Marty’s training tips

[HarryB]

Marty, do you use a heart rate monitor?

Do you know what your resting heart rate is?

How old are you?

How many sessions per week do you do/can you do?

Do you have a turbo or just the rollers?

[Steve Kish]

Yes, excellent point, Harry. A heart-rate monitor is s-u-c-h a valuable tool for training.

A friend of mine used one to great effect c/w interval training rather than just doing a set number of intervals, as is the way with some.

He worked out his max rate with the ol’ ‘220bpm less age’ formula and at rest was at about 42bpm. He’d then train for a set time with pulse at (say) 165-170bpm and then ride gently for recovery. Provided that he’d get below (say) 90bpm in less than 3 minutes of recovery, he’d go again – if not, he’d stop for the day.

Seemed to work well for him.

HTH

[mr-marty-martin]

yeh i have a hr monitor, my max hr is 199, not sure on my resting

i have the rollers and may be able to get my hands on a turbo

im 14, 15 next week

and i can do most days, although weekdays i’ll be riding in the night so dont want to do 3-4 hour rides in the dark

also i like to keep saturdays to myself incase i go to training at my club, or me and my m8’s fancy going mtbin somewhere

[Gunner]

yeh i have a hr monitor, my max hr is 199, not sure on my resting

Then you had better get finding out what it is, that’s one of the most important figures as it lets you gauge whether your body is in overtraining mode or what sort of training your body is cabable of handling in the coming day.

The best time to take it is when you first wake up in the morning, it’s also a good general indicator of your overall health.

[mr-marty-martin]

will do, ive read do it in the morning over a few days and get an average

[HarryB]

Marty, first thing on a morning while you are still in bed. Relax as much as poss. The lowest figure you see will do.

Shall we look at 4 sessions per week? See how you go with that?

[mr-marty-martin]

yeh 4 sessions would be good

also what do you think of a double session, as in, one in the mornin, then when i get in from school another session

just that i may be doing some youth stage races, where you have an event in the mornin and then in the afternoon

[HarryB]

two sessions probably too much at your age. The body needs to recover. I generally do across the week (starting Monday) 2-1-2-1-2-1-REST. Difference is that on days when I do two sessions one is rowing and one cycling so I’m using slightly different muscles so that helps recovery. The final session of the week (Saturday) is usually at least 1:45 on the turbo at a minimum of 200 watts average.

[mr-marty-martin]

you think so, ive been speaking to a few experienced racer my age and they do one day with two sessions, then rest the full next day

[HarryB]

you think so, ive been speaking to a few experienced racer my age and they do one day with two sessions, then rest the full next day

OK. Just go with that. They obviously know what they are doing 🙄

[Gunner]

Don’t see the advantage in doing 2 sessions in one day, then resting for one day………………… 😕 😕

[mr-marty-martin]

well if you go into a 2 stage race your going to want to train for it

[HarryB]

well if you go into a 2 stage race your going to want to train for it

That’s precisely what I was proposing to help you with. Just because it’s got two stages doesn’t mean you have to train twice a day

[Gunner]

It’s probably difficult for me to express over the “ether”, but I’ll give it a try.

You don’t necessarily need to train for 2 stages of a race.

That is not what you are training your body to do, you are training your body to race over a given period of time, i.e. the duration of the race.

The fact that you are racing again on the same day is a matter of recovery, energy replacement, fluid replacement, psychological issues, and most importantly proper cool down from your initial race and super proper warm up before your 2nd race.

Well, that’s my opinion in a nutshell.

But as I’ve said before, it’s you who needs to gather information, act on it as YOU believe and reap the consequences.

Good luck with everything by the way, you know you have the full support of MTBE 😉

[mr-marty-martin]

i get what you’s are saying now 😀

thanks for the tips 😉