Time to start Building

It's been a long time since my last blog entry and I really need to become more disciplined in writing more frequently, I am following my training programme almost to the T (there has to be some flexibility) logging all my rides plus all the data that goes with it and all my food on calorieking.com.au so I am sure I can find those few extra minutes to add some posts.

Enough of that now, back to having fun and not falling, well I haven't fallen since my last blog so that's a plus (I hope I have not jinxed it) and I am about to start the first of 2, 4 week build periods on Sunday so the intensity gets ramped up just that little bit extra compared to the base periods. I feel stronger although I have not been strict enough at keeping within the prescribed hr zones on some of my rides. I hope it doesn't turn around and bite me and I end up using my bike as an expensive walking stick like in the above picture LOL we will just have to wait and see....

Back to training

The Tour is over, the visitors have left and it has been back to training for the last few weeks. I am currently in week 6 of my new annual training plan that I have designed using Joe Friels training Bible. I did the suggested lactate threshold test about 2 weeks ago and was suprised that my threshold was about 10 bpm more then I had assumed. The hours are long but because of the drop in intensity I am feeling quite good with no back pain because I have been stretching my hamstrings and glutes often. Summer is finaly starting to come back and I can't wait, I hate the cold and this is another reason why I am so grateful to live in Brisbane. I was doing some research on training in the heat for the upcoming summer and came accross this interesting article.

The first thing (and this is a dramatically summarized version) is that the winner has to be small in size. All things being equal (which we concede they never are!), the smaller athlete will win a race in the heat. Many studies have shown this, and the equations that we use to model performances in the heat suggest the same. Basically, it boils down to a balance between height production and heat loss. Heat production is dependent on body size and running speed, while heat loss is a function of body surface area, and the environment. Obviously, the environment is the same for everyone, but body size is not. The smaller the athlete, the less heat they produce, but their heat loss is not reduced by as much and the end result is that the smaller athlete will store less heat running at a certain speed than the bigger athlete. Ultimately, this means that a smaller athlete can afford to run slightly faster before their body temperature rises. Big advantage! This is of course a oversimplification, but it does illustrate the point that when the mercury starts climbing, the advantage lies with a smaller runner.

Doing time in the heat - acclimatization is vital

The next important factor is acclimatization. Numerous studies have shown just how much performance improves after a period of adaptation to the heat. The guru of exercise in the heat, Bodil Nielsen of Denmark, has done many of these studies, and has shown how exercise tolerance improves almost two-fold after a period of hot weather adaptation. That is, athletes can go twice as far in the heat on the 7th day compared to their first day in the heat. This means that a winning athlete is one who is well adapted to running in the heat. The advantage here lies with the locals (Japanese and Chinese, and perhaps the Africans), though all the major contenders will almost certainly have spent a period of acclimatization before this race. The exact physiology behind the process is quite complex, but it involves increases in plasma volume, which enables more heat loss, increased recruitment of sweat glands, and in a race situation, the perception/sensation of heat is without doubt key as well.

The role of the brain in all this

Then finally, exercise is ultimately regulated by the brain. Whether one makes an athlete exercise in the heat until they are exhausted, or whether it is a race/self-paced situation, exercise in the heat is ultimately limited or regulated by the brain. So for example, if one runs at the SAME SPEED until exhaustion in the heat, the final body temperature is around 40 degrees. It is as if there is an 'off-switch', a point where the brain simply says enough is enough, and stops activating the muscle. And the afore-mentioned Nielsen, with Lars Nybo, have found this in studies. Once the body temperature hits this limit, the activation of muscle by the brain is reduced.

Have Fun Don't Fall

Base Building

I was forced to take a week off the bike with flu and started riding again last Sunday. After doing some research while ill I have decided to go back to doing some very easy base building for the next 5 weeks before I start some hard training again. So far I have done 3 rides this week where the majority of the work is done in Zone 1 and 2, (Joel Friel) that is between 120 and 139 bmp for me. So Far it has been hard to hold myself back but all the research says the same thing and it makes sense to build a strong base before working on strength, speed and other skills so let's see how it goes. Most of the experts look at about 1000 miles of base building but I am going to take a bit of a shortcut because I was only off for a short period and also took it quite easy 2 weeks leading up to the Noosa ride on the 14/06/2009 and the week following the Noosa ride I only did 2 easy rides before I fell ill around the 20/06/09 and was forced to rest.

