CYCLING for RUNNERS – Article 5 Spice Up Sessions

Posted on December 8, 2014 by talkultra

December is here. The days are shorter and many of you will be feeling like hibernating! Nothing wrong with that, training should have peaks and troughs and if you don’t have them, in our opinion you just end up with a series of flat performances.

For the last few months you will have hopefully been incorporating cycling as part of your weekly routine; primarily to replace one or two of your ‘recovery’ runs. Or maybe you have been injured and you are using cycling as rehabilitation? Either way your body will be thanking you for the new stimulus, the lack of impact and the opportunity to try something new.

An article 4 we outlined winter cycling and provided some hints ‘n’ tips to allow you to cycle safely on cold and short days and we also introduced you to indoor training.

In article 5 we are going to spice up your training with two sessions – one for the road and one for indoor training.

Please remember, these sessions are in addition to your recovery cycles and are a replacement for one of your faster, more intensive run sessions.

Worried that cycling will not benefit you as a runner?

Hopping on a road bike or indoor bike provides non-impact cross training that will build your engine, maintain fitness and keep off the pounds! If you are running or cycling you will need strong lungs, a great capillary network and a strong heart. So don’t worry…

First of all, let us have a refresh.

Maintain your long run either mid-week or at the weekend
Maintain one quality run work out – speed, hills, tempo, fartlek or so on.
Incorporate strength and conditioning
Stretch post sessions, particularly hamstrings, ITB and calf’s after cycling
Have a rest day
Cadence – think and concentrate on 90 ‘rpm’ when cycling
Use a heart rate monitor and/ or Gps to monitor training

Road ‘V’ Indoor

©goskyride.com

Cycling is cycling; yes? Well, yes it is BUT cycling outside in contrast to indoors provides a very different experience. It’s just like running outside in comparison to running on a treadmill.

Many of us would always choose a session outside in comparison to an indoor session, however, indoor sessions are great training sessions that allow us to ‘almost’ completely control the training situation and therefore be very specific. We embrace indoor sessions of 45-90 minutes when we are particularly working on a particular aspect of fitness. For example, you can control your heart rate, monitor your cadence, you have no traffic lights, bad weather or more importantly, danger! You can remain warm, listen to music and embrace a quality workout.

We discussed indoor bike set up in article 4; if you need a refresher, take a look HERE.

Keeping in mind this is our first ‘session’ on the bike it will be an introduction session and one that we recommend you incorporate once a week for the coming four weeks. *We do however recommend you add repetitions with each week for 4-weeks.

The Indoor Session

Image copyright – highergearchicago.com

What you need:

Bike
Indoor trainer
HRM
Water
Fan
Music
Towel

Hints ‘n’ Tips

Make sure you have your rear tyre at 100 psi (at least) and ensure that you always inflate to the exact same pressure for every session, that way you have consistency and you can monitor progress.
You will apply pressure to the rear tyre by adding resistance from the drum on the indoor trainer. Perform a ‘roll-down’ test each time so that you have a controlled environment. A roll down test works as follows: inflate to 100psi and then apply pressure to the back wheel using the turbo trainer. Cycle and build to a particular speed (say 15mph) and then stop pedalling. Time how long it takes the wheel to stop moving. For example, 4 seconds. Every time you train you should ideally have the same roll down time for consistency and monitoring. If it takes 5 seconds, add more resistance and vice versa.
Use a fan to regulate temperature.
Drink during the session – you will sweat a great deal!
Use music and compile a play list that suits the session – no point listening to classical music if AC/DC are what you need to ramp the session up!
A HRM is essential to control your effort and monitor progress
Aim for 90 cadence

Warm up for 10-minutes ‘spinning’ your legs in an ‘easy’ gear. This is all about getting blood flowing, loosening stiff and/ or tight muscles and preparing for the session ahead.

Session: Perform 2 minutes at 80% of maximum heart rate (keeping cadence on or around 90) – You will need to use your cycling gears to add resistance and provide the necessary difficulty level for you elevate your heart rate. Monitor your HRM with a quality item – We use Suunto Ambit 3 Peak and Ambit 2 units

Recover for 2-minute ‘spinning’ your legs as in the warm up

Repeat the 2-minute session with 2-minute recovery for an additional 5-times (making a total of 6 in week-1). *In week 2 do 7-repetitions, in week 3 do 8-repetitions and in week 4 do 10-repetitions.

Tip – you can set your HRM/ GPS to time these intervals for you. That way you can just concentrate on the effort!

