training advice

[RoadRaven]

Wow, I'd forgotten about this thread! I must have been busy at work!!!

But yes Starfish - my suggestion was "to a point". Because Aly was beginning/getting back after injury, I was just meaning while her body gets used to being on the bike and she builds her endurance.

You are both right, Starfish and Indy... speed is a harder thing to build... you have to do specific training for that... like interval training or riding with faster cyclists and just sitting in with them (sort of like motor-pacing).

It is also important to remember that to lift your speed from 20kph - 28kph is much much easier than to lift your speed from 30kph to 32kph... the faster you want to go the more relative power you have to output... this mostly because of the increase in wind resistance.

On a calm day, if you are travelling at 20kph, you have effectively created your own personal 20kph head wind. So when I go out tonight to my TT, and aim to complete with an average of 32kph, I will be creating my own personal headwinds of 28-38kph, depending on what part of the course I am on. This is disregarding of course, any head, tail or cross winds I might encounter along the way.