Make me last longer when going hard

[TallPaul_S]

Hey guys,

Bit of background info first: About 2 months ago I got back into mountain biking/cycling after about a 10 year gap from riding cycles (I used a fixed gear in Bristol so was pretty fit then), and overall fitness in the last 10 years hasn't been awful, but not amazing either. I've been a semi-regular gym goer for weight training and although I do a sedentary job in an office I'm pretty active.

Some stats: I'm 37, 175-180lbs, 6ft 3in. Resting HR of 40-45bpm, I've seen it as low as 38 at times. Max HR is 178bpm.

Now, coming back to MTB and I'm finding I'm really struggling when exerting a decent effort, for instance long climbs, or just anything with a long elevated heart rate. After a few minutes my legs are basically out of energy and even though I'm gasping for breath my legs are definitely the first thing to go.

If I regulate my HR in zones 2 and 3 (65-85% of max HR) I can go for hours, it's the higher effort bits where I just have nothing left in the tank, even if I've only been riding for 20 minutes.

Just got back from a 2hr base mile training session as I figured it would be a good idea to get a decent base level of fitness before starting to work on higher intensity stuff, the hardest thing on this ride was staying in zone 2, see below:


Honestly I could have done another 2 hours without much issue, apart from my sitbones starting to hurt a little!

It would seem I've got a decent level of endurance, as above I've no issues with long rides at low/medium intensity. But finding myself literally having to stop halfway up a steep climb just isn't cutting it! I do sit and spin in bottom gear, but on climbs where this still requires a decent push by the legs or if I need to sprint for more than 10-15 seconds, my legs turn to jelly and I'm done.

My current plan is to do 2-3 base mile rides a week for the next 6-10 weeks, I'll try to up the duration each week, ending up at 2x 2hr rides on weekday evenings and then a longer ride at the weekend. This is in addition to the 4 miles a day I do commuting to work and back, so that's 20 miles a week commuting, plus 2x 20 mile rides minimum so I'll be doing at least 60 miles a week.

Any other suggestions as to what training would be best to introduce to improve my endurance at the top end of the HR zones?

Thanks in advance

 

[Bear]

Some regular high intensity interval work and climb more hills will help a lot

 

[FishFluff]

Some regular high intensity interval work and climb more hills will help a lot

Pretty much this. Hill reps are miserable, but they really do make you better at climbing. All the Z2/3 work isn't going to help with the really steep stuff. Are there any hills you can introduce to your commute (presuming you have showers at work)? If not you can try adding some 60 second max effort sprints in to the mix.

 

[TallPaul_S]

Oh yeah I know the z2/3 stuff won't help directly with climbing but I still want to get a good base fitness level as well as trying to improve the high end stuff.

60 second max effort intervals - I think I could probably last 60 seconds at max effort (I'm guessing z4/5?) for a few attempts, my commute takes me down a hill close to home, then it's pretty much flat otherwise, that hill on the way home could form a single interval, it's about 60s long. I could also do a 1 mile loop with this climb, so that would be a 60 second interval then 3-4 minute recovery.

I'll have a look into intervals, it makes sense to train these as this is where I'm making the most.

 

[Skillmister]

Just do more

I've not made any conscious effort to train but this is quite cool to see from a rocky 0.5m 10% segment I PB'd last night. Gone from over 8 minutes to under 7 minutes when just spinning out comfortably. Sub 6 when trying.

 

[Shadowness]

More regular high intensity riding would be my vote again.

There's quite a few riders in our club who can happily ride for hours, averaging 18mph ish. But if they come out on a chain gang, or one of our more 'spirited' longer rides, they really struggle.

If you do the same sort of thing all the time, and don't push yourself, your body will just adapt to that sort of riding.

 

[Shadowness]

Also, I'd try fitting more riding time if you can. I know you're starting out, but 60 miles a week really isn't a lot. See if you can find a longer route into work, as commuting really helps me stay reasonably fit....when I'm not out and about on planes.

