Training & Nutrition - Hill Training

Hi guys,

Went to do some hill training today on the advice of Carbonfiberboy here on the forums.

It was quite grueling to be honest. I'm new to hill training, its far from my strong point this was my first time giving it a go and I need a little advice on what to do next.

I've uploaded the route data so feel free to have a look, its recorded me having a elevation gain of 756ft which I'm quite happy with not as happy as i was when i thought it was a lot higher :twitchy:, i don't know if that's a good height for a first timer but it definitely felt like it gave me a good work out.

I'm going to try work this into my routine, long rides on weekends and hill work during the week and possibly adding some interval stuff aswell but that's at a later date i think, i don't want to rush it :p

Do i approach the hill training the same way as my longer rides by adding extra miles? or do i add extra height? different grades of climb? aim to get up the hills quicker?

Thanks

P.S. the data is a bit 'damaged' my computer seemed to confuse it's self when i made a detour and stopped for a couple minutes, consequently the 2 or 3 mile trip home wasn't recorded, it did something funny with laps and elevation dipped at the end to a crazy -331! not to mention the other HR, speed etc was miss-recorded but only for that portion of the ride.

EDIT:Edited original value of 2799 to 756 (because of the errors in the data)

I've uploaded the route data so feel free to have a look,

Next time if you post the link to the activity it will be easier for us to look at than a picture.


its recorded me having a elevation gain of 2799ft which I'm quite happy with, i don't know if that's a good height for a first timer or a good height for the average hill climber but it definitely felt like it gave me a good work out.


P.S. the data is a bit 'damaged' my computer seemed to confuse it's self when i made a detour and stopped for a couple minutes, consequently the 2 or 3 mile trip home wasn't recorded, it did something funny with laps and elevation dipped at the end to a crazy -331! not to mention the other HR, speed etc was miss-recorded but only for that portion of the ride.

Each of those dips adds about 400 feet of gain to tyour total. It looks like there were 3 dips so there is at least 1200 feet added from the glitch. Just something to keep in mind when you do more rides and wonder why the elevation doesn't compare.


Do i approach the hill training the same way as my longer rides by adding extra miles? or do i add extra height? different grades of climb? aim to get up the hills quicker?

You don't really need to overthink it. Adding hills in for variety is good, you don't need to worry too much about exactly how you do it.

There ya go! Yes, it's hard. That's the whole idea. You did great. But looking at your graphs, I don't see 2800' of climbing there. So something's odd. I'd guess more like 800' which would be more reasonable on an hour's ride without steep hills. If you look at the end of your elevation graph, you'll see a number of squiggles. Your machine recorded those squiggles as actual elevation gain. If you go into the software, there should be a way to add a lap point just before the data goes weird. Look at the data for that lap - it should be much closer.

Anyway, what you do is just more of the same. A mice weekend training ride is about 60 miles and 3000'-4000' of elevation gain. You have to gradually work up to that, probably over a period of a couple of years. So yes, you add more miles, more elevation gain, and try to get up the hills quicker. That will mostly happen by itself if you're motivated to make your bike go.

But don't rush it. No. Don't increase weekly mileage by more than 10% a week - that's the gold standard. You can go longer sometimes, but not as a continual thing.

Next time if you post the link to the activity it will be easier for us to look at than a picture.

Also, since you're using a 705 with barometric altimeter, you should probably disable elevation correction.

umd, thanks for pointing them things out. I've since corrected it. The reason I don't post the link is because i don't have the share feature enabled on the activities so no one can see them. Missus has a issue with having a gps link directly to our doorstep :lol:

CFB, Thanks again, you were almost spot on with the guess! Either way, 2000ft or 800ft it felt hard and i guess as you said that's the point. I'll definitely be doing it again because i get a little competitive with the virtual rider feature on the cycle computer :notamused:

chinarider, i didn't originally use the correction feature but the elevations of my daily commutes always seemed to be way off.

Looks good. Keep hitting the hills and look to add in some steeper or longer ones down the track when you feel more comfortable with them.

I started doing hills regularly a few months back and have really improved my ability to sustain a longer effort.

tallmantim, thanks. What kind of distances, elevation, grades where you climbing? were you adding elevation or miles?

i started this week to focus on climbing but I'm not entirely sure i'm doing it right. I'm riding up some short steep hills a number of times but they are all short and sharp rather than long grinding efforts. what's more impportant. the leg strength or the endurance. If it is the endurance, i don't think i can practice that anywhere around here.

here is one of them (the hardest)

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&so...4&ie=UTF8&z=16 (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Swain%27s+Ln&daddr=51.570365,-0.148748&geocode=FTTFEgMdSLX9_w%3B&hl=en&mra=mi&mrsp=1,0&sz=16&sll=51.568374,-0.146534&sspn=0.008056,0.022724&ie=UTF8&z=16)

