Adrian Fitch's Training Blog

My second relatively hard ride in to work this week and I’m still not feeling 100%.

My legs feel sluggish and I’m finding it hard to get my heart rate above 90% and hold there on the hills.

It’s probably just a lack of adequate sleep as I’ve been eating well and riding really easy on my regular commuting days.

My resting heart rate is back to normal (44 bpm) and I don’t feel like I’m coming down with anything so it looks like I just need to be stricter with getting a descent eight hours every night.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 08/21/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 1:25:12.00
• Average Heart rate: 134
• Calories: 1666
• Distance: 37.61 km
• Average Speed: 26.49 kmph
• Ascent: 249 m
• Average Cadence: 79

My first ride in via Wimbledon and Richmond Park for about five weeks.

I wasn’t really in the mood for the ride but I need to get some good power building work in ahead of next month’s Southern Sportive.

Perhaps it was the lingering effects of Saturday night’s excesses but I just couldn’t summon the energy to go all out.

I was ok on flat ground and could sprint away from lights quite well but the hills just killed me.

It was impossible to get up to and hold 90% heart rate for any length of time so it looks like I need to get some good rest and make sure I eat and drink well over the next few days.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 08/19/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 1:20:56.00
• Average Heart rate: 135
• Calories: 1728
• Distance: 37.49 km
• Average Speed: 27.79 kmph
• Ascent: 244 m
• Average Cadence: 82

Nine of us met at the cafe for the DPNC Saturday ride.

We knew the weather forecast, we had even looked outside, yet still we came.

The drizzle started almost immediately and barely let off for the entire ride.

I resisted putting on my rain jacket at the start and found my base layer and arm warmers did enough to keep me comfortably warm and fairly dry.

It was quite a haphazard ride with the rain causing lots of stops to fix punctures.

We never really got into a groove but did discover a nice coffee shop in Brasted called 96º when Ken had to change his second puncture.

Ken led the ride down to Edenbridge and back via Toys Hill and Brasted. Greig, Omar, Hassan (not on his BH), Darren, Neil and Ronnie were there plus Matt was out on his first ride with us.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 08/02/2008
• Time: 08:30:00
• Total Time: 3:58:51.00
• Average Heart rate: 117
• Calories: 4150
• Distance: 91.77 km
• Average Speed: 23.05 kmph
• Ascent: 1160 m
• Average Cadence: 72

Twelve of us started the regular DPNC Saturday Ride from Crystal Palace out to Edenbridge and back via Ide Hill.

Led by Ken with the familiar faces of Greig, Omar, Hassan, Pete, Adam who I hadn’t seen for a while, Harvey and Alex who broke off at the turn to Gangers Hill but not before telling us a little about his experience during the Tour of Ireland. There was also Darren who I’ve ridden with once or twice before and Yaris and Tim who I was out with for the first time.

Hassan, Harvey and Adam were all on new bikes. Hassan’s BH almost needed to be tied down to stop it floating away at the Ide Hill Post Office picnic stop.

Eight of us were in club kit - first time I think we’ve had so many, at least when I’ve been out.

We carelessly lost Yaris and Darren on the way back from Ide Hill. Not good form.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 07/26/2008
• Time: 08:30:00
• Total Time: 3:58:55.00
• Average Heart rate: 126
• Calories: 4463
• Distance: 96.28 km
• Average Speed: 24.18 kmph
• Ascent: 1247 m
• Average Cadence: 73

The legend continues…

This was the sixteenth running of the iconic overnight ride from London Fields in Hackney to the lost city on Dunwich on the Suffolk Coast.

We set off from the Pub in the Park at sunset and maintained a steady pace out through Epping Forest, the North Weald and across Essex.

Some light rain was forecast but never eventuated and the sky was fairly clear for most of the night so we got to enjoy the glow of the full moon as we silently breezed along the country lanes.

