Getting cycling fit again

[peliroja]

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[Elleigh]

I'm currently doing yoga and pilates.  I do it from DVD.  I know that it doesn't effect cardiovascular fitness, but it makes me feel better and when I feel better, I have a more positive approach to changing my cycling related fitness.  I see it as less of a problem or burden. 

If I remember rightly your comapny provides free yoga.  Why not give it a go sometime, it may even help with the stressful work environment.

E x

[MSeries]

I have started out on the same road. I was off for five and a half months with a broken pelvis, didn't walk for about two months, increased weight and lost alot of muscle. Base fitness is about riding, as fast as you want, as slow as you want, just riding. Speed, strength and power training should all be built on a base. So I think you need motivation first and foremost to get you out there. I need it too.  I am commuting by bike at least twice per week, nine and a half miles round trip and  a 2 mile hill. I had plans to get out at weekends and increase my distance by 6 miles (10km) each weekend but my motivation is not strong enough to get me out in the blustery weather this weekend. My last non commuting ride was two weeks ago and I did 60km. I am doing gym work as well though including about and hour fat burning on a bike and cross trainer. Back to motivation, what I need and perhaps what you need is a purpose for your rides. Go somewhere; visit a friend or a bike shop or some other place where you would be interested in going. Get a friend to tootle with you, someone who understand what you are feeling and will go slow enough for you, but just quick enough to encourage you.  It will take your mind off the cycling and you will just do it. The weather probably isn't helping, not helping me anyway. It's still April though.  Set some targets, mine is a 100km randonee on the May BH weekend, then 200km on the August BH at the latest.

I hope you can get something from the above ramblings.  Good luck.

[GillP]

Thanks E. I've thought about that. We do get subsidised yoga at work, but it still works out at £13.50 a lesson, which is a bit too much for the wallet at the moment.

I do have an old Pilates DVD. Perhaps I should dust that one off, and tell Woolly not to laugh at me. 

I think you should get Woolly to do the Pilates with you  Good luck with getting your fitness back, on the occasions I've ridden in your company I have been very impressed with you. 

[toekneep]

Thanks E. I've thought about that. We do get subsidised yoga at work, but it still works out at £13.50 a lesson, which is a bit too much for the wallet at the moment.

I do have an old Pilates DVD. Perhaps I should dust that one off, and tell Woolly not to laugh at me. 

I think you should get Woolly to do the Pilates with you  Good luck with getting your fitness back, on the occasions I've ridden in your company I have been very impressed with you. 

And make him wear the uniform. 

All the best Peli

[Jacomus]

My gf and I are in the process of bringing her up to my fitness, and she can get fairly bummed every now and then, seeming to make very little progress - so we started logging data 

Even though it doesn't feel much like it to her at the time, if she is feeling discouraged we can just go and look at our average speeds and distances and they provide a nice boost. We have gone from 10km at 15kmh average, to 25km at 20kmh average over two months or so.

Something else we like to do is plan a ride, so that we can take in a nice swoopy hill to zoom down - that allways feels good to have worked your way up, and be rewarded with some swooping.

As well as building speed and distance naturally as she gets fitter, we do little sprints and short sprinters hills to really get the blood pumping, this makes it feel more like work too, and by taking in the same hill over time she has gone from barely climbing it, to really honking up it.

The only thing holding us back now is her bike (and our lack of funds to buy her a roadbike) - an incredibly old rigid steel mtb made from what feels like depleted uranium.

I would suggest logging your progress.

[mike]

having met you, you're probably trying to go too fast   take the speedo off the bike and wear a heart rate monitor instead and stay in a target range.  For me, it's 65 - 75%.

This is quite a tight band and quite hard to stick to - if you're like me, you'll go slower uphills but faster down and wont be killing yourself trying to go the speed you 'ought' to be going at.

[woollypigs]

having met you, you're probably trying to go too fast  

I can confirm she is not in a good mood when it comes to cycling atm, struggling a heck of a lot, as she does just want to peg it, tried to tell her to take it easy and build the miles up that way, but no will she listen ...

