Improving performance…

[Benz3ne]

… not like that you dirty beggars!
I’ve been keeping track on Strava (a rabbit hole I know…) and have been trying to improve my times to and from work. The commute is approximately 6.5 miles each way, downhill/flat there and a 300-odd ft elevation over the last mile and a half on the way back.

Generally, I’ve improved but I’ve stagnated fast in my improvements. I seem to continually improve over a couple of weeks, hit a PB then it falls back to ‘square one’ or near enough.

Does anyone have any tips for continuous improvements? I’ve started eating more as I picked up on the fact I wasn’t eating enough.
I’m stretching a little more than I used to.
The above help with general ‘feel’ during the cycles, but it’s frustrating having the erratic times!

Thanks in advance.

[foxyrider]

just wait until you have years of records!

What you are experiencing is classic performance variables - you'll have many variables including how you feel on any given day but rapid improvement before stagnation is expected. You have now reached the point where it gets expensive in time/money/effort to go quicker, a lot of less experienced riders will literally just throw money at the issue, new bike, fancy shoes etc, etc. PB's are nice - i set 5 segment bests on todays ride but i don't go chasing them, that way leads to misery and less enjoyment of your riding

[kylecycler]

...a lot of less experienced riders will literally just throw money at the issue, new bike, fancy shoes etc, etc....

Thereby making themselves go quicker without really going any quicker at all (which I think is your point).

[Benz3ne]

Thanks for the responses guys!
To be fair, the main issue for me is simple leg stamina - sometimes I can push hard and for a while, other times it’s a quick(er) burnout (especially on consecutive rides). Continuing to ride should help that!

The one thing that has improved consistently however is my hill work, it’s drastically reduced my cycle home time as a result of more strength uphill.

Fortunately I bought my fancy shoes right at the beginning so I’m not at all inclined to throw more money at that area! I’ve toyed with the idea of a faster bike but, realistically, the frame and forks on mine are nice for the £100 I spent, it’s got a tidy enough Claris/Microshift groupset, I’m looking at getting new (to me, read: second hand) wheels tomorrow (got a new front anyway because my old was grungy and a Ksyrium Equipe came up cheap). The new wheels (this time Ksyrium equipe S) is driven by an off-round rear wheel, so resolving that problem (inexpensively).

In short, I’m hoping I can break the plateau (4 weeks into cycling multiple times weekly for the first time in my life, really) but appreciate that there are many influencing factors. Sleep, or lack thereof, is one that resonates strongly with me, and one I’ve noticed negatively affecting my performance.

[kylecycler]

Recovery is just as important as everything else if not more so. Sleep is an issue with me and tbh I don't know the answer to that one. I stopped drinking coffee a fortnight ago and although I've been feeling a lot less anxious than before and lost the notion for alcohol (I suspect that's all related), I still lose two or three nights' sleep a week, which is disappointing, although I spend far too long on the laptop and not long enough outside or doing other stuff so that's the next issue to address!

I was at where you're at twelve years ago so unlike some on here I still remember - it's not that long ago! Rest assured that you should still get a lot fitter and therefore should get faster. Either that or you'll be able to go further than your commute (maybe before too long a lot further than you'd think).

Or you might even just find that your speed doesn't improve all that much (I don't know - I was never timing myself and still don't), it just hurts far less or not even at all. Or to put it the way Eddy Merckx (I think - someone quoted it on here recently) put it, it doesn't hurt any less, you just go faster!

I cycle for transport and my 'commute' - from the village to the town to the shops and back - is about the same distance as yours. Given that it's so short, once I've warmed up (although we probably don't get anything like warmed up over such a short distance) I go pretty much flat out if I can be bothered, and although my speed from week to week probably isn't all that different, there are times when I'm 'feeling it' in my legs and times when I'm not.

I've done far, far longer runs - I usually cycle to and from club rides while most of the rest take their bikes on their cars so sometimes a club ride for me is up to twice as long as the others ride - often closer to 100 miles than 50 - and once you've extended your distance beyond what you do on your commute, you'll likely feel it isn't as big a deal as it feels now (to put it mildly) and might just have the ability and feel the confidence to push harder and go faster.

Be reassured though that when I started riding with my local group I'd just been riding up and down to the town for a few years, for transport, like you've been doing. It wasn't long before I was going far longer runs, and that was only because I'd laid the foundation by doing short frequent rides for a while.

