January and February Update - Indoor Cycling

Hi Captain Tardy here,

It doesn't seem like five minutes ago that I was writing my last post and feeling very smug about the fact that I had managed to write more than a couple of blog posts in a month. 

Normal service seems to have been resumed, with no blog posts being written since late December - I'll take myself off to a quiet corner and have a stern word with myself about being more frequent with my blogging - Must try harder!  

Where did January go?

For me January and most of February has been spent in a combination of job hunting (due to my impending departure from my current employer) time on the Watt bike and a good few hours in the gym doing strength and conditioning work.

I have managed to get out on the bike and do a few rides, including completing a couple of the excellent Performance Cycles Winter Mini Series sportives, however on the whole the first few weeks training in 2013 have been spent indoors, rather than out on the roads.

I have to say that I am glad that I made the decision to hire a Wattbike for the duration of the winter months as it has enabled me to continue to work on my cycling fitness when adverse weather conditions would have stopped me from riding outside on the road. I still have my indoor "turbo" trainer which would also have allowed me to continue to train, however the turbo does not have the ability to produce the kind of performance data that the Wattbike can and the Wattbike simply has the potential to make the user work much harder with it's many variable resistance settings.

With the Wattbike being pressed into action as a substitute for longer road based training rides, I found myself spending longer periods of time in the saddle (sometimes 2-2.5 hours) and this revealed a couple of problems that needed addressing, the standard Wattbike saddle was to uncomfortable to use for much more than around 45-60 minutes and looking at the same four walls for hours on end is simply boring!

A solution to the saddle problem was simple enough to find and came in the shape of a new Selle Italia saddle I had purchased for my new LOOK 566 build (more on that in a future blog post)

 

It tool a little longer to find a solution to the issue of what to do about getting bored when sitting on the Wattbike for more than an hour took a little longer to find. I tried watching television, but that didn't work very well because the Wattbike is actually quite noisy when it is being worked hard and it was difficult to hear the TV. A digital radio and my iphone headphones were tried and this was much better if the radio was perched on the "tri bars" - Many hours of training and listening to Planet Rock beckoned! After a couple of weeks I decided that whilst this was working quite well, maybe a set of proper headphones would improve the listening experience and stop the ear pieces from being ripped out of my ears every time I sat up on the bike. 

 

So despite the weather doing its worst during January and early February to disrupt my training schedule, having the Wattbike available for to use for cycle specific training and having a gym just 10 minutes up the road has allowed the training programme to largely stay on track. In some respects I suspect that the quality of training completed during January and February is probably higher than it might have been as a result of not having to go out on the road in weather conditions that may have been at best OK and when the appetite to train properly would have been compromised to the point where some sessions would simply have been riding for the sake of being out on the bike rather than actual training.

As of today's date (21/02/13) a short summary of the training completed so far this year looks like this;

• 46 individual training sessions
• 66 hours of training completed, including indoor cycling sessions, core training and strength & conditioning sessions
• Average heart rate across all types of training = 113 beats per minute
• Maximum heart rate across all types of training = 158 beats per minute
• Calories burnt during exercise = 29558
• Average calories burnt per hour = 448 
• Net weight lost = 3 pounds

As we move towards the end of February the weather in Wiltshire has been improving to the point where it looks like Spring might be just around the corner and the mornings and evenings are getting lighter. Hopefully this will mean that more time will be spent on the road riding rather than on the Wattbike over the coming weeks?

March will bring with it a planned increase in sportive activity and a planned increase in target mileage each week as we get ever closer to the first cycling milestone of 2013, The Dragon Ride Gran Fondo in June. Of course, both the Dragon Ride and l'etape are not simply all about covering the miles across flat terrain, both events have courses that are significantly hilly in nature and therefore the training completed over the coming weeks will have a lot of emphasis on completing high miles in hilly terrain.        

  

As always thanks for visiting my blog and taking the time to read the ramblings of the Pixie. Over the next few days I will be writing about my plans for charity fund raising this year, so please pop back and see how you could help a couple of worthy causes out.

Dha weles diwettha
VP          

    

Total Cycling Performance: Test session update

Well I think I have just about recovered from my day spent with Simon at Total Cycling Performance over in South Wales last Friday (29/06/12) The first thing that struck me when I arrived in the area that Simon is based in was the stunning countryside that Simon has on his doorstep, there are some seriously hilly cycling routes available which I will be exploring with Simon in the near future.

