- Welcome back to another Ask GCN Anything.
- This week, we're talking about
what's the best warm up to do before a race?
What's better to train on,
a turbo or out on the road?
And a really interesting question.
How much fitness do you lose when you stop training?
- Ooh, I can tell you the answer to that already.
It's a lot.
Anyway, if you want to get your question in,
leave it in the comments box down below.
Use the hashtag #torqueback
and to be with the chance of winning
a free three-month subscription to Zwift,
use the hashtag #askgcntraining.
Don't forget, you can also drop that into
any of our social media platforms.
(pulsating)
- Who's up fist then, Chris?
- Forbzy2.
"GCN, I need help.
"Can you please tell me the ideal warmup
"for an under 19 rider for a 100 kilometer road race
"with the elevation gain of 1,800 meters?
"The start should be relatively fast,
"heading straight into a steep KOM five kilometers in."
Ooh. - Ooh.
Good question.
I think I would spend around 20 minutes
on the rollers before a road race.
It's 100 kilometers long,
so it's not like a short track race,
where you want to be really, really warmed up.
So almost a 10 minute, 15 minute ride, spin.
Get a good RPM up so raise your heart rate a little bit
and just get nice and warm.
That's what I would do anyway.
- Yep and in fact, there's a really cool video
that we have on the channel.
We're gonna pop it on the screen now that you can do.
Follow that for around 15 to 20 minutes
and that'll get you really well warmed up.
- Yeah, but don't be afraid to go hard because--
- It's important to go hard.
- It's important to get all your system ready and awake
so then you're not getting dropped
in that first five K.
- If you're using a power meter,
120 plus of your FTP.
That's what this is roughly. (breathing heavily)
Nearly there, everyone.
10 seconds.
(whooshing)
- And the winner of this week's
three-month free subscription from Zwift is, Chris?
- WegrennLOL, who has set a personal goal
of trying to crack 20 minutes up their local climb.
They've managed 22 minutes before
but they want to know what training they need to do
to crack that magical 20 minute barrier.
The gradient's 7% for 5.7 kilometers
but there is a maximum grade in the 14%.
- Ooh. - Which is kinda steep.
- Sounds hard.
And it sounds like this is a really big goal for you
and it looks like you've really thought about it.
Now this is an uphill TT, so there's two areas
in where you want to maximize to help your performance.
And it's already done on what's per kilogram
so we want to either decrease our weight
or increase our power.
- Yeah and dropping two kilograms
would definitely make a difference to your time
but without seeing you,
we don't know that you've actually got two kilos to lose.
- Well, exactly.
- You could be pretty close to your optimum weight already
so with that in mind, what you wanna focus on
is how you're gonna train for this climb.
- Yep and to do so, we've actually sent off
this question to Zwift and they've come back with
two key sessions to help you.
- They have indeed so they analyzed the effort
and basically over a 20 minute effort,
you're gonna be building really high levels of lactate
in your body and to prepare for that,
you wanna do that in training as well.
So what they recommend is actually doing
a high, above-threshold effort
before settling right back down
into some soft threshold work
to basically teach you how to hang on
after those steep gradients of that climb.
- Yeah and using your data
you've provided in your question,
we've been able to provide you with some target power
for your intervals.
- Yup, we have.
- Based on your 20 minute effort, 280 watts,
we can estimate that your FTP is around 260 to 270 watts.
An example session would, well, look like this.
Three minutes at 330 watts followed immediately
by ten minutes at 250 to 270 watts.
Aim to complete three of these in one training session
with full recovery between each interval.
- And the next session that you wanna look at
is increasing your VO2 max power
so this would be doing intervals of
three to eight minutes at what is basically
a max intensity for that duration.
If you're working for eight minutes,
then you want to eight minutes recovery
so the recovery period always matches the workload period.
And you want to look to complete around 20 minutes
of this total workload in one session.
- Yeah and your target power for these intervals
should be around 280 to 320 watts.