Warm down for 10-minutes spinning and then stretch

This session is a quality workout that maximises your time training and provides the necessary stimulus to make you a better, faster and more efficient runner.

The Outdoor Session

Indoor training may just not be your thing? Road riding, particularly in winter is more stressful, less predictable and carries increased risks of accident. The risks are very real, so please be sensible! Our hot tip for cycling in winter is ideally cycle between the hours of midday and 3pm – you have more light, potentially less traffic and the weather should be more predictable. For example, any early morning frosts will have disappeared providing ambient temperatures have increased.

Lets face it. A beautiful winters day, blue skies, glowing sun and a nip in the air makes you feel great to be alive.

In contrast to an indoor session, road cycling is less controllable due to many of the points already raised, so think about your ride and what you want to achieve. For our first session, we are going to work on ‘structured *fartlek’ and therefore we recommend riding out of any built up areas (use this as a warm up) and then use quiet roads for the session. Ideally the road should be flat or slightly undulating – hill sessions come later in the training!

* Fartlek, which means “speed play” in Swedish, is a training method that blends continuous training with interval training. The variable intensity and continuous nature of the exercise places stress on both the aerobic and anaerobic systems.

Warm up for at least 15-minutes, in reality though your warm up may be longer due to your location and how far away quiet roads are.

Once on quite roads build pace using progressively harder gears but still maintain 90-cadence.

Session: 1-min, 2-min, 3-min and 5-min intervals at 80-85% of max HR. Be ‘random’ with how you do these intervals and the session should last 30 to 40-minutes including recovery. Ideally you will do at least 11-minutes of fartlek and build to 22-minutes of fartlek over a 4-week period.

Recovery is based on feel and unstructured, Use heart rate as a guide here. For example, when your heart rate drops back down to 70-75% of max HR – perform another repeat/ interval.

Warm down is as warm up – use cycling home in an easy gear and make sure you stretch post ride.

Incorporate one or both of the above sessions in over a 4-week period and you will start to feel the benefits not only physically and mentally.

In the New Year we will take our sessions up a notch to provide you with a great kick-start for another successful year in sport.

Have a great Christmas break and a great New Year!

*****

Join us on STRAVA

Thanks to SCOTT SPORTS and SUUNTO for the support and backing

Check out SCOTT HERE

Check out SUUNTO HERE

CYCLING for RUNNERS – Article 4 Winter Cycling

Posted on November 10, 2014 by talkultra

If you are living in Europe we won’t need to tell you that winter has arrived. Temperatures are dropping, the days are shorter, road conditions are unpredictable at times and the urge to get out and do anything (particularly cycling) can be diminished.

Don’t be disheartened though. Remember we are using cycling as a way to enhance our running and at this stage we are very much using cycling as active recovery or a method of maintain fitness while injured.

We all get injured at some point in our running. Salomon athlete, Jorge Maravilla posted this just the other day:

“I’m guilty of constantly thriving for the runners high, but lately my body has denied me. Despite an unwelcomed setback, today I found joy on two wheels.”

We keep saying this, but cycling is just great all around exercise. Jorge is lucky… he seems to have some nice weather in San Francisco. If we Europeans wish to continue cycling in winter we have two options:

Purchase some great all-weather clothing.
Go indoors.

Both options above are valid and we combine both in our training.

Cycling outdoors in winter

The old saying, ‘there is no such thing as bad weather; just bad clothing’ really is applicable for cycling outdoors in winter. However, let’s get one thing straight, no all singing and all dancing Gore-Tex this or Gore-Tex that will protect you from ice on the road and dangerous conditions. Our first tip is assess conditions and be sensible… if in doubt, stay indoors.

Essential kit for winter cycling:

Hat ideally with ear covers that will fit under your helmet
Buff or seamless neckwear product for around your neck
Glasses
Merino base layer
Long-sleeve jacket with a windproof chest panel
Gloves – depending on conditions you may well need options. For example: a Merino liner glove with thicker warmer/ windproof glove for cold and icy winds. Alternatively you may well need a glove that performs in wet conditions.
Long tights – we recommend those with in-built braces as they provide added protection around the kidneys. Also consider tights with foot loops. These loops will stop them riding up. Tights are available with or without at seat pad. We purchase without seat pad so we can wear our normal cycling shots underneath.
Merino socks or similar
Shoe covers to help block out the wind, rain and colder temperatures
Waterproof jacket that can fold up

If you have all of the above you are set for winter cycling. Remember, cycling in winter is much colder than running primarily due to the wind chill. Don’t skimp on layers. In particular, your hands and feet are the most vulnerable areas.