I'm sure that we will her back to her old self and then it is my who will complain as I will be well knackered trying to follow her.

[alan]

Hi Peli,
unfortunately & coincidently I can relate to & identify with a lot of the contents of your post.
I reckon that I need to deal with two issues
fitness
motivation

I have bought the C+ "Health & Fitness Spring Ride Guide " to benefit from the training schedules therein to help with fitness.

Motivation is a little more difficult for me because I am fundamentally a lazy person.I have concluded that I need to ride with a purpose and/or company (a solo ride on local roads that are too familiar is no incentive.) so I will try to do more audax rides & I might visit my local cycling club. I also have the Cycle Quest sheets for Staffordshire,Derbyshire,Chesire &Shropshire which would give a purpose to riding.
The S24O thread is also good for incentive.

Another type of incentive is a YACF forum ride .When you & Woolly are next in God's Country give us some advance notice.I know of a forum member who is/will be living thereabouts (you know who you are   ) who already has a fine idea in this regard.

[peliroja]

Alan, I need to deal with the same two issues. Fitness and motivation.

And also get over my competitive head that tells me I should be faster than everyone else. Or at least as fast as I used to be. 

I know, we could try to motivate each other, how about that? Do you have a ride planned for tomorrow?   

[alan]

I know, we could try to motivate each other, how about that? Do you have a ride planned for tomorrow?   

That's the best offer I've had for some time

Tomorrow I will be earning brownie points in the garden
Tis agood idea this mutual motivation.I 'll give it some thought & decide what I'm doing & when, then let you know.
We can then compare notes

[MSeries]

I'd go for a ride with you Peli but I'm here are you are there.

[alan]

BTW,
My loss of competitive desire was directly proportional to the passage of time(aka getting older) & an expanding waistline which acts as an uphill-brake

So...your competitive persona will be with you for many years yet London Lady

[hellymedic]

If you are wheezy when you cycle, it is possible you have exercise-induced asthma (possibly bought on by your recent illness).
Arrange to see your GP some time.
Beg, borrow steal (or obtain on prescription!) a peak flow meter and check your peak flow at rest and after a few minutes' cycling.
An inhaler from your GP may relieve your wheezing.
Once breathing is easier, the other fitness may follow.

[peliroja]

I know, we could try to motivate each other, how about that? Do you have a ride planned for tomorrow?   

Tis agood idea this mutual motivation.I 'll give it some thought & decide what I'm doing & when, then let you know.
We can then compare notes

Sounds good to me.

I'd go for a ride with you Peli but I'm here are you are there.

Thanks MSeries. Perhaps we can motivate each other from afar, too!

If you are wheezy when you cycle, it is possible you have exercise-induced asthma (possibly bought on by your recent illness).
Arrange to see your GP some time.
Beg, borrow steal (or obtain on prescription!) a peak flow meter and check your peak flow at rest and after a few minutes' cycling.
An inhaler from your GP may relieve your wheezing.
Once breathing is easier, the other fitness may follow.

Thanks H. I definitely have asthma; I was diagnosed aged 12, and use Becotide and Ventolin inhalers. It's brought on by exercise, pet hair and chest infections. I should use my peak flow meter more, however. Thanks for the reminder. 

[cometworm]

- Since I was very sick in February I have been gradually increasing the mileage and am now cycling about ten miles a day total on my commute, and about thirty total each weekend, but by heck those miles feel hard, and I still feel less and less powerful each time I go out = even less motivation to... you get the picture.

Make sure you have an easy week once a month or so, so that you consolidate the gains you've made - periodisation is very important in endurance training. If you're not, then you're not building yourself up but wearing yourself down...

[peliroja]

- Since I was very sick in February I have been gradually increasing the mileage and am now cycling about ten miles a day total on my commute, and about thirty total each weekend, but by heck those miles feel hard, and I still feel less and less powerful each time I go out = even less motivation to... you get the picture.

Make sure you have an easy week once a month or so, so that you consolidate the gains you've made - periodisation is very important in endurance training. If you're not, then you're not building yourself up but wearing yourself down...

