JULES AND PHIL'S 2008 ETAPE BLOG

MARCH 2008 - JULES STORY

Link to January Blog ..more
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Link to January Blog ..more
Link to March Blog ..more
Link to April Blog ..more
Link to May/June Blog .. more
Link to July Blog ..more
Link to Etape Aftermath Blog ..more

The Fight Back!

I've managed three sessions on the turbo trainer in the last week and I've got my Ernie Wises spinning again, it felt so good to be back on the bike, even though I was only sitting in my garage surrounded by the kid's bikes, old cots and high chairs, deflated dinghies and paddling pools and general paraphernalia; and while I'm riding I'm thinking that I should give the garage a bit of clear out…but for now I ride sod that list of jobs (sorry wife).

What would your kids rather have? A tidy garage and a fat dad or a fit and healthy version who walks around the kitchen in lycra while eating their breakfast and stretching their hamstrings.

On Thursday morning I took my first ride out on the road, it felt great to be out again and I span the pedals in a very low gear through the twisty lanes that criss-cross Romney Marsh. Romney Marsh is pan flat and virtually traffic free and will be ideal for my first ride, it is literally on my doorstep and is one of the most highly under-rated areas to ride in Southern England .

From Hythe you can ride out towards Rye and Tenterden and loop back via Dungeness for the surreal experience of having a cup of tea and cake next to a nuclear power station, two light houses a miniature railway and some idiosyncratic looking fisherman's huts (the yuppies have moved in).

It feels like everyone who comes in to Cyclefit is out at the weekends scouring the countryside for hills, Etape fever is certainly growing. At this time of year climbing all the time just wears you out and doesn't let you get in to a nice rhythm, when the pros train in Majorca they stay out of the mountains, they say that there is plenty of suffering to come riding up hills and mountains later in the season.

Just keep cruising and let the fitness come to you, don't go chasing it with hill reps and heavy interval training, ride steady and build the all important base fitness, your body will respond better later in the year when you ask it to.

If I want to simulate climbing on Romney Marsh I can steer the bike into the Westerley winds and grind away, and it can go on and on and on, like the Tourmalet…..

The Training Plan – if you can call it that

I reckon I should be able to start riding in to Cyclefit in a couple of weeks and I will keep tapping away and building up the hours in the saddle until the Mallorca Training Camp at the end of April.

It gets a bit hectic after that with a recce trip to the Tourmalet and a long weekend in the Alps (places still available by the way) in May. In June I will have another 4 days in the Alps at the Tour de Mont Blanc and then a few weeks to recover before the event itself. All this riding combined with our busiest time at Cyclefit should leave me completely nackered for the big day.

 

Phil and I plan to include a longer Wednesday morning ride in to our schedule on our cross bikes out to Epping Forest, more for our souls than for fitness; it would also be nice to ride as much as the Rapha boys who are always mincing about in the Chilterns.

Read my review on my own Serotta Ottrott SE ..more

Happy riding

 

PHIL'S STORY - Eight hours of training, The Poo-Shuffle and the inevitable collapse

I have just put in a six, a seven and now an eight hour week. I am irritable, very snappy, confused, forgetful, my body is in pieces and way too dog--fatigued to even contemplate my fifteen minutes of pilates homework. As a consequence I will get found out by Fiona at Sports and Spinal – that means that Alex Fugallo will disown me and refuse to treat my back and hip. I will no longer be able to make love to my wife. She will then leave me for a younger and fitter specimen. I will get depressed and kill myself.
I am just Living that Etape dream baby...

Before 'the collapse' I had even added in a few impromptu ‘intervals' off the bike for variety. ‘Van' our border terrier is addicted to other canine's poo. Whilst long over the social humiliation of our little dog busying himself with fresh deposits whilst me and Mrs Cavell maintain conversation and unflinching eye contact with the depositor's owner, it has been drawn to my attention that this is probably not good for the wee chap's long-term digestion?

So I had taken recently to breaking into urgent little shuttle-runs to administer a disappointed scolding whenever his whiskery chin got absorbed into some murky unspeakablness. For his part Van would try to engineer at least a twenty five yard gap between me and the loosest and most fluorescescent stools that he could find.
Post-collapse I don't care - he can eat it off my shoes and then lick my face for all I care.
Living the dream..

Postscript – And one week on:
And virtually a whole week off the bike – only three hours ‘commuting' on my palmares. Still tired but apparently lost my death-row thousand yard stare. This is going to be harder than I imagined. I stopped riding seriously (2003) at a time when to maintain my performance I would have had to either increase or rationalise my training. So now my body is especially slow to adapt to any kind of increase in training loads. I am constantly riding that fine line between healthy exercise and driving my body into serious deficit. There is no point in simply aiming at hours or miles in the saddle that much is clear now. Instead I will ride March on how I honestly feel. I hope to re-start my shuttle runs next week – so fill yer boots whilst you can Van.

Jules threw his crutches away last weekend and took up training as if he had never stopped. Looks great, feels great, is great. Bastard.
He has always the enviable ability to get fit just by looking at his bike. I hear he is planning to race next week?

But we all do well to listen when Jules starts talking about training. He doesn't do it very often. His wisdom worked for Jenny Copnall and it works still for Warrick. He always errs on the side of being kind to his body; tempts it into fitness if you will. In all the years we raced together I never once saw him come to the line over-trained or lacking a race-plan.
For me I have a memory and consequent dream of 2003 when me and Old Fast Legs Spence were in a break together - it was the last time I remember that sublime feeling of really pressing hard on the pedals - it was just impossible to hurt myself. Right now it seems impossible not to.
'Just keep cruising and let the fitness come to you....'
Wise words Jules - don't we know a song about that?

Phil

Link to January Blog ..more
Link to February Blog ..more
Link to March Blog ..more
Link to April Blog ..more
Link to May/June Blog .. more
Link to July Blog ..more
Link to Etape Aftermath Blog ..more

MALLORCA 2008

We now have the dates for our Spring Mallorca Training Camps, great riding, good company and we'll fix your punctures ... more
CYCLEFIT/GPM10 TRAINING CAMP SPRING 2008
Week one: 12th to 19th April ( London Dynamo )
Week two: 19th to 26th April
Week three: 26th April to 3rd May
To register your interest click here

 

info@cyclefit.co.uk

www.cyclefit.co.uk