Training Plans for the Winter

Time to draw up a winter training plan!

Don't forget to take a break at some point in the year, just to give things a chance to heal up, and for your mind to think about something else for a bit.
For me, the "break" is going to be from the last week of November, right up until Christmas. We will be VERY busy at work during that time, so it makes sense to choose those four or so weeks.
Of course, I'll still be commuting my 20-odd miles (32km) a week to work, and still walking my 25-odd miles (40km) AT work. But not running or cycling apart from that.

For the earlier part of November, I'll be continuing my running with Anna - just 6 to 12 miles (10 to 20km) a week to keep things "ticking over". Maybe get in the odd " interval " session on the bike - nothing too serious.
"Proper" training will resume in January, with a January 1st "no excuses" ride. I'll be continuing the running, too. I find the extra fitness from running really helps with not getting too out of breath on the hills.

Then it is a case of deciding what events and challenges I want to tackle, and working back from there.

My "A" event (the most important!) is a local "charity" sportive - the 100km Tour de Vale. I rode it in 5 hrs 22 mins last year, and this year I will be looking to break the 5 hour mark.
Last year, my first 100km (62 mile) ride was a practice of the course, and my second was the event itself.
This year, I want a few more "centuries" under my belt first!
The event is at the end of June, so I will rest for the two weeks before that, then put in a "super compensation" week, doing as many miles (and hard ones at that) as I can for the week before that. So that's June filled up. I guess I want a century in the middle of May, and another at the end, with a ride of about 60km ( with hill repeats) between them. I did this last year, but in June, and it worked really well for the event after the local one (but no later event this year, so I will move that part of the training forwards to May).
Couple of centuries in April.
That means I need to be riding at least a couple of 60km rides in March, with a couple of 50km rides in February.
And what if it snows?
Well, as I demonstrated last year, I can actually ride a 50km with snow tyres with no real problems.

I was hoping to squeeze in a fairly local 10km running event, too, but it looks like it will be on the same day as the Tour de Vale, so that looks like a non-starter.

After the Tour de Vale, I will have a rest week, the I'll be picking up the distance for another long-distance ride in the Summer.
I'll probably aim to just push up the distance a bit - say, to 250 or 300 km. Nothing definite - I'll see how the training goes before getting too fixated. I will probably have a go at Audax UK's badge for a 50, 100, 150, and 200km ride, all in the same season.
As I said above, the Tour de Vale is my "A" event, and that is what my training will be geared towards. Anything else will be a bonus :-)

So that's me.
What are you planning?

Update, 1st November 2015:
New training exercise for the Winter.
Lots of wet days in the winter, so I thought I'd share an exercise I've started doing recently.
Climbing stairs.
Lots of times.
Just knocked out 25 reps of a set of domestic stairs (about 3 metres/10 feet of climb per rep) in just under 6 minutes.
Got to be good for cycling, and as you are lifting your entire weight, it is rather reminiscent of cycling standing up.
Use the stairs in your house, in your office, anywhere.
Raining outside?
Who cares.
Indoor training that is quick and convenient (and if you can do more than about 25 reps of a flight of stairs without noticing it, then you are pretty fit!)

You gotta want to change

Change.

How many psychologists does it take to change a lightbulb?
One, but the lightbulb really has to want to change.

Hopefully, that's broken the ice.

Change.

Do you want to change your life?

I do.

For me, change was not a sudden thing, but something that grew over a number of years.

I've mentioned before that I was quite ill 6 1/2 years ago, but I was looking for change even before that.
I looked at some of my old medical records today (online, patient-accessible medical records are a fabulous thing), and they showed that in an "official" weigh-in in 2007, and again in 2008, I weighed in at 100kg (220 lbs). The weight had crept on over a number of years, particularly after the Summer of 1998, when I changed from a "physical" job to an office-based role. When I changed jobs in '98, I weighed 85kg (187lbs), but just 9 years later I had put on 15kg (33lbs). That's a lot!
I wasn't happy about it, and tried to cut back on the food, and always lost a bit, then I would just get so hungry after a while that I would just eat.

Yes, a lot of us have been there.

Anyway, then I was ill in the Spring on 2009. Quite a dramatic year, really, since my mother died in January of that same year.
I got to see a couple of specialists - one for my lungs and one for my blood. The blood specialist said I had to "mobilize". It was up to me, she said. Walk 3 miles a day (about 5km), or face a long decline of worsening health.

As I said before, I was already looking for change, so this seemed as good a direction to go in as any.
Lost a bit of weight, and put it back on again.