So yeah, have a go at those.
Let us know how you get on
and use those three months free Zwift
to really hone down on those performance details.
We've got a question in from Alex S.
"I'm coming back to cycling at the age of 50,
"after 25 years off the bike.
"I want a smart trainer for the winter
"and was wondering how to approach training plans.
"Will I need to add in extra recovery time
"or should a couple of rest days a week be enough?"
- Well, Alex, 25 years off, that's a long rest.
- Yeah, that is a long rest.
- You're probably not gonna've been
experiencing too much fresh form.
You'll just be needing to rebuild your fitness indeed.
So a couple of days off a week is a good start.
Two or three actually for your age
is gonna be more beneficial because as we get older,
it does take us longer to recover from efforts
but don't jump straight in with the intensity.
Do a longer ride at the weekend if you get the chance
and then sprinkle some harder rides,
just two a week, two harder rides a week, in on top of that
and you'll find that actually,
your fitness comes back to you quite quickly,
depending on how much you rode before,
We recently discovered an article that said
you lose it until you reuse it.
So all those fitness gains you made before
will be much more accessible
than had you never done any fitness in the past.
Good luck with your rediscovery of cycling
and we hope you enjoy it.
- Yeah, for sure.
- Dennis 4523.
"I've been sick for one month and I haven't cycled at all.
"How much fitness have I lost
"and when can I get back to normal?"
- Great question, Dennis,
and it's something that I actually got really interested in
because, well, we're going through the same thing.
We haven't been riding properly
for a good few months now, haven't we?
So we've also been going through
what you're going through now but ultimately,
there's three components to fitness.
You've got your muscular strength,
you've got your muscular endurance,
and you've got your cardiovascular endurance
so that's your lungs, heart, and
your circulatory system basically.
But the first few days off the bike,
you will see your fitness start to decline.
But this is no bad thing because ultimately,
this will give you time to rest and recover
and your muscles to repair.
So if you've gone into that three days
with a really hard session then you have three days off,
you can actually come out with that with better fitness.
And this is where tapering becomes really useful.
- Yep, but after that, the news is slightly worse.
Around two weeks, you'll expect to see a decline
in your VO2 max, 4-20% is widely recognized
as the sort of decline that you can expect to see,
which isn't great, to be honest.
And then once you stretch out towards a month,
it's really not good news at all
because your body's efficiency,
your ability to transport oxygen around your body,
that's gonna take a real hit.
Your biomechanical changes are gonna start to kick in,
meaning it'll be harder to maintain that lean, light weight
that you're used to having as a bike rider.
And then also muscle mass will have taken a hit.
- (inhaling sharply) Sorry, Chris.
You did have big legs before
and they are getting smaller.
- New shorts then. - Yep.
- And to answer the second part of your question,
it's not great news again
because actually to rebuild fitness
takes three times as long roughly as it does to lose it
so you've got a bit of a journey ahead of you.
But you will, after the first couple of weeks,
really start to notice big gains
because those first two weeks,
your body makes very quick adaptations
to get back towards where you were
and then after that, you'll see smaller steps
but you will feel better.
- Yeah so to help you out,
why don't you check out this video
for five ways to get back into cycling?
And good luck with the journey ahead.
And group rides can be so much fun also.
Get out with your mates, have a joke, and just enjoy it.
After all, cycling is good fun.
- Yeah and if you feel like racing them up a climb,
why not do that as well?
- Race you up.
I can't get in, ahh!
Right, Chris.
Tell us who's next 'cause, well, I can't read out that.
- Anonomosomous.
- Oh, nice!
"I'm a sprinter and I struggle with long climbs,
"often getting dropped on my club run.
"I'm working on my cardio and I've lost weight
"but I've been warned by a former pro
"that I could lose my sprinting ability
"if I focus too much on climbing
"and I'm not sure what to do for the best."
- Well, Anon, to answer simply,
to an extreme, they're not actually wrong.
