Hill workout problem...Florida

Triathlon Forum
1

How should I do this workout in the flats of Florida?

  • “75’ ride on a hilly course. Push the uphills and recover on the downhills. HR on the uphills can hit low Z4. Keep HR in Zone 1-2 otherwise.”

Would I just go big ring, out of the saddle? Not sure how do approach this workout. Thanks.

2

Tough one. Lived in Tampa for 10 years – and have been gone for 13 years – but I am having trouble thinking of anything that resembles a hill. This is probably really stupid but is there a pedestrian sidewalk on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge? Ran a race on it when it first opened and that qualifies as a hill. How about the causeway in Clearwater coming off of Belair Beach? Assuming the answers to be no, do muscle tension intervals into the wind – and Tampa has plenty of wind. 53/13 and down. I think it is the best you can do. Best.

3

I lived in St Augustine for 3 years. I did my hill workouts up and over, up and over, up and over …repeat about 20 times…on the Vilano Bridge. It was about 1/2 mile up and 1/2 mile down. I rode one harder cog each time until I couldn’t get up the bridge anymore. Find at least a bridge…

There really is no substitue for mountains and altitude. I now live in Sedona at 4500ft and ride at least 2000ft of climbing even on my “easy” days. I was using a 54-42 and 12-21 when I was in Florida. I now train with a 50-34 and 12-25 just to survive! Its gonna be tough replicating climbing unless you live in central FL near Clermont.

4

If youre in the tampa area san antonio has some decent hills, sure they arent massive but they make you work. If im not out there im on the flats doing intervals and/or a lot of bridge repeats(clearwater/sand key for those in the area or at the 70.3 championships). As far as i know you should be doing your intervals in the aero position as thats where you should be climbing as well. I cant think of many reasons to be out of the saddle unless sprinting at a turn around or on a ridiculous climb, which i have yet to come across. I could be wrong but ive been working on climbing a lot in preparation for silverman and the intervals along with bridge repeats, especially overgeared, have really been paying off.

5

So if I can’t get to a bridge because of time/location issues, I stay in the saddle, hardest gear I have?

6

You’re less than 90 minutes away from Clermont. Might be worth the drive if you’re really committed to the hill workout.

7

Clermont is only a couple hour drive from Tampa.

8

have you been to San Antonio??
get out there. groups riding every weekend. some great rollers.
park at the baseball field and you’ll find plenty of peopel too hook up with.
check the net for the hilly 100 or horrible 100, they have one of those out there. you can get a map of that course. the ground is marked for the course.

or go up the suncoast and park in the last lot for the suncoast bike trail (is it at rt95?) bike south 20 miles and turn around - the repeat. this way you get back to the car for fresh water bottles. no traffic, just wind and sun.

9

I stay in the aero position and push 2-3 gears harder than i would normally be pushing which drops the cadence quite a bit but not drastically, so not necessarily an 11 or 12(if thats the hardest gear you have) unless its flat, smooth and not windy(or tailwind). I just noticed youre from tampa, get out to san antonio if you want hill workouts. I guarentee it is worth the 20 minute drive from tampa. Google suncoast cycling and they have directions to the parking lot and the routes, there are hundreds of cyclists out there on sundays. Im sure theyre ou there all week but sunday is the only day i make it out that way and there is always a large number of cyclists all over the place. If you want you can meet me out there next sunday, I’ll be going solo and you are welcome to join or i can introduce you to some people and you can hop on their group ride. I bust my ass in training so i wont be too talkative but at least you’ll know what to expect from the area.

10

push 2-3 gears harder than i would normally

Bingo…

Get down to around 50-55 rpm using a big gear

11

I live in Orlando and have access to the “hills”. Florida hills are too short to get much mountain training in, too short and no recovery. Yeah, repeats in Clermont or San Antonio are all good. However, when I was training for 6-gaps or Ironman Canada, Cda or any other “mountain” course, I get out to a straight unprotected windy road. Sit up with your hands on the elbow pads and get a gear that you mash around 60-70 rpm with steady effort. Make yourself like a parachute for wind resistance and simulate the 20-30 minute effort. Keep the steady pressure and technical pedal stroke. All the mountains are, are 20-40 minute consistent efforts. I have yet to fall apart on a mountain course.
Mike

12

Cooterbob, you’re showing your age. I did the Skyway Bridge race (there was only one). It was about 20 years ago and the wind was so strong that the discarded paper cups were being blown up the bridge faster than I could run. I was running with the wind. I felt for the poor folks who ran the opposite direction. That was a great race.

13

Bridge repeat if you have one or long stretches against the wind on BR

Peace
.

14

I second just pushing harder, or doing higher intesity intervals. When I lived in SD, I spent the winter on the trainer focusing on higher intensity intervals. One of my favorites is this:

15’ wu.

5x3’ w/ 1’ RI

SET 1:
#1 End at low Zn 3
#2 End at middle Zn 3
#3 End at upper Zn 3
#4 End at lower Zn 4
#5 Build to Zn 4 in first 45s and hold.

15’ rest zone 2

SET 2:
#1 End at middle Zn 3
#2 End at upper Zn 3
#3 End at lower Zn 4
#4 End at upper Zn 4
#5 Build to Zn 5a in first 45s and hold.

cd: 15’

My other favorite consisted of warming up, then picking an RPM (I used 90) and starting gear (I would use the largest rear and big chain ring), then spend x’ per gear working your way down the cassette. So say every two minutes, you would drop one gear, and the resistance would increase. Hold the target RPM. The kicker is that you have to go back down the same way, so when you get to the toughest one and are hurting, you don’t get to back off really fast.

Anyway, my point… Going into the winter season, my hill climbing sucked. After a winter season of doing this kind of riding 2-3 times a week (one day was occasionally a zone 2 recovery spin) and some ILT mixed it my hill climbing endurace improved dramatically when I went back outside in the spring. I know… n=1, but I thought I’d share

15

Thanks for the replies everyone. Can’t make it to Clermont this week, as time is an issue.

omoore61m I do my longer rides on Saturdays, but San Antonio is tempting tomorrow, even though time is tight. (I will go up there at some point in the future) I might be forced to hit bayshore (only like 5 minutes from the house) and mash at 55-65 rpm’s both aero and on the pads…

Thanks again.