LEJOG Training Update – Part 2 of 2

In less than 72 hours I will be on my bike traversing Cornwall. Today, however, I have been crossing the t's and dotting the i's in preparation. Before I leave I want to round up the second half of my training. Let's see what happened.

I posted the first part of my training around six weeks ago. The second part is much the same but with bigger numbers.

Churning out 200 mile weeks for fun

As with pretty much any endeavour ever, consistency is key. On the face of it the mileage looks monstrous, particularly when my cycling experience is taken into account, and well it is, but I got into a groove and everything fell into place.

The highlight of those three weeks was undoubtedly the 25 mile time trial (the red circle in the upper right corner of the picture above).

A full 84 seconds quicker than my last, and first, TT!

The westerly wind (coming from the west) was probably advantageous, due to the finish line being to the east of the start. Still, a lot of work went in to averaging 24.5mph for just over an hour. I'm determined to get under the hour on this bike - I think it'd be a fantastic achievement.

My fitness seemed to be improving all the time, which was strange as usually it'd plateau, improve, then plateau again, increasing in a non-linear fashion. I put it down to the sheer volume. Incidentally it'll be interesting to see how my fitness copes with the Lejog mileage - will I be better at the end? Or will 950+ miles in a fortnight wear me down. We'll see.

I used to think a 200 mile week was a lot. So young. So naive.

So, yeah. 300 miles in a week, including centuries in consecutive weeks. Noice.

I didn't plan to do 300 miles the week after my time trial. My plan, according to my trusty spreadsheet, was "13.5 hours" which equates to 230-240 miles. In fact the following week, 25 June - 1 July, was supposed to be the week I tried to hit 300.

Looking back at the week I commuted to Greenwich on Tue, Wed, and Thu, rode to Rye and did 50 miles with a mate then managed to get out with 7Oaks tri club on the Sunday. My legs were in pieces that Sunday evening.

Rather than give them time off to recover, I kept up the volume keen to familiarise myself with riding on exhausted legs. There was also a small matter of a sub-5 hour century which has been in the back of my mind since the very first ride of this training block, on April Fools' Day.

My proudest achievement on the bike to date

The ride title says it all - Type 2 Fun. The wind blew in a southwesterly direction, providing a crosswind on the way to Rye, and causing a few problems on the stretch from Rye to Brenzett. Apart from that it was plain sailing all the way round, with a stop at mile 60 and 80 (same petrol station) to top up on food and fluids.

Well and truly spent

I spent around 10 minutes on the floor post-ride. I couldn't speak more than a few words at a time, and told Sophie to give me a minute. Eventually I came round and felt back to normal again but feeling as exhausted as I've ever felt. Utterly empty. So worth it.

A couple of okay weeks

Mileage tailing off

Running, as you might imagine, took a backseat towards the end. I ran sporadically, sometimes with Sophie, and occasionally just because I felt like it.

The red circle, in the bottom picture, was the Rye 10k which Sophie had trained incredibly hard for (consistency = results, again!). I had signed up with the view to run it with Sophie, but ended up racing it, finishing in 44:01, which I was fairly content with given the lack of miles and focus on running.

Summary
With just days until the trip kicks off, I am happy with my lot. I started tapering after the sub-5 hour century, and although it has been challenging what with the phantom injuries and the awful feeling of empty legs, I know I've given myself the best possible chance of completing Lejog and also enjoying it as much as possible.

I think I could have completed Lejog back in April, but there's no way I would have enjoyed any part of it. It's similar to long distance running in that the challenge has to be respected. I attempted a marathon once without truly respecting the distance and had an awful time. It's always much better to be sensible, I feel, and train appropriately.

To finish, some more numbers for my fellow geeks: Since April I've cycled 2,723 miles taking 6 days 11 hours and 24 minutes, climbing 134,543 feet. (Roughly four-and-a-half times up Everest.)

If you aren't aware of the reason for this trip, or would like to donate, please click here.