Archive for the ‘fitness’ Category
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
At 26 January my weight is already down below 11st / 70kg. I’ve lost the Christmas flab simply by not over-eating at every meal. However, at this stage I’m not convinced it’s wise to lose much more weight. It will be easy to shave off 5-6 pounds between now and 4 July – no need to get hysterical.
With this in mind, here is a rough outline of my daily diet. This is accurate for days when I commute into work (40 mins), do 10 hours at my desk, then commute back.
Breakfast:
- 2 Weetabix with grapenuts / porridge
- 1 fruit (banana or apple)
- 2 toast with jam
- tea
- orange juice
Mid-morning:
- coffee
- optional nuts / dried fruit
- very occasionally, a banana – mostly I can keep going til 1pm
Lunch:
- ideally, a plate of warm food e.g. pasta, rice
- or – Pret a Manger / Eat / Sainsbury’s sandwiches, in that order of preference
- possible cup-a-soup, samosa, crisps (basically, this is my point, it’s January)
5pm:
- tea
- 3 Weetabix, fruit (crucial to avoid the bonk on the way home)
- possible biscuits / office munchies
Dinner:
- all I can eat, plus seconds, of whatever it is – my girlfriend makes phenomenal curries and stews with chorizo, chicken etc.
- beer
- tequila shot
- butter and soft cheese still allowed in moderation
- yoghurt
- chocolate if we’ve got it in
- honey, ginger and lemon hot drink
I wanted to record this realistic picture of a hungry cyclist’s food intake when it’s cold outside and he’s already a bit skinny. There’s plenty of room for trimming out the munchies and the fatty / sugary stuff in due course.
Tags: diet, food, weight, winter
Posted in fitness, nutrition | No Comments »
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
My goal this January is to ride for more days / hours than last January.
In Jan 09 I had 15 days or 21 hours of some on-bike activity, 10 hours of which were commute days, and the others being regular winter training rides on the road. So far, I’ve already racked up 4 days and 7 hours, so hopefully, weather permitting, this should be an easily achievable goal. However, the weather isn’t exactly permitting – it’s the coldest winter for 30 years.
Hey - nice!
Another comparison with last year is that I’m starting it lighter. In Jan 09 I was a stocky 11st 12 – this year I’m probably around 11st 5-6 (lighter than I was in March last year). True, my form is fairly rubbish, but one thing about starting a third year of serious riding is a certain mental confidence. I’m more in tune with my own fitness levels after several seasons of waxing and waning form. I know what’s required of me come July, and I know that my body will respond to the training in due course – better, even, than in years past, because your legs do remember.
In addition to the riding, I’m building in plenty of core work now. I realised too late last year that my core muscles (abs, back and hip flexors) needed to be stronger to avoid fatigue on long, hard rides. I would go into the exercises in detail but Millsy’s already done it for me.
Tags: january, weather, weight
Posted in fitness, training | 1 Comment »
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
The current conditions just north of Potters Bar.
Yesterday was my first ride out of the new decade. Following a period of 2 months out of the saddle (a trip to Nepal was partly to blame), which itself included a 2 week drinking marathon (the party season) and a 1 week eating marathon (the Mucklow family Christmas), it wasn’t surprising that my form stank.
My leg strength deserted me; my heart rate pootled along in zone 2; my blood sugar levels bonked as my stomach craved cake and turkey trimmings. Compare this graph from yesterday (peak HR 157):
Heart rate graph 2-1-10
with this one from 18 July last year (peak HR 177).
Heart rate graph 18-7-09
I remember this ride. I never blogged about it because I was just back from La Marmotte and I couldn’t be bothered. But it was the ride of the year. I was out with Millsy on a 4hr+ circuit from Sevenoaks (possibly the Hell of the Ashdown route). I was rested from my trip to France, but still held the form from months of training. I was hitting the hills hard, and just kept feeling stronger. Then came a truly epic half-hour stretch in the closing stages of the ride, on a gradual climb up to Sevenoaks Weald. My heart rate climbed from 160 into the 170s, and I recall looking down at my wrist to check the effort and seeing 177. There was an almost other-worldly absence of pressure.
