Well that is my first event for the season ticked off. Coming at the end of a planned rest week meant I went into the ride refreshed with no muscle soreness( can't say the same now). I also had a massage during the week to sort out any lumps and bumps. I had set a goal of an average speed over the 100km of 30km/h and I wanted to better my Willunga climb time from last year. Both of those ticked off as well. I took about a minute off my willunga climb time. From the top of willunga to the finish… Continue

I'm in to week 3 of Base 3 training now. This is where time on the bike tops out. This week I have 20 and a half hours planned. While the focus is still endurance, muscular endurance, speed and force, I have increased the intensity on the muscular endurance and force sessions. So this week looks like this;…



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Well its been a while since I last blogged mainly due to the number of hours I've been on the saddle. I had my second rest and recovery week last week which finished with my 'test' aerobic time trial. Unfortunately I haven't planned an appropriate time to check my OwnIndex and resting heart rate is the past week.

Time for the 8km TT was 13:55 down from 14:36 4 weeks earlier. By my rough calculations thats a 4.5% reduction in time. Average speed was 34.4 up… Continue

Well I've been thinking that I should blog again but nothing had really happened and then today I had my first DNF that wasn't caused through injury. Before I beat myself up too bad there has been a change of routine due to the Worlds this week. Mondays are usually programmed as rest days and this week should have been a rest & recovery week after 3 pretty solid weeks of training in Base 2. What I planned for this week was a couple of pretty intensive days Monday and Tuesday and then not… Continue

Ive just finished my first rest and recory week so it seems like a good point to update progress.

As blogged previously my average on-bike speed is increasing and is now 11% faster than my starting point 8 weeks ago. My running speed is 15% faster.

Other indicators are:

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Being injured gives you time to think but it's funny the different perspectives you get. My first thoughts were along the 'Oh No' level. Missing out on a big week of planned training how will I retain fitness blah, blah, blah. Then some perspective; with the weather the way it was last week I doubt I would have been able to ride before and after work anyway. So if I am going to have an injury then at least this is the right week for it. Then just as I thought I was recovering… Continue

Well I was all set to start this one somewhat triumphantly BUT…I’ve succumbed to my first injury in rather embarrassing circumstances. I’ve strained my right calf – running across Rundle Mall to get out of the rain. I’ve

missed my planned rides today and I’ll rest tomorrow as well and hopefully it will settle down. I’ve still done most of my Pilates and weights session tonight but nothing on my legs.…

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As you can see from my previous blogs I am in the lucky position to assign a reasonable amount of time to training. In the preparation phase it was 12 hours a week, in base 1 it will build to 18:30 a week and in

base 3 it will max at 20:30 a week. All up I have planned to allow almost 400 hours of training up until the Mutual Community Challenge Tour. By the time Coast to Coast comes around I will have done almost 490 hours of…

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Just a short one this time to update where I’m at with my schedule.

I have now completed my 4-week period of ‘preparation’. I’m very happy with how this phase went. I have lost about 3kg, did my longest ever run (since running cross country at primary school) at 90 minutes and my longest time on the indoor trainer, also 90 minutes. No real soreness to speak of although my drivers… Continue

Firstly thanks for all the positive feedback from the first blog. It has certainly given me incentive to keep blogging. Sorry this blog is a bit long but it gets to the heart of structured training.

So what is the purpose of training in heart rate zones? The theory is to adapt 3 systems – cardiovascular, power and lactate to allow you to ride harder longer. Training in zones takes a ‘layer cake’ approach of…

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Here we go again. ‘Season 2011’ starts now. A few people have asked me about structured training plans and some general discussion here has touched on the subject so I will attempt to blog my way through a training

plan aimed at peaking for the Challenge tour in January 2011 and again for the Coast to Coast. I’ll be riding both of these as a member of the…

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