by hattenburrow | Feb 8, 2014 | Coaching, Training
Last week I revisited the incredible team at Surrey Human Performance Institute for a vo2 max test. My last one was in June, when my vo2 max was 47.5 at a power of 240 watts. I was in the middle of my racing season so took on board the new training program as much as I could but with races every other weekend this wasn’t always easy. Have a look at my plan here.
When my season ended in September I really concentrated on performing anaerobic threshold sessions at a hear rate of 150 – 155 and a wattage of 180 – 200 watts. I have been doing one or two of these sessions a week along with hill sprints and strength and conditioning to build the power in my legs, i am now going to change tact and concentrate on getting in a long endurance ride every week and increasing my leg speed on tempo rides when my heart rate will be low and in a fat burning zone and my leg speed high. This will improve my oxygen use and my cycling efficiency.
After my latest VO2 max test my new VO2 max is 50.7 at a power output of 280 watts. This is a great improvement and i feel happy that all the hardwork working at AT has paid off! I think it also highlights the importance of knowing your numbers and working within heart rate zones as my performance has improved, lets just wait and see how this transfers into racing!
My new anaerobic threshold is 229 watts and a heart rate of 145 – 150. I am now working on my new training program ready for my first race in March.
by | Feb 6, 2014 | Training
How to strength hip flexors for cycling.
After completing Ride London last year, high on my cycling achievements I cracked on with training for my next big event, double Hadliegh the Olympic course, twice in two months! I developed a niggle in my knee mid August in the middle of my training and frustratingly had to pull out of the nationals. After speaking to some friends in sports science and taking their advice of using rest, ice, compression and elevation (R.I.C.E) with no ease on what seems dot be a very painful knee, I went to see a physio at Optimum Health. After explaining about my lack of training for Ride London and buying a second hand road bike I was assured it was fixable but told not to ride my road bike until I had a bike fit. It also was brought to my attention that I didn’t have a knee probable I had a hip flexor weakness.
I was given some exercises to do which really worked so I wanted to share them with you.
First of all I had to learn to bend from my hips, a basic hip bend should involve you moving your glutes backwards and keeping a straight back, then to stand up you should squeeze your glutes to push you back upright. This will make you activate your hip flexors instead of bending through your back.
Then you need to build single leg strength, standing on one leg with your hips level is a good place to start and also glute bridges, I have been doing single leg glute bridges and find there a great exercise.
The body weight Bulgarian squat is great for working right into your glutes and strengthening up this muscle group. Remember to keep your knee tracking your toe and your chest and shin parallel like in a normal squat.
A normal back squat develops power in these muscles as well as working your whole body.
Then there is the magic moves of pilates, personally pilates is one of the fundamental elements in my training as it keeps my core strong. I will talk about my favourite pilates exercises for cyclists in another post.
Once i had started to build up my strength i had a bike fit at Wyndymilla which was great it turned out i needed a new handle bar to bring my arms in so i wasn’t so stretched out.
I started my recovery rides on my mountain bike as i had very little issues when riding this bike and built up slowly to start with until i noticed i didnt have a pain any more, good times!
I have tried to keep up some of my exercises and realise now how important it is to do some strength and conditioning work to not only develop better cycling muscles but also to maintain good posture.
If you have any other hip flexor exercises i would be really interested to find out what has worked for you?
by | Jan 10, 2014 | Training
Keeping training momentum in the summer is easy, you jump from work to your bike and eat up the miles and sprint up the hills with the birds singing and the sun shining until late. In these conditions its easy to have decent training sessions and concentrate on your riding and not the elements. The winter is a whole different kettle of fish! To start with its dark by 4pm, the roads are wet and full of drivers eager to get home not looking where their going, and the single track has turned into a sticky mess (great in the light, not so great in the dark). This although sometimes good fun is not ideal training time and often makes me frustrated not feeling I can get the most out of training rides.
This is the time of year when my turn my attention to the gym and especially get into Spinning.
Spinning, when you cant get out on your bike is a fantastic way to get a high intensity workout of the muscle groups key for cycling. Spin classes have the added bonus of an instructor and loud music to keep you pumped up and pushing up that last hill climb which is great for days when your motivation is lack luster!
The high intensity of spin classes means I usually spend most of my time anaerobic (that nice place where you feel like your lungs might burst and your heart is beating out of your chest) with my heart rate above 160bpm.
