Author Topic: Warming Up (Read 5268 times)

clarion · « **on:** 14 July, 2011, 07:04:24 pm »

I may be getting older.

No. I am. I am getting older. I can't escape that.

And I'm getting faster, bit by bit.

But over the last few months, I've found that I've been taking longer to warm up at the start of a ride. I used to be able to leap on my bike and go, for certain values of 'go'. But now a typical commute consists of a slow five to ten minutes, followed by getting faster and faster right up to the end of the hour. And coming back after the meal a few nights ago - just 10km, and I know I was a bit full of curry - I couldn't keep up with Butterfly to start with, but by the final few km, I was flying.

Is it best to just accept the fact that I'm starting slow, and those heavy legs will get going eventually, or should I do something to prepare for a ride, even if it's just a commute?

I'm guessing there are no real shortcuts. $:-\$

spesh · « **Reply #1 on:** 14 July, 2011, 07:36:55 pm »

Ask yourself - do you really want to spend 10 minutes on a turbo trainer before commencing your commute, or riding around the block a few times before setting off?

It's not like you're racing or anything*, so if you have a 60 minute commute, you might as well take the first 10 minutes getting up to speed.

* Cue flames from those who take their commuting waaaay too seriously and/or get off on "scalping" other cycle-commuters.

perpetual dan · « **Reply #2 on:** 14 July, 2011, 07:58:48 pm »

Move house to the top of a hill?

When I was at school much was made of stretching exercises. I don't do them before cycling, but still do at the gym. Maybe if you want to go faster (without hurting) touching your toes before and after would help?

clarion · « **Reply #3 on:** 14 July, 2011, 10:39:22 pm »

Well, spesh, I have to admit it's fun winning the Etape du Commute

But you're right. It really isn't that important. I just don't want to be doing any damage working cold muscles. Though I am very capable of taking it easy

Quote from: perpetual dan on 14 July, 2011, 07:58:48 pm

Move house to the top of a hill?

Well, we do live partway up a hill...

Quote

When I was at school much was made of stretching exercises. I don't do them before cycling, but still do at the gym. Maybe if you want to go faster (without hurting) touching your toes before and after would help?

You've reminded me that I did used to do some stretching before longer rides - stuff I'd got from a bike mag.

Touching my toes? That seems like hard work. Can I touch someone else's instead?

Alouicious · « **Reply #4 on:** 15 July, 2011, 07:57:35 am »

Beats me why anyone would want to rush to work???

Rush home yes, but TO work, stupidity.

perpetual dan · « **Reply #5 on:** 15 July, 2011, 08:19:33 am »

I think I would fall over if I touched someone else's toes, unless they were doing a handstand. How does butterfly feel about this?

mrcharly-YHT · « **Reply #6 on:** 15 July, 2011, 08:35:58 am »

I've found the same, Clarion.

I can't hope on and zoom off anymore. My legs just go dead, bind up. Takes me at least 10 minutes to get warmed up, then I can start shifting.

mattc · « **Reply #7 on:** 15 July, 2011, 08:46:32 am »

Quote from: clarion on 14 July, 2011, 10:39:22 pm

Quote
When I was at school much was made of stretching exercises. I don't do them before cycling, but still do at the gym. Maybe if you want to go faster (without hurting) touching your toes before and after would help?

You've reminded me that I did used to do some stretching before longer rides - stuff I'd got from a bike mag.

Touching my toes? That seems like hard work. Can I touch someone else's instead?

Stretching BEFORE warming up is almost certainly counter-productive. Stick to touching the parts of others bodies in the morning.

There's nothing you can do that isn't riding the bike, as most people have already replied. Although what you do the night before might be significant. If your commute home is your last exercise of the day, try to stretch straight after that. Plenty of info on YACF (and lesser internet pages) about stretching.

And just accept the aging process - you can join me in Vets racing sometime!

TheLurker · « **Reply #8 on:** 15 July, 2011, 08:48:20 am »

Quote from: mrcharly on 15 July, 2011, 08:35:58 am

I've found the same, Clarion.

I can't hope on and zoom off anymore. My legs just go dead, bind up. Takes me at least 10 minutes to get warmed up, then I can start shifting.

+1 the difference being that I've never gone terribly fast even when warmed up.

Biggsy · « **Reply #9 on:** 15 July, 2011, 09:40:37 am »

Of course I know there's more to "warming up" than this, but what about being physically warmer to begin with by wearing an extra layer of clothing, that you would take off after three or four miles?

Wouldn't this give the muscles a more gentle start?

Quote from: Alouicious on 15 July, 2011, 07:57:35 am

Beats me why anyone would want to rush to work???

Rush home yes, but TO work, stupidity.

Procrastination or maximising sleep - leaving it to the last minute to set off.

LittleWheelsandBig · « **Reply #10 on:** 15 July, 2011, 09:44:12 am »

I find the same thing but it depends more on my fitness level. Fitter = longer to get into my stride. I'm not convinced that my 'unfit quick start' is actually much quicker than my 'fit slow start'.

Alouicious · « **Reply #11 on:** 15 July, 2011, 09:49:46 am »

In the old days....

It was 'limbering up' followed by simple stretching and then 'warming up' by riding at a moderate pace for ten minutes or so.
'Limbering up' consisted of marching and then jogging on the spot followed by skip jumps.
Streching was Hams, Quads and Calfs.

I have a house with an upper floor. I get out of bed, go downstairs to put the coffee machine on, then jog upstairs to have my wash and get my cycling kit on.
I stretch while the coffee machine dispenses its charge.
There is no time wasted. All is done in the three minutes the coffee machine is doing its stuff.

