Any help would be appreciated

[Phil H]

Last week I did a 72 mile sportive. Admittedly it's the longest ride I've done in a while and it's got a couple of hills, but I found it nasty. I did a similar 65 mile route in August in 4:14 so expected a better time than 4:54.

Garmin data is here: [url]http://connect.garmin.com/activity/27601635[/url]

I don't know my maximum HR (I've seen 181 on the Turbo) or my minimum (I've seen 60 when sitting around). I do know that a 149 average is low for me. Basically the HR data looks like I wasn't trying but my legs felt terrible. 2 weeks before, the C&M Hilly 50 felt fine.

Stuff I know I did wrong:
- Being fat
- Having muesli for breakfast instead of porridge
- Trusting energy bars instead of fig rolls
- Going off too fast as usual

Has anyone else got any theories?

(I am 40 years old and about 100kg but don't tell anyone)

[Andrew G]

Museli is good, energy bars are good so shouldn't be any problems with either of those.

Two things, firstly the 4.14 ride was in August so would have been in much better weather (warmer, less windy) and you'd have had a summer's riding in your legs - so fitter so the lower HR and suffering could be an indicator of that. After the bad winter depending how much you did you may be in worse shape than the same time last year and just come in to a bit of form later in the year as you started later. Secondly pacing. In TTs going off too fast is the classic schoolboy error and on a longer tougher ride the effect can be the same. If you start too quick then you can kill your legs and spend the rest of the ride trying to recover, except if someone sticks a big hill in the way then they don't get much chance to recover so the fatigue just gets worse.

Next time start slower and try and ride a more even pace. Unless you are racing and have to react to events or push harder to stay with a group you'll feel the benefits later on. When I do a sportive I often pass quite a lot of riders in the last quarter as they start too fast whereas I'm often riding at the same speed at the end as I was at the start, if not getting quicker as I wind the pace up.

[Phil H]

Thanks. I think you've hit the nail on the head. Even Kidds (which was early on) I ended up spinning up in my lowest gear (34/27).

My main problem was that, having done 4:14 for a slightly shorter route in August, I was convinced I could hit the Gold standard (4:35 for my age). So I tried to ride to too high a pace from the get-go rather than settling into it.

I just wish the calorie usage on the Garmin was correct. Then shedding a couple of stone would be easy.

[Marek]

Don't worry Phil, I set the fastest time for that ride last year and this year I didn't even manage a Gold standard. I set off too fast for my current state of fitness, cramped on Cob lane and basically hobbled around the rest. Realised that my bike set up was wrong when I finished and spent the rest of the week hobbling around. But to be honest, I think Andrew is right.

1. Weather has been awful so you would have been lucky to have got much training in over the winter unless you were overseas.

2. It was a wettish course and the roads were in a pretty bad state.

3. You are 100kgs, what do you expect Kidding.

Cheers

Marek....

p.s. I am not far off 100kgs either.

[Dan_K]

Phil, I know i'm a bit behind you in terms of riding but I've managed to lose around 2 1/2 stone since christmas and kept it off Going from 102kg down to 85kg.

A crash diet helped lose the first 1 1/2 stone although, I wouldn't necessarily recommend that. I've found that the last stone came off by:

1) Getting up early before work and doing 1/2 hour on an exercise bike, with sprint intervals on alternate days or riding at a fast time trial pace.
2) I've stopped drinking alcohol.
3) I only have skimmed milk now.
4) If I need to snack at work, I have caramel rice cakes (i'd prefer fruit but I'm allergic to most fruit and it makes my lips swell and my throat tingly! I need to get allergy tested.)
5) No butter and low fat mayo in wholemeal sandwiches for lunch.
6) Porridge for breakfast.
7) No/little carbs in the evening. Usually, just lean meat and veg.
Decaf tea bags.

I also take multi vitamins to supplement my meals.

I tend to be a bit more relaxed on days when I do longer rides and always have one day off a week to eat what I like so that I don't go crazy!

This is a pretty regimented approach but I guess it depends how much you want to commit.
Are you still commuting to and from work?

[Phil H]

Actually, I've just had a thought. When I did the C&M CTC Hilly 50, I was fairly hungover from work drinkies. On the Burgess Hill ride, I had pasta, salad and water the night before....