A good week training and the psychology of flow

It has been a good week training. I managed to get time on the bike everyday, except for the planned rest day, and missed my target by just 20 minutes. I say time on bike, as I can’t bring myself to call turbo training riding just yet.

Looking at my fitness (blue) and fatigue (red) it does seem like the little and often approach is working better. Compared to the same time last year, progress is much better, and even compared to when I final get my training sorted back in March, the rate of improvement is better. Looking forward to see how things progress.

I’ll aim to do the same again next week, perhaps do a full day commute, rather than split it as I did this week. For the Sunday ride, two or three loops of the new XC loop at the Forest of Dean might be in order.

Now time to get geeky. The term flow is used a lot in mountain biking, and while it seems obvious what this means when it comes to buzzing down a trail, it always felt like there was more too it than that. So when reading an article on flow in software development I was stuck by how much of it matched what I felt when I hit a nice bit of trail and get in the zone.

The original list comes from a psychologist with the unpronounceable name of Csíkszentmihályi. He identified 10 factors that were often described when experiencing flow. I’ve edited them down a bit.

• Clear goals with the challenge and skill level both being high.
  
• A high degree of concentration focused on a limited amount of detail.
  
• The merging of action and awareness, and a sense of losing yourself in the activity.
  
• A distorted sense of time, so that successes and failures are quickly apparent, and behaviour can be adjusted as needed.
  
• The activity is neither too easy nor too difficult, so the ability level and challenge are balanced.
  
• A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
  
• The activity itself is rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
  
• A lack of awareness of bodily needs such as hunger or fatigue.
  
• Absorption into the activity, so there is only awareness of the activity itself.

Apparently not all are needed for flow to be experienced. Question is, will knowing something about the psychology of flow make it any easier to find out on a bike? After all who’s really wants to ride without it?

Turbo charged training and keeping it real at Cwmcarn

Finally got myself a turbo trainer. I always hoped to avoid having to spend hours peddling like crazy and getting nowhere, but the combination of work being a bit mental, a chesty cough I just can’t shift and the extra distance of the commute from the new house meant without some method of getting the miles in I’d be to leaving training very late for Bikefest and La Marmotte.

I managed four sessions on the turbo, roughly 2 and half hours. All of them intervals based to keep things interesting. 45 minutes seems to be long enough so next week will try mixing turbo sessions with a single commute. The aim will be to have one day off next week, more like the schedule I’ll need to keep to the Eatough plan which will start mid-March.

Just checked my weight, while I don’t feel too podgy, the scales say different so I definitely need to start focusing on diet. Fruit and fish being the easy things to increase. Cut down on the sandwiches at lunch, and try something different for breakfast. Also the post work beer will become a think of the past.

Looks like I’ll be having a few days riding with Doug @BasqueMTB early March, weather may be a bit mixed at that time in the season, but it will be good to get a few solid days riding under the belt, 2 weeks before the main training programme kicks in. Might even offer to go and get the van at the end of each day to get the road based climbs under my belt.

Finished the week with a single lap of Cwmcarn. I think I’ve said before it’s the one loop that keeps me honest, doesn’t matter how fit or fast I think I feel, the climbs and descents won’t be fooled, so my slow time today (15 mins behind the personal best) came as no surprise. The legs did well on the climbs, especially that last one before the final descent so underneath the lack of skills, lack of endurance and general slowness I think this year I might be able to get closer to a sub 50min lap.

Of course the trail pixies are always improving things, a couple more tricky bits I noticed had been “fixed”, which makes me a little sad, but given the volume of riders I guess it is inevitable.

Also had a comedy session at the doctors. All I needed was to get a signed letter for La Marmotte. What I got instead was a big lecture on why as a GP he can’t sign me fit, I could be going down the pub every night, how was he to know! I was really left totally gob smacked, you try and look after yourself and get fit and rather than being encouraging your local GP basically says sorry I can’t help. Even if I was going to the pub every night, you’d think if I’ve turned up saying I want to do a big event the GP would focus on how I can get fit enough, where I can get help training, and generally do everything he could to avoid me becoming a massive burden on the NHS in later life. Anyway hopefully I will get some kind of letter from him next week.

So with that rant over looking at the plan I’ve comfortably beaten my target of 4 hours this week, thanks mostly to the turbo trainer. Fitness is returning slowly, so next week, I should be safe to go for 4 sessions of 45 minutes on the turbo, one day commuting (1 hour each way), and ride on Sunday. That’ll be 7.5 hours total, but I’d be happy with 7h if I can.

2011 Unfinished Business

Given I only completed one of my races this year, it is with some trepidation that I look back at my Season Training Objectives, I suspect things didn’t go quite to plan!