 

[TallPaul_S]

Yeah, TBH i reckon just riding more will do it - I looked at my strava the other day and realised I've only really been back on a bike for about 7 weeks So any improvement in fitness may need to take a while longer

 

[SDK^]

Just ride more

I’m 3.5 years into road riding around 6k miles a year. My base fitness was okay after 4 years of MTB’ing so when I started I was averaging around 180w over 2 hours (approx 18mph).
Now an easy 2 hour ride for me is 220w avg power (20mph) and I can push to 250w avg power (22mph).

In the week I ride every other day, alone and push along. Weekends it’s a club ride or Sportive both around 60 miles where I push myself as hard as I can.

A power meter helps
1) you can pace yourself correctly to your fitness
2) you can monitor fitness improvements better.

 

[GSVBagpuss]

Just ride more

I’m 3.5 years into road riding around 6k miles a year. My base fitness was okay after 4 years of MTB’ing so when I started I was averaging around 180w over 2 hours (approx 18mph).
Now an easy 2 hour ride for me is 220w avg power (20mph) and I can push to 250w avg power (22mph).

In the week I ride every other day, alone and push along. Weekends it’s a club ride or Sportive both around 60 miles where I push myself as hard as I can.

A power meter helps
1) you can pace yourself correctly to your fitness
2) you can monitor fitness improvements better.

180w for 18mph? You must be a lot more aero than me! That only gets me 16mph

 

[SDK^]

180w for 18mph? You must be a lot more aero than me! That only gets me 16mph

Weight matters too - I weigh 78kg.

 

[GSVBagpuss]

And I’m 72kg

 

[Shadowness]

180w for 18mph? You must be a lot more aero than me! That only gets me 16mph

That sounds about right to me, my normal tick over wattage is around 200W and that gets me around 19-20mph (when it's not super windy)

I've put on a bit of weight recently, up to about 78-80kgs now

 

[GSVBagpuss]

I blame the traffic lights on my route then

 

[BennyC]

Weight matters too - I weigh 78kg.

Tyres & route profile too.

 

[tom_nieto]

Plan yourself a slightly longer commute home. This would allow you to factor in some max effort sprints and perhaps some hills.

I find that the Birmingham traffic mandates at least two max effort sprints in each commute to remain alive.

 

[TallPaul_S]

Well I'm not sure if it's just the riding more, or the base mile rides I've been doing, or a combination - but I'm seeing a big difference in my fitness levels already. Went out for a 20 mile ride today, which had a 2.5 mile 600ft climb, spent over half the time in zone 4 (150-168bpm) with the rest zone 3, max HR was 176 so 2bpm off my maximum. A mile from home there's a decent climb and I dispatched that with ease and even had enough energy to do some hops off the speedbumps A few months ago I'd have been dead after 20 miles!

 

[a1ex2001]

Well I'm not sure if it's just the riding more, or the base mile rides I've been doing, or a combination - but I'm seeing a big difference in my fitness levels already. Went out for a 20 mile ride today, which had a 2.5 mile 600ft climb, spent over half the time in zone 4 (150-168bpm) with the rest zone 3, max HR was 176 so 2bpm off my maximum. A mile from home there's a decent climb and I dispatched that with ease and even had enough energy to do some hops off the speedbumps A few months ago I'd have been dead after 20 miles!

no substitute for miles!

 

[TallPaul_S]

no substitute for miles!

So, not long got back from a 52 mile ride. I've not been doing many proper rides over the past 2 weeks, just commuting, but whatever I'm doing it seems to be working!!

My max heart rate has increase since I did the test a month ago, it's now 183 up from 178. I did the same short sharp climb that I mentioned in my original post and a month ago I had to stop half way up, today I smashed nearly 1 minute off the time (3:17 to 2:21), no stopping and I hit 183 bpm. Then I went on to do another 45+ miles

 

[Irish_Tom]

Wasn’t sure whether to post in this thread or the Mountain Bike thread but great work on the big ride and the improvement with your climbing!