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Turning a molehill into a mountain

SteveT

Maximum Pace
Nov 11, 2007
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On top of a weekly ride into the mountains, I figured I need to try and fit in a little mid-week training before Kusatsu. But the only incline I've found within 30 mins ride of where I live is pathetic hill, 23m elevation rise over 0.5km :(

I have 30 minutes, once or twice a week, to play around on this paltry bump.

Are there any ideas how I can intensively train on this lonely little wart which might help me towards the rather longer climb at Kusatsu ...?

Thanks !
Steve
 
Load some panniers up with rocks?
Borrow my trailer and load it with rocks :D

Drag a tire behind you?
 
hills nearby

Steve:

I recommend Yomiuri V Dori at Yomiuri Land -- just across the Tamagawa from Chofu. 700 meters length, 60 meters elevation gain, no traffic. Repeat.

I think it is less than 10 km from almost all of Suginami-ku. I've gone their maybe 5x this winter, and each time done 5-10 repeats. It works when time is limited, the hills are too far or too cold, etc.

Best, David
 
Steve,

One of the best work outs you can do is sit in and big ring it for power training or granny gear and spinlike a mofo. 140 rpm average.

The Tama CityYomuri land is a great climb espacailly the new road that is just a killer.
 
Difficult to visualise what you are up against but try this:

Climb it in the big ring on the front and the second largest cog on the back. Climb to the top. U-turn back down. Climb again in the third biggest ring. Repeat until the last climb in "outer top".

Heart rate probably won't have time to respond so try climbing it at a constant speed each time (ie. the intervals will get progressively harder as you push a heavier gear to maintain the same speed).

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
Andy -- Interesting training tip. I'll have to give that a try some time.

Steve -- This may be too far from you to be convenient -- and perhaps you already know this place -- but there is a hill at Seiseki-Sakuragaoka that is a popular interval-training spot for cyclists. It also has the added appeal of being featured in the Ghibli film Whisper of the Heart.

Here's the map of the hill. (Let me know if the link doesn't work.) It's perhaps slightly more challenging than your molehill, though it's no Kazahari-rindo. Still, I've managed to hurt myself on it on occasion. Especially on my single-speed steel mountain bike.

Deej
 
Steve, I admire your dedication. Thomas will be proud of you, I'm sure.

The road up to the International Cultural Hall 国際文化会館 near the Singaporian Embassy is quite tough (at least to walk up in a suit). This is perched on top of a hill in Azabu.
Also, as you approach from Kamiyacho, just in front of the Dutch embassy there's a concrete road almost like Mikuni.
This is steep, but probably less than your current molehill.

Azabu area can be surprisingly hilly.
 
Thanks all for the tips.

I'd love to give the Yomuri V Dori a few turns, David, but mapping it out comes to 18km from my house (North Asagaya)... a bit too far for a pre-work session but it might work as a long diversion coming back from the office (Tamachi) - that way I don't have to worry about the lack of showers. Will check the route in daylight on the weekend and try next week - thanks ! (And if you have any deliveries up there Stu, I'll be glad to help :))

Deej - yeah, Seiseki-Sakuragaoka is even further away ! Bit of a philistine so never actually heard of "Whisper of the Heart" before, but I'm now intrigued. With enough intensive intervals maybe I'll run into "The Baron" as well...

So, James & Andy, I'll follow your ideas for now. Not unexpectedly you both offer suggestions that seem engineered to create maximum pain. Can't wait. :confused:


Now the hardest part is getting up bloody early enough to do them.

Lee, being a neighbour an' all, interested in a few early morning intervals ?...


Cheers --
Steve
 
Seiseki-Sakuragaoka

Deej:
I've always heard the hill at Seiseki-Sakuragaoka called "I-RO-HA" zaka (and I think there is a sign with that name near the bottom) ... not to be confused with the more famous and much, much higher winding I-ro-ha-zaka at Nikko.
It makes a nice series heading out of town after/together with the hill just about 1 km SE of there that climbs gradually by a hospital and then past one edge of the US military's Tama Hills recreation grounds.
Steve T: Sorry these are further from your home than I had thought. I'm always an optimist when it comes to distances by bicycle! Good luck with the big ring on the molehill.
Best, David L.
 
30min workout is fine. Hill climbs require you to have good standing stamina and as high lactic acid tolerance as you can. So - as FE suggest - get some biggest gear work in followed by high cadence intervals. Alternate workout to failure. 30min max as you don't want to over-work to point of not having good recovery cycle. Most people shy away from the pain and ride just before that all consuming dread. You have to push yourself directly into the fire - then hold it until you puke. Then repeat.
 