I made a good start to the year with the SPAM Winter Challenge but then suffered from a nasty cold that seemed to go on for a good 6 weeks, it felt like I got on my bike a bit soon and this made things worse but I hit the CRC Marathon at Builth Wells in relatively good form and I enjoyed the day a lot.

I definitely improved my race endurance, I didn’t quite manage the full 12h but did make it over 8h on 3 occasions. The big problem this year was that my climbing ability has gone backwards, I think due to a focus on endurance rather than speed and strength, despite recognising that speed was an area i should have been working on too. Easy to say this now in hindsight.

The major success of the year has been the skills improvement, thanks to Jedi (UK Bike Skills) and Doug (Basque MTB), my confidence on the technical stuff whether it be mud, roots, rocks or clearing obstacles has all improved and this means I’m having more fun on a bike than I was last year. It’s also means I’m making time up in the technical/downhill sections in races, not something I was able to do in 2010.

It is perhaps the mental side of biking that has been the biggest eye opener this year. The games your mind can play on you after spending 4+ hours on a bike. First at Erlestoke 6 I could have done another lap in the time remaining, and at the Bristol Bikefest I just got off my bike after 9 hours and went home. Very odd, I didn’t feel particularly tired at the time. While at the Kielder 100 I managed to get through the mental barrier at around 50 miles, but was then physically finished by 65 miles.

I was hoping to increase my time on the bike by 25% this year, however comparison with 2010 shows no change at all, if anything I’m going slightly slower but the training load (TRIMP) was the same. The big change is in the increase in the longer rides I’ve been doing, which does reflect the goal of moving from 6h to 12h events.

Total Time	No Change
Average Speed & HR	-4%
TRIMP	No Change
Average Time (Per Activity)	+20%

I got a late invite to the London to Brighton charity ride, and with my tyres pumped up to the max I had a great time in the mass of people on a very memorable day. With this and the Dundry Drubber, even though they were road based, it was great to have the fitness in place to just be able to do these last minute things, .

The highlight of the year though was the Bristol Oktoberfest, one race I finished and a great end to the season.

Countdown to Kielder 100

Just 3 weeks to go now before my big event of 2011, the Kielder 100. This will be the first time I’ve ever ridden this far, and with one week of training left before the taper I’m not going to be much fitter than I am now.

So is that fit enough?

Using the highlevel month view of my training log it certainly looks like I’ve done a lot more useful training on the bike than I did this time last year.  My target then was the Afan Monster, a 100k event and the level of fitness then gave me a good time.

Looking in a bit more detail, in the last 3 months, I’ve done some good periodization, even though work and family commitments have meant adopting a rather unorthodox 5 week cycle. It was a shame that the Afan Monster was cancelled this year due to tree fungus, that would have been a nice last bit of race training. Also looks like I don’t have any problem with resting on my rest weeks.

So what is left to do?

With one rest week just finished and 3 left to go, it leaves me with an awkward amount of time to fill. I think at this stage my best approach will be to break the remaining time into two 10 day blocks. The first for endurance training, and making any remaining tweaks to bike setup and the 2nd for tapering before the event, getting the bike serviced and getting kit sorted.

Endurance training will consist of mostly long commutes of around 1.5 hours and making sure I get out Saturday and Sunday next weekend.

Is two days enough?

Just two days riding this week. Mostly due to a busy time at work.

Activities

04/07/2011 07:32:03 Cycling Commute: Bannerdown

Monday morning after a big Sunday I don’t normally ride, but I really had to get the miles in this week as next week is family hols and a week off, but I’m glad I did because I did feel good. Feeling the benefit of the Rocket Ron’s.

• Time 1:07:04
• Distance 14.24 mi
• Average Speed 12.7 mph
• Average Heart Rate 132 bpm
• Average Cadence 80 rpm
• Temperature 12.1 °C

04/07/2011 19:13:15 Cycling Commute: Bannerdown

Good to ride home the off road way. Still feeling strong which is a good sign. Tried hard to clear the bannerdown bridleway and with new tyres I got further than usual.

• Time 1:05:12
• Distance 13.48 mi
• Average Speed 12.4 mph
• Average Heart Rate 145 bpm
• Average Cadence 80 rpm
• Temperature 21.3 °C

05/07/2011 07:45:21 Cycling Commute: Bannerdown

3rd day in a row, and with the rest of the week looking busy, this was going to be the last ride before the holiday.

• Time 1:05:46
• Distance 14.25 mi
• Average Speed 13.0 mph
• Average Heart Rate 133 bpm
• Average Cadence 76 rpm
• Temperature 14.9 °C

05/07/2011 18:11:47 Cycling Commute: Bannerdown + Cycle Path

Took it easy with the cycle path to avoid the 1st big climb.