     

Upon arrival at Simon's I was pleased to find that the first item on the days agenda was a cup of coffee and a chat whilst Simon completed some medical questionnaires and checked that I didn't have any pre existing medical conditions which might make the days activities dangerous for me to undertake.

Once the paperwork was completed we moved onto the actual testing which took place in Simon's self contained fitness testing and training building. Simon eased me into the day with the tests that related to ascertaining what my body composition is, including body fat analysis, muscle analysis, hydration analysis and BMR (which works out how much energy, or how many calories, my body uses in a 24 hour period whilst simply resting) The highlight of these tests was the news that I have less body fat than I thought I had and my hydration levels are good. 

We then moved onto the piece of work which prompted my contacting Simon in the first place, the "bike fit" session. I won't bore you with details but it is safe to say that the set up on my bike was a country mile away from where it should be for optimum performance and comfort. Simon checked the bike using lasers and made all of the required adjustments to both the bike and the pedal cleats on my shoes. The bike was so far away from where it should have been that we suspect that now that it has been corrected, a niggling pain in my left knee may now go away. 

The new settings from my bike were then transferred onto the "Watt bike" so that the first batch of the cycling performance tests could be conducted. Simon would normally do an initial test using the original settings from the clients bike to establish a base line to work from, however my set up was so bad we decided it would be a waste of time and elected to use the new settings for the first run on the Watt bike. A number of tests were conducted in this session (details of the tests can be found in my last blog post or on Simon's web site  http://www.totalcyclingperformance.co.uk ) however the test that grabbed most of my attention was the pedalling efficiency test. As the name suggests this is a test that analyses the efficiency of the cyclists actual pedalling technique. The picture below is a copy of the results of my first run on the Watt bike which resulted in an uncorrected or coached pedalling efficiency of 51.9%

    

My first run on the Watt bike was followed by a second run where Simon provided some tuition to correct some faults in my pedalling technique and to say I was pleased with the results I achieved on the second run would be an understatement! The following picture shows the results of the second run which were an average efficiency of 86.7% and a peak efficiency of 91.6%

                  

More information on pedalling efficiency and how its possible to change a peanut into a sausage can be found on Simons web site at http://www.totalcyclingperformance.co.uk/the-importance-of-pedalling-efficiency.php 

All of the information that I have learnt as a result of spending the day with Simon is really useful and the next steps are to put this information into use by changing the way I train. An example of this would be the application of my "maximum aerobic efficiency hear rate" which I now know is between 139-145 beats per minute. By focusing my riding so that the majority of work is completed within this heart beat range, I will be looking to increase my anaerobic threshold and increase aerobic efficiency. This together with a rounded training programme that is designed to improve both pedalling strength and endurance should provide an end result that is an all round increase in cycling speed.

We did a number of tests on the day to assess my core strength and overall strength for cycling. It's fair to say that the results were a bit of a mixed bag and as I suspected prior to commencing the testing, my core strength is an area that I really need to focus on. I don't know how many articles in books and magazines I have read over the last few months advocating that core strength is key to cycling performance, what I do know is that whilst I have accepted the validity of this advice, I haven't actually done anything about it. Cyclists, it's true, if you want to go further and faster, spend some time developing your core strength!

    

The results of the body composition and nutrition analysis make for an interesting read and in a lot of respects have confirmed my suspicions that the time is now right to move my nutritional focus away from simply losing weight. 

The headline figures from the body composition analysis are as follows;

• Total weight 78.8kg
• Lean weight 64kg
• Body fat % 18.8%
• Hydration 61%
• Basil Metabolic Rate (BMR 1685kcal) 

When I reflect on where I was at the beginning of the year in terms of weight and probable % body fat (I don't know what the figure was but at 17 stone and being 5 foot 8 inches tall it was going to be a high %) the above figures are quite pleasing and probably validate that what I see in the mirror every morning is not a mirage - Yes I think I might finally accept that I may be a bit skinnier than I was in January!

It's not all good news though, the analysis of my current nutritional intake has revealed that I'm not really eating enough food (specifically carbohydrates) for somebody who is training as a potential endurance athlete. Failing to eat sufficient carbs is almost certainly holding back my progress in consistently being able to stretch out the distance I cover on the bike by simply not allowing the body to create sufficient energy stores to fuel my exercise programme. 

