excess or success Q & A

[huw williams]

As has been mentioned elsewhere on the training forum - consistency is all, so how was your riding/training over the break?

The worst possible scenario was you went on hols, crashed in the ice or caught a cold, didn't get out riding at all, hit the festive food stores hard and are now a stone heavier and feeling lardy and under-trained.
The best case is you maximised the time off with good training, didn't notice the cold weather was even there, and are now wishing the racing season started tomorrow.

Personally I'm amazed that having been surrounded by ill people both at home and at work for the entire 2-week holiday period - i managed to escape every virus going, did a couple of big weeks of riding and feel in good shape for a freezing january.

So how was it for you? Lets have your tales of excess/success that we can pick over like the bones of an xmas turkey

[Michelle]

Success for me, hopefully!

I was so committed that I even went out on Christmas Day, and New Years Day. Luckily all that cold weather last week happened in an 'easy' week so I could do most of it indoors.

Have been away skiing for the last few days though, staying at King Of the Mountains in Col D'Ornon which comes highly recommended. Despite the fact that I actually lost weight over Christmas and New Year, in 4 days Helyn's cooking has put on 4 lbs!!!!.

Oink...

[mlocke]

Well my tale of woe begins several months ago....

After hurting my hip / back I am just beginning to ride again (excluding the odd club run).

Therefore very little training during the last few months never mind during the Christmas period. Infact I dont think I rode my bike at all as I was up north.

In this foreign land I went with the excess option - excess booze, food and everything else which goes with Christmas.

As a result of all this I was dropped and bonked massively on the way back from Box Hill at the weekend (my time from the bottom to the top of box hill was 1.5 times slower than my slowest last year!)

On a more positive note this has given me a kick up the bum now and have resumred riding to work this week and running at lunchtimes. Therefore within a few weeks I hope to see the fitness improve - providing the old injuries don't return.

That said though I did have a nice Christmas and wouldn't really change what I did for long cold rides.

Locky

[Jon H]

Mixed success...

Had man-flu in the run up to Xmas, and just about got over that by the day after Boxing Day, just in time for PVT's ride to Brighton (but not back again) on 28th. Got at least one other ride in, then Mr 's marvellous New Year's Eve lunch ride. So far so good.

New Year's Eve saw some excess; got to bed at 6am and was back in the pub at 1pm on New Year's Day in order to break my resolution of not drinking until the club dinner.

2009's good so far; solo ride on 2nd, clubrun on 3rd, cross race on 4th, and two day's commuting.

[kieran]

well, I rode a bike just once over the hols, a cold 5 hours and home via box hill, ran out of energy around that point and crawled the rest of the way home. Today was the first time on the bike since the 27th. Recovering from a few separate mild illnesses so bike fitness is way down. Still didn't put on the pounds and thanks to being ill managed to lose weight over the holidays, "peaking" at 9.5 stone a few days ago, so I am currently trying to add on a few pounds!

[Sylv]

Just before Xmas break I thought I was getting ill with stomach bug, couldn't eat much so stopped cycling for a few days. In the end I didn't get ill.

Then went to France to see family which is about once a year so couldn't really bugger off to train especially as I didn't have any bike (managed maybe 20 miles on those free bikes though, they are hard work).

Second week was at home in Lyon so a bit more scope for training, wanted to go to my mum's gym but it was closed/she couldn't walk well (foot problem).

Did manage two good 1h runs though which is more that I have done in one go for ages. Did the same course and first day went easy - 11.7km - second time pushed a bit - 12.8km - felt real good. Did a fair bit of walking too.

Didn't drink too too much but ate well, thought I'd put on more but it was under 1kg - almost lost it again now.

On the first clubrun of 2009 I felt I'd lost a bit of fitness and endurance, but confident that within 10 days will be back to where I left it, doing 2-3h a day now. Don't mind the cold or dark so this time of year not too much of a problem for me.

Have a few races in various disciplines planned for the coming three months, before the season "proper" begins, and looking forward to them. Have bought some rollers and will try them as soon as I have brought them back (in bits - will take until Friday ...) from work.

[Snoop Doug]

Man flu before Christmas - cleared up around 21st I think. Was working until 24th. Had high hopes of getting some miles in over the Xmas break as I took some time off work. In the end I ate cake, cake and more cake. Plus it just got too darned cold. I'm really keen to restart commuting but I need the temperature to climb a few degrees yet, Brrrrrrr!