We recommend cycling at all times (even in the day) with a flashing small led light at the front of your bike and a flashing red at the rear. It just adds a little more presence on the road and makes you more visible. It goes without saying that if you are heading out at night, use the best front and rear lights you can afford.

Eye contact is a key element of cycling, especially in winter. When approaching junctions or any areas where cars can impede and impact on your travel, look for eye contact. Lock in on them. Stare at them and acknowledge that they have seen you.

As we mentioned in article 3, when cycling use light gears and aim for 90-cadence. Remember, we are using cycling to either extend aerobic activity or as an alternative to a recovery run at this stage. As we progress with our articles we will discuss how to adapt your cycling sessions so that they can become specific in extended your fitness and/ or building strength.

Cycling indoors in winter

Lets face it, heading outdoors in the cold and potentially wet conditions on a bicycle is not something that you may not wish to do. It’s understandable. It’s not for all of us, especially if your runs are wet, muddy and cold. Step in indoor cycling.

We love indoor cycling…

We know; it’s the equivalent of running on a treadmill. However, just like a treadmill, indoor cycling can provide you with a very controlled and specific environment.

Focused and quality sessions
Improved cycling technique
Time efficiency
Accurate testing

Our first hot tip is don’t use the bikes at your local gym unless you have no other option… why?

Well, gym bikes are just so far removed from your ‘own’ bike. Remember in our first couple of articles how we emphasized how important it is to get the correct bike, the correct fit, the correct saddle and so on… why would you then go the gym, get on a generic bike and then disregard everything you have strived to get right.

The way forward is to purchase a ‘Turbo Trainer.’

Many styles of turbo trainer exist and you can pay as little or as much as your budget allows. We would recommend a middle of the road trainer costing in the region of £100-150 to be the best of both worlds. We also recommend a ‘fluid-resistance’ trainer as you use your bicycle gears to create more or less resistance. For clarification, ‘magnet-resistance’ units often work by adding a lever to the handlebars and you then add/ reduce resistance by moving the lever. We not keen on these though as the resistance seems to be linear and the feel is nothing like riding on the road.

One more feature that we think is worth mentioning is a spring- loaded resistance unit. Indoor trainers can really impact on the longevity of a tyre; a spring-loaded unit will provide a longer life.

How do they work?

A turbo trainer usually consists of an ‘A’ frame and a metal drum. Quite simply, you attach the rear of your bicycle to the frame and place the rear wheel on the drum. This drum provides resistance to the rear wheel and creates a similar sensation to riding on the road. You can add more or less resistance to make sessions as hard or as easy as you require. Tip: The front of your bicycle will feel as though it’s pointing downhill due to the added height of the turbo trainer. Therefore raise your front wheel to make your bicycle level. You can use anything to do this but many companies now sell specific products to do the job for you.

Hints ‘n’ tips

Image copyright – highergearchicago.com

Use a piece of old carpet or purchase a turbo training matt so that you provide some protection between you, your bicycle and the floor. This is really important if you are using a room in your home. (3)
Have some towels handy to protect your bike and to use to mop sweat from your face (4)
Use a fan to cool you down (2)
Have water available (1)
Raise the front wheel (5)
Always use the same tyre pressure and resistance on the rear wheel. This will make sessions controllable and comparable.
Use a HRM such as a Suunto Ambit and/ or rear wheel cadence counter
Use music or a dvd to provide stimulus. We personally create music playlists based on the session we are doing… rocking out on your indoor trainer to AC/DC makes speed and interval work easy! (6)

Indoor cycling generates plenty of heat and even when cycling easy, you will still sweat. Be prepared.

For the first month of indoor cycling you can apply the principles as laid out in Article 3 of Cycling for Runners – keep gearing light and easy, aim for a 90-cadence and use a HRM to ensure that you are not working harder than you should be. Double what would have been your run time; so, if you were doing a 30-minute easy run, do a 60-min easy cycle.

*****

In article 5 of CYCLING for RUNNERS we will discuss spicing up your outdoor and indoor cycling sessions with one session for outdoors and one session for indoors and how to combine this with your recovery sessions.

Enjoy the seasons, enjoy the change in the weather and importantly use cycling to enhance your running.

Be safe…!

Join us on STRAVA

Thanks to SCOTT SPORTS and SUUNTO for the support and backing

Check out SCOTT HERE

Check out SUUNTO HERE

CYCLING for RUNNERS PAGE HERE