Bike trainer

Here's a workout lasting 1 hr 40 min in preparation for aviva.  


Warm up for 15min. By end of warm up, HR should go up to 130 at least. Stretch.  


Drill: -(30s left leg pedaling - 30s both legs - 30s right leg pedaling - 30s both)X10. NO rest between each set. Keep moving. 


Spinning: (1min@90rpm - 1min@100rpm - 1min@110rpm - 1min@120rpm)X5, recovery for 2min between sets. Use small chain ring  


Main-set: 30min hard, aiming to reach HR~155 near the mid of the 30min period. Use large chain ring (race gear)  


Cool-down: 10min easy  


This was a tough workout for me, and earlier I made the mistake of trying to spin on the large chain ring. I found that I couldn't reach 120, not even 110. So use the small chain ring to spin. To start off, do fewer sets, e.g. 4 sets of one-legged pedaling, and 2 sets of high cadence spinning, and 10 min or hard cycling.  


For the one-legged pedaling, concentrate on circular motion, i.e. heels down on the downstroke and heels leading on the upstroke to develop a smooth circular motion. With practice, the pedaling stroke becomes natural. I focus on the circular motion when going into a slope.  


Equipment needed:

• Bike Trainer
• Spare wheel if possible. The rollers tend to wear down the tires very quickly. I use my old wheel with a cheap cassette and use hard durable tires. Continental has a trainer tire just for this purpose.
• Cadence sensor and HRM
• Towels beneath the bike - you'll sweat lots!
• A huge water bottle
• Fan - it'll get hot
• TV (optional)

Bike trainer is one of my least favorite workouts, but it really helps develop good technique. Happy spinning!

Pain and gain?

The stationary bike session is right up there on top of the list of training that I dread. Sounds contradictory, given the notion of easy cycling on stationary bikes we see in the gym. The reason is that stationary bike sessions involve lots of spinning, high cadence and interval workouts. Although I have never been in a spin class, I can only imagine these would be similar.

Which is why I did not miss training on the bike trainer. The last time I did a stationary bike session was way back in July last year.

Today, it was 1 hour 45 minutes on the trainer. 20 min of one-legged pedaling and 30 min of high cadence spinning. I should add that I could not reach 120 cadence, even if I move to a lighter gear. Perhaps I should have gone to the smaller chain ring, but I was training on the race gear and stuck to it. Even 110 was tough, with HR reaching 160.

The main set was 30 min of hard ride with HR@155. It was exhausting.

The boys were somewhat perplexed at what Dad was doing, and wisely stayed away from the sweat and smell!

What's the upside of spinning on the trainer? Well, safety for one. No inconsiderate drivers to honk or startle me. No potholes, branches and traffic lights to worry about. No fear of falling off the bike. Best of all, easy access to drinks and food (courtesy of MBH!). Watching the TV helps. Most importantly, it provides an excellent workout, with hopefully the attendant benefits.

TLog: swim repeats and fast ride on trainer

Surprisingly, the only reminder of Sun morning's run was MRK, an affirmation of the move to tris instead of only runs.

Back to training for the next event, which is the OSIM triathlon on Aug 2. Two months, but effectively, only 5 weeks due to travel commitments in Jun and Jul.

Tue: Swim 40 laps
pull: 1.02, 0.56, 0.54, 1.02
6x100m: 2.05, 2.05, 2.08, 2.11, 2.12, 2.12 (ave: 2.088)
6x50m: 1.01, 1.02, 1.03, 1.03, 1.02, 1.03 (ave: 1.023)

Wed: Bike trainer
10 reps of 5 min hard spinning with 3 min recovery. HR went up to 150+ on hard spins, but I goofed a little. Should go up to 170 and on higher cadence. Needs more work.

TLog: Swim, bike, run (sounds vaguely familiar)

The crescent moon hung low, almost hugging the roof tops and its outline blurred by the humidity. The air was dead still, and the east coast was unusually quiet. Hardly anyone all the way until the UDMC seafood center, where a few occasional cyclists and strollers were out and about. Most of the seafood restaurants were empty. Not surprising, given this was 10 pm on a Wed night.

Wishing for rain - it has been a long time since I ran in the rain - but my wish was not to be. It felt kinda nice to be out at night. Couldn't remember the last night run. Would have been months ago.

But let's start from the top.

After slacking off for a week, it's back to higher intensity training this week.

Yesterday, 40 laps swim, with 20x50 m fast swim and 1 min recovery.

This was how it went:
1.02, 0.58, 1.02, 1.10, 1.06, 1.06, 1.06, 1.09, 1.07, 1.08 (30s recovery),
1.01, 1.03, 1.03, 1.04, 1.01, 1.05, 1.05, 1.06, 1.07, 1.09 (60s recovery)

ave: 1.054 (first 10 laps), 1.044 (second 10 laps); 1.049 overall. First time below 1 min on 50 m. But not sustainable.