The next big change happened when the company I worked for had a reorganization. It involved consolidating the work done at four separate sites into a single new operation at a new site. Net headcount reduction, 300.
I turned down a pretty generous redundancy payment, and managed to get a transfer to a much more physical job in the town where I live. I wanted the extra physicality in the work as a form of exercise.
Lost a bit of weight, and put it back on again.

Then, in the Winter of 2013/14, I made a choice that has changed my life. I decided that I was going to get fitter riding a bike.
So I committed to riding on January 1st 2014, and I was going to ride up a local hill (it is just about a Category 4 climb, with the minimum required rise of 80m).
January 1st comes round, and it is a mixture of rain and drizzle - with the forecast being much the same all that day.

So I rode in the rain for a couple of hours and got wet.
I was ready for change, I had committed to change, and change happened.

So what makes my tale any different than any other new year's resolution - good for a day or two, maybe a week or two, but the forgotten until the next new year?

You gotta want to change, and I wanted to.
I was proud of that ride, and I still am.
When things are tough, I remind myself how I rode up a hill in the rain on New Year's Day.
Anyway, that year (2014) I got my weight down to 94.5kg (208 lbs) in the Summer, although it slipped back up to 96.5kg (212 lbs) by the end of the year, but still down.
Of course, I rode further, much further, later in the year (topping out with a 100 mile (160km) odyssey to the site of my former workplace, which had been replaced by a supermarket.
But that day in the rain still stands out for me.
That was the day I changed.

Of course, I have made further progress since then - from that end of 2014 weight of 96.5 kg, I am down to just 88kg (194 lbs), the lightest I have been in more than 15 years. I cycled that huge 232km in the Summer just ended, too, but even after that, the day in the rain in 2014 still stands out. What made the weight keep coming down was probably the running I added from January 2015 onwards. I worked my way up from a rather mediocre mile-and-a-bit to a more impressive half-marathon (it took me 2 hrs 27 minutes, by the way, but then again, it was the first time I had run that far for 30 years!). Yes there were tough days, especially at the start of the running - blisters, sore legs, sore feet - I even lost a toenail at one point. But I had committed to change, really committed, not just words but actions, so I got through it.

Change isn't cheap, and it isn't provisional.
From 2000 to 2007, I changed, too.
I studied for a degree part-time, while still holding down a full-time job.
Yes, I committed.
Yes, I got high marks (one of my tutors called me the "100 percent guy", because I gave 100%, and on one assignment, I submitted "perfect" answers, and she marked me 100% :-)

So, even before I was ill, I was embracing change.
I graduated aged 43, when most folks are already stagnating.
Then I was ill, then I changed my health and fitness.

A couple of weeks ago, the doctor said I had to change my diet - my blood cholesterol levels are a bit shaky. Not terrible, just shaky.
So I changed my diet as well.
Once you start really committing to change (and I mean REALLY committing, not just saying the words like you do at work), then further changes become easier (even if they do involve tofu!)

That's me.
I wanted to change.
I was open to change.
I was looking for change.
When change came, I took it.
And didn't look back.

And what of you all?
Are you ready for change?
You want things - maybe to lose a little weight, or maybe to go a bit further or a bit faster on your bike.
But will you do it the way I used to?
To give it a go, but it never seems to work out?
To look for reasons why what you want isn't really possible?

Or will you give it an honest go.
Even when it rains?

Newsflash: lightest weight for 15 years

This morning I weighed in, as usual.
What was unusual was the weight - just 87.8kg (193 lbs).
I had a cup of tea, and then sat down and used my tablet for a few hours.
I reweighed, and I was down to 87.5kg!
I've left it as 87.8 kg in my notebook, though.
(Any real weight gains/losses will show up after a while, even with inconsistent measurement, but I normally get up, weigh, eat, go to work, so, for me, the first, higher, weigh-in is the "honest" one.)
That is the first time I have been under 88 kg for at least 15 years!
Indeed, the first time I have dropped under 89kg in that period was just last week!
I started the year on 96.5kg (212 lbs) on January 1st.
So that is 8.7kg (19 lbs) down this year.
I tend to slowly revise down my target weight.
When I started on January 1st, the "target" was about 94.5kg (the weight I had dropped to the previous Summer).
When I passed that, I had an informal number of about 90kg in mind.
Now I seem to be reliably past that 90kg number, I would like to be down to 85kg, the weight I was in the Summer of '98.
But Christmas is coming, and the metaphorical goose is getting fat - let's hope I don't follow suit!
Here goes!