Sorry if none of that is very specific or helpful, I've just tried to be encouraging, but it probably all boils down to something Merckx or one of the other legendary racing cyclists (can't remember) said when asked how you get quicker: "Three words: 'ride', 'the' and 'bike'."

[Benz3ne]

Recovery is just as important as everything else if not more so. Sleep is an issue with me and tbh I don't know the answer to that one. I stopped drinking coffee a fortnight ago and although I've been feeling a lot less anxious than before and lost the notion for alcohol (I suspect that's all related), I still lose two or three nights' sleep a week, which is disappointing, although I spend far too long on the laptop and not long enough outside or doing other stuff so that's the next issue to address!

I was at where you're at twelve years ago so unlike some on here I still remember - it's not that long ago! Rest assured that you should still get a lot fitter and therefore should get faster. Either that or you'll be able to go further than your commute (maybe before too long a lot further than you'd think).

Or you might even just find that your speed doesn't improve all that much (I don't know - I was never timing myself and still don't), it just hurts far less or not even at all. Or to put it the way Eddy Merckx (I think - someone quoted it on here recently) put it, it doesn't hurt any less, you just go faster!

I cycle for transport and my 'commute' - from the village to the town to the shops and back - is about the same distance as yours. Given that it's so short, once I've warmed up (although we probably don't get anything like warmed up over such a short distance) I go pretty much flat out if I can be bothered, and although my speed from week to week probably isn't all that different, there are times when I'm 'feeling it' in my legs and times when I'm not.

I've done far, far longer runs - I usually cycle to and from club rides while most of the rest take their bikes on their cars so sometimes a club ride for me is up to twice as long as the others ride - often closer to 100 miles than 50 - and once you've extended your distance beyond what you do on your commute, you'll likely feel it isn't as big a deal as it feels now (to put it mildly) and might just have the ability and feel the confidence to push harder and go faster.

Be reassured though that when I started riding with my local group I'd just been riding up and down to the town for a few years, for transport, like you've been doing. It wasn't long before I was going far longer runs, and that was only because I'd laid the foundation by doing short frequent rides for a while.

Sorry if none of that is very specific or helpful, I've just tried to be encouraging, but it probably all boils down to something Merckx or one of the other legendary racing cyclists (can't remember) said when asked how you get quicker: "Three words: 'ride', 'the' and 'bike'."

A fab response and very useful. Yes, I definitely see the benefits of recovery. In the same breath, I see a strange tendency with my 'times' - if I drop my average speed by a mph, it'll slowly climb back up, there's no real jump 'up', except for odd, anomalous result (I had a commute home around 1.5mph average faster than my previous best, mostly because I was chasing a colleague who'd set off just before me...).

Coffee/caffeine/alcohol/diet certainly plays a part. I drink a reasonable amount of coffee but have cut down since changing jobs. Previously was around 4-5 cups a day, now is usually between 1-3. I don't eat badly either, I make my own lunches, don't eat fast food as a rule and enjoy cooking in the house. What I've noticed in that regard is that I was dropping fat VERY quickly in the founding stages and, although I don't weigh much anyway, I've certainly observed a gain in muscle mass. I've had to tell myself to eat more - cycling 13 miles a day to a job where I walk more, atop walking the dogs for a couple of miles in the evening is far more calorific expenditure than my previous routine of drive to work, sit in work, drive home, walk dogs.

As for longer runs, certainly. I recently had a stint at my parents' house while a kitchen-diner situation was being founded at our house. The cycle was 8.2 or so miles each way and I found I was able to push myself for longer along that additional couple miles of straight, flat land. I've done a little hour a couple of times, covering around 12-14 miles without pause in that time as a 'casual', weekend cycle. Take me back 4 weeks and I would NOT have managed that comfortably. In fact, part of me was a little gutted that I didn't know about the Gower Bike Ride on Sunday just gone. I looked at the routes and thought 'well 12 miles doesn't seem like that much of a stretch these days, so 37 would be more appropriate for me...'.

I think I'll lower my expectations and look at the longer progression - there probably is a trend towards faster times, or more consistent speed throughout my cycles that isn't immediately obvious at this point in time.

Totally helpful! Thanks once again.

