Sluggish Recoveries?

[spokewench]

The information that I gave to you about intervals on hills - not only make you a better hill climber but also make you recover easier. (not hurt so much after a hard effort). Hard efforts may be caused by Little Blips in the road, or wind riding or the like. If you want to be able to do that easier and to recover faster and better, use interval training! Which is just don't go out and ride the same speed every ride for the same ride that you do every day!

Here's my tips: Go to that place on the ride that causes you trouble. As you are riding to that spot, let your body recover, i.e. get your heartrate down and your breathing easy (go slow!), then when you get to that point that causes you trouble, go as hard as you can go for as long as you can without blowing up. When you feel like you are going to blow, turn around, recover again and try again. Don't do it every day, maybe twice a week at first; try a ramp up like I described on the hillclimb tips, i.e. 2 times the first time, 3 the next, etc.

Remember this, that as you get better, your perceived effort may not feel any better, BUT you should be going faster. What happens is that the faster that we can do a hard effort doesn't make if feel any easier, it just makes you faster doing it! Hope that helps. What many people do when they ride is just ride and that is a good thing! Healthy as heck; but if you want to be faster and improve, you have to make it hard sometimes.

[bcipam]

If you have been watching the Tour you know there are specialist for hills, flats (sprints), time trials etc. Hill training makes you stronger on hills but not faster on flats and vice-versa.

If I understand your question its when you attack a small hill you run out of stream and have trouble recovering. At 18 mph your speed is pretty high and I can imagine it's hard to maintain going up the hill, how ever small. In addition, I'm assuming you are pushing a really tall gear (you didn't say but I asssume you don't switch gears until it becomes hard or you tire.. need to do it before you it gets to hard and you are already fatigued).

Try this, on the flat as you apprach your small hill, down shift once and then once again as you attack the hill. If you are spinning too much then click up once. It may also help to get out of the saddle to finish the attack. Sit back down once the hill becomes easy or is conquered.

I suggest you ride with a heart rate monitor. If at the time you are attacking the hill you hit your threshold, then you are pushing way too hard and am going totally anaerobic which means your recovery is going to be harder. You should not go any higher than 75 - 80 of threshold. And even that is for short periods of time - ie short, quick bursts.

Hope this makes sense.