Shortly after crossing into Suffolk we reached the feed stop at Lavenham Village Hall and it took us just under four hours to cover the first 110 km (68 miles).

We stuck around for around an hour eating, drinking, replacing batteries and chatting to the other riders.

The queue for food reached the door when we arrived but by the time we were ready to leave it snaked out the building and into the cold early morning air.

It was very cold when we got going again and I was so glad I had put on my 2XU windproof softshell at the hall.

The last 80 km (51 miles) took us three hours and we arrived at the cafe on Dunwich Beach just as the sun was rising shortly after 5am.

We quickly devoured a fry up and made space for the growing queue of cold and hungry cyclists.

We wanted to hang around and chat but it was just too cold outside so we started back towards the train station at Darsham at a gentle pace.

We arrived with around 90 minutes to wait until the first train and there were already three others ahead of us.

We had heard how twitchy the train people can be when presented with a platform full of cyclists all trying to get on to the three carriage train so as the platform began to fill up we took the fortunate decision to ride 25 minutes up the the road to the preceding station in Halesworth.

Around ten others had the same idea and we all managed to get on the train after a little drama.

The conductor wasn’t happy with our bikes in all the vestibules so we pacified him by removing wheels and stashing everything away from the doors and out of the passage ways.

When we got to Darsham he wouldn’t let any of the fifty-odd cyclists on to the train and they now had to either cycle the extra 50 km to Ipswich or wait another two hours for the next train.

Next year I think I’ll factor in the extra ride to Ipswich and avoid all the train drama.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 07/19/2008
• Time: 21:00:00
• Total Time: 7:55:59.00
• Average Heart rate: 132
• Calories: 8882
• Distance: 206.38 km
• Average Speed: 26.02 kmph
• Max Speed: 51.1 kmph
• Ascent: 1475 m
• Average Cadence: 82

Fantastic spin through Richmond Park this morning on the way to work.

This was a “Fast Steady” session where I work to keep my heart rate around 80% of max throughout.

I put in hard efforts on the hills (up to 92%) while maintaining good cadence (~80 rpm).

I can only manage this session once per week as any more and I don’t have enough recovery time and feel myself beginning to get stale.

The route took me past Wimbledon for the first time since the tournament started and it looks like they’ve got the same level of security as a G8 summit.

There were concrete blocks everywhere, razor wire coiled along every fence and an army of security people, even at 7am.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 07/01/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 1:20:20.00
• Average Heart rate: 145
• Calories: 1602
• Distance: 37.52 km
• Average Speed: 28.02 kmph
• Ascent: 252 m
• Average Cadence: 87

Eleven of us out for this morning’s DPNC ride into the North Downs but we were shortly down to nine when Beverley and one other dropped off to do a shorter route.

I wasn’t feeling too motivated this morning and probably would have skipped the ride if I hadn’t promised Pete that I’d be there so we could talk about the logistics for August’s Devil Ride in Wales.

Fortunately after around two hours of hard cycling, two gels and one bottle of energy drink I felt a ton better and forgot how sluggish and tired I felt.

My legs even woke up at that point and no longer felt like jelly.

I don’t think I’m fully recovered from last weekend’s 165 km Circuit of the Cotswolds sportive and probably should have taken at least Monday off the bike.

We live and learn.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 06/28/2008
• Time: 08:30:00
• Total Time: 4:10:31.00
• Average Heart rate: 124
• Calories: 4466
• Distance: 101.15 km
• Average Speed: 24.23 kmph
• Ascent: 1313 m
• Average Cadence: 75

An event that ran perfectly according to plan from start to finish.

I kept a close watch on my computer throughout the ride and made sure I kept my heart rate around 75% of max on the flats and not too much above 85% on the hills.

My current position is the black dot, my planned pace (Garmin’s Virtual Partner) is the white dot and Lark Stoke, our first decent hill, is the line climbing up to the right.

By this point I was ahead of my planned pace and hadn’t been pushing myself at all.