Try doing both in one ride. Its good to see someone doing the same area as me.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=51.593789,-0.135269&daddr=S+End+Rd+to:Gordon+House+Rd%2FB518+to:W+Hill+Park+to:Tottenham+Ln%2FA103+to:Wightman+Rd%2FB138 +to:Wightman+Rd%2FB138&geocode=%3BFeCqEgMdVHf9_w%3BFYCwEgMdSsL9_w%3BFenpEgMdQLb9_w%3BFSoLEwMdHB3-_w%3BFT4TEwMdF2H-_w%3BFZYDEwMdAmn-_w&hl=en&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=0&sz=15&sll=51.58739,-0.128746&sspn=0.023224,0.066047&ie=UTF8&z=15

This was the area I covered, with the exception of the starting point. I started near the end point (G) Rode up and turned onto High St/Priory Road, headed up Alexander palace and through the short cut to A then took the root.

Try doing both in one ride. Its good to see someone doing the same area as me.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=51.593789,-0.135269&daddr=S+End+Rd+to:Gordon+House+Rd%2FB518+to:W+Hill+Park+to:Tottenham+Ln%2FA103+to:Wightman+Rd%2FB138 +to:Wightman+Rd%2FB138&geocode=%3BFeCqEgMdVHf9_w%3BFYCwEgMdSsL9_w%3BFenpEgMdQLb9_w%3BFSoLEwMdHB3-_w%3BFT4TEwMdF2H-_w%3BFZYDEwMdAmn-_w&hl=en&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=0&sz=15&sll=51.58739,-0.128746&sspn=0.023224,0.066047&ie=UTF8&z=15

This was the area I covered, with the exception of the starting point. I started near the end point (G) Rode up and turned onto High St/Priory Road, headed up Alexander palace and through the short cut to A then took the root.

Highgate and Hampstead are tough hills. So is muswell hill. that route is a good test.

By the way, i found this on bikeradar

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=15361170

An exert from someone who should know...a cabby.

Best hillls:

1.. Highgate West Hill average gradient 8,5 parts 11% 1k long quite safe lovely curve..

2... Next door the Highgate Mortirolo Swains Lane 1k long 8% then for 200m 14-16% very safe except coming down be careful it is one way! you going against traffic.

3.. Fitzjohns Av 4 - 7% lots of traffic quite dangerous

4 Muswell Hill 1.4k very dangerous knocked off by bus 6-8% avoid. St James lane round corner .8k 8-17%

5.. Bishops Av and Winnington Rd both quite safe 4-6% 2k...

Do you ride in hertfordshire? If you want hills, go to the area just past Potters Bar. That is seriously nasty steep hills but the area isn't extensive. If you stay in that area there are a number of hills you can go up and down and around till your legs die on you.

The area is round Essendon, Newgate Street, Bayford, Windmill Hill.

I don't ride that far up as I live quite near Hampstead. However on some of my longer rides I'd love to get somewhere where traffic eases off a bit. I hate the traffic in London, esp on my commute into central.

Highgate W hill was my worst on that route, but its near the end so that might have been a factor. I'll definitely give Swains lane a go next time it looks like fun (if that's the word to use for really painful thighs!!)

I think ill amend my route a bit, and probably alternate between two different ones each week.

tallmantim, thanks. What kind of distances, elevation, grades where you climbing? were you adding elevation or miles?

Hi - where I live I am 35km from hills (Mount Dandenong which isn't really a mountain), so a good rolling ride out there and back. We have enough cyclists heading out there that all the climbs are named (1 in 20, The Wall, Devils Elbow, One Tree Hill, Inverness, Terry's Ave, The Crescent, Perrins Creek etc). I started out on 1 in 20 with a coffee at the top and then riding home. I remember being pretty bushed on my way home too.

I have built up the number of climbs I do out there - last time I did three climbs (Devils Elbow onto One Tree, The Wall and 1 in 20) - each of which as about 200-300 metres of climbing at various grades (1 in 20 is 4.2% average, Devils elbow about 8%+ average and the wall has a steep 10% section and then pretty steady 5% for the rest of the way). Each climb is 6-8km long.

I wouldn't mind doing a bit more, but am time crunched to get home by 10:30am or so - otherwise my leave pass expires.

Next week however, I will be doing about 220km with a couple of decent climbs included (see here http://www.cyclingprofiles.com.au/HTM/Recreational/REC_CSPWC2010110.htm - we are riding to the start).

So, to answer your other question, I was adding elevation and miles - can't do much other than add both from where I am unless I drive out to somewhere (such as a real mountain near town like Dona Buang).

Cheers