Well July is over, although it felt like October at times due to rain and the cooler temperatures we got during the month, and as I am off on holiday in a couple of weeks I thought I'd try and get July's training update done before the end of August.
I guess one of the highlights of this months progress is the fact that I reached the personal weight loss goal that I set myself in January. As of the last week in July I had lost 5 stone and 2 pounds since the middle of January 2012 and now weigh a little under 12 stone. Yes, I'm actually quite pleased with that result - Its surprising what little things reinforce the change this has had on me, such as finding that I now need to check that a large size shirt isn't actually to big for me (I was a "snug" XXL in January)
If you have read other posts on the blog you will know that I am working with Simon from Total Cycling Performance in respect of my training programme and that first impressions are that Simon's "Smarter Not Longer" philosophy in respect of the amount of time spent training is paying dividends. I can safely say since I have been working to to the training programme that Simon developed for me that I am stronger and have more endurance on the bike. Climbing is easier, average speed is going up and stamina is definitely improving.
Towards the end of the month I changed my working hours to facilitate being able to utilise Monday mornings solely for training and specifically longer rides on the bike. This in combination with the other changes to my training programme has seen me going up to 3-4 hours in the saddle, with only quick "water the flowers" stops and this type of time in the saddle is now fairly comfortable.
The introduction of High Intensity Interval training into the programme has been both amusing and excruciatingly sickening. This element of my training programme is probably the one that I look forward to completing each week, quick fire sessions at maximum possible performance, followed by short "recovery periods" (trust me this phrase is an outright misrepresentation of what happens - "contemplation period" would be more accurate as all I seem to be doing is thinking about the next maximum performance session) completed over a 20 minute period can only be described as being hell on earth.
Why are the interval sessions amusing? without fail I always find it amusing that as a 50 year old man with a fairly responsible job, capable of making my own choices in life, that I choose to do this to myself at least twice a week. It's also amusing for the neighbours, because I always have the garage door open with the bike facing onto the drive and twice a week the neighbours can stand on the road or in their front rooms and watch a pixie on a bike torture himself to within 30 seconds of falling off in a heap of vomit and sweat.
So what was the month like in numbers?
32 training sessions completed during the month
Total training time was a little under 32 hours (so a little over an hour a day on average)
Average heart rate during all training sessions was 129 beats per minute
Average maximum heart during all sessions was 154 beats per minute
13,300 calories burnt as a direct result of training sessions (so just under 4 pounds lost due to exercise completed)
Total weight loss 6.8 pounds
425 miles covered on the bike
As predicted in Junes training update, the amount of weight lost is now slowing up as my nutritional focus switches to a more carbohydrate focused diet to provide much needed energy for training. The bulk of this months weight loss was actually achieved early in July and it took most of the month to lose the last 2 pounds to sneak in under the 12 stone target.
What is interesting is that my body shape is continuing to change and whilst my weight is stabilising at around the 166-167 pound mark I am continuing to inches off of my waist and chest, Simon predicted this would happen - Maybe he knows what he is talking about! :)
What am I looking forward to this month? Most of all I am looking forward to sitting in an airline seat and not feeling as though somebody allocated me a child's seat.
As always thanks for taking the time to read the Pixies ramblings and hopefully you will be able to find the time to visit the blog again in the future.
Dha weles diwettha
VP
(Didn't think you were going to learn some Cornish today did you! - it says "see you later" )
Just a mini post this one...........
Over the last few weeks I have noticed that since I took Simon's (Total Cycling Performance) advice to change my training regime and just as importantly the composition of my nutritional intake, I have seen a very real increase in on the road cycling performance.
To recap on previous posts my training programme is now much more structured and is focusing on developing muscle strength, core strength, cycling stamina and developing my lactate threshold through very focused training sessions that are regulated by heart rate rather than "how I feel"
It's early days as yet but after the first couple of weeks I noticed that on my regular training routes my average speed increased by 2 mph and that not only had the average speed increased but I didn't feel like I was working as hard as I used to. Riding using my heart rate monitor has undoubtedly help with the feeling of not working so hard, as I am largely staying within my optimum heart rate band and avoiding allowing my heart rate to go above my lactate threshold.
Whilst I was pleased with the 2 mph increase in average speed that I had been consistently achieving, last Sunday I didn't feel like going out for a long ride so I set out on a straight forward out and back run of a little under 25 miles. The added dimension to this run was that it was early morning, the roads were empty and I wanted to see just how fast I could average over the distance.
By the time I arrived back at home, I had increased my average speed by a further 3 mph over the 2 mph increase I had achieved previously. To say I was pleased with a total increase of 5 mph in average speed over a two to three week period would be an understatement. I have even wondered whether I could have a go at Vets Time Trialing, such was the joy which that 25 mile ride brought!
The other thing I have noticed is that hills that i have previously found to be hard work are actually getting easier and again through making the effort to manage my heart rate I'm not "blowing up" on hills or wasting energy early in the ride.
Stamina is definitely improving and where as a novice cyclist of a little over two months, previously anything more than two straight hours in the saddle was a real struggle, two hours is now a breeze and three to four hours is comfortable with a couple of short breaks to throw some peanuts in my mouth and get out of the saddle.
As a novice cyclist, who until two months ago hadn't been on a bike in around thirty plus years, I'm quite pleased with the progress I'm making and feel more confident now that I will achieve my goal of completing a hundred mile ride before the end of October.
