Forums >Cross Training>Biking Hills=Big thighs??
rectumdamnnearkilledem
As someone around here once famously said, "Run lots. Mostly easy. Sometimes fast." I've also seen advice to avoid much in the way of speed work until one has a consistent base of 20-30mpw for a few months. I think it's good advice...at least it's worked pretty well for me. I'm not particularly fast, but I've been at this now for 4 years and can count on one hand all of my "injuries"--none which has benched me for more than a few days here and there.
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
I don't half-ass anything
"I have several close friends who have run marathons, a word that is actually derived from two Swahili words: mara, which means 'to die a horrible death' and thon, which means 'for a stupid T-shirt.' Look it up." - Celia Rivenbark, You Can't Drink All Day if You Don't Start in the Morning
How slow is easy?
Some days for me it is 8:15/mile. Other days it is 9:30/mile. Point being, I don't look at easy as a pace... more of a descriptor of effort. Some days a run at a specific pace will feel easier than other days. For lots of reasons. Easy is... well, easy. I'm not breathing hard and I could go and go and go if I wanted (but usually can't because of real life). My heart rate elevates a bit and I sweat... but in no way am I pushing it. It's easy. If I'm running with someone, we can hold a full conversation, including cuss words. (whereas at a faster clip, it might be limited to ONLY cuss words)
I look my best blurry!
If I might make a suggestion...I looked at your log a bit and you have an awful lot of quality workouts...long, tempo, fartlek, hills, but very few EASY runs. You have a lot of big gaps in training, too. The name of the game is really having the bulk of one's mileage at easy effort and keeping consistency. As someone around here once famously said, "Run lots. Mostly easy. Sometimes fast." I've also seen advice to avoid much in the way of speed work until one has a consistent base of 20-30mpw for a few months. I think it's good advice...at least it's worked pretty well for me. I'm not particularly fast, but I've been at this now for 4 years and can count on one hand all of my "injuries"--none which has benched me for more than a few days here and there.
I believe her! I did what you are doing and you know what happened to me kunland! Listen!!!! NO MORE INJURIES!
Along for the Ride
Zoom - I actually an unsure if I'm cataloging my runs properly. It's nearly impossible to find a decent, flat place that's convenient for me to run. Everywhere is hilly! Do I always catalog as Hill? How slow is easy?
Kim - I've moved to a place where there are no flat places to run either (unless you want to run the same loop in the park 5000 times ...). I go by the same measure that was mentioned here in this thread "easy is when it feels easy".My definition of easy is a little different each day; sometimes I am mentally tougher than others and can tolerate more and it stills feels easy. My pace for easy runs here on the island (hills) is obviously slower than on the mainland.
After 2 years of living here I am starting to love the hills. They now energize me and make me a stronger and faster runner. It's the coolest feeling to trudge up a steep one and feel a surge of energy and strong legs and speed up even though I haven't crested the hill fully.
Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.
In this case, I think I mostly always run easy! Right before my most recent pains I went a little crazy and tried some random bursts of sprints (fartlek??) but I'm rarely dying at the end of my runs. I think I'm going to seek out the services of a local running coach. I must have the running form of a wounded chicken...
I must have the running form of a wounded chicken...
Ha, I kind of run like an injured turkey, come to think of it...
Team HTFU NCTR Driver
kunland, I doubt your thighs will get bigger, if you want to be a good at hills on a bike you must weigh less than 2 pounds for each inch in height.
uh oh, so basically i should not gain another pound or i'm screwed LOL. hehe i just realized i am exactly 2 pounds for every inch in height.
Sulphur Springs 50km-- Ancaster, ON-- May 28, 2022
Tally in the Valley 12 hours-- Dundas, ON -- July 30, 2022 (Support SickKids Toronto)
Stokely Creek-- 56km-- Sault Ste. Marie, ON-- Sept. 24, 2022
No, no, and no. Climbing well is about power-to-weight ratio, not some arbitrary number. Pure climbers do indeed tend to be little and skinny, but they then don't do well at time trialling, which is all about maximum sustained power output (in an aerodynamic position). I'm in the 3.3ish lb. per inch class, but I motor up hills quite well compared to other folks. Why? I live in a hillier area than those folks. Ya wanna be good at hills? Ride on hills.
And have awesome thighs. Awesome thighs are awesome.
did
Ya wanna be good at hills? Ride on hills.
Did. This is far too simple to understand. Can you please provide a more complicated explanation? Thanks.
When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
For to have the mighty, you must, and with majesty, embolden your Type 1 muscle fibers, and stress them, and do so with great regularity, for thou reap what ya sow, ya know? And being that you want NOT to have the scary veiny custom-pants-needing quads on the guy in the middle, you should NOT go to the velodrome and HOLY SHIT VELODROME ISN'T IN MY SPELLCHECKER DICTIONARY but now it is and do many, many 10 second 200 meter accelerations on a fixed gear velocipede, and wow, velocipede WAS in my spellchecker dictionary, but spellchecker isn't.
Remember, kids, I'm a USA Cycling Level 3 Coach (licence applied for).
SWEET! Thanks, did. I totally get it now.
What should my carb/protein/fat percentages be? I'm hoping they need to be close to Nutella. Or beer.
SWEET! Thanks, did. I totally get it now. What should my carb/protein/fat percentages be? I'm hoping they need to be close to Nutella. Or beer.
Several.