Base Training

Today I've spent 2 hours at awesome BOOM! Cycle in Shoreditch, being drilled by ex-pro cyclist Mark and semi-pro cyclist Martin. The first hour Martin took us through an hour of base training (read more here). Now on the paper it sounds easy, base training, but in reality - not so much! You'd think it's easy holding back and staying in the aerobic zone but, as Martin so well pointed out, it takes almost as much discipline to hold oneself back as it does to push oneself hard.  It's hard to do on your own, or to find places where you can find classes that focuses on base training. Today we dedicated the first hour to aerobic endurance, spending an hour firmly working with 70-80% of maximum heart rate. The second hour Mark took us through four climbs and four 'burns' where we pushed the anaerobic threshold and we all left the studio whipped into (slightly) better shape.

My ow performance? Well, considering how much I've asked of my body the last 6 days, I'm very pleased. The base training hour felt great and most of the second hour too. I might not have had as much 'juice' in my legs as I'd wanted to but I feel very satisfied with my efforts.

Now I'm recovering in the sofa, watching rubbish telly and eating all the food. Maybe not all the food, but a lot. Today's recommendation from yours truly is the Dark Chocolate dessert from Alpro - simply delicious!

A Simple Pleasure.

I love my bike. It makes me happy, it makes me fit and it takes me places. Today when I cycled to the gym I found myself cycling with a smile on my face, thanks to my bike and the way it makes me feel....Invincible. Immortal. Awesome. Alive. It reminds me of being a child and that first bike ride every spring after the snow had melted, filling you with happiness and hope. A simple, but great, pleasure indeed!

Fat Burner Masterclass

Today I was invited to a Fat Burner Masterclass by the lovely people at BOOM! Cycle in Shoreditch. BOOM! runs plenty of specialty classes, from Performance and Fat Burning Masterclasses to Three Hour Sessions and Hip Hop Cycle, but this one was slightly special as it was being filmed by the BBC as a part of a series they're doing about health, fitness, the weightloss industry, the importance of being skinny and so on. The class was run by Mark Clarke, a previous elite cyclist who's gone via a career in the City back to personal training and creating two certified fitness industry training courses.

Bounce Back In Style

After yesterday's slightly disappointing session I wanted to do something hard today, to bounce back in style. The preparation for today's training was a world of difference from yesterday - as I'm on a day off today I had a good lie in, a good breakfast and then I got on my bike to cycle to the West End to do a treadmill run with progressive pace increase. I could have gone to a gym in the East End, but I find the 35-40 minute cycle to be the perfect warm up before a run, not to mention that the sun was out and I wanted to catch some vitamin D.

Once at the gym I got on a secluded treadmill and got going. The plan was to do a one kilometer warm up and then increase the pace every third kilometer until I had done 15 kilometers. The first 10 k's were easy, with the pace only going up to 11.5k/hour. When I hit the 10k mark I increased the pace to 12k/h which isn't very fast even for a Captain Slow like myself but as I'd already done 10k my calves were struggling just a little bit. The two last kilometers, from 13 to 15 k, I ran in 12.5k/hour pace and they were actually a bit painful. I didn't feel like I was dying of tiredness in the way you sometimes do when you do a really tough interval session, but the accumulated distance and the ever increasing pace had taken its toll - even if the speed wasn't great towards the end, it had progressively increased for a fair few kilometers.  I felt tired when I was done but very happy with both the distance and my execution of the session...I did leave it all on the field (treadmill) today!

Cycle commuting, Viking-style!

4th of February, shorts on. Who needs summer to cycle in shorts??!

Surviving Cycling in London

Sensing a theme to the clothing....

 Anyone who's been cycling in London (or any other big city) knows it can be a nerve wrecking experience. After two years cycling in London, and one year in Bristol, I've found the following 'rules' help a lot:

1. Be visible! Wear bright clothes, high vis gear and proper lights. If your fellow road users can see you life on the road becomes a lot safer.
2. Follow the rules! It might sound obvious, but a lot of cyclists seem to think that some rules don't apply to them. If you want the same rights, then you have to follow the same rules.
3. Take the (quieter) back roads! Trust me, Euston road during rush hour is a scary story. If you're commuting on your bike, map out your route on the quieter roads and save yourself from a fair few close encounters.
4. Be vigilant! Motorists in London are notorious for not indicating (or indicating really late) when turning left, or before pulling out from the side. Not to mention black cabs and buses don't seem to notice anyone on a bike.
5. Cycle 1/3 out in the road! This forces the cars to properly overtake you, and not try and sneak past you where it's really too tight. Claim your space on the road.
6. Travel outside of rush hour! I know it can be hard, as a lot of people cycle to and from work, but cycling on quieter times is way more pleasant than cycling in rush hour.
7. Don't pass buses/lorries/HGV's on the inside! They can't see you, but they can crush you.
8. Make sure your equipment is safe! Wear a god helmet, make sure your tyres are in good condition, check your breaks regularly etc.
9. Use your arms! Signal where you're going by using your hands/arms, so that fellow road users know where you're going.
10. Err on the side of caution! It's better that your ride takes 5 minutes longer than that you risk your life...and for heaven's sake, don't cycle with headphones!