LSD...

rottenhat

...isn't what it used to be.

Goals For 2010: a Fleche, a Super Randonneur, and the Mille Cymru.

I'm broadly following a plan lifted from Simon Doughty's Long Distance Cyclists' Handbook, but in keeping with UK audax traditions where actual training would be considered ungentlemanly, it consists of no more than putting in a lot of miles and remembering to take a week off once in a while.

rottenhat

Simon Says: 80km

which is to say, a long ride of 80km, plus other rides during the week totaling the same amount. Three commutes (18km each way) comes to 108km, and the Orwell spin just about came to 80km (Dundrum - Embankment - Kilbride - Sorrel Hill and back in) with a bit of a detour on the way back into the city. In spite of a headcold, I was feeling fine, but got dropped going down the Embankment and couldn't get back on (thanks, El Tonto, you're a gentleman). Little bit of soreness in the quads walking downstairs afterwards.

coolbeans

Hey there RH,
Hoping to get into Audax but I dunno if I've got the right equipment bikewise. Current steed is an aluminium framed yolk, and I'm just about to purchase a 300 lumen light set. What else do I need? I remember your Carradice bag remark and I don't know if a road bike like mine will take one? Were you serious?
I'm working on the beard!

rottenhat

I thought it might be of more general interest so I posted the answer to your questions over on the main audax thread. Will you make it out for the Lumpy 200 in January or will you keep your powder dry until a bit later in the year?

Chips Lovell

Just saw this now. Sorry about that. In my defence, I didn't start the hammering and only realised how much the group had fractured by the time we hit Tallaght. I owe you a pull though.

niceonetom

'Hat, despite this thread's title, does your regimen include any high intensity stuff? I happened upon this fearsome workout by one even more fearsome ultramarathon cyclist and was surprised by his focus on very high intensity interval/threshold work.

rottenhat

el tonto wrote: »

Just saw this now. Sorry about that. In my defence, I didn't start the hammering and only realised how much the group had fractured by the time we hit Tallaght. I owe you a pull though.

Hah, no worries, just throwing a little dig in...I mean, losing contact on the downhill is nobody's fault but mine. Actually, I've been thoroughly enjoying the manner in which the pace has tended to ramp up at the end of spins lately...never seemed to happen last year.

niceonetom wrote: »

'Hat, despite this thread's title, does your regimen include any high intensity stuff? I happened upon this fearsome workout by one even more fearsome ultramarathon cyclist and was surprised by his focus on very high intensity interval/threshold work.

Lon Haldeman...you should practically genuflect every time you hear his name. Pete Penseyres likewise. I had read elsewhere that high intensity work has much more application than you would expect to long distance stuff, but I don't quite take myself seriously enough to get into that. It sounds like hard work in a way that six hours in the mountains does not.

I would also hesitate to describe what I have as a "regimen". My plan basically involves doing the same as I ever did, just a little more diligently.

Chips Lovell

rottenhat wrote: »

Hah, no worries, just throwing a little dig in...I mean, losing contact on the downhill is nobody's fault but mine. Actually, I've been thoroughly enjoying the manner in which the pace has tended to ramp up at the end of spins lately...never seemed to happen last year.

Yeah, I don't know what's in the air but people seem to have itchy trigger fingers this winter. It's a bit of sport anyway turning the gas up for the last few km.

ROK ON

I think a lot of folk gun for home in the last part of a ride. I know that I tend to (but I live at the bottom of a hill).
Anyway I have been advised to cease this behaviour. It is unhelpful in recovery and all it does is build up lactic acid in the legs.

I have to spin for final hour of my w/e spins now. Which will make descending less fun. Hopefully I will notice a freshness in the legs the day after.

rottenhat

Simon says: 90km

Bah...only managed two commutes this week for a miserable 72km (=FAIL), and I left the house this morning thinking this was an 80km week - just as well I reckoned I'd better do a bit extra to compensate for the commuting deficit. With no Orwell spin I decided to start scouting my 200 for next year and headed out through Finglas to St Margarets, Oldtown, Garristown, Ardcath and Duleek before turning around. 90.88km all in, flat as you like, would have been quite relaxing if it hadn't been so cold.

