Hello.
Just a year or so ago I was markedly and reliably faster on road cycling routes where I live.
My average speed was usually 16.5, 17, and 18 mph over 20, 30, 40+ mile rides.
I have had two operations in the past 18 months with a month or two out of action.
I need to lose a little weight, but not alot, and i'm over 50 but I really wan't to try and get my speed up.
I do about 100 miles a week, all year round, commuting and a longer ride at weekends, with a few lumps.
My bike is light enough, 8.5-9KG.
I have been using a turbo trainer in winter with Zwift and so of the workouts are pretty good.
I have a speedo/gps on the bars.
I get quite a bit of pain in my legs if I push too hard, so I tend to stay under the pain threshold as much as possible.
I need to figure out a plan of action to try and get some more pace.
Ideas and advice welcome.
PS, I currently just about manage 15 mph average most of the time
I share your challenges. Without the detail, my illness and operations left me woefully weak and with long term/permanent right leg pain and nerve damage.
This year was my first year for a while with no illness or operations so I was determined to improve “me”. Both my pace and endurance were way off my previous and with a few years on the age tally it was harder to progress my fitness in the way I wanted.
To correct his, I used a 12 week training programme from Training Peaks that I did on Zwift for 90% of the rides which was very demanding time and effort wise but I do think it has helped me immensely. I’ll PM the details to you
One thing I found was that my cadence had also dropped - my leg just wouldn’t respond to what I wanted it to do. My physio said that as a result of the trauma, it was my leg “forgetting” how to work like it did before as well as the nerve damage and so I did quite a lot of targeted stretching, control and balance work, as well as some skipping (!) and then, on the bike, high cadence work (the workout above helped with that too).
I do think that some of the improvements are simply time and effort based and it may be worth seeing a Physio to look at the specific pain issues perhaps? You can then work through these with mild discomfort but in a controlled and safe way (cold sweats, self doubt and a little fear were all part of my experience of recovery.)
I still struggle with endurance and the leg doesn’t thank me after a good ride but I am bettermin many ways than I was 5 years ago.
Don‘t beat yourself up but do push yourself and be realistic in those incremental gains as they famously say!
cheeky. I think not having ridden 70 miles before attempting the hill might have helped, though!