[Marcus Aurelius]

If you’re super serious about improving your stats, ideally you need to invest in power meters, and something that can read / analyse the data. The ultimate idea, is to increase your Power to weight ratio, and your Normalized Power figures, over time. Try not to focus on average speed, as it’s a pretty useless metric in the real world. Your N.P. over a given time is much more useful, as a gauge of performance. The best way to achieve the results you’re looking for, is to ride more, and vary the terrain / efforts you put in ( essentially ride intervals ). As soon as you have determined your power zones, ride a lot, and vary the times you spend riding in each zone. You can use a heart rate monitor and determine heart rate zones, and ride to those as well / instead, but using heart rate zones alone, is like working out how much sugar is in a cake by eating it, whereas using power zones is more like working out how much sugar is in the cake is by actually measuring the amount of sugar you put in to the mix, with a balance. To cut a long story short, you can’t improve Power / weight and normalized power without improving fitness and / or losing weight, you can’t improve Cycle specific fitness without riding intervals / riding about in varying conditions and terrain.

[Benz3ne]

If you’re super serious about improving your stats, ideally you need to invest in power meters, and something that can read / analyse the data. The ultimate idea, is to increase your Power to weight ratio, and your Normalized Power figures, over time. Try not to focus on average speed, as it’s a pretty useless metric in the real world. Your N.P. over a given time is much more useful, as a gauge of performance. The best way to achieve the results you’re looking for, is to ride more, and vary the terrain / efforts you put in ( essentially ride intervals ). As soon as you have determined your power zones, ride a lot, and vary the times you spend riding in each zone. You can use a heart rate monitor and determine heart rate zones, and ride to those as well / instead, but using heart rate zones alone, is like working out how much sugar is in a cake by eating it, whereas using power zones is more like working out how much sugar is in the cake is by actually measuring the amount of sugar you put in to the mix, with a balance. To cut a long story short, you can’t improve Power / weight and normalized power without improving fitness and / or losing weight, you can’t improve Cycle specific fitness without riding intervals / riding about in varying conditions and terrain.

I have to say I've seen a lot of mention of power meters, and the value they bring to competitive cyclists.
Fortunately, I'm only competing with myself, really, so I'm less inclined to fork out for power meters on my sub £200 bike (£100 I paid for it, plus second-hand wheels, £50, plus a new seat, £25, plus pedals, £30-something iirc).
I'll definitely look at the improving fitness/strength/stamina side of it, but I'm sure (as mentioned previously) some of that will come with basic exposure to cycling. I'm consistently getting sub-25 minute cycles into work over 6.7 miles and sub-30 minute cycles home from work, including a 1.5 mile, 335ft elev. hill to finish the day.
In the same breath, I'm not inclined to lose weight. 5ft 10+ and 66kg makes me svelte at the very least.
Thanks for the direction all the same - I'm not as serious as my post perhaps makes out (yet). I'd love to broach the sub-20 minute cycle to work, with my PB just under 22 minutes.

[Benz3ne]

So the last couple of days I’ve decided to push myself a bit more, especially this morning.
Yesterday, 17.2mph average, around 23 minutes to get to work.
Yesterday, 14.2mph average, around 26 minutes to get home from work.
Today, 19.3mph average, around 20.5 minutes to get to work… thought it’s knacker me for the return leg but got 15.2mph and just shy of 26 minutes…

I AM knackered now - I’ve been eating more over the last few days, but feel I need more protein in my diet. The main thing for me is building up that pace again if I slow down, rather than trying to ease back into it.
I think some more cycling and I’ll manage sub 20, but that might not be for a while…
(6.5 miles or thereabouts for each journey).

[JohnI]

Cycling to and from work is a great way to keep fit, but I think that eventually your body just adapts to what you're asking it to do and you don't get any faster. A few years ago my job was relocated and I had to start commuting by train instead of cycling most days. I started doing a long ride at the weekends (3-4 hours) and a hard interval session on a Wattbike in the gym once a week. I actually got faster on less total mileage, because there was more variety in what I was doing.

I'm certainly not trying to talk you out of cycle-commuting, but it might be worth trying to mix it up a bit more. For example some days you could take it easy and maybe do some extra distance, another day do something more like an interval session, especially on the hills. There's something called 80/20 training which means that you do 80% of your total training at a low intensity and 20% at a high intensity. That's sort of the opposite to cycling to work and always doing around the same intensity and distance.

[De Sisti]

My cycling performance has been improved by using a Concept2 rower on most days
that I don't ride my bike. Sessions on the rower are typically the medium ones I've
subscribed to receive daily.

[gbnz]

feel I need more protein in my diet. The main thing for me is building up that pace again if I slow down, rather than trying to ease back into it.

