LondonSkaters Speed Team - Speed Skating & Rollerblading Club in London

noodle · Joined: 04 Jul 2006 Posts: 108 Location: Ladbroke Grove

Hello all!
Perhaps this subject has been discussed at length in other places, my appoliges if this is the case. I want to get fit quickly, having been off skates for a while and feeling shit. Sad

Never had any structure to my training but use my commute to work (12 miles return) as fitness training in addition to various street skates and marshalling. My question is: What ratio training to rest do people suggest? How much should you push through tiredness(I am talking coninuous training several days in a row), and how long should you take for recovery?
If I do the commute four days in a row I get very tired. If I do two or three, then decide to "rest" I find I need two to three days to recover- should I push and skate on day 2 although weaker than when fully rested, or should I recover properly, and isn't that just being lazy??
Or should I just train as hard as I can now until the last week (resting/ gentle skating)?
Don't know - when I came back from Le Mans I felt wild and cut almost 10 minutes of my comute! But so much weaker now Sad

Any ideas?
Nina
PS The purpose of all this is of course not to suffer public humiliation and loss of face in Berlin Laughing

Simon · Joined: 13 Mar 2006 Posts: 621 Location: Out side edge

I think the others (Mike, Gav Hans) are best to give you the full low down.

But most people rest one every 7 day.
Before a race rest most of a week.

But when traning done do any more than 1.30h.

Hans · Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 11:11 am Subject:

This depends on your body, but the important thing to remember is all your fitness gains are made with the correct REST after training.

For you I would suggest that you start off with three days training and four days of rest, with Berlin so close, the impact of any training is going minimal, but there are many benefits that you can make between now and Berlin

- Improve your skating in a paceline
- Learn to jump in and out of pacelines
- Getting used to skating at a regular cadence/speed for about an hour and a half.

I will be around on the weekend so come and have a chat about what your aims are etc and we should be able to work something out for you.

noodle · Joined: 04 Jul 2006 Posts: 108 Location: Ladbroke Grove

That would be cool - I will be around on Sunday (doing crazy helter kelter street skate to Croydon on sat) and on Friday although not sure I will be doing the lfns. Three days continuous training and four days continuous rest, all working at max (or near max)? Or interspersing the training days with rest days?
They are good tips about technique and training pacelines. What about interval stuff?
Nina

andyman · Joined: 05 Apr 2006 Posts: 1945 Location: Suffolk

You don't mention anything about your diet. I find if I am on a 'good' diet you know, carbs, protein, energy drinks and loads of water I feel good and fit no matter how many days I have been skating. On the other hand when I indulge (Wilton or Vic) too much alcohol, coffee and crappy food or even irregular meal times it badly affects my energy level when skating. this can take days to get over.
I am not sure about the 'correct' work/rest ratio but most people seem to be able to maintain a good training regime by having only one or two days rest.
There is no question, an extended rest will with only light exercise will leave you muscles fit and well for events, so you should be taking it easy week before Berlin and make sure you do all the correct eating drinking up to and during event.
I do not believe for one minute you will do anything other than great there!

Mikey-two-Names · Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Posts: 4108

Longer term, I strongly suggest you buy Joel Friel's The Cyclists Training Bible. That'll tell you more about rest and recovery, and how to check when you're overdoing it and your body starts to complain.

For most people, one to two days rest a week is normal, plus a few easy days, and perhaps one or two hard days. It sounds to me like you're trying to do too much too quickly, so I would suggest you go really slowly on all your commutes, and maybe do only two or three a week. No getting out of breath!

noodle · Joined: 04 Jul 2006 Posts: 108 Location: Ladbroke Grove

Cheers Andy!
Hm- Diet - tend to stick to fresh vegetable and lean meat like fish and chicken. Don't get the pasta obsession at all as it makes me feel sickly, tired and bloaty. Carbs come from rice once or twice a week. After intense sessions I eat a huge bowl of sallad with wither prawns or chicken - can't eat heavy stuff after training.
Wopuldn't mind some tips on "rocket fuel" for the event. Recently discovered Lucazede (thanks Tanya!) which is brilliant but in general stick to water - not very exciting there! Cool

noodle · Joined: 04 Jul 2006 Posts: 108 Location: Ladbroke Grove

Thansk for tip re bible !
Not getting out of breath?

Mikey-two-Names · Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Posts: 4108

Skating/cycling at a speed where you can hold a conversation, rather than where you have to stop for a big breath or several. Aka your ventilation threshold.

noodle · Joined: 04 Jul 2006 Posts: 108 Location: Ladbroke Grove

Surely that is not going to improve fitness??
I am of the belief that you have to push yourself and break barriers to get stronger?
Nina

Mikey-two-Names · Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Posts: 4108

Surprising, isn't it? You can't go hard all the time, or the result is that you'll only be able to go at medium speed all the time. That's why much of the time you need to be training at low intensity, and then do hard intervals perhaps only once a week.

Most of my cycling is done in the region of 120-130 heartbeats/min.

Glenn · Joined: 05 Feb 2005 Posts: 1109 Location: ST Pauls

Wow - that's quite a low heart rate - what do you race at? 175? I find it difficult in a race to maintain more than 160 - but a lot of the fitter guys and girls can maintain at a higher rate - I thought that was because they train more regularly and more intensely. I recognise that it's also dependant on what your max rate is - but the point is I don't think I can maintain 80% max for a race at my current fitness level. (My current lifestyle doesn't unfortunately doesn't allow me to go to the regular training sessions - which would have been great to get my skate fitness up).

Mikey-two-Names · Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Posts: 4108

My average in Berlin was something like 179, my max is 188-odd.

roger · Joined: 26 Feb 2004 Posts: 531

And I thought it was quite high Surprised

But my max is only 170.

Quoting heart rates is not a good idea because they are different for everybody, and it can unnecessarily distress people whose heart rates differ from the norm.

Its much better to determine your max. heart rate (MHR) - there are various tests you can do with not much more than a stopwatch - and then think in terms of training in zones defined as a percentage of heart rate.

My current training breaks down something like this:

Zone 1 60-70% MHR 6 hours
Zone 2 70-80% MHR 2 hours
Zone 2+ 80%+ MHR 1 hour (cycle racing at Eastway)

On the original subject of rest I would suggest having a minimum of 2 rest days, unless you are young and well-trained (several years proper training behind you).

Mikey-two-Names · Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Posts: 4108

Roger is right, heart rates are only really useful when you're comparing your own numbers. I didn't say that, because I thought it was obvious, but I was wrong.

There's no point in comparing my heart rates with someone elses, but it is useful for me to look at my own figures and how they change with training and rest.