ROK ON

It all counts. When I am out on the road I think of how few people I now encounter on the bike, even on a short commute.
Keep on truckin bikin, it will all count come the summer.

Raam

@Rottenhat: consider it a rest week
Although I'm on mine and I got about 160km. So either you are doing too little or I did too much!

rottenhat

Raam wrote: »

@Rottenhat: consider it a rest week
Although I'm on mine and I got about 160km. So either you are doing too little or I did too much!

I can save us both by saying that I'm aiming to peak later than you.

rottenhat

Simon Says: 70km

Well, seventy ain't much - four days commuting got me up to 147km without drawing breath. The bitter cold this morning made the long ride a bit of a grind - out the coast road to Newcastle then inland and over Devil's Glen the easy way and home via Djouce and Enniskerry. It was breezy, but I wouldn't have thought it windy enough to explain the snail's pace at which I was crawling over the hills. Made it home at a shade under 84km, with an average pace of 22.1km/h.

ROK ON

Rottenhat - roads around Djouce, presume they ate fine?

rottenhat

ROK ON wrote: »

Rottenhat - roads around Djouce, presume they ate fine?

Yeah, there's a dusting of snow on the verges and the odd frozen puddle but the road itself is fine.

rottenhat

Simon Says: 80km

Did the main run on Saturday - a wander around Lucan, Newcastle and Celbridge and back in for a touch over 80km. The roads were fairly empty and no ice in evidence except on one small back road where there was a thin layer of frost. Felt surprisingly unhungover. Two commutes in the week left me a bit short of the other 80km so I went out for another short one on Sunday, bringing it up to 101km. Realised afterwards that I had managed to switch the wheel sizes on the computer while attempting to reset it while wearing two pairs of gloves...genius. Seem to have put on about 3kg over Christmas but am now broke until the end of January so that should be easy enough to shake off.

Next week could be a bit troublesome though.

rottenhat

And it was...

Simon Says: 90km

Rottenhat says, no you're all right thanks...damned icy out there. One commute for a miserly 36km and that was it. Any time the thaw wants to kick in is okay by me.

rottenhat

Right, now that there's some actual training to log...

Simon Says: 100km

Managed 101km for the long ride today by tacking an extra 15km onto the end of the Orwell spin, and between the Boards spin and three commutes during the week, that was 197km of shorter rides. Similar numbers last week, too (129 and 183km respectively). I felt tired enough at the end of these rides but recovered quickly and haven't felt the need to spend the rest of the day lounging around.

Just spent a few minutes looking more closely at how things break down in the plan between here and the Mille Cymru. The training plan was aimed to peak with a 600 in the first week of July, but the Three Passes 600 is actually two weeks earlier, so I had to cut out a couple of weeks to get that right. Then there's a month after that to the Mille Cymru, which I'm filling out with 200, 300, 200, rest, just to keep things ticking over.

But cutting the two weeks out of the schedule brings the big numbers ominously close - the first 200km week is the week after next. Not only is that a significant jump from the 120 of the previous week, it's also the point where commuting miles will no longer even come close to making up the distance and I'll have to be making the trip home from Bray via Wicklow a couple of days a week. Once the roads clear and I have more miles in my legs, I can start detouring via the mountains, which will be more interesting but for the time being the coast road seems like the best option. At least I'll be getting more value for money out the Ixon.

rottenhat

Simon Says: 120km

Another week, another 300km. I did the long ride on Saturday, a flat 120km up towards Drogheda, mostly in light to medium rain. I couldn't say it was particularly pleasurable but it certainly encouraged me to keep stops to a minimum - I was out and back in around 5 1/2 hours, which would get me comfortably around a solo 200 in under 10 hours. Of course I'll find out next week quite how realistic that is. The club spin on Sunday went off at a ferocious pace to the point where I was ready to make my excuses and leave before we even got to the Embankment - it settled a bit after that and punctures gave plenty of opportunity to rest a little. I fell off the back on the way in from Kilbride but again, I was happy to manage a fast 90km around the lakes with tired legs. Overall, a very satisfying weekend that bodes well for the rest of the season. This week coming will see the start of post-work spins which is a bit a psychological hurdle for me, but I can't see being able to chalk up 200k in supplementary rides consistently, much less 300k, without doing it.