Saturday morning (Training day 21)

Early start again - alarm set for 6.20 - at the weekend. Aim to get through today's training before my children arrive at lunchtime. Head out to my (now) favourite hill (the Zig Zag road at Boxhill) and head for Westhumble, Wotton and Ranmore. The descent from Ranmore Common down into Gomshall is scarey at times, but peaceful on a quiet Saturday morning. From Abinger, instead of going straight home, I take a righ down to Leith Hill and Coldharbour. Finally get home to meet the girls for lunch and a rest.

This was 32 miles according to Google maps, my longest single journey for some years. Probably my longest trip since the London-Brighton event (20-ish years ago). This was a good long trip, but I didn't quite make 40 miles, which was the target for this week. So a bit of work to do tomorrow. At the end of this (third) week of training, I have totalled 147 miles, which brings my overall total to 395 miles.

With my girls staying for the week, I know that training is going to be difficult at times this week, so I won't get up to 50 miles in a day, but I want to get to 45 miles by the end of week 4. That leaves my final week of training to hit 55 miles in preparation for the (average) 65 miles a day on the tour.

Training summary: 32 miles today, 394 miles total (147 in week 3)

Kicking off (Training day 20)

So, nearly the end of week 3 - will I make it to the goals I've set for this week? There seem to have been so many interruptions and distractions. But, whatever these are, I must work through these - it isn't going to get any easier. Next week is half term, so my children will be staying with me - even more distractions to a carefully planned and orchestrated training regime! (?)

Set off the long way to work - 17 miles through Wotton and Ranmore Common. Ranmore Hill is the most difficult part of this - an 18% gradient which is great practice for the tour. The worst of the hills one the tour will only be very slightly worse than this aty 20% - that's a one-in-five for all you pre-metrication readers out there.

Even with my new road bike, this is quite a start to the day, but my legs feel less like jelly by the top of the hill compared to last week. And the sponsorship site is continuing to drive my motivation to complete - with the money pledged online and offline, there is now over £1000 raised for the Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign.

Head for home in bright sunny weather and take the long scenic path. Through Ranmore, Gomshall and Wotton, this 22 miles is the longest single ride for couple of weeks, and leaves me with energy to spare. And that takes the total for the day to 39 miles - close enough to feel confident about my goal of 40 miles for a day this week.

Training summary: 39 miles today, 361 miles total

Getting Serious Again (Training day 19)

Finally time to start the day with a training session. Having not done this for a week, I take the mid-route to work - 11 miles up Ranmore Hill and through Westhumble before attacking the Zig Zag road. This puts two significant hills under my belt before the day has even really started. Chocolate milk on the corn flakes seems to help this, mentally and physically!

The sponsorship site is going from strength to strength - £660 in the first two days it was up. I am amazed by the generous contributions from many of my friends, family and colleagues. I followed up with some more emails to continue the success.

Although I'm in a rush to get home, I use the same mid-route as getting to work. With my new bike, it's no problem to get through the 11 miles nearly as quickly as the direct route used to take me. In the evening, passing round a form at my evening class (wine-tasting if you're interested) generates more sponsorship.

Training summary: 22 miles today, 322 miles total