High Intensity Interval Training is (according to a 2011 study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting) a great way to improve your aerobic capacity, just 2 weeks of HIIT can improve your aerobic capacity as much as 6-8 weeks of endurance training. I certainly feel like Spinning has improved my fitness and feel exhausted after a class. After a spin class I refuel with a protein shake and a carbohydrate lunch like a brown bagel and cream cheese (a little bit of fat is good for you!).
Spinning is often a sticky hot affair so its worth taking a towel and large water bottle too!
I use the spin class once or twice a week to help reduce my lactate production and enhance neuromuscular control as there are often sprints in a spin class I try and tailor this into my training plan as a fun variation to the gym.
by | Dec 15, 2013 | Training
Winter is officially upon us! The days have become shorter engulfing evening rides in darkness and frozen noses as we roll out onto yet another frozen single track or road. Personally, I love winter rides there is nothing better than the feeling of warmth that comes from within on a good outdoor training session when its close to freezing and your face is cold yet the rest of your body is toasty!
I have come up with my top tips for enjoying your winter riding whether you just doing your usual stomp to the cafe for some cake with your friends or out training ready for the new season like I am, I hope these tips will allow you to embrace winter on your bike!
Tip one:
Getting the layer balance right is crucial in the winter, to allow your sweat to be wicked away from your body leaving you feeling warm you need to invest in a good base layer, but this doesnt have to cost the earth, look out for deals in Aldi for great Crane base layers. If pennies are jingling in your pockets Under Armour also make a great base layer but it will cost you three times as much to do the same job!
Tip two:
Invest in a Buff or neck warmer of some kind, this multi use bit of kit is great for keeping the draft from sneaking into your jacket and can be pulled up around your mouth and nose if you have to stop for any pesky punctures. Also one for the girls, and maybe some guys it doubles as a great way to keep your ears warm and keep your hair out of your eyes bonus!
Tip three:
Warm feet + warm hands = comfortable, enjoyable riding. This is an area I wouldn’t skimp on buying el’cheapo products, a good pair of gloves and socks will save you from numbing as your body draws the blood away from your fingers and toes to keep you vital organs warm you need to protect these from getting too cold or it will become miserable very quickly. I would suggest Seal Skinz gloves and socks they are water proof, durable and very warm. Its very important to keep your hands warm as they are a main point of contact with your bike, cold fingers don’t work brakes as well as they some times need to when you hit that frosty corner too hard!
Tip four:
Do it with friends! From a racing perspective I do a lot of my training on my own as its difficult to do heart rate sessions with others. However, in the winter getting out with friends whether its on or off road for a bash is key to keeping up the motivation. There is also nothing better than a cold winters evening crashing through the forest getting terribly lost with a group of mates in an area you thought you new like the bCk of your hand, until the lights went out! If your friends are all imps, whimps or banjo players, then try find a local club or British Cycling coaching session to join.
Tip five:
Lights that allow you to see. It has to be said there are a lot of choices when it comes to buying bike lights but a lot of the low/middle of the range lights are no good for off road or riding where there are no street lights because they are designed for you to be seen not to see! This may sound odd, but once you spend a reasonable sum of money £40/£50 on a decent front light it will change your night riding for ever! I brought a Cree 1300lm light off eBay for £40 it is rechargeable and the battery lasts ages well worth the money.
Tip six:
Stay hydrated, in the winter it is just as important to drink as it is in the summer you may not feel like you need to drink but on cold rides it is key to keep your fluid intake up, if your going out on especially cold days and can take a flask of something hot to drink half way round this is ideal if not I tend to add a bit of squash or electrolyte supplement such as High 5 to my drinks as for some bizzar reason this seems to feel warmer than just drinking water.
Tip seven:
Bike maintenance is as important if not more important in the winter. Grit and dirt teamed with bad weather dont exactly make you feel like getting home from a good ride and standing out side to hose your bike down! So to make this process as pain free as possible, get a good dirt removing solution like Muc-Off, old towels, t-towels and even leggings make great chain and bike rags so save them cut them up and reuse them once there filthy chuck them away. Keep a separate one for cleaning your disk brakes and invest in some Muc Off disk brake cleaner this is great stuff and works wonders. Give your chain a decent coat of wet lube but remember to remove as much of the excess as possible with a rag, I try and re wipe my chain before setting out on the next ride as well this stops dirt sticking too it.
