Training blog - page 4

Day eighteen: Wednesday 22 February 2006

Rest day.

Day nineteen: Thursday 23 February 2006

Gym.  I cycled to the gym today and the pains described during my last time on the bike were not as severe on this occasion.  A very encouraging and reassuring sign, but at the same time,  I must not become complacent.

All exercises were done in pretty much the same order as my last visit, and I did increase weight load on leg extensions (from 50kg to 55kg) and managed to increase leg curl weight from 35kg to 40kg.  Before upping the leg curl load, I did 3 sets of 10 at 35kg followed by one set of 10 at the new weight.  I did not do any sit ups, tricep pulldowns, leg presses, pullovers or back squats on this visit.  There was no change on all other exercises which have not been mentioned on this occasion.

I continue to progress towards my June targets on most weight exercises and have today viewed exercise bikes to see if I can replicate profiles of all four Tour de France alpine mountains.  If this is possible, I should be able to get my legs adjusted to the rigours of cycling up continuous gradients.  To do this, I need to find a formula, so that I can calculate the wattage required to pedal at a certain cadence (pedal revolutions per minute) at a certain gradient ie. 7%, bearing in mind that my usual cadence is around 80 RPM.  I am hopeful this can be worked out before my next visit on Monday 27 February.

Day twenty: Friday 24 February 2006

Rest day.

Day twenty one: Saturday 25 February 2006

Bike.  Another training ride on a very cold and windy day with gusts estimated in the East Anglia region of between 20 and 35mph.  I covered 42.95 miles at an average speed of 15.3mph, so I was quite pleased with this considering my limited movement on the bike.  The plaster cast has worn the handlebar tape very quickly on the left-hand side of the handlebar.  There is no tape remaining on that side of the bar whatsoever, just a shiny and slippery surface.  Obviously this makes it even more difficault to keep that hand steady.  I'm very much looking forward to having the plaster removed!  Until then, it's not worth putting new bar tape on the bike.

My elbow showed little signs of pain whilst riding but I'd imagine the cold weather/wind acted as ice.  Once my arm returned to room temperature, I experienced quite severe pain, so painkillers were taken rather quickly.

Regarding the formula for calculating required wattage to cycle up the mountains, I am pleased to confirm I have made some calculations based on a program found on the internet. 

Day twenty two: Sunday 26 February 2006

Yoga.  I did Yoga again today - only the second time ever.  Conscious of my injuries and with limited arm movement, I had to be very selective in which stretches etc I chose.  I started with a warm up exercise; the corpse pose (Savasana), which I held for 5 minutes.  I then did a typical  Kapalabhati breathing exercise, neck exercise and five eye exercises.  A cobra pose (Bhujangasana) came next.  Soon after, a half locust pose (Ardha Salabasana) and finished off with a forward bending pose (Paschimothanasana) and finally the yogic seal (Yoga mudra).

I hope within the next five sessions to be able to perform all stretches without refering to a book, which will mean I can do significantly more exercises within the same time window. 

Day twenty three: Monday 27 February 2006

Gym.  I find I am making real progress in the gym, having increased weight load on several exercises last time.  I followed this up with another load increase on calf raises and on Thursday's visit to the gym, will be increasing leg presses from 150kg to a minimum of 160. 

Firstly, I began replicating the four alpine cols, gradient by gradient.  On the internet, I found a converter which calculated the wattage my legs need to produce.  These values were between 91 watts for a 1% slope and 413 at 9%.  It took into account the weight of my bike, my height, weight, gradient, altitude, cadence, speed, type of tyres and ambient temperature.  Today, I was content with finding out which resistance level on the exercise bike equalled the corresponding wattage at the cadence I pedal (80RPM) at lots of different gradients.  On the exercise bike, I was astonished at what output I could produce;  putting out over 1200 watts at various stages.  What counts in the mountains though is whether I can sustain the required amount of power over 106 miles.  Obviously, this is not 100% accurate but if I train to produce more power than has been calculated, I should be more than prepared for the mountains.  Of course, I will need to stop at various stages on the actual ride to take photos and fill up water bottles etc.

I did eight different gym exercises today in the following order:-  Leg press 3 sets of 10 at 150kg (no change), 3 sets of 10 leg extensions at 55kg (no change), calf raises 2 sets of 10 at 100kg (no change) then 1 set of 10 at 130kg (+30kg), 2 sets of 20 torso twists per side (no change).  Next came the 'superman' ball raises at 2 sets of 20 (no change), then leg curls at 40kg (3 sets of 10, no change).  Finally, I managed to increase inner thigh squeezes from 100lbs to 120 and whilst doing the usual 2 sets, did 20 reps per set instead of 15.  I also increased the weight stack on outer thigh pushes, from 70lbs to 90lbs, doing 2 sets of 15 reps at this new weight.

On my next visit to the gym, I will be doing a 60 to 90 minute session on the exercise bike,  riding on an exercise bike, producing the wattage equivalent of cycling up the Col de la Croix de Fer mountain.  Also, I'll be consolidating on the weight increases I've achieved today, with the exception of leg presses.  Rest day tomorrow then bike the day after.

Day twenty four: Tuesday 28 February 2006

Rest day.

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