• Time 1:03:07
• Distance 14.12 mi
• Average Speed 13.4 mph
• Average Heart Rate 136 bpm
• Average Cadence 83 rpm
• Temperature 16.4 °C

Which trail keeps you honest?

My main ride this week got me thinking about trails that keep you honest. They need to be local enough to ride on a regular basis. You need a good mix of climbing, ideally technical and steep, and fast downhill sections. It’s useful if the trail is all weather too, so you can ride it year round. So when I decided to see how I was doing on my goal for a couple of quick laps of the Cwmcarn XC trail, I knew there would be no where to hide.

Lap 1: 55:14 (165 bpm)
Lap 2: 58:23 (156 bpm)
Lap 3: 1:01:21 (150 bpm)

The first lap is pretty close to my personal best time (this time last year when I first bought the Tallboy), but back then I did two laps at about the same speed. This time the effort had me watching the HR on Lap 2. What was good about Lap 2 was it even got under the hour, it didn’t feel that way. Lap 3 was the test. I really could have easily gone home rather than start up the 30 min climb to the top, and while it wasn’t fast I did feel I could carry on at this pace for another lap or two.

So while I was a little disappointed with the individual lap times, I am very pleased with ability to do 3 laps under 3 hours. A good 5 or 10 minutes quicker than I managed in 2010 and a sign my endurance is better. Just need to work on speed.

Next target should be 3 under 2:45.

Activities

27/06/2011 07:51:30 Training Commute: Bannerdown

After a pretty ragged ride on Sunday, I really wanted to start concentrating on making the training count. So an early night to catch up on sleep got me in the right mood. Of course the sunny started really helped too!

• Time 1:05:48
• Distance 14.21 mi
• Average Speed 13.0 mph
• Average Heart Rate 149 bpm
• Average Cadence 87 rpm
• Temperature 19.7 °C

27/06/2011 18:42:37 Training Commute: Northend

• Time 0:52:07
• Distance 14.00 mi
• Average Speed 16.1 mph
• Average Heart Rate 157 bpm
• Average Cadence 90 rpm
• Temperature 20.4 °C

28/06/2011 07:59:31 Training Commute: Northend + Exploring

Day 3 of 3 days riding and it is always tough. But weather was kind (except for the final headwind) and the legs were turning nicely. Tried a little exploring down a footpath towards Northend, nice little bit of singletrack but led no where.

• Time 0:57:15
• Distance 14.32 mi
• Average Speed 15.0 mph
• Average Heart Rate 141 bpm
• Average Cadence 87 rpm
• Temperature 17.2 °C

28/06/2011 18:27:50 Training Commute: Bannerdown

Rest day tomorrow, so took the offroad way home, this has more than twice the climbs than the flat bristol/bath cycleway. Still running tyres at 60psi after the London to Brighton, it certainly makes a difference on the road sections, but can see why I’ll not keep it that way for much longer, the small bumps at speed are a killer, surprisingly the bigger downhill stuff isn’t such a problem, it certainly will make me stop messing about with 1 or 2psi differences.

• Time 1:06:27
• Distance 13.47 mi
• Average Speed 12.2 mph
• Average Heart Rate 146 bpm
• Average Cadence 84 rpm
• Temperature 19.3 °C

01/07/2011 06:08:47 Cycling Local: Castle Combe: Anti-Clockwise

Wife is off to see Take That, so this is last chance for a ride before Sunday. So I’m up early and straight out the door. Weather is perfect, a little chill in the air and sunny. Frighten a few early morning dog walkers who obviously weren’t expecting to see any mountain bikers around at this time.

• Time 1:21:29
• Distance 13.92 mi
• Average Speed 10.2 mph
• Average Heart Rate 142 bpm
• Average Cadence 78 rpm
• Temperature 7.1 °C

03/07/2011 09:31:32 Cycling Wales: Cwmcarn

• Time 2:54:58
• Distance 24.19 mi
• Average Speed 8.3 mph
• Average Heart Rate 157 bpm
• Average Cadence 69 rpm
• Temperature 19.7 °C

Drink less. Train more.

One thing I noticed this week was the direct correlation between ability to do decent training sessions and the amount I drink. Unfortunately the link was not a positive one!

Activities

21/06/2011 07:45:27 Training Commute: Northend

Noticed the bottom bracket was loose on the tallboy, so jumped on the Zaskar for a road ride in. Tried a few intervals on the cycle track, using cadence as the measure going from 90rpm to 110rpm in the same gear with just under 2 minute duration. Seemed easier to manage than the standard HR zone, that I personally always found tricky.