Everyday cycling

I know I have been going on a bit too much recently about my longer rides and the training I put in.
But that isn't what most of my cycling actually is.

The Importance of Rest

Remember when you were at school and you had PE (gym class)? Remember when it was Summer and you did running?
Remember how you had to learn to run slower for the 800m (1/2 mile) and 1500m (mile) runs?
Remember Cross-country?
You had to pace yourself to last the distance.

That's how training (and life in general) is.

Pace yourself to get the best results.

I've had a heavy cold for a week or so. Colds often "settle" on my chest.
So I've been taking it easy.

That's partly why you haven't seen me posting much on Strava recently.
How easy is easy?
Well, I still walk about 25 miles (40km) a week, and cycle about 20 (32km).
(I cycle to work, and walk a lot when I am there)
So still more than most of the population!
Haven't had a day off sick in 6 years, and "pacing" myself helps a lot.

So why don't I post all those little bits on Strava to "prove" I've done them?
Well, I used to post all the cycling, but do folks really want me clogging up their feeds with four or more sort rides a day?
So I tend to just post the "extras".

But pacing isn't just about taking it easy when you are sick.

Think about how training works.
You do a hard run/ride, take a rest day (or cross-train some other muscles), then next time you are fitter, and can go further and faster.

What happens if there is no rest day?
You get slower.
This continues until you either get so slow you take a rest day, or you injure yourself and your take a rest day.
Some folks do heavy days then light days, some folks cross-train, some folks do "2 days on, one day off".
But we all need those rest days.

But, but, but...
January 2014, I trained for 31 days straight - where were the rest days?
Well, I only did a bit each day (it was a 10 miles a day challenge), and most days I broke it up into sections - a couple of miles to work, then a couple at lunchtime, then some more home, then some more in the evening. It was about distance, not speed.
So those 31 days weren't "hard" days!
If you never need recovery days, you simply aren't training hard enough!

But, but, but...
Strava says all your rides are "epic", and you get a bigger "Suffer Score" than all your buddies.
Guess what.
You have your settings set wrong.
What Heart Rate did you use?
Just try it - set your heart rate just 5 beats per minute slower in Strava, and watch your Suffer Scores shoot up!
I'm 50, a little overweight, so I should have a maximum heart rate of 170, right? (220 - my age).
Hmm.
My Garmin 310xt says I have reached a heart rate of 182 cycling (downhill!), and 184 running (uphill).
(Btw, I have a second, "Bluetooth", heart rate belt that gives results on my smartphone consistent with my Garmin belt, so it's not that I have a "dodgy"/"worn out" belt, or a defective Garmin watch!)

If I use a maximum heart rate of 170 bpm for Strava, then everything I do is epic!

I can convert my max hr to an estimated " threshold hr" using a suitable bit I can find on the internet. 153bpm sound about right to you? I ran for an hour with an average heart-rate of 165 bpm. So my "threshold" isn't 153bpm either!

Yours might be, or it might not be.

Everyone is a bit different - and that's the point.

You should train for your body, not mine or anyone else's!

Want to play the "heart rate reserve" game?

My "resting heart rate" is 60 bpm, right? 

Same as everyone else's? 

Nope, mine is usually 47 or 48bpm.

I got 55 bpm at my last medical check, and I jogged to the medical centre (so it was hardly a " totally rested" measurement!).

I actually got 42bpm this morning, which is a bit low - I think I will mention it next time I see the doctor.

My "resting heart rate" is certainly NOT 60bpm.

Guessing and averages don't mean squat if you really want to train, not just play, with Strava.

My 200km badge.
Sorry about the furmiture :-)

I rode a 232km day in the Summer on an 18kg bike, with 10kg in the panniers on top of that. Carried all my own food and water.
That is MAYBE epic (but remember what they say - if you can ride 200km every day for a fortnight, you are good enough to come last in the Tour de France!)
I could barely walk when I finished.
Your little 30 minutes with a tailwind isn't epic.

It may well have been hard, but it wasn't epic.

If you can do it every day for a week, it certainly wasn't epic!

If you train hard, you need rest/recovery days.
If you train light (like my 31 days in January 2014), then you don't.
BUT ... if you only train light, you will never achieve your full potential.

Is "hard" the same for everyone?
Nope!
I work with a guy in his 50s that can run a 3 hr marathon. I don't mean 3:59. I mean 3:00.
In "the season" he runs 4 days of 10km, and 2 half-marathons a week.
Now that's fit!
I've run exactly ONE half-marathon in the last 30 years. (Took me 2 hrs and 27 mins!)
My "hard" is his "light".
And guess what. 4x10km + 2x21km, and he still takes the seventh day as a " rest day".

