by hattenburrow | Apr 14, 2016 | Training
Training for the Trans Alp is going well I have been working on my stamina doing long 5 hour steady rides where the key is working on my fuelling and also keeping a consistent pace. I am working on breaking the 100km in 5 hour barrier which is my goal!
There is only four months to go now which is really daunting and exciting. I have such a mixture of emotions as the Trans Alp gets closer, my fitness has improved and I feel stronger than I have ever done, but I still have weak days. Days when I don’t know if I can keep going and days when I question my motivations behind taking on such a challenge.
On days when I feel like this I find sometimes its good to just go and ride to remember why I love being on my bike and the freedom that comes with being out in the countryside on two wheels. Check out my latest training rides on my you tube channel and please subscribe it’s a work in progress!
Getting ready for a stage race is very different to anything I have ever experienced because there is a lot more pressure. Michelle and I have been working hard together to make sure not only our bodies are up to the challenge but we need bikes that can cope with big days of knarly trails and our heads can cope with day after day of keeping focused on being race ready. It has been really fun to have a friend and team mate to bounce off it makes training and nerves easier to deal with because someone is there who gets it.
The fun side of all this preparation has been designing our new team kit! It has been good fun and we are finally ready to give a sneak preview! What do you think?
This weekend I am off to my first cross country race of the year. I am keen to see how my speed has improved, I know it has but as I have been concentrating on endurance it will be interesting to see how I can perform in a cross country event.
I will let you know how it goes!
by hattenburrow | Mar 2, 2016 | Training
Today was my long ride training day. I had checked out the forecast and it was sunny until about 11 and then predicted rain, as a time crunched cyclist I don’t have the luxury of being able to pick and choose so I can train in good weather. So I pulled on an extra layer and headed out towards dark clouds but with the sun on my back for now…
On long rides it’s as much about mental preparation as physical if your head is not in the game your body might as well pack up and go watch TV. So I always have a goal to keep my head focused on something other than the minutes ticking by.
My goal for the past couple of weeks has been 100km in 5 hours, after my race result on Saturday I had seen how capable I was of pushing my body further for longer, so today my aim was get over the 100km barrier.
I set off at an easy pace knowing it takes me about 30 minutes to settle in and then I pushed on trying to keep my heart rate above 150.
When you’re trying to stay in a heart rate zone on the road it is pretty difficult because of the natural rise and fall in the landscape, however hard you push up hill when you get to the downhill fitness will decided on how rapidly your heart rate falls, I am pleased to say my fitness is really good at the moment and my heart rate drops really quickly as soon as I start going downhill.
After 2 hours I was making really good progress and had worked my way up a few good hills including Butser. It was half way up Lynch hill when the heavens opened and it started to hail, yes hail, with such force that it stung my arms through my jacket. With nothing to do apart from keeping pushing on that is what I did, 20 minutes in and I was soaked through and now desperately wishing for a long hill climb to get warm! I decided to start making my way home (which was at least an hour away) and to maybe have a shorter ride, I could deal with rain but hail was a joke.
As I made my way through the backroads I could see patches of blue sky in front of me and the hail eased off giving me a new perspective and I decided to take a longer route home, I was still on target for over 100km, I had been playing games with myself to keep heading for this target for example: when I got to quarter to I would try and fit in 8km to up my score for that hour. It may sound daft but this tactic worked.
After 4 hours I had done 85km leaving only 15km to go. The last hour was hard fighting into the wind most of the way I felt like I was being pushed backwards. Rounding the corner to my destination I had 11 minutes still to go but had ridden 100km I was really happy to have beaten the 100km barrier but didn’t have any energy left to push out too many more k’s and settled with 3!
I am so happy with my achievement today; I set out with a goal and achieved it, even against bad weather and a head wind! My fuelling was good today and I have a new love salted peanuts in the same bag as jelly babies! Don’t knock it until you try it!
