Training Help!

[Tyla1073]

I started back on the bike last October splitting my time between the turbo trainer during the week and longer rides on the weekend and this year have completed several sportives, some fairly flat like Bristol to London and some hilly like Tour of Pembrokeshire.

This weekend I completed the Valley Velo which wasn't too long but a lot of steep climbs and found the first 80 km ok but completely running out of gas for the last 20 km.

I am taking gel's, banana's etc during the ride and plenty of fluid but my questions is I am not training hard enough or am I just rubbish in the hills?

Any advice would be great as I need to know what to focus on this winter.

 

[50000tears]

It is normal to fee tired and run out of legs that far into a hilly ride, especially with only a year of training under your belt. But to answer the question as to what to focus on, if you are keen on the longer endurance rides then that is where you should train. Lots of long Z2 rides where you just get in the miles. You shouldn't need much specific hill work but when planning routes make sure they include some of the bumpy stuff.

I am actually in a very similar position to yourself training wise and will be doing much the same.

 

[raleighnut]

You may have set off too quickly, try doing the first 5 miles using gentle effort at a nice medium cadence to act as a warm-up.

 

[Tyla1073]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I can't seem to find a sustainable cadence on the really steep stuff (10% +) so will stick to the longer training and maybe try some hill repeats.

 

[Brightski]

I started back on the bike last October splitting my time between the turbo trainer during the week and longer rides on the weekend and this year have completed several sportives, some fairly flat like Bristol to London and some hilly like Tour of Pembrokeshire.

This weekend I completed the Valley Velo which wasn't too long but a lot of steep climbs and found the first 80 km ok but completely running out of gas for the last 20 km.

I am taking gel's, banana's etc during the ride and plenty of fluid but my questions is I am not training hard enough or am I just rubbish in the hills?

Any advice would be great as I need to know what to focus on this winter.

I can't climb for toffee, maybe it's the toffee

 

[Joshua Plumtree]

Nothing to worry about. Just repeat the process over and over and it'll get easier (not by much though!)

 

[ColinJ]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I can't seem to find a sustainable cadence on the really steep stuff (10% +) so will stick to the longer training and maybe try some hill repeats.

What is your lowest gear? (I did a long 11% climb yesterday and used a nice low 28/29 gear all the way up!)

 

[50000tears]

I too find that I suffer far more proportionately once the grade gets over 10%. Maybe it is just where our fitness is at at the moment. Your year of training sounds mighty similar to mine.

For what it is worth my base building over the winter will consist of lots of long Z2 rides but 1 day a week of hill repeats.