The aim for the next 16 weeks is to shed a further 5-6kg of fat to bring the body fat % figure down to something close to 10% and to modify my nutritional intake to facilitate both the desired further drop in body fat and also to provide sufficient carbohydrate in the diet to fuel the training programme that Simon is writing for me. Taking the results of all of the days testing into account my overall nutritional targets for the next 16 weeks will look something like this;

•  Total calorie target 1800kcal per day, of which;
• 300g of carbohydrate (1200kcal)
• 60g of protein (240kcal)
• 40g of fat (360kcal)     

Just to put that further 5-6kg of fat that I want to lose  into context, 5.5kg of fat is equal to 22 of these;

   

As I'm sitting here writing this and looking at the report that Simon produced detailing the results achieved and related recommendations for each of the tests conducted on the day it has made me aware of exactly how much work was completed on the day. To document everything we did on the day would probably turn this blog post into cycling's version of War and Peace so I think I will let Simon's web site provide the details of the actual tests that were completed.

I had a really enjoyable (if it's possible to enjoy pushing your body to it's limits! :) ) and informative day at Total Cycling Performance and if you are a cyclist or athlete that is curious about understanding more about how to develop your performance, I would recommend talking to Simon about how he works and how he might be able to help you train "Smarter not Longer"  

If you are reading this and are interested in asking me something specific about the tests I undertook with Simon and how I got on with them on the day, please feel free to contact me either via this web site or via Twitter @velopixie  

Once again thanks for taking the time to visit and read the blog, hope you can come back again soon.

VP  

Cycling Performance Analysis

I appear to have been slacking a bit with keeping the blog up to date and didn't realise how long it had been since I last provided an update. So I expect updates will be like buses for a few days............

In an earlier update I mentioned that I was going to try and arrange a session to fit me to the bike to make sure that it was set up properly and to avoid any waste of energy through poor set up. Having done some more research into where such a session could be conducted and also some research into finding a cycling/sports coach and nutritionist I have managed to find somebody that can provide both services and who is only about an hour and a half away in the car - Happy Days :)

The person in question is Simon Vincent who runs Total Cycling Performance ( http://www.totalcyclingperformance.co.uk/ ) over in South Wales.



Having had a couple of conversations and exchanged e mails with Simon I was confident that Simon's outlook on training and nutrition was exactly what I was looking for and a date was agreed for me to go over for a day and take part in some performance testing.

The performance testing programme that Simon has agreed to undertake include the following elements;

Electronic body composition scan, nutrition intake analysis and weight management plan

• 7 day client food diary analysis in respect of macro and micronutrient intake
• Bodystat 1500™ Electronic Body Composition Metabolic Analysis Scan to ascertain body fat, muscle, hydration levels along with BMR (the amount of kcal your body uses during rest over 24 hours)
• Waste to hip ratio and body fat spot measurements
• Full consultation to dispel myths and evaluate goals
• Detailed nutrition plan and recommendations in line with clients goals                                                     

Laser line bike fit and detailed pedalling efficiency/power analysis – incorporating use of an official Wattbike™

• Bike fitting incorporating Wattbike**
• Pedalling efficiency/flat spot analysis across range of riding positions
• True maximum heart rate test/HR training zones    
• Maximum minute power output test
• Electronic Peak Lung Flow Capacity                              
• Functional Threshold Power Test (20 min)
• Tri-leve alatic power (sprint) test                                                                                       
• Optimum bike set up

Cycling specific strength and conditioning/power to weight ratio assessment

• Upper and lower body strength                                                 
• Upper and lower body endurance
• Coronal strength ratios                                                             
• Bilateral grip strength
• Core muscle strength and stability                                             
• Total flexibility and mobility
• Hip functionality                                                                                   
• Balance and proprioception                  
• Written report of results

This performance testing programme is normally undertaken over two days but Simon has kindly agreed to complete the programme in one day and that day is tomorrow 29th June. 

To be honest, I'm quite nervous about the prospect of undertaking a days testing as up until now I have been entirely in control of what fitness training and exercise I have undertaken. Doing what somebody else is telling me to do is something I haven't experienced in relation to sport for probably over ten years! 

The other thing I have been reflecting on over the last few days is that it was only six months ago that I was 17 stone in weight and could not have imagined that I would be contemplating commissioning somebody to act as my sports and nutrition coach with a view to coaching me to the completion of a bona fide sports endurance event. For the first time I have over the last few days allowed myself to feel ever so slightly proud of what I have achieved this year and do you know what? It feels good to be 12 stone something in weight and fit enough to commit to Simons performance testing programme. 



I will provide an update on how the day has gone in the next few days (once I have recovered!) 

Once again thanks for taking the time to visit and read my blog. 

Hope to see you back here soon

VP