RPM Coaching Blog
Improving your climbing
Climbing well means being able to produce higher amounts of power for a longer period of time. This requires a well developed aerobic system that you are able to build from.
Finding the biggest hill you can find to do intervals on is not necessary in order improve your climbing ability. Workouts like this are hard on the body, and require more time to recover from. Keeping your intensity level at or below threshold level will allow you to sustain power for longer periods of time in a time trial or a climb. When your power at threshold increases so does the amount of work you are able to do at threshold. Training above threshold doesn’t allow for recovery, and the higher intensity is usually shorter in duration. This combination leads to fatigue too quickly, and doesn’t allow the body to adapt effectively.
Finding a hill that will allow you to control your rpms will also allow you have the ablility to control your threshold level while doing intervals. By relying less on your aerobic energy system you have less lactic acid build up, and can power your way to the top of the hill more comfortably.
Posted Feb 19, 09:07 PM • Permalink
but what if your in Florida and don’t have hills? How can you train to climb when living in the flatlands
JS
— John Schlitter · 11:49 AM ·
I’m not sure if I quite understand the point of the article.
You’re saying that for optimum training effect it’s better to find a moderate hill, one that can be climbed while keeping just below one’s aerobic threshold, than to find a steep butt-kicker that requires a very high (exhausting) level of effort to climb? Is that right?
I’d agree with that based upon my personal experience… but I’ve also read that max-effort intervals done occasionally (once per week) are very effective in quickly building endurance and stamina.
Re John Schlitter’s question, the body doesn’t know what a hill is, it just knows how hard it’s working. Get off the Carbon Aero, put some panniers with weights on a Giro 26, and do some climbing up freeway overpasses. Or, better yet, hook up a Burley trailer with some weight in it and tow it up and down a bike path. I’ve read that every 5 lbs is like a 1% increase in grade, so putting 25 or 30 lbs on a bike should give you a good climbing workout on those overpasses.
If you really need help on your climbing, I’d reluctantly trade you my V-Rex for one of those ridiculously light Aeros… just to help you out, of course! :-)
— John Clifford · 11:51 AM ·
For optimum training effect your body has to make adaptations. Most people make the mistake of finding the biggest grinding hill they can, and feel like they’re body will just adapt to it. Not so. The bottom line is that you need to develop power. In order to do this you need to have a hill that you can control your intensity and rpm’s as well as spin for recovery time in between intervals. Max effort intervals should be short in duration, and done on flats. This too will help develop power. There are also hill sprints that you can do at the top of a climbing interval, but again they’re short in duration.
— rpmcoaching · 11:52 AM ·
John,
Use gear and intensity as your guide when you live on the flats. You might be better off on the df bike for these.
— rpmcoaching · 11:52 AM ·