salted nuts and a malt loaf slice for good measure in my last hour riding.

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By the time I got home I was exhausted I had left it all out on the road. I was really proud with my achievement.

Overall I covered 100km climbed 1,261 meters and burnt 1,528 calories in 5 hours. My average heart rate was 141 and my max was 177 which is encouraging as I know I can push it higher than that and go faster.

My goal is to beat this 100km time before I go snowboarding in March.

Apricot and Nut bars

Apricot and Nut bars

Granola bars are full of slow releasing carbs great to keep you going all day. Sometime I find shop bought bars are quite sickly so I am always on the hunt for a new recipe.

Today the weather was not great for cycling, (although I did get a short training session in) but perfect for baking so I re-created this bar recipe I found to see how good they are.

Ingredients

  • 80g butter
  • 80g honey
  • 40g apricot jam
  • 80g dark brown sugar
  • 120g jumbo oats
  • 30g cashews – chopped
  • 30g sultanas
  • 30g dried apricots
  • 40g mixed seedsDry Ingredients

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 190°C. Now line a 20cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper.

2. In a large saucepan melt the butter, honey, jam and sugar together on a medium heat, stirring until dissolved.Wet Ingredients

 

3. Bring to the boil and cook for one/two minutes so that the sugar caramelises, making it a sticky sauce.

Caramalisation

3. Add the dry ingredients and mix before turning out into your tray.

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4. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes until set. Once ready just turn it out and leave to cool on a rack, cut into slices while its slight warm.

Tah Dah! Scrummy energy bars fit for long rides, although there is some refined sugar in here a lot of the sugars are natural, coming from fruit so will be released slowly during your training.

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Let me know what you think 🙂

Winter Training

Winter Training

My winter training didn’t get off to the best start, running during my off the bike month created a problem with my knee, probably due to a weak core and pretty naff hip flexors! So I had to go back to basics working on my core strength and hip flexor mobility. An MRI showed that my knee is actually in pretty good condition which was great news and meant I could concentrate on doing light training.

Over the past two weeks I have been concentrating on increasing the miles using tempo rides. Having had a sore knee I have been working closely with my coach to steadily build my training back up.(Velo Coaching)

I have been doing 2-hour tempo rides (heart rate zone 3). Training this way (avg HR 155 BPM) achieves 2 things, it allows me to condition my aerobic system whilst gradually building my base aerobic capacity without having to ride for hours in HR zone 2. Riding in this heart rate zone also maintains my lactate threshold by working the upper limits of my aerobic capacity.

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The other key session is hill repetitions, as I am gradually building back up to the level of training I would be expecting to do. I have found a hill which begins with a gradual climb and then a steeper lip. I do each rep trying to stay in the hardest gear possible, this works like on the bike weight training!

I find this very tiring and painful but enjoy feeling my muscles burn and my heart beat fast because I know I am doing everything I can to get my fitness back on track and build a solid foundation on which to increase my anaerobic capacity. After each rep I have a 3 minute recovery period.

On Friday I get my new bike from Specialized which is exciting. They have kindly agreed to support my 2016 season so during the year I will be racing and training on one of the most beautiful bikes I have ever seen! I can’t wait to see how going from riding a 27.5 to a 29er effects my training and racing results.

Vo2 Training Session

Vo2 Training Session

Today I did my second vo2 session of the week! These are lung busting short sharp efforts with minimal rest in between.

I have been at home this week so found a loop on quiet country roads which was around 2 miles and sprinted round as fast as I could.

My best time was 6 mins 33 seconds with a max heart rate of 186 bpm.

I did four efforts which is an increase of one effort and between each one I had a 2 min rest.

Altogether I did 19 mins at my threshold heart rate (between 168 – 186) which i am really pleased with.

Cycling along the beach at Benacre

 

Moving house and training don’t mix….

Moving house and training don’t mix….

The pressure of moving house has really impacted on my training and in the last three weeks ive missed two races including the national championship race and hardly sat on my bike for more than 30 minutes!

Martyn and I are now finally settled in our first home together and ready for the challenge of renovating! I do wonder sometimes how im going to manage renovating, working, coaching and training but where there’s a will there’s a way!

The decision to not train over the last couple of weeks has been really hard I feel guilty for not training but with so much going on my body started to show signs that it needed a break from the pressure before it cracked.

I am now feeling more settled and having unpacked most of our stuff the house is starting to feel more like a home and so I feel comfortable enough to start training again and not feel like there is loads of other jobs to do on top of that.

Training started with a bang yesterday. A tempo session for two hours, after 20 minutes I wondered how I could even ride for two hours let along at any pace. Luckily it did get easier and I finished my two hours feeling good for achieving something I had felt was impossible.

After uploading my results to training peaks it’s clear to see that my time spent at tempo was low compared to what I’m capable of. This I aim to change.

I think this break has made me rethink my priorities it is really important when you have such a small focus to sometimes step back and see if that still sits with your values and I believe that training and racing does still belong as a big part of my life, however I would like to keep challenging myself. Part of this development has been moving from cross country to longer endurance rides which so far seem to suit me.

My next focus race is now the Scott MTB Mega Marathon at the start of August. After this I will be preparing for Torq 12:12 and taking it on solo!

Wish me luck…

Thanks to all my sponsors and support network I couldn’t do it without you. x