It's a month today!

It's a month today and even writing that gives me butterflies! We were given some advice on how to tackle to the ride psychologically today- I'll be reading in great detail. We've also got our race numbers, mine is 2660 which means I am in pen 2586 - 3000 out of 10,000 odd people, so fairly close to the front, which is good as I am going to need all the help I can get! Si is further down the field which he is miffed about but I know he'll be fine and will probably pass me anyway!


I've had a pretty good week, the ride last Sunday turned out to be 80 miles not 90, which has sort of thrown my training plan out a bit. However, it went really well; I felt pretty good most of the way round, enjoyed the hills, and could have done more!


This week I have had my new handlebars and saddle put on, so my bike is much more comfortable. I have also put the new pedals put on, they have proved to be really problematic though and I can't actually get my left foot clipped in. This means i can't wear my new carbon soled "bling" (according to Rachel Jarvis) shoes!


Physically i seem to be bearing up ok, I've had some RSI problems in my left hand which seem to be going. My left leg muscles were pretty tight and my knee has hurt a bit but the physio did some acupuncture on it so hopefully that will help. I ride with my left knee strapped now so that is all ok!


Here is the Evans Sportive route from Sunday 13th in the North Downs, it was nice and sunny which always helps :-)

Weekends? What are they then?!

Training has really stepped up now and it's been a pretty hard week. I haven't done as many short rides as I'd like but I did 86 miles with of 3 of the girls and Si on Saturday, followed by 50 odd miles on Sunday, a bit of turbo training on Tuesday and then a ride with the Sky boys on Wednesday. The ride with the boys was really, really hard work, as they glided along I really struggled to keep up. We did 57 miles out into Surrey, up Box Hill and back, I wanted to stop at Leatherhead and catch the train back but they wouldn’t let me! I didn’t really enjoy it but I think it was very good for me.

Tomorrow I have a 3 hour ride planned and on Sunday I have a 90 mile sportive, basically, except for Glastonbury, the next 6 weeks weekends are not my own!


All in all I think I am on top of things with regards distance but I definitely need to get my speed up, the elimination times came out and apparently they aren’t very generous.

Training week commencing 7th June
Monday -REST
Tuesday -REST
Wednesday -ROAD HARD 3hrs
To include 4 x 15 mins efforts (10 mins Z3 then 5 mins 80%) 15 mins rest in between efforts.
Thursday -REST
Friday- TURBO – 1.5hrs
20 mins warm-up
10 min ramp effort to Z5 (build slowly over the 10 mins so getting into Z5 in the last 1min), 10 mins easy.
You are now ready to go – 3 x 5 mins (in each minute effort = 40 sec Z5 then 20 secs Z2).
10 mins rest between efforts
Saturday -ROAD EASY 3.5hrs Hilly club ride if possible with no structure
Sunday -ROAD ENDURANCE 5hrs Hilly club ride if possible with no structure

Never try a bike that is more than your budget

Here is a picture of my shiny new (though with one chip-grrr!) Pinarello FP3. I ended up with it after "trying it for size" as the shop didn't have a small FP2. It's a 2009 so had a good deal of money off it and it's 1kg lighter than the FP2, so all in all I'm happy!

I took it for a rainy  76 mile "spin" on Saturday in the Tour of Wessex sportive and it rides really well. It needs a couple of "minor" adjustments for comfort- new handlebars as the Pinarello ones have massive reach and a girly saddle.  I'm also investing in some knee protecting speedplay peddles.

As for training, that hasn't gone that well this week really and I'm getting a bit anxious :-S