Pushing the pedals and protein makes the difference! Having been blocked from the gym for much of the past 16 months, put in an exceptional 6 weeks May/June I.e. 4 Hr's daily, 6 days a week (Nb. I've done it in the past, makes a difference). And yet again, upping daily protein intake tio the maximum usable intake, made an incredible difference - by third week even the supermarket till assistants & my 79 yr old mother were visibly bemused by signs of muscle growth

And as on a brief break over July/August from the gym, actually been using the bike for "exercise", rather than purely the 120+ mile weekly rides. Sorted out a fantastic 28.5 mile exercise run, with 2 No. climbs over the moor (A precise 400' & 500'). The initial 20 minutes @ 85% max heart rate, next 40 @ 70-75% max heart, don't touch the lower 8 gears until the rides over! Doing a 400' climb on a "flat road" gear, certainly makes a difference to muscle growth!

Tomorrow will have to be a rest/recovery day, nuisance I haven't got access to a rower at present. Or a pool

[LeBikiekat]

Hello

Pinpointing causation from observing an external cue can be tricky as often correlation does not correspond to causation.
In addition to what has been suggested, I might add nutrition, supplementation? sleep/stress levels, overreaching if not overtraining, depending also on how you measure your progress and if you measure that progress, in the same way, each time (time of the day, instruments used your general health and wellbeing when taking those measurements).

You might like to include that segment of training in a periodized plan suited to you that takes into account other variables such as your background in the sport, factors such as work-family etc.. in the measure of what realistic time you can dedicate to training so that it is all relatively balanced.

Is there an end goal to your training (event, race etc). Having an end goal can help you stay focused and also likely determines how your plan is structured.

If you take part in organized rides try not to compare yourself to others as the organized training may not fit your goals or levels.

[Benz3ne]

Thanks all for the comments!
JohnI - agreed, fartlec type training IS effective, there's no denying that. I've noticed that some days I'm really in the mood to push and have managed a 19.3mph average where my next closest is around 18mph. The rest of the time is pushing but nowhere near as hard, so clearly there's some gradual improvements along the way and some in the tank when I have the urge to push for 20 minutes. (20:34 to be precise).
De Sisti - I would love a rowing machine. Unfortunately, space constraints are my main issue. I'll probably look into it in the future as SWMBO used to row frequently during her time in uni.

gbnz - agreed, I eat well but am not too focused on my macros. One thing is for certain, I definitely need to up my protein intake. My carbs are good and I think I'm getting a lot out of them but my recovery time is reasonably poor. I agree about pushing boundaries though - I've recently started riding on flats in a higher gear, trying to push a slightly higher cadence (on feel, no numbers/measuring devices for that available to me) and that's helped. What's helped more though is pushing harder through a higher gear uphill. I've around 300-350ft across the last mile and a bit of elevation on my journey home from work. I started off 4.5 months ago firstly walking a bit, then in granny ring (30t) and 1st (28t I believe). Now I'm in mid ring (39t) and somewhere between 15t-17t for the most part. I never use the granny now and that's made a notable difference to my pushing power (and leg strength).

LeBikiekat - Thanks for the observations. Sleep is a big one. I'm usually somewhere between 5.5-7 hours sleep and oftentimes with some disturbances through the night. Realistically, I can add a few tens of minutes more at the beginning of the day, or sometimes at the end of the day. I could also add a bit more training on weekends but typically treat those as rests. My goal, predominantly, is to get my times down on journeys to and from work (usually cumulatively). I've managed a couple of sub-50 minute totals and would like to get around that more reliably. I would like to do a bike 'race' - I've just missed out on the Gower Bike Ride and am at a point where I'd deliberate between the 12 and 37 mile options (leaning towards the latter) whereas 4 months ago I'd be firmly in the 12 camp. I think my biggest factor at present is nailing my diet. Getting more useable protein in and keeping an eye on how frequently I'm taking in carbs (and whether they're being used efficiently).

On the balance of it all, my legs are DEFINITELY stronger. There's some way to go but muscle definition is improving. I'm not heavy at around 66-67kg and my weight has stayed constant throughout this journey since changing jobs, but my overall fitness and physique has certainly improved.

Diolch yn fawr eto, pawb - thanks a lot again, all.

[Jdsk]

One thing is for certain, I definitely need to up my protein intake.

What benefits do you expect that to bring?

Thanks

Jonathan