Monday 21 May 2007

Days off? (Training days 13-16)

The advice you can find on the Internet is generally third hand, conflicting and difficult to find. Depending on how I want to approach training, there is generally some website I can find that confirms my views. So should I be training every day, or every other day? I can't really tell - some sites have suggested the critical thing is to get on the bike every day but others advise that the stamina really develops during the rest days. And other people and sites have suggested cross-training in some other exercise instead of rest days,

So I have a conundrum for these few days - I have no access to either of my bikes - so do I train or take the time off? I settle for a short training session in the morning, and resting for the remainder of the day. With no access to my bikes, I am forced to use a gym. How I hate these places. It's many years since I used a gym, and I had forgotten the tedium of cycling without moving. I manage ten miles a day of interval training of the cycle machine - even with TV to watch while I am exercising, this is all I can manage before the boredom finishes me off. I add a 1km row to strengthen arm muscles and leave at that.

At the end of day 14, I have completed 137 miles in the second week of training - that's 245 in total since I started. I have accomplished 30 miles in a day twice this week, and now aim for 40 miles in a day by the end of the third week. With the new road bike almost untouched so far, I feel this step forward is readily achievable.

Training summary:
day 13: 10 miles today, 236 miles total
day 14: 10 miles today, 246 miles total (137 miles in week 2)
day 15: 10 miles today, 256 miles total
day 16: 10 miles today, 266 miles total

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