TRAINING HINTS FOR MARCH

Anonymous quote after last year's Etape: "I've never cycled that far before!"
Don't be caught out! As the weather starts to get a bit warmer, and the evenings lighter, it is worth increasing the lengths of your rides. If you are going to seriously attempt a 150 mile ride over the mountains in July, and you want to build the length of your rides up at a steady rate, you need to start thinking of rides of 80 miles or more in March. Allowances will need to be made for the weather conditions of course. If you are planning to excell at the Etape, you may want to set your sights on rides of 100 miles or more in March, weather permitting. For most of us, a 100 mile ride is a huge acheivement in itself.

If your maximum ride length is about 30 miles at present, you will need to set your sights a bit lower. A 50 mile ride would be a good target. It is likely that you will have a bit of catching up to do later!

Effort
When you first attempt a long distance, you will probably want to include a morning coffee stop, a lunch stop and a tea stop. It's amazing how pleasant tea and cakes are on a cold day! Such a ride is not in a different league to the Etape, as there are several food stops along the way. As you get fitter, you may want to reduce the number of stops on a ride of a given length.

A good choice for your first ride of a given length (such as your first 80 mile ride) would be a fairly flat route. As you repeat that distance later, you may want to include a few more hills - maybe half the route will could be hilly. As you go on, you will be taking hilly routes in your stride.

Waiting!
At the time of writing we are all still waiting to find out if we have a place in the Etape. Are we training for nothing? Stopping training during March probably be would be a mistake, but why train if you don't know if you have a place? Personally, I've stopped waiting, and plan to progress my training.

Alternatives.
As there is a danger of not getting a place, you may want to have an alternative event in your sights just in case. I have compiled a short list of international events which would make good alternatives. Some of them, especially the Limosine, would also make excellent trainig rides for the Etape. So that you are not left wondering which one to go in for, I've only listed one per country. There are others of course! Here is my list - I hope to add more information soon.

There are also several other possibilities listed in the "Events" section of this web site.

As well as building basic endurance it is good to practice peloton riding and bike handling. You may want to get the feel of your bike's handling by putting it through its paces in a safe area such as a large area of tarmac before you try to hone your skills on twisty mountain roads, or riding in large pelotons! Trying a few extreme maneuvers such as tight turns etc in safety improves confidence – find out where the limits are in relative safety! A useful exercise to improve descending accuracy is to spot a suitable point on the tarmac ahead of you (not a pot hole!) and ride over that point precisely.

Frequency

As mentioned in the February training hints, frequency of training is an important factor. According to the sports science manuals, you need to train at least twice a week to improve your fitness. In March this might typically be one session on an exercise bike at the gym (or turbo trainer session) and a long ride at the weekend. The weekend ride could be a pure training ride, or a more leisurely 50 mile ride with friends to a tea shop or pub and back, with a couple of hills thrown in for good measure.

Commuting

Cycle commuting is an excellent training opportunity. As it tends to be over a fixed distance, the time taken gives a useful measure of fitness. Obviously this needs tempering with common sense so that you don’t arrive at work too exhausted! For some people, commuting is almost their only training opportunity, in which case an occasional extended ride may be possible when the weather and commitments permit. People have had excellent results in the Etape simply by commuting 11 miles each way to work, and augmenting this with 3-5 hour rides on alternate Sundays, or else with sessions in the gym.

Intensity

The intensity of your training rides should be quite low at this time of year, as you build up endurance. You need to recover between training sessions if you are to get fitter rather than become exhausted. If you are training many times a week, the intensity may need to be lower to allow for recovery before the next session. If you have symptoms of over-training you may need a few days break from training.

Targets are very useful for concentrating the mind. Orienting your training towards a charity ride or Audax is extremely useful. For example a 100Km Audax in March and a 200km Audax in April or May would pace your training nicely ready for the big challenge.

Training Camps and Cycling Holidays

If you are lucky enough to be able to go on a training camp in Mallorca or elsewhere, your fitness should benefit considerably. Or if you have holiday companions who cycle but are more sedate in their style, you may be able to sneak off for a really long mountainous ride for a day, for example to try out part of the route of one of the great cycle races such as the Vuelta d’Italia. On a family holiday it may still be possible to hire a bike for a day and head for the mountains.

Obviously training needs to be kept in balance with more important commitments though!

Monitoring

The obvious thing to monitor at this time of year is distance, gradually increasing the lengths of your rides. At this time of year, a flat fairly leisurely 45 mile ride should not be too great difficulty. A 60 mile ride, if not yet attained, should not be too far away.

If you are monitoring your fitness in the gym it is useful to monitor your heart rate and wattage. If possible use the same machine each week if you are measuring wattage, as machines vary a lot. As you get fitter, you will find that your wattage will increase for a given heart rate. A calculator for measuring the rate of increase in wattage with heartrate is given elsewhere on this website - click here to access it.

It is also interesting to record your average speed over a given distance, if only to prove that you are able to improve it later!

Finally, enjoy your rides, get fit and don’t over do it (too much!)