How quickly did you get fit?

[lesley_x]

I am just wondering how quickly you guys progressed? When I first took up cycling a few years ago I was amazed at how quickly I progressed.

This time round, after a bout of illness and a lonnnng course of steroids I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere very quickly. I think prednisolone can waste your muscles so I'm not surprised I don't feel as strong. Also having a now uncontrolled chronic illness will be taking it's toll, I do appreciate this.

Don't get me wrong, I am progressing but very slowly and I am not improving my average speeds at all. Distance travelled and climbing has improved, albeit slowly.

Any input greatly appreciated

 

[Globalti]

As you reach your forties and fifties it takes longer to build muscle bulk and cardio-vascular fitness and to hold it.

 

[lesley_x]

I am 26

 

[Deleted member 1258]

It was a long time ago, but if my memory serves me well it took a while, I was very unfit, I came back to cycling in 1979 and made slow steady progress, I started to ride with a club about 1985 and made a big step forward, but the biggest step forward came in the early 1990's when I brought a turbo trainer off a mate then brought a heart monitor, now I'm in my early 60's and have started to slow down.

 

[Powely]

Depends on your idea of 'fit' really doesn't it?

 

[samsbike]

I have been cycling - commuting for about a year now and don't feel any fitter, which is irritating. My time to work has changed and therefore I dont think my speed has. But then I am in my late forties and everything seems harder sometimes.

 

[User6179]

Depends on your idea of 'fit' really doesn't it?

Being able to do the same run in the same time but with lower effort would be my definition of being fitter .

 

[VamP]

You never get as fit as you want to be.

 

[magpie21]

You never get as fit as you want to be.

So true, keep moving my own goalposts so I'm sure that doesn't help with the sense of achievement

 

[tyred]

I dunno, I'll let you know whenever I get fit.

 

[Thomk]

I wasn't very fit, about a stone overweight and in my 40s when I started cycling a couple of years ago. I guess I was in ok shape after about 6 - 8 months i.e. able to do up to 100 mile rides and starting to cope better with hills. After that it has been a very slow process and I'm not much fitter now if at all than 12 months ago. For me the key seems to be to put about 100 miles a week in which seems to keep my weight down and fitness at least stable.

 

[Rob3rt]

How quickly you can get fit will depend on many things. Many have been touched on, such as age, chronic illness, medications etc, but there is also nutrition, how effective your training is, how hard you are willing to work, level of dedication etc.

 

[Saluki]

I went from throwing up at the top of every hill to getting up hills just out of puff in about a fortnight. I can ride about 50 miles without too much bother but I am still a stone and a half overweight. I'm 49 now and a bit fed up that I can't sustain fitness like I used to in my twenties and thirties. Not much I can do about the age thing though.

When I was ill, a few years ago (I had a nice big CMV flare up), I found 'little and often' worked for me. I would go and ride for 15 minutes or so in the morning and then again in the afternoon. One day on and one day off which I built up to 2 days on and 1 day off, then 3 days on and 1 off. I gradually increased the time out too.

Eating right is a massive help (hark at me, I had a packet of crisps and a cheese sarnie for tea last night) and not as easy as you think, I have found.

 

[Ghost Donkey]

How you define fit changes with time and the company you keep. I've done 100 mile sportives and half ironman triathlons which I would consider as fit if I didn't know anything about the sport but don't consider myself fit due to my ambling approach and finishing nearer the back than the front. I've never had a DNF or missed a cut off but I've come nearly last before . If I had more time to train I'd do a lot better and I really suffer on anything which requires intensity like hills, high speed etc when I haven't been able to train with family commitments. This is where you really get shown up if you lack fitness. I still do it because I enjoy it.

Eating right is the key. I knocked 16 min of my half marathon PB in races five months apart on similar profiles. I ran twice a week at best, not running at all some weeks. I still did cycling on rollers and some swimming which helps. The big difference was cleaning up my diet and losing weight along with it and the obvious gains even on a flat course the weight loss brings with it.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I have always found that when I am on prednisilone (as I am now and have been for quite some time) that I can do more and usually lose weight as a result. For me, the muscle wasting is when I am off the steriods because my body does not produce enough cortisol (it only produces around 25% of what is should do) and I lose muscle as a result. My current course of prednisilone has been since the 1st May this year at 40mg a day. I was down to 15mg a day until going down with yet another chest infection earlier this week, so am now back up to 30mg a day with me having reduced adreanal gland function as a result of my asthma meds (severe asthmatic - like 8 set of meds to control it).

But yes - I do take a lot longer to get as fit as I would like when I am not on the steriods. On them, I am like my old self again (and can get fit and cycle further very easily), but I don't like being on them because of the other effects.