172 Days to Go: Freezing beginnings

After a good year, cycling wise, I have decided to enter La Marmotte 2010. This is all on the back of completing a handful of sportives last year, including my first century. My strength is endurance and plodding up cols (emphasis on the plodding). So after registering my husband (Mark) and I, we confirmed on Friday that we are indeed registered for the event.

So you would think that the training would begin in earnest. But the conditions outside are against us. Snow, ice and freezing temperatures for the last three weeks. Today I saw a patch of grass on the front lawn, the first sighting of grass in two weeks. Still I had wisely invested in a turbo trainer in autumn so decided it was time to set the trainer up. After three hours phaffing about trying to fit a trainer tyre I finally got my first session underway. 45 minutes, average heart rate of 141 (up to a max of 160) I was impressed as this mirrored what I would do the road. This was all thanks to some great tracks from Kasabian and The Prodigy, spurring some good interval sessions.

This weekend I have begun planning events leading up to the big one. Needless to say my planning will be principal based but not a rigid training plan. These principals are;

- shock the body early in the season and then use this as the base mileage (i.e. got out for a couple of long rides to get the body prepared)
- increase mileage by 10% a week
- do an event about every 3 - 4 weeks, leaving a minimum of two weeks in between for longer events for recovery
- cross train
- enjoy the post ride treats!

Lets see how it goes.