Amateur MTB Marathon: Spring training update

Training

Well, by now you should know roughly what I've been doing to train so far - but how has it been going?

As Jon mentioned in the basic training article, my focus has been around building a really big base to my fitness. Right from the start of January I've been going out as much as I can, not riding particularly fast and just slowly grinding the length out.

Since our initial session, I've got a heart rate monitor and I've succeeded in churning the miles out and lengthening those rides. The biggest shock was how difficult it is to climb something like Whites Level at Afan and actually keep my heart rate as low as I need to though!

The training is definitely working and I've been mostly getting out twice in the week and once at the weekend to focus purely on training. With the post Christmas bloat in early Jan, I was struggling to ride more than two hours non-stop. By mid Feb I'd got my weekend rides up to six hours, stopping only to refill my hydration pack and shovel some food down. My training really peaked at the end of Feb with the two day Barnstaple to Bristol epic I did with my mate Matt - a twelve hour ride on the Saturday followed by a ten hour ride on the Sunday! As brutal and depressing as it was at times, it was definitely the first time I started to believe that 24 was even doable!

Things haven't gone as well since though. I obviously took a week off from training after that two day effort - which kind of turned into a fortnight off, really just riding casually and mucking about in the woods on test bikes. In fact, March hasn't been all that productive at all! At least the fitness gains haven't been lost, I did a six hour road ride as good as non-stop with hilarious ease so I'm still feeling good spending longer periods in the saddle.

I'm really keen to start ramping things back up again and Jon has suggested we might start upping the intensity a bit now that my base is good. I need to be careful though - injuries can be a blight for all of us in training. Late in March we had a bit of a session in the Bristol woods just racing round some rare dry laps on the Bristol Bike Fest course. I felt great and was having fun showing off the results of my training! My knees were a little sore afterwards but nothing to worry about - until the following weekend where I limped back round a long training ride at Brechfa in agony!

Which brings us up to know. I've done a few shortish road rides since (2-3 hours) and the knees feel ok, just not massively strong. And if I really gun it, they don't exactly hurt, but they don't feel great either. Something to keep an eye on and hopefully they'll come back to me. Right now it feels like I've banked the fitness gained in the early season and I guess I'll restart the cycle slowly building back up again.

Nutrition

My work with Jamie was a huge success early on. I'd lost over a stone from Christmas up until mid March, this wasn't even a primary aim, just a side effect of cutting the bad foods out and training well. I've fallen off the wagon a bit with Easter though and I've definitely put a few kilos back on in the middle area. When I'm on the wagon, I've just been enjoying fresh home cooked meals (and left overs for lunch) and eating Jamie's porridge recipe for breakfast every day, along with as many fruits and vegetables as I can squeeze in. Importantly, there's been no Crisps and Chocolate - bloody Easter aside! So it's not been anything difficult or revolutionary, just commonsense, healthy living. Must get back on the wagon, my groggy, energy-crashing self is creeping back as my diet has gone slack!

I've started taking some clinical strength supplements, it's too soon to see any results but hoping they'll put a few of my deficiencies right. I've also got some Omega 3/6 oil supplement to add to things, Jamie reckons it's lovely but I'm on the fence at the moment. I've been adding it to my Porridge in the mornings and it's flavouring and changing the texture a little and I'm not exactly thrilled by it. He reckons I should just man up and take it from the spoon which I may try!

We're going to start doing some work on training food as this will ultimately become my race day food.

Events

Obviously it's all about the 24! But I've entered myself into a couple of additional events to keep the training interesting and to give me a chance to practice just being at an event and riding. In May I'm doing a local Bristol Sportive, 100 miles. I'm also doing the Bristol Bike Fest, 12 hour pairs. This event is a big deal in the Bristol MTB scene and I ride every year with local club The Cheesy Riders. Should be good and I can't wait for the 24!