Over the last few weeks I have been going to a few classes at the gym to try and maintain my fitness over the winter. I have been going to circuit training and went to a class called body-pump! I didn’t even know what body pump was until I got there and to my horror found out that it was a load of exercises with weights.   I thought about making a run for it, but decided to stay and see how it went.

I found it difficult to do some of the exercises due to my lack of balance. I was stuck right in the middle of the class so everybody must have seen me wobbling around. I really struggled at one point and had to sit a couple out.

After it I felt great because I had a really good workout. My quads were agony after  it for a day or two but that can only be a good sign, it means I must be doing me good. I want to try to keep up my classes over the winter so that come the better weather I am as fit as a fiddle! I think its the best way to try and maintain core fitness and strength  when the weather prevents you from getting out.

I attended a coaching talk recently and wanted to share the experience with you. The talk was organised by the an Edinburgh club and was a presentation from a company of professional cyclists who were sharing their experience of training with us. Basically they were looking for work and clients and wanted us all to sign up to their monthly trainig support program and give them a monthly fee.

Being from professional cyclist, the talk was of limited value to the recreational cyclist like myself. However, since I recently started using a heart rate monitor, I was able to identify with a few points. It was explained how we have different training zones IE, different hearts rates according to the type of exercise you are doing.

I use three zones, base zone where I am cycling gently and my heart rate is between 100 and 115bpm, training zone where my heart rate is between 130 and 145bpm. Then an upper or extreme zone where my heart rate is between 150 and 165bpm. Although I believe that this upper rate of mine is not that high. I have been told that other people manage to get their heart rate up to 200bpm and beyond. I wonder if this has anything to do with my cerebral palsy, or if it is a sign of lack of fitness.1

When training on the turbo I try to , among other things, simulate a ten mile time trial. This usually takes around 30 minutes and I cycle for that time at my training zone rate of 130-145bpm. I am hoping that this will increase my stamina for doing the time trials and improve my speed. Whatever the outcome I am enjoying using the heart rate monitor as a tool for my training, although I won’t be signing up to any coaching programs. Any information a cyclist needs to do with training is freely available on the Internet with no end of resources.

A few weeks ago my cycling training took a turn, and I was persuaded to buy myself a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM). Although it remain to be seen if it will be a turn for the worse or not! However it seems like a positive step so far and I am already grateful to my friend to gave me the idea.

I’m well into my winter training now and am using my indoor turbo trainer a few times a week. It is such a good tool to have enabling me to have a concentrated period of training anytime I like. I have a couple of routines that I use so far. Firstly the one I mentioned in my previous post where in cycle for an hour and come out of the saddle for 60 seconds every 5 minutes. The second is, after a 20 min warm up, I spend 30 minutes cycling at a harder pace followed by another 20 minutes to cool down. The purpose of this is to emulate a 10 mile time trail that I take part in during the summer months.

The HRM enables my to measure my training in a more scientific way. Pedaling away for hours at a time without any guidance or measurement could be less productive and downright boring. The  HRM enables me to structure my training and gives me something to record at the end to keep a record of what I’ve done. The monitor cost me about £8 in Aldi, which is ‘cheap as chips’ and money well spent.

In my next post I’m going to talk more about the Heart Rate Monitor and how to use it to measure you traning.