But back to yesterday. In a nutshell, I followed Millsy all the way up to Woolmer Green, whereupon he binned it on the ice, and I followed his bloodied carcass all the way back to London. My flabby core is so out of shape that it’s all achey today, and I’m saddle-sore into the bargain.
Looks like more snow’s on the way for Wednesday’s ride – sweet!
Tags: crash, fitness, ice, millsy, snow
Posted in bike, fitness, training | 2 Comments »
Monday, August 3rd, 2009
Ride to drink.
Post-Marmotte, I’ve enjoyed a month of downtime. I’ve found this period invaluable in recovering both physically and mentally, not so much from the event itself, but from the six-month build-up to it.
January to June of this year, I organised my life around the bike. Now clearly, I like cycling; but, in the weeks after achieving the biggest goal I’ve (so far) set myself on the bike, being free from the mental focus of preparing for the event has been a serious load off. Just having the option of riding, if I feel like it, is a luxury. Being able to drink to excess is, once again, a guilt-free pleasure. The gratuitous eating of cake at office parties – a delirious indulgence.
Predictably, since I returned from France, I’ve been on excellent form, so I’ve certainly been out on the bike – but not mid-week, and not if I didn’t feel like it. Mainly, I’ve been hammering my busted commute bike (nope, still haven’t broken it yet) around town at high speeds. I’ve also been out for a couple of rides with Millsy (who’s heading to the Pyrenees this week following a strong performance in the London Triathlon).
I went out yesterday for a 5-hour solo mission, and again, felt strong. I’ve been refusing all requests to enter further sportives this year, but now I’m not so sure…
Tags: france, hack, marmotte, training
Posted in armchair, fitness, news, training | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
Mont Ventoux didn’t hit me in the legs; it hit me in the lower back. (more…)
Tags: abs, back, core, fitness
Posted in fitness, training | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
I got my ass kicked twice this weekend by some very fast riders.
The Phoenix club ride started brisk and was full-on during the third hour. We started as 10 and finished as 8. I just about stayed in contention, but only just. Here’s my HR graph:
Phoenix club graph
Monday’s ride was billed as a ’social’ with some mates of Jonny’s who have recently formed their own race team. The ‘Acuto‘ squad was 9-strong on the day, all clad in brand-new lycra team livery, and composed of an ex-pro, several current or former 2nd-cat racers, and this guy, a professional triathlete and xterra competitor. I was the incongruous tenth man in my Mornflake flouro kit.
To be fair I was on the pace for the first couple of hours, as we took a familiar route from Cobham over Shere and down to Ewhurst, easily the fastest I’ve ever ridden it. Then the speed began to hurt, and I was dropped on Leith Hill. It was in a way a fortuitous accident that after we went through Peaslake and began to head home, I took a wrong turn that landed me back in Ewhurst. I radio’d in, then bailed, riding across to Leith Hill (again) then over Coldhardbour to take a train from Dorking.
The moral of the story is, I need to ride with these guys more often. I had a really interesting chat with a guy on my Regent’s Park spin on Saturday, who told me he was a big believer in quality over quantity, and that 90 mins at 20 mph would be more valuable than 5 hrs at 16 mph (although he accepted that for events like La Marmotte there was no such thing as too many miles).
Tags: acuto, heartrate, jonny, londonphoenix, pace
Posted in bike, fitness, training | 1 Comment »
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
Last night I went for a sports massage. These were my symptoms going into the session:
- Tight hamstrings and calves (largely from climbing Snowdon on Saturday as opposed to riding).
- Tight lower back / sides. Over the last week or so I’ve had trouble getting comfortable sitting down, and apparently this has been due to tightness in my glutes and ilio-tibial bands.
- Actual pain in the top left of my back, between the shoulder blade and my spine (again, Snowdon, somehow).
My masseuse is Aglaia Hernandez aka ‘Fingers of Steel’. I visited Aglaia twice last year for recovery massages after the Dragon Ride and Southern Sportive. At the time she recommended more stretching and core work, and I’ve made a real effort to keep to a regular 20 min spot of stretching and exercises after my morning commute, as well as after long rides.
Over the hour she discovered further issues:
- My neck was sore and sensitive. Apparently she wasn’t pressing that hard but it killed! We attribute this to riding in traffic with a rucksack and looking behind to check the traffic.
- I have sore hands from gripping handlebars every day.