Thanks for stopping by. Please check out my You Tube channel for videos on training, racing and much more.
by hattenburrow | Feb 25, 2016 | Film & Photo, Training
Today was sprints day these all out efforts for a minute are exhausting but they help build my explosive power and fast twitch muscle fibres, otherwise known as type 2a and type 2b muscle fibres.
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My sprints today were really hard work! But I am noticing that I go further during my sprint which is great as it means I am getting faster.
Although heart rate can be effected my sleep, hydration and temperature when I do my sprints I am looking to work in my threshold and vo2 max zones.
I have a rest day tomorrow and then on Saturday my first race of the season. A sportive in West Sussex, I am looking forward to racing my new era and putting all the hard work over the winter to the test.
Check back on Sunday for my race report.
For more video updates please subscribe to my You Tube channel.
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by hattenburrow | Feb 17, 2016 | Training
This week I have been having a rest. After a few weeks hard training my body needed a well earned break from training for a few days. Last week I had low energy levels and found my concentration was all over the place.
It’s important to remember that while your resting your muscles are recovering and growing. This is something I struggle with as I’m not very good at chilling out, I am on the go most of the time, even on rest days I like to go on walks and stay active. So when my coach said I should have a rest week I couldn’t quite get my head around the idea of a week of no exercise. After my long ride on Saturday, when I had felt very tired, I decided to listen to my body and planned to take three days off to recover.
Since Sunday I have been concentrating on building my core strength doing Pilates, foam rolling and stretching this has been really energising and I feel like my body feels better for having a rest and a stretch.
Tomorrow is my first test of the year! An all out effort loop as flat our as I can for an hour, this is going to be fun (and by fun I mean tiring and painful).
I’ll let you know how it goes! 🙂
by | Feb 14, 2016 | Training
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.
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.
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.
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.
by hattenburrow | Feb 1, 2016 | Training
I can’t believe today is the 1st February! January has gone so quickly at this rate the Trans Alp will be here very quickly…
I started January feeling positive about the improvements in my knee and mega excited about being supported by Specialized for 2016. When I got the phone call from Olivia to say when I could come in for my bike fit it felt like Christmas all over again!
I went up to Specialized HQ to have my bike fit at the start of January it went really well and I was amazed at how the minute changes made such a difference to my riding position and comfort. Red more about my bike fit here.
Since my bike fit I have really pushed my training to the next level, (apart from a blip week getting over a cold) I have been increasing my training load and pushing my body out of my comfort zone.
The last two weeks Michelle and I have combined our long distance training rides, on Saturday I went to Guildford and we rode around the Surrey Hills up Leith Hill and Newlands Corner getting in some great single-track sections in Peaslake and Holmbury Hill. We climbed over 1,200m over 4 hours which was good going, I think we might need to do more sessions like this!
I feel my stamina and fitness is really improving and I am looking forward to increasing the miles over the coming weeks.
So far in January I have ridden 384.41 miles burning 11,913 calories in 35 hours.
Although I have only been able to ride my new bike off-road a couple of times, I have found the 29er more efficient over rough ground it doesn’t feel like I lose as much power.
I had never ridden a full suspension bike, doing XC racing my bike choice has always been down to weight and how much power I can transfer through the pedals, something a ‘normal’ full suspension is less effective at. Enter the brain! The brain is built around an inertia valve which can tell the difference between me pedalling and moving around to a bump coming from the ground. (A weighted mass sits on a light spring, limiting the flow of oil. On smooth terrain, this means oil is not flowing, so the suspension stays firm for efficient pedalling. When the wheel strikes a bump, the weighted mass overcomes the spring, immediately allowing oil to flow and the shock to become active. Once the compression of the bump is complete, the rebound action combined with the spring push the mass back in place, limiting the oil flow again, and instantly putting the shock back to firm.) So far this has been really amazing I have been really surprised going uphill on smooth stuff I don’t feel like I am losing any power and then as soon as I hit the single-track the suspension kicks in allowing the bike to maintain momentum over rough ground and has improved my control and confidence when things getting a bit hairy!
Looking forward to testing my new bike on more trails over the next few weeks.
