Training this winter

If you're serious about the intake described in the 1st part of your post, then it probably doesn't matter.

When you say you've missed a couple of days, out of how many days training? if you train once a week then it means you have done nothing for two weeks. If you train every day (it's too much) then two days off is good.

No I'm not serious about my intake! I have pretty much stopped boozing now as I want to be a more serious cyclist. Just following on in the spirit of BMMF :)

My training is basically 6 days a week - but sensible amonts. An hour on rollers 3 times a week. 2 swimming sessions a week at a nice chilled pace for about half an hour- 45 mins. One long ride a week, which I am missing today. So I have done nothing now since Thursday. I am over the worst of it. But my nose is still rubbish and I don't want to get dehydrated

I was about to ask what whisky you were drinking, I finally got round to buying myself a bottle of talisker with my league winnings. I'm still in bed having had a couple too many last night, deciding if I can train today or not!
As for training with a cold; as long as your not feeling woozy I reckon it's fine as long as you don't drain yourself of too much energy. Prob beneficial IMO, good to keep the engine going. Then again, a rest won't hurt this time of year either.

Probably best to stay in and rest.

No point in making it worse, this time of year is perfect for resting. I try to have 2 days a week rest, but if one of those days is work then it's not resting! this is my second day of sitting around eating and I'm climbing the walls with boredom. Has to be done though, because I'll be back on the weights tomorrow, riding on tues etc.. Last thing you want to do is prolong your recovery by training when ill.

There you go, two conflicting pieces of advice! How about another, have a hot toddie or two!

I'm not a believer in training when ill.

I don't think you'll find a (modern) doctor on earth who recommends anything that requires strenuous activity as a cure for a cold/flu.
When you exercise you are essentially "breaking" bits of your body, diverting/stalling the energy from repairing the illness which the body is already using up it's resources to fix. you are giving it more work to do which will increase recovery time.

If results were directly proportional to the amount of training we could load on ourselves without recovery then we'd have an easy job of working out our training, unfortunately smashing ourselves into the ground will give us the result of being smashed into the ground. Which is why rest and specific recovery is as important to training as volume and intensity of workout.

I have decided not to train today. Well this morning at least. Instead, I am having to go to B&Q and carry out some of my manly DIY activities. Great. Wonder if I will be able to watch the football later.

Resting also means not going shopping or doing DIY !
Sitting watching football should be OK ;)

Youre prob right rob, and a few days off won't hurt. Some people say if the symptoms are from the neck up it's ok to train, but that's if you're a bit obsessed and can't stand the guilt of feeling lazy!

Who says that?!

A migraine which might be the start of something terrible would not be a greatly encouraging to a bike ride. Or having your head cut off, for example.

No, I imagine if having no head, or a head injury it would not be wise to train. However, if your cold symptoms are head based only, ie sniffly nose, bunged up, etc then, in my experience, and having read 'stuff', like in magazines and shit, training shouldnt really be affected. And recovery time from the cold hasnt been extended.
However, chesty cough + sore throat = a no no.
Ive raced while having had a cold, and it didnt effect my performance at all.

But how could it not? to me, a cold means blocked or runny nose, poor breathing and increased heartrate. Those things will affect your race, whether you notice them or not.

^That's not 'a cold' you're describing. Sounds more serious. Like man-flu or something.

Bah, man-flu means you'll be in bed, weak as a kitten, not racing.

I feel like I'm coming down with a cold now actually, must have caught it off here, talking to you bastards!

Too much rest has made you complacent, and physiologically vulnerable to viral attacks.

Old skool approach is to leave the bike alone through much of Oct-Dec and pick it up again in the New Year. Meantime, a bit of maintenance - ie a few rides here and there, for fun, off-road etc - keeps me happy.

Just did my first 1 hour session on the rollers i bought last week. The most difficult obstacle was boredom! might set them up infront of the telly :) for the moment i will start with 3-4, hour long sessions a week, then in a couple of weeks start doing an hour a day. At the start of the session i was wavering all over the rollers, by the end of the hour i had made big improvements, managing to keep almost completely balanced and straight on the rollers.

try doing intervals, it relieves the boredom!

try doing intervals, it relieves the boredom!

when you say intervals do you mean 15 mins for eg, then take a 5 min rest, then continue etc?

Try: 5 mins: easy warm up 8 mins: proggressively faster until you are at around 80% 2 mins: rest (easy pace) then 1min at 100% (or close as you can keeping steady) and 1 min rest Make sure you cool down properly at the end for 10-15 mins. the intervals and rest can be messed around with depending on requirments, and you can also introduce tempo work, ie: keeping a constant speed or RPM for a period of time (10 -20 mins)

1 hour session

rollers

boredom!

qed

Try: 5 mins: easy warm up 8 mins: proggressively faster until you are at around 80% 2 mins: rest (easy pace) then 1min at 100% (or close as you can keeping steady) and 1 min rest Make sure you cool down properly at the end for 10-15 mins. the intervals and rest can be messed around with depending on requirments, and you can also introduce tempo work, ie: keeping a constant speed or RPM for a period of time (10 -20 mins)

Thanks rob, that sounds pretty good, i'l definetly give it a go, i think i will also get a speedometer and a stopwatch. Something i really want to work on is keeping my hips and upper body still when increasing speed. But i guess that will come with practice, i also have been practicing the "scraping mud off my shoes" foot motion you taught me last week.

Have swapped a gym session for hill reps. They are grim.

Yeah, I did a lot of those in September ;)

hill reps do work though.