Swimming beside me was an elderly man. No goggles, with a tummy but boy could he swim. Arms recovered low above water, not much kicking, but perfectly horizontal. He powered himself across the pool like a 20 year old. And he would recover, with a finger on his wrist to monitor his HR. Maybe 45 sec for a lap?

Today, stationary bike session in the morning: 10x4 min fast spinning (HR~155-170) with 3 min recovery. Found it harder than I thought, and managed only 8 reps. Was sweating buckets all the way. Phew.

Evening, an aerobic run. Was ambitious and wanted to do a long run. But could only manage 12 km. HR below 140 most of the time. Slow pace about 8 min/km. Was too preoccupied with various issues to concentrate. But enough to compose the short passage above. :)

TLog: recovery from TM

Yelp. I made it back to Singapore safely. One day delay, using the SQ flight via Bangkok instead of direct. Why? Coz the plane via Bangkok is a smaller aircraft that could take off from runway B, the shorter runway at Narita. The Fedex plane crashed on runway A.

Recovery: fully recovered by late Tue. Noticed that recovery time is getting shorter. :D

Nothing much to report from last week, except a stationary bike session on Fri, 4 km short easy run and 1 km swim on Sat.

This week: Monday - stationary bike (super spinning) session and sports massage; today - 2 km swim. Practiced bilateral breathing throughout. Still need some work on the left (my vanilla side), but getting the hang of it. Glad to be back in the water. It's therepeutic.

This week will be aerobic before intensifying over the next few weeks.

Shimano R300 road test

Felt restless this morning and decided to go for an easy spin... with my new Shimano R300 shoes. Yulp. Last two bike sessions were on the Minoura M80-DW Magnetic Indoor Bike Trainer (that shaved off so much rubber from the rear tire!), and enough already of trainers. Off on to the tracks/PCN!

All fine for the first 5 km, until just before the ECP tunnel. Unclipped the right leg first. But all along I unclipped the left first. Not sure what happened, but the next thing I knew, I was falling to the left. Good thing there was a chain linked fence and narrow strip of grass there. All that hurt was my pride. :)

Further along NSRCC, I met up with another cyclist on a mountain bike. Chatted some - about biking, bike tours, children, etc, before A turned back at the exhibition road. Made it to Changi village and rode back without incident.

And how did cycling shoes help? A significant difference, to say the least. Pedaling at just 70 rpm, I was able to reach 30 kph (albeit on the large gear). And with headwind.

At the outdoor camp near to NSRCC were many school children learning to skate. Almost fell! Luckily I managed to unclip the right shoe in time to keep my pride intact. Third time not so lucky, so I took it easy all the way back. A little saddle sore, since I haven't been doing long rides for some time (2 hours).

In the afternoon, I went down to Rodalink Jurong East to get the shoes custom-fitted. Two stage process - oven heat the insoles. then stand and walk with the shoes for shaping. Next heat up the shoes, and after donning the shoes, a plastic bag is used to cover the shoes. Vacuumed to fit. All done in 30 min.

Rodalink JE is a big store - with friendly staff. Took the opportunity to look at some racing wheels, tires, gears, etc. Durace carbon wheels and Fulcrum racing zero wheels are ... nice!

New cycling shoes and bike trainer

The bike trainer has been on my shopping list for a long time. So having bought MBH her heart's desire this past Valentine day, it was a good time to add to my armoury. But what's the use of a trainer without cycling shoes? After all, there's the one leg pedal drills that require either a stationary bike or a trainer.

So after a good swim session in the morning (yelp, managed to swim 1000 m non-stop), I found myself with the enticing offer of a 40% discount of the Shimano R300 shoes. It is the top of the line moldable cycling shoes, on clearance as the replacement R310 came out last year. For SGD260, I thought it was a good buy.

Here's a review:

The Shimano R300 road shoe is designed for elite-level competition. It represents a ten-year engineering quest for the most efficient power transfer ever and a quantum leap in shoe technology. The heat moldable Thermo-form plastic infused upper panels enable the shoe to conform to the foot. A vacuum forming process is used to custom fit the shoe and insole conforming the shoe to the foot like a luxury sock. The new last better conforms to the structure of the foot giving a perfect anatomic interface.

Features

618 grams
SPD-SL and three-hole cleat compatible
Moldable insole forms to foot for a precise fit
Amazing anti-slip heel lining prevents heel lift
Thermo-form® moldable upper forms to foot for a custom fit
New anatomical curved last improves fit and increases shoe-pedal stability
Ultra rigid, lightweight Nanotec sole transfers your energy straight to the pedals
Micro-adjust buckle and dual offset straps securely stabilizes foot and allows subtle adjustments

There were many good reviews on the R300. One feature is that the shoes are heat moldable to custom fit. That should work well for my unequal-sized feet. Next stop, an appointment for shoe custom fitting.