April Training

When I first started doing these monthly training updates who thought we would be in the position that we are currently in.

The first thing to mention is of course keeping safe. As this is our monthly blog I will refer to this in a riding context. You may have more time on your hands due to the lockdown so how do you keep up your training.

If you have been training towards a goal (perhaps one of our events) the ideal scenario is to reach a peak of fitness prior to the event. It is impossible to hold a peak so be sensible and don’t continue to hammer the immune system with trying to hold all that high end fitness.

Consider this period as maintenance. So, you can cut back on the volume and maintain some of the intensity. This way even if you have the time to do multiple 100mile rides a week you don’t have to as this will increase the risk factors of fatigue, accident etc etc.

This is also the opportunity to work on the areas of weakness. One of the best year-round thing you can do is work on your strength, conditioning and mobility. There are loads of really good you-tube videos out there to work with or make up your own circuits at home. No equipment is required. Do it for time or reps, start easy and build it up. It WILL and DOES help you on the bike and in everyday life.

From a personal point of view, as a rider and former triathlete of aging years I tend to mix things up so my weekly routine tends to look something like this –

X4 times a week – yoga / S&C (all done at home)

X5 times a week – ride and run

I tend to ride off road a lot more nowadays. At the moment this involves everything from the front door. So, no car, not far and no gnar. My other riding is done on the turbo (well wattbike for me). This is a great way of keeping riding. We are running some of events virtually through Grand Road Tours, check it out and join in. Obviously all the other third party apps are out there so there is plenty of opportunity to get involve and keep social with your cycling.

Sorry for the long post but we hope everyone stays safe and look after yourselves and your nearest and dearest. Hopefully we will see you at an event soon.

John and Matt