My small lead was soon wiped out by a 24 km/h headwind and I could only begin to make it back up when the course turned east for the last 50 km section of rolling hills and the wind was then behind me.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 06/22/2008
• Time: 08:30:00
• Total Time: 6:47:02.00
• Average Heart rate: 145
• Max Heart rate: 184
• Calories: 7468
• Distance: 165.51 km
• Average Speed: 24.4 kmph
• Max Speed: 70.5 kmph
• Ascent: 2453 m
• Average Cadence: 79

We only got 30 kilometres into our three day, 180 km ride from Brighton to Sandwich when we had to pull out.

The National Cycle Route we were following took us along everything from a glorious segregated bike path along the cliffs out of Brighton to a couple of very busy A road sections and along muddy, potholed tracks strewn with gravel and rocks.

All of this was a little too much for Mandy who isn’t the most experienced cyclist so we cut our losses and headed for the closest train station and home.

Sunday was my last opportunity to get a long ride in before next weekend’s Circuit of the Cotswolds but the big London to Brighton charity ride was on so my regular route through the Surrey Hills would be a little too congested.

Instead I worked out a fairly hilly 120 km route starting from Crystal Palace and heading out into the North Downs between East Grinstead and Sevenoaks.

In my enthusiasm I started the ride a little too hard and payed for it later.

I was deliberately pushing the pace to see what happens when I maintain a heart rate around 80% of max instead of last weekend’s 75%.

The first long drag up from Elmers End to Woldingham (20 km) was fabulous but I could feel that my legs weren’t happy.

They weren’t warmed up properly and didn’t feel comfortable working at that rate so early.

The descent down Gangers Hill over the M25 and on towards Lingfield offered a few opportunities to rest before a fairly lumpy 10 km section as I looped down towards Edenbridge and back up towards Westerham past Churchill’s Chartwell.

Westerham is the ride’s mid-point so I stopped to fill my water bottle and grab a Red Bull.

That perked me up and despite the stop I was still slightly ahead of my Garmin’s Virtual Partner.

I then looped back over the M25 briefly before turning south and starting the climb up Brasted.

The descent of Toy’s Hill was spoiled a little by a car going far to slowly but it forced me to take it a little easy before the loop around Bough Beech Reservoir and on to Ide and Star Hills.

These last two hills weren’t particularly tough, they just went on forever.

By the top of Star I had very little left in my legs so the few short sharp inclines on the route back to Crystal Palace through Downe were unusually debilitating.

This weekend I’m not going to be able to ride so hard and I’m going to have to force myself to hold back for the first third of the course.

After the first feed stop I’ll step it up a bit if I need to.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 06/15/2008
• Time: 09:00:00
• Total Time: 4:51:42.00
• Average Heart rate: 143
• Calories: 5650
• Distance: 120.77 km
• Average Speed: 24.84 kmph
• Ascent: 1654 m

Great spin through the Surrey Hills this morning.

I missed both my longer sessions this week so wanted to make up some kilometres.

Normally I would head out on a club ride on Saturday morning but yesterday’s forecast was miserable so I planned to skip it and work out a longer route with the same climb rate as this month’s Circuit of the Cotswolds.

This was to be my last endurance ride before the event so I wanted to see how I would fair over a course 75% of the length.

I managed to keep the power on and to pedal smoothly with controlled breathing on gradients up to 10%.

After that everything began to fall apart and by 20% I was pushing the pedals over one at a time.

Next weekend Mandy and I are planning a three-day trip along the coast from Brighton to Sandwich in Kent.

We will average around 60 km per day and the forecast looks promising (at this stage) but we’ve opted for B&Bs over camping.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 06/08/2008
• Time: 07:45:00
• Total Time: 5:05:11.00
• Average Heart rate: 138
• Calories: 5923
• Distance: 126.44 km
• Average Speed: 24.86 kmph
• Ascent: 1792 m
• Average Cadence: 82