A better climbing workout?

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Weezerbot
OK, I'm a newbie, I'll admit it. I am currently training for my first race, and we are about 4 weeks into it. I am on a five day a week workout schedule (this includes my group ride on Saturdays) and we have just started doing some hills . I have been getting my riding times in every day, along with doing a bit of weight training 3 days a week mostly concentrating on my legs. I have improved a lot since the first day of training, but I find myself still struggling on the hills if I don't have someone to draft off of. Today I rode 39 miles and by the time I got home, my thighs felt like dead weight, and did for the rest of the day.The only thing that burns are my thighs when I'm climbing. So do I still need to do more leg work or should I be doing less? I know everyone has their opinions on weight training, but any information would be appreciated. Thanks!!

i love climbing hills and considered myself good untill i just
got better!! after cycling for 4 yrs! is what i started doing
is easy days and cool downs to flush the lactic acid that
makes your legs burn. my easy days my hrt rate is 120
to 130 doing this i dont get the burn hardley at all anymore
and i can now stand up on hills for 3 minutes!!! for me this
is major improvement i only use to be able to stand on hills
for about 10 secounds and my legs would burn like crazy!
my cool downs are about 3o min after a hard ride i just spin
easy and let hrt rate drop. also theres lots of info here to
read about the lactic acid thing, keep at it good luck in your race!

Hello Weezerbot

Just to console you, everyone's thighs burn when climbing which is why so many people hate it.

Don't expect to be world class when you first get on your bike the only way to dominate in the hills and in races is dedication to training.

Sounds like you really are getting into your cycling which is awesome, remember not to overdo your training or you could end up overtraining even though you have just started.

The only way to get better at climbing is to practice it, so prepare your mind for it, believe me the pain of climbing hills in training will pay off when you are in a race and you shoot past other cyclists on a long climb (what a feeling).

So at least one of your training days should incorporate a lot of hills. Good luck and enjoy (if possible)

Hi again weezerbot

I forgot to include the following.

Weight training is not that important to your cycling performance do not overdo it !

Find a long climb in your area i.e 2-5 km in your area and set yourself a goal of doing it in a certain time based on what you think you could achieve (i.e. try to improve your time on the climb by 30seconds per week) this will give you encouragement to work on those hills.

Goo luck

Weezerbot ...... personal opinion only - forget weight training unless you want to be a track sprinter. Go and climb hills .... again and again and again. Start with small gear higher cadence of 90-100 rpm. Use the same hill and when you feel that you're getting up there OK, as in you can still breathe and can manage to keep turning a decent cadence it's time to step up ...... introduce intervals where you go up a gear and get out of the saddle and push long enough to get near your aerobic limit, followed by a seated recovery at maybe two gears lower (while still climbing). Practice your pedalling technique to generate perfect circles, alternate between a pushing and scraping/pulling emphasis to eliminate as much of the dead spot as you can, work on getting a seamless transition from seated to standing in terms of your intensity - you want to maintain an even rhythm so that your breathing is consistent and you don't waste energy. Don't be frightened of standing (there's only one Jan Ulrich). Get this happening and hills won't bother you come race day - if your course includes any sort of serious climb you MUST be near the front at the base of the climb ..... try to pick out one of the stronger guys and hold his wheel, don't panic if you start to slide back thru the bunch because it's panic that ruins your rhythm. At the top be happy to sit on, pull in the big breaths and let some other silly bugger make the pace. Hope that's some help and good luck !

good advice old & slow