Need advice how to train for colombia hills in south florida flat routes or the smart trainer … thanks
Do what Chris Froome did - ride with your brakes on!!
Look to the Sustained Power Build and Century Specialty plans. Give us some more detail about your climbs.
But in general, climbing is all about sustained effort at levels from Tempo, thru Sweet Spot and possibly Threshold. Training for this requires steady loading in longer intervals at those levels. So see the plans above for proper workouts.
Also consider your gearing and what cadence you will be using. When possible, add gearing that will allow “normal” cadences from 80-100rpm. Try to avoid consistent use of lower cadences from 50-70rpm if possible.
That said, I also do low cadence work in those workouts above, to prepare for those times when you are out of gears and are stuck at those lower cadences. It may be important to prepare your body and mind for those types of efforts.
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thanks … good idea lol
TR workouts of course.
But at the risk of getting stoned to death, some Zwift rides on climbing courses can be beneficial too. Zwift does seem to do a decent job of simulating the various aspects of climbing i hate like being penalized for being fat, running out of gears and having to use a less than preferred cadence and the general psychological climbing torment of cruising a long at a (simulated) 5 mph crying “are we there yet?” All while providing a good climbing specific workout.
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I believe they have some group workouts where they simulate climbs. It’s 3x13 minutes if I remember correctly
Hello there who is they ???
No heresy here, I think doing zwift for climb simulations is a great idea, and kind of wish I had done it myself last year when preparing for a gran fondo with some hour long climbs. In my mind, it’s one thing to try and adjust your cadence in erg mode, it’s another thing to be forced into low cadence on a simulated climb in zwift. I think had a done some work on alp d’zwift my muscles would have been better prepared for the low cadences I encountered on 12-15% gradients
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Based on cursory reading of Zwift Companion:
Poggio Simulation at 15:20 EDT today
REVO Climbers at 18:45 EDT today
3x13 minute climbs at 11:10 EDT tomorrow (by Kevin Poulton). This is category E
(EDT is Eastern Daylight Time. I am in Michigan in the US)
If you just want to simulate a ride with climbs rather than doing a specific workout, they’re running the Zwift Fondo on March 10. 3 rides to pick from:
32 miles 1900’ of climbing
45 miles and 3300’
62 miles and 3925’
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Good to know, but I doubt my backside can withstand 62 miles on a trainer (which is about 2 hours per my guess).
I did the 45 mile Fondo twice - the first time I didn’t know anything about the route and somehow mistakenly thought it was 40 miles. At mile 39 I was thinking i’d be done in a few minutes - then we turned onto the 6 mile continuous climb to the finish which took me about 40 minutes . . . Just like some nightmare real life group rides I have been on!
As for times - 2:35 for me. and I was shocked how good I still felt after that long on the trainer. Zwift is very distracting. The top 45 mile times are just under 2:00 and the top 62 mile times are around 2:48
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