If you purely focus on trying to lose weight
and you don't do anything to maintain your sprint,
then, yeah, you will lose your ability to sprint
over 5-20 seconds.
But by incorporating one dedicated sprint session
once a week or so,
you're not actually gonna lose that much at all.
But what I think you really want to do,
instead of focusing purely on losing weight,
is address what aspect of your fitness it is
that you actually feel is lacking
and causing you to get dropped.
Is it your aerobic capacity?
Is it your VO2 power?
Once you work that out, then try and improve your power
over those durations and that will help create you
as a better, more well-rounded cyclist
and you'll be able to perform better.
So focusing on losing weight,
you're just gonna lose power ultimately is often the case.
But focus on increasing power
and it will benefit you uphill,
on the flat, and in your sprint.
- Makes sense.
From one sprinter to another.
So yeah, hope those tips help you.
Who's next, Chris
- Next is Ishan Naithani
with "is riding on a turbo trainer
"better than riding on the road?
"Which of the two enhance your performance?
"Pros and cons, please."
- Right, great question.
To be honest, they're so different.
It's really hard to compare.
They're really good at doing the short efforts
and the more kind of specific training sessions
is more easily done on the turbo
because you can set certain powers
and you don't have the wear there,
you don't have downhill, you don't have traffic,
this, that, and the other.
But then on the road, you can go and do a
four, five, six hour ride
and not get as bored as you would
if you did that on the turbo.
So they're two very different things.
I wouldn't say one's better than the other
because they're so different, although--
- Depends on what you wanna do.
Do you want to get good at Zwift racing
or do you want to get good at cycling outside?
If you want to get good at riding a bike outside,
then you wanna focus on the technical aspect,
you know, the downhills.
- Yeah, I think we'll both say
it's probably best to ride on the raod, eh?
- Yeah but-- - But the turbo benefits that.
- Exactly so you want to mix them up
so that you get good at both.
- Yeah.
So I hope that helps in a weird way.
- AndySingh58 up next with
"do you think it's advisable to try cyclocross
"when I have heel spurs?
"I gave up running to take up cycling
"and cyclocross has some running sections.
"Would my bone spurs prevent me from taking up cyclocross?"
- Now I think cyclocross will be fine for you.
It's during the winter, where the ground's a lot softer,
and if you choose a course that hasn't got a lot of running,
then I reckon you'll be okay
but do take it very carefully.
Don't obviously jump into it and if it's sore,
then definitely stop.
- At a recreational level, then absolutely, why not?
You don't have to jump off you bike and run
when you just go out and ride your cross bike for fun.
- Yeah, so go out and do it
and then just take it slowly I guess.
But do check out this video
where Emma tried to do cyclocross.
Actually, she succeeded.
She actually did really well, I thought.
- Well she got off and ran with the bike.
- Yes, she's a good runner as well, isn't she?
- Now, the next biggest difference, I think,
between road and off-road is that off-road,
you're gonna be dealing with bumps
and potentially a lot of them.
There is, as you might imagine,
a technique for dealing with them
and the quicker you learn it, the faster you will go.
- Next question from Denning76.
"I've got to be off the bike for three weeks
"on doctor's orders.
"What on earth am I supposed to do with the free time?"
Good question and I'm sorry to hear that.
But I would just spend the time chilling out
with a cup of coffee watching GCN videos,
especially that Red Hook Crit video 'cause
I mean it's just a really, really good one, isn't it?
Really good, really good.
- If I hear one more thing about the Red Hook Crit.
- Man, it's a great video.
- It's a great video but you've been going on about it
every single day.
I reckon the most views come from you.
- Yeah, probably.
Right, next question is from who, Chris?
- Balfourism. (James scoffing)
"Hi GCN, love the show.
"I'm a complete beginner when it comes to cycling.
"I'm interested in getting into it to lose weight
"and eventually go on group rides,
"find a club, and do some racing maybe.