• Time 0:53:59
• Distance 14.18 mi
• Average Speed 15.8 mph
• Average Heart Rate 151 bpm
• Average Cadence 83 rpm
• Temperature 14.8 °C

21/06/2011 18:24:56 Training Commute: Northend

Trying intervals again on the flat bit, but then got someone fast to chase, he eventually got away but was good to keep the speed up for a longer period.

• Time 0:55:25
• Distance 14.19 mi
• Average Speed 15.4 mph
• Average Heart Rate 150 bpm
• Average Cadence 80 rpm
• Temperature 16.9 °C

23/06/2011 08:31:15 Training Commute: Northend

Had to manually update data.

• Time 0:58:00
• Distance 14.20 mi
• Average Speed 14.7 mph
• Average Heart Rate 142 bpm
• Average Cadence 84 rpm
• Temperature 14.2 °C

23/06/2011 17:48:00 Training Commute: Northend

• Time 0:58:10
• Distance 14.22 mi
• Average Speed 14.7 mph
• Average Heart Rate 142 bpm
• Average Cadence 78 rpm
• Temperature 15.2 °C

26/06/2011 10:57:15 Training Local: Castle Combe: Clockwise

Not a terribly focused ride. Bit hung over from the night before.

• Time 1:43:38
• Distance 17.42 mi
• Average Speed 10.1 mph
• Average Heart Rate 136 bpm
• Average Cadence 72 rpm
• Temperature 22.8 °C

London to Brighton

Got a last minute call from a friend saying he’d got a spare London to Brighton place. That was on the Thursday. So once we’d figured out the logistics of getting 3 bikes, 3 blokes, 1 dog, a load of kit and a very understanding wife in a golf we were on.

Perhaps not the obvious choice for a social London to Brighton bash,  but the tallboy was the only bike really prep’d and ready. So with tyres pumped up to 60psi it was loaded on the car for the long drive. The other bikes no show were a Cannondale tallboy and a lovely tricked out pace hardtail.

The event was like nothing I’d ever seen before. 27,000 bikes in the centre of London. Even with the staggered start the roads were rammed. This level of traffic remained all the way to Brighton, at every junction and slight incline.

The other great thing about this ride was the mix of people and bikes. Every possible type of bike was on display. As with the Bikefest people on BMX got the most respect, as did the dudes on their original 70’s choppers.

I managed to get most of the way out of London before the urge (and the space) to test the legs allowed for a bit of light hearted racing. Mostly with fully kitted out roadies I must admit. Managed to catch up with the guys at the half way point and stopped for a bit of brass, a pint, a bun and a photo.

With most of the little climbs out the way the route was now straight and flat until the final and steep road up to Ditchling Beacon. I must say this climb was the highlight of the ride for me. Thankfully everyone left some space on the right, and so it was possible to ride the whole thing. Even managed to make a few people swear behind me when I put in a final turn of speed when the finish was in ear shot.

So waited at the top with an ice cream in the rain and then it was downhill all the way. We saw two nasty crashes on the wet and slippy roads. Unfortunately by the time we were in Brighton we didn’t get a chance to see the sea, and were quickly packed on our way back home. A long (in time if not distance) but fun ride and a nice change for this time of year.

Activities

13/06/2011 06:41:13 Training Commute: Bannerdown

• Time 1:14:22
• Distance 14.42 mi
• Average Speed 11.6 mph
• Average Heart Rate 151 bpm
• Average Cadence 80 rpm
• Temperature 14.6 °C

13/06/2011 18:14:05 Training Commute: Bannerdown

A mile in Zone 5.

• Time 1:07:16
• Distance 13.54 mi
• Average Speed 12.1 mph
• Average Heart Rate 159 bpm
• Average Cadence 85 rpm
• Temperature 16.4 °C

15/06/2011 08:15:30 Training Commute: Bannerdown

• Time 1:08:36
• Distance 14.26 mi
• Average Speed 12.5 mph
• Average Heart Rate 147 bpm
• Average Cadence 84 rpm
• Temperature 14.3 °C

15/06/2011 17:52:07 Training Commute: Bannerdown

Very hard work.

• Time 1:13:36
• Distance 13.52 mi
• Average Speed 11.0 mph
• Average Heart Rate 142 bpm
• Average Cadence 78 rpm
• Temperature 16.9 °C

19/06/2011 09:02:16 Having Fun UK: London to Brighton

5:30 wake up call, short drive to Marlborough, before picking up someone from Maidenhead and then onto Clapham common.

• Time 6:48:53
• Distance 53.15 mi
• Average Speed 7.8 mph
• Average Heart Rate 123 bpm
• Average Cadence 45 rpm
• Temperature 16.2 °C