January actually turned out to be a great month for riding. Only two weekends were wet enough that I had to use my single speed, so lots of time on my road bike. Granted...It's still dark out on the weekdays so I'm still on my trainer during the week.
Overall I had several nice rides:
January 1st: 75.86 miles.
January 22nd: 76.15 miles.
January 29th: 74.29 miles
And some shorter road rides of 38.63 mile rides on the 23rd and 30th.
The month of January was the biggest month I've had on a bike since July of last year. I had a total of 54 hours and 39 minutes of ride time (trainer and road time) and technically around 1150 miles ridden.
The really bright spot has been weight loss. I've changed my diet around to allow for a larger percentage of it to come from fats and protein and less from carbs. Combine that with increased intensity of workouts and I've dropped a little over 15 pounds since the 22nd of December (5 weeks).
The only drawback I have seen so far is that my power numbers are down from the lack of intervals over the winter. Right now I'm only putting out around 360 watts for 20 minutes, which means I have a good 30 watts of continuous power to put on over the next several months as well as drop another 15-20 pounds.
I have also started my core work so my hamstrings and core section were pretty sore for about a week, but are feeling much better now that the soreness is gone. In the end though, some good core work always seems to make things better on the bike. I was noticing that my back was starting to get tired at around the 3 hour mark on rides, while this past weekend I still felt pretty good after 4 hours on the bike.
Overall.....A good start to the year, but a long way to go before things start to get better
What specific core exercises do you do?
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Brian
Sorry about the delay in my response...I haven't really checked the comments closely and thought I'd already seen this one.
ReplyDeleteAs far as core exercises, they are pretty basic. I complete 3 sets of high repetitions (40-60 reps) of: Good Mornings, Twists and Side Bends. I don't do any direct front abdominal core work and mostly work the surrounding muscles and back for additional support on the bike.
However the twists and side bends seem to do a good job of working the frontal ab section. Part of the reason for the lack of frontal ab work is hard wood floors and no padding to lay down on...Such is life :)
BTW...I use a 26 pound padded weight bar to do my core work with.
ReplyDeleteThe "Good Mornings" also have the additional benefit of working my hamstrings, which seems to help with accelerations and short power climbs.
Appreciate the info.
ReplyDeleteBrian