"If the main goal is losing weight
and myself being unhealthy, how should I start?
- Right, well weight loss is all about
basically running a calorie deficit.
So the more fitness you're doing
and the less calories you're putting in,
ultimately you're gonna lose weight
but I would start off quite gently.
So just go in and ride for fun, enjoy it,
and as you start to get a little bit fitter,
then you can start maybe cutting down on the calories
and going out for a little longer
and you'll soon find that you'll get fit enough
to ride with your friends out on the club rides.
- Don't get disheartened if you get a little bit tired
at the start because when you're out on a calorie deficit,
it can feel quite tiring, can't it?
And your muscles will feel a little bit drained
and it's just not as much fun.
Stick with it.
Get through those initial few months
and you'll feel much better.
- Yeah.
- Right, next up we have (singing) rrditch.
- "The Fuji Hill Climb just opened for entry.
"GCN should send some presenters.
"24K long, 1,300 meters of elevation."
Chris, you up for it?
- Yeah, I'm gonna be free.
You?
- No, I'm not gonna do it, mate.
Lou Bryan David.
"I ride a three kilometer climb
"with an elevation of 170-200 feet.
"I'm not really sure about the elevation,
"but it's somewhere there."
"And an average of 5%.
"Should I grind or should I spin?"
- Well I personally would say spin
but what do you do?
- I'd go for the middle ground, I think.
I'd go for a really, I don't like riding up hill.
I'd go for a really uncomfortable
kind of stand up and churn
and then sit down and try and pedal.
Don't do what I do.
- Sounds good though.
But if you want to know what the pros do,
spin or grind, then check out that video there.
- Ah, well.
- Uh.
- Uh, uh.
(exhales)
- Excuse me?
- Next question comes in from who, Chris?
- This is Alan.
Alan says "long time watcher, first time writer.
"I'm pretty new to the sport and I'm trying to push
"my average power approximation up on Strava
"but as I'm seeing my figures rise almost every ride,
"I'm having calf muscle twinges and pains,
"which can last three days later.
(sharply inhaling) "What can I do to avoid this
"without slowing down my training?"
- Right, it's all about body maintenance
so stretching is a really key part of your training
and don't forget it.
It's really easily done.
When you're training, the last thing you wanna do
is spend 10-20 minutes stretching but really do help.
Well, really do put it into your training
because it really will help, that's what I meant.
- Yeah and if it is your calves that are twinging,
then there's another thing you could try
and that would be to move your cleats back
underneath your foot a little bit further
because then your calves tend to work less hard
and then just make sure the alignment's correct as well.
- Yeah, it's funny when you talk about body maintenance
because Dan is really working on his
and there's actually a video of him trying yoga
that I would recommend you watch.
- Let's go.
Come on to your hands and knees, Dan.
- I'll do away with this cushion.
- Cushion isn't needed now for a while.
(laughing)
- There you go.
Not even strong enough to throw a cushion.
- Right, Chris, before we finish,
we actually had a good daily yesterday.
- We did, the sun was out.
- The sun was out and we got mail.
- Ooh. - Yep.
All the way from Australia in Beldon, Western Australia.
We got this from Cameron Bywater
and, well, it's actually a handwritten letter
and it's come in from a 12 year old
who's loving the show and he loves riding his bike
and he's also done some cool stuff for charity.
- He has.
It says here that he's raised $750 dollars
for motor neuron disease,
which is a huge achievement, Cameron.
Well done.
- Yeah, so keep up with that
and we here at GCN are really behind you.
If you did like this show,
then remember to get involved on next week's show
using the hastag
- #torqueback (in unison) and
to be within chance of winning a free
three-month subscription to Zwift,
use the hashtag #askgcntraining.
- Yeah, so make sure you put them
in the comments section below.
Right, Chris, what video should they be watching next?
- I think you should check out
Jon Canning's cheap bike to super bike down there.
- Yeah and don't forget, if you did enjoy this show
then to give it a big thumbs up.