Training this winter

Training already taking a downhill. Swore blind i would do some tonight but am still in the office and not gonna be out for some time!

Forget derny-pacing, and get yourself behind a sheep. It's the next big thing.

Training already taking a downhill. Swore blind i would do some tonight but am still in the office and not gonna be out for some time!

A period of rest is good for you, as much mentally as physically.

a few months off has been fun. have been doing my 20 mile commute every day for the last month and getting back some pace. am doing a offroad duathlon in a couple of weeks for fun and then will then prep to run the tough guy in january. a nice winter break!

likely coming to newport if something happens in Jan and will try to rock up to wednesday eves as when possible.

My main quandary is reconciling all the things that I enjoy doing because they are very much at odds with one another. I love cycling and racing. I just love being on my bike full stop really. However, I also love drinking to excess and all the demons this brings out. I know that when I wake up hungover I feel terrible. Especially when it stops me from going to the track that day. Its all about balance I suppose. Its like what Tom says, its easy to become obsessive about it and think fuck I have to train doubly hard next week to make up for the binge the other night. At the same time though, when I am sitting in the pub watching the footie, on my 6th pint. Think balls to cycling, I'm gonna give it all up and just carry on drinking and partying.

I know I could be a lot lot faster if I did give up all this nonsense. But hey, I am not a professional athlete and I am not a machine. Its this constant state of turmoil which makes me who I am really..

If ever there was a otm post this is it...

when I am sitting in the pub watching the footie, on my 6th pint. Think balls to cycling, I'm gonna give it all up and just carry on drinking and partying.

Give it up for the next day, right? Not for ever! I personally think this is healthy, but Im sure the more fit and healthy would disagree.
I like what BMMF has termed the 'reluctant racing cyclist' it seems to make sense to me.

I am sometimes very reluctant to race, dunno why. Just feel like forgetting the whole racing thing and just do training sessions and ride for fun, but then I regret missing a race and feel great after I've actually bothered to participate in one. It's hard to raise any enthusiasm sometimes, especially if you've been working all day at the track, to want to stay on and race in the evening, I found the league almost impossible because of this and other work commitments. At least now I know not to bother aiming for it next season, just do the omniums and maybe the SE champs, problem is,the races at herne hill are always scratch, devil and points, none of which I enjoy.
Next season I will aim to improve my speed and stamina at speed, try to really make a dent in my f200tt and 500m, then start seeing if I can do an un-embarrassing kilo. I will not feel pressure to race in the league or anything else for that matter, I'm happy to train hard with focus for events I actually want to do, not slog round the track for endless laps.

If ever there was a otm post this is it...

Not sure what otm is?

Commutting can be excellent training, you just need structure with it. Most I speak to fall into the trap of going hard every day to and from work, but its neither hard enough nor easy enough so they do lots of riding thats too slow to train properly yet too fast to use as active recovery.

You could argue that a shortish central London commute is useless for either in any case, so much stop and start and no bits open enough to go hard or do intervals, you usually have to ride at a speed which is safe to flow with the traffic (it's not always gridlocked, and you are usually mixing it in bus lanes) so even going steady can be dangerous at times. Staying alive often comes before training unfortunately.
I haven't found much riding in town to be any use at all, except at night where it's clear enough for a run at things, compared to 45mins on the rollers it's awful. It must be so much worse for the 9 to 5'ers.

Not sure what otm is?

on the money?

I always say that my commute is part of training. The Holloway Road is one long bus lane and if you catch the lights right you can go for a couple of miles without stopping or slowing down.
If I do get in to a bad run of lights. I normal sprint as fast as I can to the next red. I dunno if this is god or bad, but it seems to help me. The commute home takes in some pretty step hills, again without the need to stop.

on the money?

ohh thanks in that case. Thought may have been some sort of insult :)

I am technically a 9til5er (obviously that means i am expected to be a 9til6/7er) and got cross with the traffic. I am therefore now a 7.30til5er. The traffic in the evening if i leave the center (oxford street) around 5.30 is surprisingly good but leave anytime between 6 and 7.30/8 then it is rubbish. After 8 is also good but if i am leaving then i will be probably in a bad mood and tired so no training will happen anyway.

I ride along the old kent road. Central london bit from the office to Elephant and Castle can either be really rubbish or actually pretty swift but from there out to home is basically straight, not many lights and fast!

