how to incr "out of saddle" hill endurance during taper

Oh, and congrats on doing this with 4 kids under 4 and 5 kids under 6. I can't imagine the amt. of time scheduling you must have to do to do everything you do.

Unfortunately there really isn't too much you can do in the next two weeks that is going to benefit your tri.  From what I've read, it takes 7-10 days for your body to realize fitness gains.  Honestly, the best thing you can do is to stick to your plan and have fun.

What helped me the most when I lived in rolling hill country was to maintain my speed as I approached the base of the hill...when it started getting tough I would drop a gear...tough again drop another gear...all the way to the top...standing is ok but really not needed...try to stay seated as long as you can as you will use less energy (you said the hills were small...bigger hills require a little different riding style)...once you get to within 30 to 40 yards from the top then stand and give it a little extra to push yourself over the top...

I never did hill intervals as I don't like the idea of riding up then back down on short hills...I think it takes a little longer recovery time so try riding around the block before you do the hill again...one thing to keep in mind is your quads are going to be burning...so the down hill ride and around the block always gave me time to work out the soreness a little before I hit it again...

A crit rider that we were doing a group ride with showed me the technique mentioned above...I was going into granny as soon as I started the hill prior to that...after a couple weeks I could ride past the other group riders and not be blown up at the top...

 hope this helps...

A couple of comments:

* I think it is best to anticipate the shift.  If you intend to spin up the hill, don't let your cadence drop too much or your effort level change too much before you downshift.  This works in both directions, so also don't downshift all the way right away.  (I assume we are talking abotu 'steady-state' climbing, and not putting in a acceleration on a hill, which is a different matter entirely.)

* whether and when to stand is a very individual thing and it affects different people differentlty.  I think you should just experiment there.

No. And, two weeks before a race is not the time to be doing anything different from your normal training except just doing less and/or easier. Trust me, any little change in your training routine can easily make your muscles sore and you don't want to show up for a race with sore muscles. (I've done it too many times because apparently I'm not that bright...)

Don't worry about how fast you're riding up a hill. That is going to be limited by your fitness and there's nothing you can do about that now. When climbing, your effort should be higher but only as high as you know you can quickly recover from.

Climbing out-of-saddle is a totally different skill that requires both technique and fitness for that specific movement. Again, it takes time to learn it and condition your body to do it efficiently. Without that fitness you may be able to climb a bit faster but you'll give that time back from increased fatigue on the rest of the ride.


Honestly, considering how flat most triathlon courses are and unless you are planning to ride at an extremely high level, I really don't see much advantage in getting conditioned at riding out-of-saddle.

But if you wanted to learn the skill and you don't have signficant hills/mountains, what you describe above is exactly how to train for it (but again, not during a taper). I used to ride pretty serioulsy in Dallas, TX (no hills) and I trained out-of-saddle seriously exactly as you describe on a timer for entire 40+ mile rides. I did it just to get a few seconds coming out of corners and maintaining higher gears up tiny hills in time trials, being a more well-rounded rider, climbing better on vacation in Colorado, etc. That training did make me a signficantly faster rider overall but it was after many high mileage years of just getting my normal cycling fitness up to par.

ETA:
+2 on anticipating shifts. I never let my cadence drop when climbing unless it's by design because I'm going to jump out of the saddle. For seated climbing, I'd much rather shift early, get a bit of rest, and spin my legs out a bit, than let my cadence bog down.

Edited by breckview 2009-08-26 9:34 AM

Thanks for all the replies.

To clarify a few questions:

I had never previously ridden this particular course before.  For any of you in upstate NY, it is the Skinnyman bike course in Skaneateles.  Maybe not "over-the-top" hills for those who ride hills regularly, but for me it is a fairly hilly course.  Several of the big uphills follow relatively big downhills.  Those I can build up significant momentum by riding hard down, and am able to maintain a reasonable cadence back up.  However, there are a few that are longer climbs up, followed by a short flat and then another long climb.  With these, I max out on the granny gear on the first climb, have little time to recover or change gears and then need to climb again.  I do try to maintain a reasonable cadence, but usually by about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up a long hill, I am riding at speeds of 5-6 mph.  Yes, I am still ON the bike, but proceeding very slowly.  I discovered that I CAN get out of the saddle and gain significant speed, but like someone pointed out, what little I gain in speed, I probably lose at the top because I am not huffing and puffing hard and need time to recover.  After yesterday, I am already sore.  My outer quads (and my arms) are really feeling it today.  So I guess my best bet is to taper as planned for the next 10 days until the race and try harder next year.  If I do try some hills around here as suggested, they are short hills but steep.  My neighborhood has one "long" hill that is about 0.45miles long, and several ups and downs of about 0.2 mile all in a big loop.  So maybe I can do some shorter hill repeats on my next riding day (Friday), which would still give me a week to recover??  We'll see how sore I am then.



Other than going up a gear, what else do I need to know/do to learn how to ride out of the saddle?  Will running or any other exercise help increase my endurance, or is it simply just conditioning my legs to handle the added workout?

And yes, training with 5 kids under 6 (yes, I need a new screen name) is not easy.  We belong to the local Y though, and get 2 hours of free childwatch daily, so indoor workouts are not too hard.  It is the outdoor ones like open water swims and longer bike rides that are hard to fit in, not to mention expensive.  Sitters are not cheap when you have 5 little ones!  But tri training has helped me lose over 50 pounds of baby weight, and made me so much healthier, both mentally and physically.  although I often feel guilty about the time I spend away from my kids while training, I think it makes me a much better mother when I am with them.