Hmm, I should understand the practical meaning of this, but I don't. Do you mean I need to take it easy for one week a month to allow my body to recover from building up the miles?

Edit: and is one whole week necessary?

[Valiant]

I was in the same boat after me knee injury. The thing that helped me wasn't going out for rides, t'was going out to meet people, I was in too much pain to go out by myself as I'd push it too much. But the social ride here and there helped. I rode one day, off the next, on again etc until I wanted to be on the bike all the time. If you don't want to be on a bike then don't do it. You'll only make yourself want it less and less. Do different exercises, walk, jog, run like Phoebe, yogalaties, weights, whatever, it'll help bring your general fitness back up.

And most importantly, I recommend a dose of Sam. It'll help with the all important stress levels which is YOUR biggest obstacle.

[hellymedic]

- Since I was very sick in February I have been gradually increasing the mileage and am now cycling about ten miles a day total on my commute, and about thirty total each weekend, but by heck those miles feel hard, and I still feel less and less powerful each time I go out = even less motivation to... you get the picture.

Make sure you have an easy week once a month or so, so that you consolidate the gains you've made - periodisation is very important in endurance training. If you're not, then you're not building yourself up but wearing yourself down...

Hmm, I should understand the practical meaning of this, but I don't. Do you mean I need to take it easy for one week a month to allow my body to recover from building up the miles?

Edit: and is one whole week necessary?

Taking it easy does not mean not riding at all, it means not pushing yourself any harder for that week.

I also think you need one or two days totally off the bike every week. I really don't want you to get:
Overtrained
Depressed
Post-viral fatigue etc

You sound like work is a major stress at present. You really have to plan your leisure time well so that you can really look forward to both your cycling and your non-cycling activities.

You should also make sure you have enough sleep (you might need more than usual right now), the right food and you really must sort out that asthma; how on earth can you motivate yourself to cycle when every breath is an effort?

Take care of the simple things and the motivation and fitness will follow.

All the best...

[Marmitegeoff]

& an expanding waistline which acts as an uphill-brake

Just think of it as a downhill accelerator,  Works for me 

[MSeries]

Thanks MSeries. Perhaps we can motivate each other from afar, too!

Maybe next time you are in Lancs. with your bike you should plan for a forum ride. Make it a target to aim for. Like Valiant said social rides are what I need and maybe you do too, exercise just happens that way.

[toekneep]

Maybe next time you are in Lancs. with your bike you should plan for a forum ride. Make it a target to aim for. Like Valiant said social rides are what I need and maybe you do too, exercise just happens that way.

Funny you should say that MS. Mrs. TKP and I will be resident in Lancs by May and I am tentatively considering organizing a forum ride up there. Unfortunately it probably won't be until September as I want to include the 20 miles of promenade from Fleetwood to Lytham so I think it must be out of season. Otherwise we are likely to be somewhat outnumbered by drunken yobs in Kiss Me Quick hats.

Are you listening Peli?

[MSeries]

Maybe next time you are in Lancs. with your bike you should plan for a forum ride. Make it a target to aim for. Like Valiant said social rides are what I need and maybe you do too, exercise just happens that way.

Funny you should say that MS. Mrs. TKP and I will be resident in Lancs by May and I am tentatively considering organizing a forum ride up there. Unfortunately it probably won't be until September as I want to include the 20 miles of promenade from Fleetwood to Lytham so I think it must be out of season. Otherwise we are likely to be somewhat outnumbered by drunken yobs in Kiss Me Quick hats.

Are you listening Peli?

Until I broke my pelvis I used to do a ride to Blackpool and back, 270km from here. Parhaps next year or maybe later this I'll do it again. I used to live in Lytham and  Blackpool BTW, worked at the DSS in those places. I was thinking about a forum weekender there too. If I can get transport arranged, I'll be interested.

[alan]

Hello Peli,(are  you still in that dressing gown?)

I have just done 40 mins on the turbo doing ten minute intervals easy/harder.

Easy = flywheel off
Harder = flywheel on at lowest resistance

I used the fixie. 66" gear IIRC

Not much I know but it's a start

Your turn

[GillP]

We'll get you started next Sunday Alan