Ouch

So, after the session planning my training programme I thought I’d do an hours cardio session in the gym.  Five minutes into a gentle warm up jog on the treadmill and I go and strain a calf muscle.  Quite painful to walk now.  Will have to rest it until new year.  Bugger!

Mileage plan for training

Met with Ryan at the gym today to discuss a training plan for LEJOG.  He suggested increasing the mileage as follows:

So approx 120 miles per week in Jan with the 4th week being a recovery week before upping the weekly mileage each month until I’m doing 200 miles per week in April.  I’ll aim to include increasingly long rides and perhaps for one week in March do 3 consecutive daily rides of around 70 miles.

I’ll be using the gym to build some cardiovascular fitness as well as taking advantage of it during recovery weeks.

Also got some exercises to do to strengthen my trapezius muscles to minimise neck pain/stiffness on longer rides (I mentioned I suffer from this).

All very useful stuff.

Training update

A combination of too much work and bouts of illness over the last month or two have put paid to any serious start to the training but I can sense things are starting to improve.  Over the last couple of weeks I’ve managed to get in the odd commute (40 mile round trip) as well as getting back in to the gym for some cardio workouts.  I’ve even made an appointment with Ryan at the gym (who’s a keen cyclist himself) to prepare a suitable training programme.   So, the motivation is there and this can only be a good thing as the weather starts to get a lot colder.  Met Office are even predicting some sleet and snow this week!

Aim this week is 1-2 long commutes, at least 3 sessions in the gym and a mountain bike thrash round Clumber Park trails.