Mr Fat Wuss

[Antloony]

I had a great time over the 2 weeks I took off work. Not a hint of a sniffle or a sneeze. Managed to squeeze in over 450 miles in total which despite the freezing cold weather included a great run down to Brighton and back.

I took it easy on the food front and resisted the temptation to fill my face despite having cupboards stocked brim full of fat inducing goodies, in fact I managed to lose 3lbs in the time I was off.

I really enjoyed my cycling over the festive period despite the cold. Last year was my 1st full year on a bike and here's hoping this next one will continue to be just as enjoyable.

Cheers

[Paul on the Pearson]

My break was pretty good, even did a bit of cross training...went ice skating at Somerset House and managed to get the hang of it, well stay upright at least , fell over twice, damn that stuff's slippery. Did two clubruns most weekends...Sunday out with Avanti, a hilly ride around Leith Hill the rest was a weekly schedeule of training on the rollers, the turbo (not as boring as I thought it would be mmmm...what does that say about me? justeasily entertained I suppose ) and sprint intervals out around Bough Beech.

[Dominic]

Judging by the fact that I managed to stay with George and Paul H most of the way on Wednesday night I would say my training over the winter has been successful. I am a hell of a lot fitter than I was this time last year which is the point I guess.

Stopped racing in mid October after the Redmon GP with George. Took it easy for a couple of weeks. Then it was regular commuting 5 days a week up until Christmas, mainly steady but a few brisker sessions thrown in. Bike wise I was probably doing 6 hours a week. Was doing weights in the gym two or three times a week, just for fun and to do something different.

Did some of this guy's sessions: http://rosstraining.com/ which were interesting and hard.

From 20/12 was in Cornwall for a week did about 4 hours running in that time and a bit of skipping. My calves ached the whole week after running up and down hills and the coastal path near where we were.

Back to work on 29/12 and back to commuting and then the chaingang. Roll on the season

[Marek]

Rubbish, probably ate too much but biggest issues is have only been on the bike twice in the last 5 weeks. Have tried to do a couple of running sessions but keep getting ill. Have entered the London Triathlon as a motivation to do more cross training and hopefully get the weight down, but still feel as though I have something lurking in the chest so am not going to do anything till fully recovered, by which time I will be the size of a house. Must be getting very close to 90kgs, so reading about Sylv and Paul H hitting nearer 60kgs is somewhat annoying.

Ah well, still a bit longer to go until the racing season starts, think i'll be starting the season a bit slower than last year.

Cheers

Marek....

[Dominic]

[quote="Marek"] Ah well, still a bit longer to go until the racing season starts, think i'll be starting the season a bit slower than last year.

[Andrew G]

[quote="Dominic"]Did some of this guy's sessions: http://rosstraining.com/ which were interesting and hard.

[Dominic]

Yep some of it is very scary!! This is the one that I do:

http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/wo ... ty101.html

If you scroll down there is a video. He does it in 1.18. I was taking over 2 mins a cycle and I was doing only 10 burpees, I tell you it makes you sweat

[Andrew G]

Welcome back to childhood Marco, I'm trying to never grow up and it's going to plan so far.

Neither really. I never put much weight on and I'm always between 10.5 and 11 stone, 10.5 during the season and 11 in winter.

Switched to fixed for club runs after the IOW trip and just take it easy until January really, ticking over with reasonable milage and a few longer rides. With the freezing weather this last week I didn't commute at all as it's been a bit icy round here so rather than do it on all main roads and be fairly unpleasant I just went by train (also unpleasant but warmer and it didn't fall over on the ice). Dusted off the turbo and did a couple of sessions on that instead, an hour today instead of the club run. Should be back to the commuting from next week which is 14 lumpy miles each way so good "free" miles.

In the last few weeks I've done a couple of cyclo cross races which although I do for fun are still a good hour's workout and another on 25th January. I'm planning on being at my fittest/fastest between May/June and August so no reason to be flying at the start of January.

I'll do the local reliability trials and then have a number (6) of Sporting TTs penciled in for February and March which I'm planning on riding to and from, so will get some decent miles in with a good hard effort in the middle.