So "hard" is a personal thing.
Don't look at Strava.
You know if it was hard.
Anything under an hour is likely to be "easy" - or at least "easier" - unless, of course, you are going at your "threshold"/"one hour pace" for that hour - even then, with a warm-up and cool-down, you are going to be more like an hour and a half (!).

First 10km I ran under an hour for 30 years - that was hard.
Set myself to run at about my "threshold", aiming to keep at 160 to 165 bpm. Ran it in 58m22s.
See what would have happened if I put my heart rate into Strava at too low a level?
I'd have been running for an hour, averaging 95% of my "maximum heart rate". All I had to do was put 153bpm into Strava as my LTHR, not a more realistic number (it was, last time, I tested it, about 165 bpm).
Surely "Epic", yet physiologically impossible. If you can run for an hour at 95% of your maximum heart rate, then you're simply using the wrong numbers (likely) or other is a fault with your smartphone/belt/Garmin (unlikely, but theoretically possible).

Go on, try it. Set your heart rate 10 bpm lower in Strava, and see what happens.
The find a real " pro" on Strava, like for instance LtD, and look at his rides. Mostly in zone 1. And he rides the Pro Tour. (And he takes rest days). It is the duration and speed COMBINED (thus distance) that makes his rides epic. But LtD is training for maybe 30 hours a week. You're not. (I'm not). And he still takes rest days.

10km for my " marathoner" colleague takes about 40 minutes, and is one of his "easier" days ☺ For him the 21kms are the "hard days".
But he still has his "rest" day.

10km for me is a "very hard day" if I do it in about an hour, so I NEED a rest day!

This difference in "hard" is why "individualization" came about. Train to YOUR body, not someone else's.

When you do hard days you damage your muscle fibres.
You gotta let the muscles heal up (they grow back stronger - that's why you get fitter!).
Not everybody has the same rate of muscle repair. Tends to be better when you are younger. I'm 50, so I'm not " younger" ☺
That's individualization, too.

You might need more than me. You might need less (especially if you are younger!)
Train to your body. Not someone else's.

Before a big event, take a rest. 

You might lose a touch of fitness (prevailing theory is that it takes two weeks of inactivity to lose one week of gains), but you need to be at you best on the start line.

For a local 100km event, I only did my walking and my commute for the week before the event. No extra cycling.
For the London to Brighton, I did the same.
For my 200km ride (that stretched to 232km on the day) I only did my walking and my basic commute for 2 weeks before, and I stayed indoors and just rested for the whole day before (and the whole day after).
But, hey, I'm 50, and getting back into shape after a long break (many years - work, life, family, you know how it goes).
30 years ago, I used to cycle 100+ km a week, and run 50+ km a week, no problems. But I was 20 kilos ( 44 lbs) lighter and 30 years younger then!
All that is individualization, too. That's me, at age 20, and at age 50.

You might need more recovery, you might need less. 

You need the amount YOUR BODY REQUIRES.

Training + Recovery = Fitness.
Training - Recovery = Less fitness, and more injury risk.

You pace yourself on events so you last the distance (remember the running I mentioned at the start - you run slower at the start of an 800m event than you do for a 100m event)
So make your training "paced"!
Your pacing will be different than mine - maybe "faster ", maybe "slower". 

Individualization, remember

Sooner or later you have to recover.

So train hard, rest properly, and don't be afraid to take "light days" if you are sick.  

You might recover quickly from illnesses, or you might not. Individualization, remember.

Train to your body, not to somebody else's body.
Train to your body, not to some book or training plan you downloaded off the internet.
Train well, live well, enjoy yourself, and succeed.

Individualization.

Go on, "Google" it.

Update Friday 18th December 2015:

Colds and illness all gone.

Today is a day off work.

I work a pattern with a different day off each week (yes, I work most Saturdays!)

Today I took it easy.

Cycled to work slowly (yes, it is my day off, but I did 3 hours overtime).

Cycled home slowly.

Did a gentle 3.5 km (call it 2 miles!) run with Anna.

And after lunch I had a 2 hour nap.

Naps are important. Pro athletes do it. So do I.

A bit of gentle cycling. A three-hour shift. A short, gentle, run. A nap.

That's a rest day :-)

So train hard, fulfill your potential, and enjoy your rest days!