It's still early days with getting the nutrition consistently right every day, some days I just don't eat foods that are high in volume of the right type of carbs. Largely this will be due to me not planning what I am going to eat when I am away from the office or when I find myself at a meeting where a buffet lunch has been provided (these could be called "beige lunch") The effect this has on energy reserves is quite pronounced if I it happens two or three days in a row. When I do get it right, the positive effect on energy levels is really quite pronounced.
I'm sure there will be days in the coming weeks where my average speed isn't quite as consistently high and maybe the rate of progress will slow up a bit, but all the signs are there to indicate that my on the bike performance is moving in the right direction.
As always, thanks for taking the time to visit the blog and read the random thoughts of the Pixie, hope you can find the time to visit again in the future.
VP
Well it has been pretty busy recently so yet again updates to the blog are being held up by my tardiness. As we are not very far from the end of July I thought it would be a good idea to post a summary of Junes training and progress made in respect of weight loss.
June was a funny month which felt like not much progress was being made, this was I think largely due to the amount of rain we had which made me somewhat reluctant to go out and put some road miles in. The purchase of the Turbo trainer definitely turned out to be a good decision because this allowed me to still be on the bike, clocking up miles without getting wet, which was a real bonus and allowed "on the bike" training to continue.
Of course if I were offered to chance to ride in the rain with this chap, I wouldn't be such a softie and I'd get on with it!
Allez Wiggo!
Towards the end of the month I had my performance assessment at Total Cycling Performance (details of this session are in earlier posts on the blog) which gave me an accurate picture of my current fitness levels and identified the aspects of cycling fitness that I need to work on in the coming months. One of the most important things to come out of the day was the identification of a need to re-introduce a significant amount of carbs back into my diet in order to provide fuel for an increased training load. Carbs are the fundamental source of energy for the body so with hindsight it's pretty obvious why I was running out of energy after around 90 minutes, when my diet contained almost zero carbs on some days. Lesson learnt, and I am now taking on board more carbs and managing my nutrition even more carefully than before to avoid what cyclists know as the "bonk". The bonk is what happens when your body simply does not have enough energy to carry on working and is caused by the body having insufficient fuel to work at the level being demanded of it.
As far as weight loss is concerned I guess compared to previous months June would appear to be a bit of a disappointment as total weight loss for the month was 7 pounds, however during June I gradually increased my calorie intake as even I knew I wasn't eating enough to fuel my training load. This will have had an impact on the rate of weight loss as will the development of muscle tissue. All in all, June was still a good month for weight loss and as I get into a more intense and structured training plan I suspect any loss of weight over the coming months is likely to be minimal. For the record when I was weighed at Total Cycling Performance on the 29th June, I weighed in at 12 stone 4 pounds, which is a bit different from the just over 17 stone that I weighed in the second week in January. If you are reading this and want to know how I lost this amount of weight without using fad diets, gimmick dieting products or paying a monthly subscription to a diet club, contact me and I will happily talk it through with you.
So, what did June look like in numbers?
- 34 training sessions completed during the month
- Total training time was a little over 33 hours (so a little over an hour a day on average)
- Average heart rate during all training sessions was 125 beats per minute
- Average maximum heart during all sessions was 155 beats per minute
- 14,600 calories burnt as a direct result of training sessions (so about 4 pounds lost due to exercise completed)
- Total weight loss a little over 7 pounds
- 369.5 miles covered on the bike
When I view the months numbers in this format, the months hard work starts to become clearer and I can see that I am making progress with my fitness levels and getting my weight close to my target of 12 stone. I certainly feel healthier, fitter and less "lardy" which is a feeling that I had been a stranger to for far to many years.
July's training summary should look a little different from the previous two months as I have been working to a new training programme from the 15th July. I have also changed my nutritional goals from 1st July to reflect the fact that I am now not concentrating on weight loss, and focusing on maintaining my current weight, reducing % body fat and building strength and stamina which requires a significantly higher intake of calories to fuel the required training sessions.
Understanding my own percentage body fat figure has been really enlightening for me and I would recommend that for anyone who partakes of sport and is considering taking steps to lose the "spare tyre" having a body fat measurement and focusing on reducing the actual fat content of the body is likely to be the most effective way of losing the "spare tyre" and maintaining (or increasing) sports performance. Focusing on weight alone is likely to result in a loss of muscle mass as well as fat, which is bad for performance. My own % body fat measurement is currently 14% or measured in weight around 26-27 pounds, the aim is to reduce this number by around 12-14 pounds which should take me to just over the 10% body fat figure that seems to be close to optimum for cyclists competing in endurance events in mountainous terrain. This will be a long process and I am anticipating that losing those 12 pounds of fat will take around 26-32 weeks - quite a change from the rate of weight loss experienced over the last six months.
The above chart is a generic one pinched from the internet and really should only be used as a guide, if you are reading this and want to know more about % body fat, I can only recommend that professional advice and guidance is sought. Talk to your GP (if they aren't on strike and you can get them to talk to you about something other than BMI or absolute weight) or better still talk to a sports nutritionist or coach. Personally I would recommend Simon at Total Cycling Performance - no nonsense advice and approach, contact him via his web site or on twitter @bodybullet
As always, thanks for taking the time to read my blog and I hope you are able to find time to visit it again in the coming months as I progress towards l'etape 2013.
VP
