Biking To Live » training http://bikingtolive.com Cycling for Weight Loss, Fitness, and a Healthy Heart Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:40:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 New Phase of Training Started http://bikingtolive.com/new-phase-of-training-started/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-phase-of-training-started http://bikingtolive.com/new-phase-of-training-started/#comments Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:00:06 +0000 Bryan http://bikingtolive.com/?p=3885 With my century attempt behind me, I took about a week off the bike to rest up but it’s time to get started again. This gives me the perfect opportunity to start a interval training program I’ve been wanting to do for a while that’s specifically put together to help people, like me, who need to lose a lot of weight.

Summer is starting to settle in here in North Florida with it getting into the mid-to-upper 90s everyday. That means it’s hot which makes me happy I do my riding in the morning. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still sticky as a sticky bun at 5:30 AM but it beats sweltering heat.

Speaking of riding in the morning, with the school year drawing to a close daughter #2 is done with high school except for graduating which means I can sleep in until 5 AM before getting up to ride. I may hit the snooze once, or twice, but I don’t have to be rolling now until about 5:30 AM. That’s a great time of morning as the eastern horizon is just starting to get light this time of year and by the time I’m done with an hour ride it’s getting downright bright out. Makes me not feel like a vampire so much.

With a full six or seven months of great cycling left I decided to get started on a 15-week interval training program I’ve been wanting to do. It comes from Selene Yeagers book Ride Your Way Lean: The Ultimate Plan for Burning Fat and Getting Fit on a Bike (review coming soon) and is tailored for folks needing to lose a ton of weight. That fits me perfectly.

In addition to the interval program I’m continuing to work with Kelli at Apex Nutrition on my diet and will be rolling, at a minimum, a core routine into the mix as well. This is going to be my best cycling year yet so I’m pulling out all the stops.

This morning saw me do a 4×5 min interval set at RPE 7-8 with a 3 minute RBI. Sound greek? It doesn’t have to. Check out my post on Interval Training for Cyclists to learn the jargon.

This was the first interval set I’ve done in a while and it wasn’t too pretty. I did manage speeds of around 18.5 mph for the 5 minute intervals with the first two done in the big ring and the last two in the small one. I’ll take that. Tomorrow has an easy 30 minute ride on the slate followed by a challenging group ride on Saturday. Shouldn’t have a problem finding the group ride. I’ll be updating the training calendar so you can see what I’ll be doing.

I’m really hoping the the interval training is going to kick my weight loss into a higher gear. The weight is being very stubborn but I have lost about 10 pounds. The big difference I can see is in my clothes. I’m able to get into suits, pants and shirts I couldn’t wear a few months ago.

PhotoC: DVIDSHUB

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