You have to push yourself directly into the fire - then hold it until you puke. Then repeat.

So true. Mostly, it's about overcoming the fear of pain. The old body can take a lot of punishment -- it's the mind that usually gives in first. When I strap myself into the trainer for a set of intervals, I know I'm gonna be destroyed, and I try to accept that and even, gulp, enjoy it.

When I hear the countdown beeps as the session is about to start, I sometimes am reminded of the "pain box" from Dune.

Perhaps before intervals it would help to recite the Bene Gesserit "Litany Against Fear":

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.


Hope this helps, Steve! ;)

Deej
 
I think some of us can really relate to that from the past 2 weeks.
 
"Party till you puke!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MC2xjam_mg

is what my namesake recommends, but not sure I would advise "Ride till you puke!"

Of course you have to push yourself hard so that you know how it will feel and your body knows what to expect come race day.

However, maxing it for long periods may not be he best way to train.

For hill climbing , climbing at your lactate threshold is a good way to improve. By climbing at threshold your body adapts to raise the threshold so you can do more work aerobically. A good workout is two climbs of 20 minute duration at lactate threshold (for me 170 HR).

If you want to go hard, intervals are a good training method. 30 seconds flat out followed by 90 seconds easy. This trains your body to both respond and recover quickly. 10 sets of these (ie. 5 mins of "work" interval) are probably more beneficial than 5 mins going flat out.

Deej, with regards to the fear aspect:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tZcQO-wAlo&feature=related

There goes the fear again... let it go...

warm up to that and then bang out your intervals to "pounding":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXaqZLkG3TE

or better still, turn out the lights, turn the music up and pound those pedals regardless .....

the ultimate training tune!

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
@Andy - totally. Short intervals are awesome as you get closer to the event. Your body can recover sufficiently allowing many repeats and conditioning. It is 'surface conditioning' so , important to time with your event. Like - I'm basically a drunk , lazy , bastard until about 2weeks before. Then I'll ramp up hard and hit the last week with just a series of intervals. The last set of intervals is only to starve the muscles so that subsequent carb load is well received. Its very important to have protein enrichment during the carbstarve phase and lots of hydration.

@Steve - honestly there are only 2 points in any race that count. The first corner and the last. 'First in / First out'. Get your pace on - practice this many times. So you know exactly how you will enter the first corner and get your pace. Then, practice your last kilo. This is how you will finish. You need to have both sections visualized and locked in. Then you draw a line between those 2 points. Roll out the carpet.

Commit to your plan. TT's are best run when you can achieve a constant acceleration to max fpt- 10% just squeezing below your lactic threshold. And then for the last section ramping up to full LAT and finally whatever anerobic power is left. You should cross the line with absolutely nothing left in the tank and not slower than your middle pace. That's why the last kilo is so important. It's afterburner time when many other people are thinking 'goal'. Fuck the goal. Blow beyond it mentally at least 200m. But physically you are at 100% 200m before the goal. As you see the kilo markers you should ramp up. 3,2,1 !!!! And that's what intervals prepare you for. Attack, destroy , conquere.
 
Steve:

I recommend Yomiuri V Dori at Yomiuri Land -- just across the Tamagawa from Chofu. 700 meters length, 60 meters elevation gain, no traffic. Repeat.

Best, David

I,m in Chofu but have no idea where this is. Is there a road number?
Thanks.
 
Blurred vision, lack of balance, and a little bit of sick down my front, probably mine, when I finally gained consciousness. Not too sure how I got home, and my legs now feel like they've been viciously slapped around by two gigantic Amazonians.

A good night out ? ... No - hill intervals :mad:

As suggested did the molehill climb with a progressively harder gear each time: only managed 5 repeats but the last one really hurt. Then I dropped into an easy gear and tried to go as hard as possible back up the hill again. Actually I stopped just before puking (it was close) - I prefer not throwing up on a weekday.

Can't wait till the next session !
 
Its an awesome feeling isn't it!

I've found a cobbled hill here in Yokohama to add to the pain factor....can't get enough of it!
 
One more hill climb technique is to ride to the bottom of the hill at tempo and then maintain that i.e. keep the same gear and cadence, as far up the hill as you can. Given, how short the hill is, it might take a while (in terms of repeats) before that really starts kicking in, but you could just increase the tempo at which you hit the hill.
 
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