Tip eight:
Post ride nutrition, getting out for a blast after work is a great stress reliever but once your home, have lovingly washed and dried your bike, cooking a gourmet nutritionally rich dinner is probably not high on the priority list, this is the time when if your like me you will go for bad foods because they tend to be quick and easy. Stop. Prepare salads, pastas and protein and become a tuppa ware king or queen by having these in containers in the fridge. Another great option if your home too late to eat a whole meal is a recovery shake, I really like Science in Sport REGO as it is a combination of carbohydrates and protein so aids recovery as well as muscle growth and replenishes my glycogen stores. I also find it easy to drink and not bloating which is a bonus,
These are my top eight tips for staying motivated and having fun on your bikes over the winter I hope you have enjoyed my article and please comment if you have another top tip I may have missed.
by hattenburrow | Oct 20, 2013 | Kit Reviews, Training
When Giant send things through to review its like Christmas the anticipation of ripping of the tape and opening the box to discover what delights are inside to try out.
So when in October a month before my birthday a huge box big enough for me to fit in arrived at work from giant I was intrigued as to what I had been sent!
I was so excited to get my new turbo trainer home and test it out that I got it out in the office to have a quick look!
Winter has officially arrived in the UK with nights drawing in, frost on the car and bike lights a must if you’re going out. Having the luxury of being able to train indoors is brilliant and has meant I’ve kept up my training over the last couple of months.
The Giant Cyclotron turbo is very easy to set up, you just change the skewer in the back wheel of your road bike, open up the trainer and pop the bike in. It’s very heavy and feels sturdy and secure when training.
It folds away neatly into a carry bag and can be stored in a cupboard or bottom of the wardrobe which is a bonus.
The turbo has 5 levels of resistance, plus any gears you have and the effort can be made quite hard or very easy. I find I need it on about 3/4 most of the time and then just change my gears. This works well, but takes some getting used to as it took my a while to find what worked for me. It will depend what type of training you want to get out of the trainer to what setting works for you.
The turbo trainer is very sturdy I have done sprint sessions and really given it a pounding and it keeps me and the bike upright.
I tend to use the turbo in front of the TV for long tempo and AT threshold rides as I find these dull in the gym, it’s a great way to train for these rides once you get the resistance right you can just enjoy watching the TV whilst getting the miles in.
I would recommend buying a fan to use when you’re using the turbo as it gets so hot and no amount of window opening seems to cool you down (it also annoys anyone you may be living with who isn’t working out). But they could always go in the kitchen and cook your post training meal!!
The turbo trainer is noisy, but once you have the TV on loud you don’t really notice it.
I have found the turbo very useful and it’s improved my winter training by giving me no excuse not to train, however I don’t think you can beat getting out on your bike and I wouldn’t want to spend more than 2 hours on a turbo as it’s not as enjoyable as getting out on your bike, even when it’s dark and cold. You can’t beat getting out and braving the elements!
Overall my new turbo trainer has helped me put in session where I need to train in a specific heart rate zone which are hard to do out on the road and can be dull in the gym. I would recommend getting a turbo to anyone who is trying to do specific zone training as, like the gym, it’s a controlled environment.
the other great thing about turbo training is hooking it up to Strava.
Check out my other reviews for Giant here.
by | Sep 22, 2013 | Training
The last two weeks I have been training on a Wattbike, the benefits of using a Wattbike is the pedal efficiency data you can collect. When training on a Wattbike you can see the polar view which is a graph showing you one pedal revolution, the diagram shows you the stroke of each leg and the amount of power being generated in each side is shown as a percentage at the bottom of the screen.
The line shows you the angle of peak force and to improve technique you want the angle to be the same at both ends. During the cycle show before Ride London I had a Wattbike test and found out that my highest power output for my left leg was at 106 degrees and my right at 113.
The red line shown in the picture shows pedal strokes to improve performance and pedaling efficiency the idea is to make the oval as smooth as possible getting rid of the dips which show the dead space where very little or no power is being produced.
I have been working on my pedalling efficiency on the Wattbikes and have found it really useful as you can watch the diagram and feel how each stroke feels and adapt your technique as your going along. I then found when I’m on my bike I’m thinking more about stroking my foot round and how the movement feels. Training on a Wattbike has been very beneficial and I feel like my technique has improved although its not become a habit yet so I will continue to train as much as possible on a Wattbike.
I have been training at anaerobic threshold on the Wattbike and also interval sessions, I have found that the consistency at one speed in the anaerobic threshold training works better as trying to sprint and give it everything you have got and watch the diagram for pedalling efficiency is not easy!
I feel my technique has improved and I want to continue to work on this over the winter until it becomes second nature. I would highly recommend training on a Wattbike as I think it helps you to understand and use your legs more effectively.