You could argue that a shortish central London commute is useless for either in any case, so much stop and start and no bits open enough to go hard or do intervals, you usually have to ride at a speed which is safe to flow with the traffic (it's not always gridlocked, and you are usually mixing it in bus lanes) so even going steady can be dangerous at times. Staying alive often comes before training unfortunately.
I haven't found much riding in town to be any use at all, except at night where it's clear enough for a run at things, compared to 45mins on the rollers it's awful. It must be so much worse for the 9 to 5'ers.

Some valid points there, I think you just have to accept what time you have and do the best you can with it. A girl I have been coaching this year commutes to and from work in central London and was doing the same last year. We got her to improve massively this year by cutting her down to every other day and tubing in on the rest days. She was fresher and therefore could work harder on the days she did ride in.

My main quandary is reconciling all the things that I enjoy doing because they are very much at odds with one another. I love cycling and racing. I just love being on my bike full stop really. However, I also love drinking to excess and all the demons this brings out. I know that when I wake up hungover I feel terrible. Especially when it stops me from going to the track that day. Its all about balance I suppose. Its like what Tom says, its easy to become obsessive about it and think fuck I have to train doubly hard next week to make up for the binge the other night. At the same time though, when I am sitting in the pub watching the footie, on my 6th pint. Think balls to cycling, I'm gonna give it all up and just carry on drinking and partying.

I know I could be a lot lot faster if I did give up all this nonsense. But hey, I am not a professional athlete and I am not a machine. Its this constant state of turmoil which makes me who I am really.

As for training well, I am going to try and organisze myself better this winter. Last spring I was absolutely rocketing along, then I burnt out for the middle only to hit form again at the end of the season. The last omnium I was feeling really great, for example.

I plan to go to the gym for the first time in what will be 17 years, so thats gonna be scary in itself! Carry on doing the hill climbs and laps of Regents Park. But I won't go crazy and damage my knees over the winter. I will listen to advice, for a change, from those who probably know better than me about it.

This pretty much sums up most amature cyclists, there are many things we can do to improve our performance, eg drink less eat better, stop smoking etc at the end of the day though life is about enjoyment and getting the most you can from it in my view. I don't have the perfect diet, I go out occasionaly, sometimes I stay up too late watching films but I do these things because they add to my enjoyment and I dont care what the cost is to my performance because I want to enjoy every aspect of my life not just one.

If you are a pro then things become different then you must focus on your career and always think about what is best for your bike riding and put that first, which is why being a pro athlete is much harder than most people realise. Your social life becomes almost none existant.

So I guess my point is enjoy life, embrace it and maybe just stop at the 5th pint instead of having 10.....

on the money?

Indeed,

I think I have a fairly similar attitude to mikec, but always wish I could get out of bed half an hour earlier and go for a spin or squeeze in a longer ride at the weekend but other stuff normally gets in the way

Indeed,

I think I have a fairly similar attitude to mikec,

Lock up your Lambos, there are two of them out there!

So, it was cold today. I mean that it was cold when I wasn't standing directly in the sun. So I set up the turbo trainer and a did my first half hour thrash on it, which was actually fun.

Bring on the winter I say, I'm just going to get stronger and faster.

If you are a pro then things become different then you must focus on your career and always think about what is best for your bike riding and put that first, which is why being a pro athlete is much harder than most people realise. Your social life becomes almost none existant.

Bradley Wiggins?

Well, I'm gonna put up my plan so people can rip it apart.

10 minutes spinning on the rollers every morning
2 or 3 gym session a week, beasting weights, with 2-5 minute spin bike session between leg sets
2 session of Capoeira a week for general fitness
1 long(ish) gentle ride a week

Whether I will actually do any of this is another matter, I suspect I will get side tracked, go snowboarding, get drunk and generally loose any gains I've made this year.

Wow Gizmond mine is pretty much the same except instead of Capoeira, I'm doing Salsa. The chicks dig a mover.

Giz if you do Capoeira be careful with your knees

Giz if you do Capoeira be careful with your knees

I've done it for years. Well, I did it for about 4 years, up to 3 1/2 years ago. Went on Friday for the first time (in 3 1/2 years) and nearly tore every muscle I have! Never been a problem on my knees though, but cheers for the heads up.

I used to do it a lot and my knees suffered a bit!

The chicks dig a mover.

If only it were that simple, chicks dig a rich dude with a Ferrari who lets them go shopping all day :-)