Training & Nutrition - improving abiltiy to recover from pushing it

I'm' wondering how i can improve my ability to recover from pushing it on a ride



as an example last night I was on a group ride and one of the guys took off at a fairly good clip so I decided to chase him down just to see what I was made of (since he is faster than me) I caught him on a short steep climb when he lost traction and waited at the top of the hill at our traditional stopping spot to have everyone re-group.

well after chasing him down and passing him I was breathing pretty heavy. I felt like if we would have continued he would have caught me and then dropped because after climbs my body just wants a break to recover and then I'm good to go again.

but I want to improve my ability to keep my pace after a climb.... climbs seem to zap me and I find recovering so I can drop the hammer to be tough

So besides the factor of time in the saddle is there anything I can do training wise to speed up my ability to recover after a climb so I can move out again rather than suck wind for 5 mins then try to play catch up

You need interval training. This type of training conditions your body to recover better after hard efforts.

As you improve with the intervals you can begin to establish just how hard and long you can push without blowing up and how hard you can go during the recovery phase.

Also....

On hills I typically go at just under lactate theshold until approaching the top then I push out the last bit. Most riders will make the fatal mistake of pushing hard at the bottom thinking they just have to "maintain" the pace. WRONG! Go at a sustanable pace then once you start pushing at the end everyone else will be dying while you pass them up. Of course this approach may not work if you are a heavier rider like myself at 200lbs. There will always be those walking/talking noodles under 150 lbs who can run up hills like squirrels.

thanks for the tip

yeah I'm 215 right now so I have those 150lb guys to contend with


so I'll probably do my intervals on my trainer so would say 30seconds hard and 1 min to recover be a good starting point?

then as 30 secs becomes "easy" bump it to 1 min and 2 mins to recover

bumping it with double the recovery time until I hit 2 minutes of pushing it hard and 4 mins to recover then slowly reducing my recovery period?

Sounds like a good plan. I do my intervals out on the road. Gives me an objective such as light poles etc...

There are a lot of resources about the structure of interals. I do them kinda off the hip. I push until I'm about to puke then recover until my legs fell normal again and repeat. If you want to improve on the climbs then your intervals ned to be on hills as much as possible.

Done right intervals really tax the body so adequate recovery is essential. I will do one interval day per week max. I do mixed training so the other training days will encompass high cadence spinning, lactate threshold, tempo, and I like to do isolated leg work as well.

In order to guage progress find a longish hill in your area that may take 5 minutes to climb and do a mini time trial up it once every month or so. If you don't have a hill that long then a road with a series of hills will be a good alternative as long as there is significant climbing. If you live close to mountains then there is where you need to be.

I'm' wondering how i can improve my ability to recover from pushing it on a ride



as an example last night I was on a group ride and one of the guys took off at a fairly good clip so I decided to chase him down just to see what I was made of (since he is faster than me) I caught him on a short steep climb when he lost traction and waited at the top of the hill at our traditional stopping spot to have everyone re-group.

well after chasing him down and passing him I was breathing pretty heavy. I felt like if we would have continued he would have caught me and then dropped because after climbs my body just wants a break to recover and then I'm good to go again.

but I want to improve my ability to keep my pace after a climb.... climbs seem to zap me and I find recovering so I can drop the hammer to be tough

So besides the factor of time in the saddle is there anything I can do training wise to speed up my ability to recover after a climb so I can move out again rather than suck wind for 5 mins then try to play catch up

You need two things.

First of all, you need good aerobic base. You get this by riding distances at a reasonable rate.

Second, you need to do intervals, but the benefit you get from them depends a lot on how well rested you are.