Losing your mojo

5 months?

Sorry.

do you ever do any stretching? Are you overgeared?

Bikefit?

I'd look at the position of my saddle. Cleats too. But thats more fiddly.

Lacking the motivation to commute by bike.

My polo bike is currently the only one of my n that is complete and 100% working. Except I need to replace a few spokes.

Meh.

do you ever do any stretching? Are you overgeared?

have to admit I don't, never have either.

Never used a HR monitor before now but got an avg of 165bpm on a ride where I was really pushing it. Cycled into town after and legs were really feeling it.

csb

http://www.strava.com/activities/156327056/overview

I too had lost my mojo and for a long time I could not pin point the reason why it was. But when I changed this saddle:

to this:

everything became better : )

csb

That's only low zone 3 according to your zones set in Strava. Doing that for an hour should be just a moderate effort.

Something's not right.

yep - really dont think my legs had anymore to give though.. done blood tests last week, results soon.

So frustrating.

Well I hope that sheds some light.

cycle more, take it easier, try not to go into the red for extended periods to let your body adapt, then gradually extend rides by about 15km a week. I've a tendency to try and tear my legs off every time I go out but if you're in oxygen deficit all the time it's not helping anything, so it's better to ride to your heart rate monitor and stay within zone 3/4, increasing the speed as you get fitter and your heart rate drops.

Such internet advice. Well meaning I don't doubt but... Booo.

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2012/08/starting-from-scratch/

this is what i meant. Don't fink it's so stupid.

That's an article about an untrained fella avoiding intense efforts whilst he builds up some base fitness. It's a nice article - not sure it's useful to apc.

what's his base fitness tho? If you're doing the same small training loop as fast as you can you're not necessarily building much base fitness-I know that I have to force myself to seek out flatter training routes because the roads round here are so hilly that it's impossible to train in particular HR zones for any period of time without getting into the red or hitting descents and dropping to zero rather than building up any base aerobic fitness.

not being arsey btw-genuinely curious to know more.

I tried that staying in low heart rate zones thing for a bit, didn't see any difference at all so got bored of it and just started cycling at the speed I wanted to. The only effect I've noticed from any change in training is when I started doing proper intervals.

Cycling is cycling, the more of it you do the better at it you get.

Well base is building your capacity for harder work. As sumo says you can train base as you go, most people will by (for example) taking every other day easy.

what's his base fitness tho?

Not good. The article is called Starting From Scratch and he's struggling to ride 80km! And he's fat.

If you're doing the same small training loop as fast as you can you're not necessarily building much base fitness-I know that I have to force myself to seek out flatter training routes because the roads round here are so hilly that it's impossible to train in particular HR zones for any period of time without getting into the red or hitting descents and dropping to zero rather than building up any base aerobic fitness.

So thrashing yourself everyday you'd get fatigued. You'd end up ill, hating your bike or (hopefully) just riding easier sometimes as well as getting some recovery time.

If I'm fatigued it's not my leg pain that tell me so (they hurt most of the time).

Struggling to ride 80km is not unusual.

I invested in fancy pants Torq recovery shake drink stuff.

Tastes nice but legs still ache like fuck the day after.

Disappoint.

Cold, milky, sweet coffee + coco is my favourite. You can stick skimmed milk powder in it if you want more protein.

Tastes nice but legs still ache like fuck...

:-)

Sounds cheaper and tastier than 'science' does.

Torq just tastes like banana milkshake, which is win, but could be had at 1/100th of the price if it doesn't actually help with any kind of recovery.

Caffeine is best avoided for good recovery. I used to drink protein/recovery gunk but now I just drink milk (full if poss) or chocolate milk :)

Really just milk? The only reason I reckon I've just about held on to my mojo is by having a pint of sci-mx muscle fuel after each evening's ride.

Milk's good. Milk and boiled eggs are gooderer, but anything with a good hit of protein should do the job.

Decent protein powder is effective though and quite a bit cheaper than chicken/eggs etc. Imo. Works out at about £10/kg if you buy in bulk.

No, not just milk - that's just what I drink when I get through the door, before I jump in the shower etc.
I try to eat some decent food within the next hour too, poached eggs with avocado/brocolli etc, or oily fish on toast or some kind of carb. Good recovery is about what you eat and drink over the next 6 hours after exercise, not just the pint of goo you bang in at first.

Energy food mix stuff is rank, i only really ever drink it if I'm in a hurry.

I guess it's about finding out what works for you. I much prefer real food after riding/racing - mainly because of all the sugary gel crap and astronaut bars I eat on the bike.