Power to Weight Ratio

[Triskeliongirl]

To preserve lean body mass when dieting its important to be sure you are eating adequate protein. Try to aim for at least 1 g of protein per lb of lean body mass to be sure the weight loss is coming from fat and not muscle.

Also, perhaps since losing weight you need a bike that is better adapted to the ligher you. By that I mean when I lost 35 lb I also didn't get as much faster as I was expecting. But my position on the bike, and even gearing (mountain) was for the heavier me. Recently I got a new bike, and new position, with road gearing, and saw a huge improvement.

[tribogota]

Sometimes it takes longer, in 12 months of training hard I didn't improve that much, then one day I jumped up speed, climbing, everthing. That was after about 18 months. Maybe it is just patience.

[Eden]

I'll second the people who say take a rest day. 7 days/week is a bit heavy for any exercise regimen. If you don't take a bit of down time you can easily over train, even if you are not always going at maximum. I have both "active" rest days, where I work out, but at a low level and complete rest days.

It can start with not seeing any improvement, leading to actual backsliding. Do you take your resting HR? A rising resting HR can be a tip off too.

[li10up]

I've really been making an effort to up my protein to 25% of my daily caloric intake. I'm usually pretty close.

I did think about over-training but my resting HR is right where it should be at 60 bpm (50 lying down).

I hate to take a complete rest day because if I do then it is really hard for me to maintain my 500 calorie deficit. That means I only get to eat 1200 cal. for the day...and that is REALLY hard for me to do.

As for the bike, I have a Ruby Pro that fits me very well. Don't think I could afford a better bike than what I have. But I guess I could look into fit...but my body dimensions such as reach and leg length haven't changed so I'm not so sure that is a problem.

My sleep efficiency isn't what I'd like but I've been like that for years...I'm just perplexed as to why I'm not riding any stronger on the hills...even the small ones.

[OakLeaf]

It's best to take a "rest day" from severe caloric restriction too, so that your metabolism doesn't just scale itself down. Eat the way you normally would on your rest days.

It's not necessarily about overtraining, it's that your muscles are literally torn to pieces during your workouts and they need rest time to rebuild and get stronger. Less so when you're young, but even so.

No one has mentioned focused strength training - that's what I see as being missing. You don't need to get super muscular on the bike, but some leg work at the gym will definitely help.

[Veronica]

You've been comparing yourself to the group. Are they getting faster?

Veronica

[li10up]

You've been compared yourself to the group. Are they getting faster?

Veronica

That's a good point. After a particularly hard ride a few weeks ago I looked up last year journal and saw that at the same time last year we were averaging 15 mph over the same routes. This year we are in the upper 16's or even into the 17's. I'm able to keep up on the flats but not the hills.

It's not necessarily about overtraining, it's that your muscles are literally torn to pieces during your workouts and they need rest time to rebuild and get stronger. Less so when you're young, but even so.

This too is a good point. But I thought that active rest would let them repair...but maybe I'm being a bit too active. I do work up a pretty good sweat on those days.

It's best to take a "rest day" from severe caloric restriction too, so that your metabolism doesn't just scale itself down. Eat the way you normally would on your rest days.

I don't think a 500 cal. deficit will cause my metabolism to scale itself down...that's not much of a restriction....which is why I chose it...slow and steady weight loss.

So much to think about.......

[pinkbikes]

I also struggled with this for years. I was a decent sort of a rider in general but really struggled when it came to hills. Part of this was in my mind because I had succumbed (as a young and silly kid) to peer pressure and spent years riding a nasty one-jump 6speed cluster of gears that meant I had NOTHING that was really suitable for hills. Nice for crits - crap for hills! So I just assumed I was crap at hills and let it go at that!

But two years ago I got a new roadbike (with sensible gears) and I got into mountain biking and that was a real education on hills. All of a sudden I had all the gears I could wish for and the sort of hills that would make my blood freeze with fear! They don't call them mountain bikes for nothing - because you can't have mountain biking without mountains!

Firstly, I found that the "interval" nature of thrashing up hills (because you really have no choice but to really go for it) and then picking my lungs up off the ground for a few minutes at the top made a huge difference to my strength on the road bike. I still wasn't much of a speed demon on the mountain bike, because really I am a time trialist by nature - wind me up and let me go at a steady pace as hard as I can rather than explosive racer accelerating and decelerating all the time!

But the thing that really improved me out of sight was when I started doing weekly hill rides. There is a rotten big mountain (for Australia - it'd be a pimple anywhere else) near home where you just climb, climb, climb for ever. And when you think it will end around the next corner the grade kicks up a bit and you climb some more. I hate it with a passion but for a few months there I forced myself to go out there and just climb it steadily for as far as I could get in an hour or two. The rewards were enormous and my legs ended up quite bullet-proof (for me) and I found I could blast up and over all sorts of things on the roadie.

So, in summary, I think specificity of training is the answer. Nothing makes you better at hills than training specifically for hills. Some of it long steady hills to build up climbing endurance. And some of it hill intervals to improve hill climbing strength and speed. I hate it because at heart I am a hillslug - but the rewards were enormous and it only took about a month for it to really start to show. I am about to start going out and doing it all again! YUCK!

[Zen]

This article from Active.com was recently in my mailbox.