- My pecs are tight, exacerbating my upper back issues.
Aglaia has various techniques for using pressure to work stiffness out of the muscles and joints, and she’ll prescribe stretches to help prevent further tightness. In the session itself she does prolonged stretches of different muscle groups that are quite hard to stretch properly without hands-on, expert advice (e.g. the neck) – always emphasising the importance of proper breathing.
If you exercise regularly, treat yourself to a session of deep tissue massage. I can’t really describe the dramatic physical transformation that takes place in just one hour. You don’t realise how knackered and stressed and tight your body is until it’s been put through the wringer by a trained professional. I actually have trouble walking after one of Aglaia’s sessions…
Tags: aglaia, body, legs, massage, muscles
Posted in fitness | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Last Friday, for the first time this year, I prepared really badly for my big weekend ride. Normally I’m really careful and focussed on my important training blocks, but maybe I was a little focussed-out after the Puncheur and Burgess Hill Classic both within a fortnight, and needed more rest. In any case, here’s my run-down of how it all went wrong.
Sleep: I had about 6 hours sleep on Thursday and Friday night. Not cool, I need at least 8 for 2-3 nights before a big ride to be in optimum shape.
Food: It was my Mum’s 60th last week, so on Friday my family and I went to Claridge’s for a celebratory tea.
Tea at Claridge's: posh carbo-loading.
I consumed:
- 10-12 small sandwiches, no crusts, mixed fillings.
- 1 scone with jam.
- A glazed fruit tart.
- Half a chocolate cake.
- 6 cups of tea.
- 1 glass pink champagne.
Alcohol: after Claridge’s, and prolonging the posh party vibe, we went for a few drinks at the Park Lane Hilton. Later, I caught the tube to Brick Lane to meet some people in a bar.
I drank:
- 5 double rum and cokes.
- A bottle of lager.
- A Jager-bomb (for the uninitiated, this is a shot of Jagermeister dropped into a glass of Red Bull, and downed).
My plan for Saturday was a 5-6 hour easy ride with Millsy, but the combination of poor sleep and a hangover found me tired, weak and confused at 7am Saturday. The weather was stunning, but I had a headache and dry mouth for much of the ride. It could have been the ride of the year, but instead it was an ordeal.
Note to self: this is not to be repeated before July 4th!
Tags: drink, food, preparation, sleep
Posted in bike, fitness, nutrition, training | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
A chocolate eclair. Not so healthy for ya...
People have started remarking on my weight. ‘You look quite thin’ etc. There was a point last year when this started, although this year I’ve reached that point earlier on, mainly because I deliberately set out to shave off a few pounds from mid-February.
Last year it wasn’t until after the Mexico trip that I lost weight – and that time I think I went from about 12st to a low of 11st 6 on the Southern Sportive in September. This year, I was less than 12st after Christmas, but I’m already down to 11st 6, if not lower. I need to be more scientific about this, but I think I’ve lost about 3-4 pounds over the last month.
It’s actually been really easy, check out Al’s pro weight-loss techniques:
- eat just a bit less – if you’re riding 10 hrs a week, there’s no sense in cutting down massively. It’s actually enough to simply not have a second plateful for your evening meal.
- cut out butter, mayo, bacon sarnies, creamy puddings, cakes, chocolate, crisps.
- do the occasional ‘fasted’ ride i.e. ride to work without breakfast or do a mid-week session on just a banana – your body will start metabolising fat more efficiently. I find doing a couple of these a week over a 3-week period is enough to kick-start weight-loss.
Why bother? The bottom line is that losing weight = free speed. Climbing is also my strength, and the lighter I am the better I climb. All pro cyclists aim to lose weight gradually over the season, leaving their lowest weight target until they reach peak fitness. I’ve heard this referred to as being ‘on the razor’, the point beyond which a rider actually risks getting ill or, paradoxically, losing form (this happened to Iban Mayo too early in his 2005 tour, I think).
My target weight is to be around 11st for La Marmotte in July.
Tags: climbing, eating, food, marmotte, weight
Posted in fitness, nutrition | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
Thanks to Catford CC for organising the above event on Sunday and finally kick-starting my ’season’. (more…)
Tags: ashdown, kent, ride, sportive
Posted in fitness, routes, training | 2 Comments »
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