The first two miles of my commute is at a moderate pace before I get over the M42 junction and then I up the pace.

vorsprung · « **Reply #12 on:** 15 July, 2011, 10:41:48 am »

I noticed when I was turbo'ing a bit a couple of years ago it took 25 minutes to fully warm up

There was a definite change after 25 minutes

Alouicious · « **Reply #13 on:** 16 July, 2011, 07:48:09 am »

The usual course of events when a novice cyclist buys a Turbo Trainer is; they buy a HRM at the same time. They load their bike on the machine and go riding off until their HR is 85ish % of 220 – age, CV region.

After 5 boring minutes, they decide to “sod this, I’m going to LT” so they up the HR to 95ish % of 220 – age.
Doing this, an unfit individual will get adrenaline after 15 – 20 minutes of pedalling. Mediocre fitness chaps and chapesses will get adrenaline before half an hour.
When this happens, pedalling becomes a bit less painful.

Before the bike even goes on the Turbo Trainer, do some testing or look on the manufacturer’s website for a realistic kW vs kmh curve for the bike. Plot a chart and pick some speeds like 10, 13, 16, 19, 22 and 25 kmh.
Put the bike’s computer magnet and pick up on the driven wheel.
Weigh yourself.

Put the bike on the Turbo Trainer, take a few deep breaths and ride at the 6 speeds for 2 minutes each, noting down your HR at the end of each two minute cruise.

ALWAYS using the same curve, with the estimate for Watts ( this is a COMPARATIVE test, not ABSOLUTE ), your HR and your mass, you can estimate your VO2 max.

Use this test as a ‘Warm up’ for Turbo Trainer sessions.

The second test is a 20 minute ‘balls out blast’ to ride as far ( by the computer’s trip ) as you can.
Get an average speed for the 20 minute blast, estimate the Wattage you pedalled at and multiply this by 0.95.
This will be your Functional Threshold Power by using a simple £150 set-up instead of spending £1000 on a CycleOps PowerBeam.

The results are comparative, so if you use the same curve, the same bike and the same procedure, you can see your improvement over the coming weeks.

Canardly · « **Reply #14 on:** 29 July, 2011, 09:13:10 pm »

Isn't that one of the 'older' things, in that you may not be as fast as you once were but when it comes to consistency and ability to cover the distance you win every time?

Doosh · « **Reply #15 on:** 29 July, 2011, 09:20:00 pm »

Yes I've noticed it takes a good 20 minutes or more before the legs feel right, it's a hard feeling to explain but for those first 20 minutes I'm constantly looking down at the bike to see if anything is dragging

CharlieK · « **Reply #16 on:** 30 July, 2011, 01:07:57 pm »

I recently took part in the Mersey Roads 24.

At HQ I got ready and my son said "aren't you going to warm up?" To which I replied "Nope". When he asked why not my simple answer was given I was riding for 24 hours warming up wouldn't really achieve anything, anyway the first hour would be the warm up

rogerzilla · « **Reply #17 on:** 30 July, 2011, 06:07:22 pm »

I find commuting regularly actually reduces the warm-up period because I'm used to shorter trips at high intensity. It does take me the first mile to get the legs going in the evening, which is annoying since there is a longish climb out of work.

GruB · « **Reply #18 on:** 30 July, 2011, 07:44:36 pm »

I too start off gradually and then after about 3 to 4 miles warm up into a rhythm. I see it as a way of warming up - specific warming up.

Rhys W · « **Reply #19 on:** 30 July, 2011, 10:50:29 pm »

About 10 years ago I was racing time trials more regularly than I do now, with the occasional road race thrown in. There was a 30 mile TT which was two laps of a 15-mile loop. My time, divided by 3, was faster than any 10 I did that year. I concluded that for a 10, I needed to do a 20-mile warm-up!

Doosh · « **Reply #20 on:** 31 July, 2011, 04:34:40 pm »

I noticed it again yesterday, it's like for the first bit you can actually feel your legs working but after they've warmed up (or whatever it is actually happening) your legs feel like they're going round without much effort. Odd.

Kim · « **Reply #21 on:** 31 July, 2011, 04:42:01 pm »

As a rule of thumb, I find it always seems to be harder work than it ought to be for the first 5km or so of a ride. That doesn't actually bother me that much when riding from home, as it generally involves stop-start traffic or at least a reasonable amount of stopping at junctions.

The real killer is halfway stops on night rides. Not only do your legs need time to get going again, but your body's trying to fall asleep, and it's invariably Freezing Bloody Cold when you start riding again, regardless of the actual temperature. This is, presumably, why it's traditional to have a Bastard Hill just after controls.

Manotea · « **Reply #22 on:** 31 July, 2011, 05:09:56 pm »

Quote from: LittleWheelsandBig on 15 July, 2011, 09:44:12 am

I find the same thing but it depends more on my fitness level. Fitter = longer to get into my stride.

This except replace 'longer' with 'faster'

Generally it takes me about an hour/20km to really get going.

Famously, Mr Spooner likes a slightly longer run up.

jolmartyn · « **Reply #23 on:** 15 September, 2011, 10:55:53 pm »

As an aging fell runner and long distance walker - who uses the bike as a training tool - 100+ miles commuting this week. Warming up seems pretty pointless when taking it easy covers the miles. You're warming up and going somewhere. Stretching vigorously before a ride when cold is a recipe for disaster too. However we older guys know how to complete and finish mostly pace I suppose. Quite a lot of sense in the tortoise and hare stuff I guess! $:-\$