Too sick to ride

About ten days ago I started getting a sore throat but thought it would pass. It didn't and after my ride on Saturday it got worse and after going through all the symptoms of the Flu I am finally starting to feel better today although I still have a leaky nostril. I did some research over the last few days on weather I should have HTFU and did some rides, here are some of the responses from a forum that might be of interest.

as my doctor advised, apart from seriously unfit people, the next most likely group of people to have a serious heart attack is fit to very fit males aged 25 to 40. Why, because they are too tuff to have a rest when they are sick.
my GP (an avid cyclist) and a specialist cardiologist I have been referred to both recommended at least 2 weeks rest from "flu" and one month for a virus once you are fully over being ill.

a mate who is a intensive care doctor and moderator over on MTBDirt said similar, except that a virus like the common cold or flu can actually bring on a heart attack if it hit the heart muscle during exercise. his advice was to rest and not do anything strenuous. having just taken two weeks off because of a chest infection and cold I amazed myself first commute back yesterday beating any previous times and I was not pushing. the 2 week rest obviously did me well. I'm glad I did it.

Hey there, I had bronchitis one year and raced in a track carnival because it was the last one of the season. I pulled out of the monger races and only raced the 500m dash. I did a heat and got through to the final and then came second in the final.

One month later I was still suffering bronchial pneumonia - not pretty. I say stay off the bike until mostly clear. One week will recover your body anyway.


Hi Guys,

I would tend to agree with the above posts suggesting you take it easy and recover from your cold before getting back out on the pushy. From experience....riding with a cold, even a head cold will put undue stress on your immune system while it is trying to fight off the bugs...best idea is to go for a light walk each day if you feel up to that, dose up on vitamin c (ascorbic acid powder with calcium) until you get the runs then back off, centrum, beroccas, fruit, veges and plenty of water. When you feel ready to get back on the bike, wait one more day...start with a couple of light 1-2 hrs rides keeping your heart rate low...then gradually building up over the week. This is what works for me

Hope you have a speedy recovery

Joel Friel also suggests that if it is only above the neck you might go for a easy ride but if at any stage during the ride you start to feel worse you should stop immediately. He goes on to say that if it is below the neck then you should not train under any circumstances. Once all the symptoms have gone only then may you get back on the bike but do 2 easy days riding for everyday you were off the bike and slowly increase the intensity back to where you were before getting ill.


It seems that there is definitely nothing to gain by getting back on the bike while sick (although you might feel better for a short time) and that the fitness lost will only be minimal but even that will be negated by the other systems eg. nervous and muscular systems having a chance to fully recover from the rest. It also seems true then that waiting an extra couple of days to start riding again will probably avoid the cold or flu hanging around for an extra 2 or 3 weeks.

So if you are sick then do yourself a favour and rest, hopefully I will be able to get out for a ride on Saturday.

Have Fun Don't Fall

You gotta love it

CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE TEXT.

What an inspiring story, next time you feel too lazy to get off the couch think of Mr Green and as always remember to Have Fun Don't Fall.

Rest day guilt?

Went for a good solid ride into the city Yesterday after taking a couple days off from the 160ks on Sunday. Today woke up with a bit of flu so gave it a skip and feel oh so guilty. We always want to train and then feel bad when we take a break. Rest is important so try and put the guilt away and carry on when you can.

The above photo was taken on the centenial bikepath just outside Brisbane, I have decided to use the mobile camera more and document the Sights and sounds.

Training Logs & Motivation

Living in a world of where we want (and are often able to get it at a price) instant gratification it is easy to sometimes lose motivation when we seem to be stagnating. The difference between whether we move forward from this point or not is how quickly we can get motivated again. There are a number of ways to get yourself focused again to start training but I find that going back and looking at how much I have improved in various areas of my cycling helps me to get back training again with a new spring in my step so to speak. To illustrate this point here are some of my stats from the first ride I took on the 26/06/2008 when I thought I would give cycling a go, compared to my last ride this weekend.

• Date 26/06/2008 Distance 26.50km Time 1hr34min
• Date 14/06/2009 Distance 161.60km Time 5h 33min

That is a huge improvement in my opinion (something like 400% improvement in distance) and if you asked me a year ago whether I would be able to ride over 160km on a bicycle I would have told you to stop teasing me, and let's just say go away.

If you don't use a log then start and if you do then just take a bit of time every now and then and reflect at your good work and give yourself a pat on the back.

I use http://mycyclinglog.com it is free and pretty user friendly with all sorts of graphs etc.

Have a good one and remember to Have Fun Don't Fall.....