Giving cycling another go. . .

[GLC1968]

Hi Hibiscus!

I'm interested to hear your answer to Dogmama's question about training your legs. I'm also into weight lifting and I'm working it into my schedule a bit differently (I ride at lunch twice a week and do my RT in the evenings on those days). I've been half-a$$ing the leg workouts so as not to slow down the cycling, but I can't continue to do that!

Oh, I'm training for my first century in August and then our MS150 on Sept 9th and 10th. AND, my husband just bought the Trek Pilot 5.0 and is loving it!

[hibiscus09]

Hi Dogmama! I haven't talked to you in a while!

Hi GLC -- Very cool! There are people who start in Charlotte, N.C. that participate in the Breakaway to the Beach MS 150 ride. Anyway, hope you do great with your century and with your MS150.

I think I'm going to shoot for doing legs on Monday for right now -- that may change as my long rides get longer. This week is just kind of off as I've already done shoulders/bis/tris on Monday -- but typically, I'll do legs on Monday.

This is what I did today:

Warmed up 7 minutes on the treadmill at 6% incline and 3.8mph

Leg Presses*this is light for me -- less than half of normal weight

10 reps X 100lbs
10 reps X 140lbs
10 reps X 200lbs
6 reps X 240lbs

Leg Extensions*these were lighter than normal for me -- but that's because it's been a while since I've done leg extensions. I have a home gym set up now and no extensions. I am on vacation and the gym here has an extension machine.

10 reps X 60lbs
10 reps X 80lbs
9 reps X 90lbs
8 reps X 100lbs

Next, was a hamtractor machine. I love hamtractors (this is a seated leg curl for hamstrings), but this thing just could not be adjusted correctly. It had a foot adjustment and a seat adjustment, but the pad that is supposed to sit on top of my thighs (at my old gym) hit at mid shin and it hurt like hell as the weights got higher. Me no likey -- only did two sets on this:

10 reps X 60lbs
10 reps X 60lbs*I can usually do up to 150lbs on these -- this machine sucked major lemons.

I headed over to do SLDLs with dumbbells

10 reps holding 20lb dbs
10 reps holding 35lb dbs
8 reps holding 40lb dbs

Next, I did Bulgarian Split torture squats:

10 reps each leg holding 15lb dbs
10 reps each leg holding 20lb dbs
10 reps each leg holding 25lb dbs

So -- that sort of will give you an idea. I plan to keep hitting stuff as heavy as I can for as long as I can -- I realize I'll be backing off on the leg weights as my rides get longer.

I plan to stick with heavier upperbody workouts.

I will probably split upperbody into back/chest day (Wednesdays) and shoulders/bis/tris day (Fridays). This is all still a work in progress.

[Dogmama]

I'm thinking about starting a split - I have been doing full body but as my rides get longer, the energy level dips. I had been hoping to keep as much upper body muscle as possible - knowing that endurance rides can chew into it (or so everybody says.)

I see you don't do regular squats, any reason? As I get older (ahem...) my lower back talks to me after heavy squats. I want to keep my lower back intact for powering up hills.

I like your lower body workout, though and am going to try it on my next leg day. I especially like the two hammie exercises. Cycling neglects the poor hammies.

[hibiscus09]

Morning, Dogmama! I do squats -- I'm at a resort and the gym does not have a squat rack. I have a squat rack at home and will be back there on July 5th. ;p I did stop doing them heavy, however. My everything was talking to me when I did then at 215lbs. I decided to back off on all the weight and now do them up to around 120lbs (which is my bodyweight), concentrating on sinking really deep into the movement.

I love working hammies. I wish the gym had an olympic bar, so I'll be dumbbell SLDLs and the like. I like those too, but I prefer to be able to switch up. I can at least do one leg SLDLs to switch it up some.

I tell you what -- my leggies are sure sore today!

[Dogmama]

Morning, Dogmama! I do squats -- I'm at a resort and the gym does not have a squat rack.

Funny, I was thinking my dream resort would have a full gym. I guess that proves (again) that we're different. When I go to San Fran, I chose the same hotel because it is across the street from a 24 Hour Fitness.

You are lifting some SERIOUS weight!!! 215 on squats??? You'll power up those hills! Your legs will recover in no time, I'm sure. You'll be ready for your weekend of hammering.

[GLC1968]

Ooh, thanks for the leg workout recap! Were you squating 215 free standing? Or is that on a smith machine? I thought I was strong...but damn, girl!

We've already got our milage over 50 miles on at least one of our weekend rides, so I think I'm going to try to work in a leg workout on Tuesday or Wednesday (depending if our long ride was on Sat or Sun). I'm hoping that this will allow me to get in the best recovery possible.

Thanks for the input!

[profàvélo]

Hi, Hibiscus,

I'm up in Greenville, and I'll be doing the MS 150 Breakaway to the Beach this year as well, for the third year in a row. You might want to add some beer training to your schedule...there's free beer for riders at the Darlington finish on Saturday! (I don't remember seeing any free wine.) Last year they changed the overnight location, and it was a ton of fun. In addition to the free beer, there was a yummy barbecue dinner and live music, all on the Speedway infield. We'll have to try to meet up at some point. Are you riding on a team, or just with hubby?

I hope you are having a blast at Kiawah...I'm very jealous. I love Charleston and the beaches there. I'm stuck here trying to finish a dissertation...not fun! I'm very impressed with your training plan, very organized of you. Keep up the good work.