Actual Training

There has been something of a break in the blog which I know is not really the idea but it has been for a very good reason. I have actually been riding the bike on a regular basis which is leaving little time for writing, what with family life and work as well.

Here are my weekly mileages for this year:

As you can see, things are beginning to ramp up quite nicely. This has been down to a couple of useful lessons.

1. Just get on the bike! It is all too easy to wimp out and say "I'll do it tomorrow" or "I'm not really in the mood" but once I get going I tend to enjoy the rides so I have to focus on the outcome and not the preparation.
2. Rollers aren't (too) evil. I'm getting used to riding on them now and I can put in an hour session quite easily. This has been after everybody else has gone to bed so it is a little lonely but I have had The Infinite Monkey Cage to keep me company.
3. Don't get too focussed on training, go out for a ride occasionally just because it is lovely out there.
4. The C2C is a very hilly ride and I had better get my backside up some hills or I am toast

In support of number four, I was looking at the stats from the training so far and I realised that I was doing nowhere near enough hills. As I live in a relatively flat part of the world with only the Chilterns to gain altitude this is going to be a continuing struggle. This chart shows my distance and elevation, with the blue line being the target for the C2C. All of my rides have been too flat.

So, I took the chance over the weekend to try out hill repeats. This is the idea of finding a good length hill and going up and down it multiple times to improve your hill climbing ability and recovery. One of the hills near me is Aston Hill which is a great steady hill. If you look at the Strava segment you can see it is quite long but at a good steady 5% so it is spinning instead of stomping. My four loops were completed in around nine minutes each, which is a little bit long for this type of training but I enjoyed the climbs.

Did this session improve my climbing? Well I'll have to keep trying them and see but I can certainly feel the benefit of hitting four sessions a week. I'm keeping the average around 15mph and the distances are creeping up. Yesterday was hard as I was rushing against the sunset but it sure beats being in a gym when you get views like this.

The windmill at Brill, Oxfordshire at the end of  a bright spring day