Scottie R's Training Blog

My training has been going well, I have had a few blips to getting where I am at now. I am currently totally sick of cycling, talking about cycling in fact anything to do with cycling! I have done 3 century rides in the last month. The first was quite hard (on my own), taking in the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria! Not an easy route but completed in 6hrs 30. The second century was with Scotty M and Jamie R (same route), 1^st half of the ride we were going at an excellent pace, however 50 miles in and both hit a brick wall, Scotty R with a hangover and Jamie R not eating or drinking and thinking his body can keep going!  Lesson learned on his behalf, if you don’t feed the machine the machine will fail. A bottle every hour and a half and an energy bar seems to keep me right with a recovery drink at the end (after I have picked myself off the floor).

The two three hour rides are getting really easy now (finally). Mentally I am prepared if not a little nervous. I am starting to worry about the 100 mile Sportive event in Richmond. I would like to complete the course in less than 6 hours, however this could be painful, I may have to settle for a silver medal (7 hours). The Sportive is not a race; however I am already focussed on overtaking the rider in front of me. A silver medal would be very respectable for someone who has only been road cycling for a year.

The last three nights 14,15 and 16^th May, I have done 2 hour rides which have been very enjoyable. I am actively looking for steep hills and preparing myself mentally to get up them. I just set myself little goals throughout each ride to help me get through the tough bits. I have still not had a look at the route we are doing as I know I will lose sleep worrying! Are there any hills in Scotland?  If so don’t let me know.

I am now 4Ibs of my target weight for the ride. I have managed to lose just over 2 stone since 1^st March from eating a lean protein diet (Dukan) and exercising quite a bit. I'm starting to realise the importance of eating properly when training hard, what a difference it makes both mentally and physically!  Please, please do not think you can ride 1000 miles and just cuff it!

 After speaking with various members of the team, we are all at the same stage mentally, sick of riding, sick of talking about cycling and sick of receiving emails! (me being the biggest culprit followed by Tats). I suppose it is only natural to feel like this. I think we all just want to get on with it now. I had some good news about the C2C I'm taking part in a few days before the 1000 mile challenge, we are only completing 50 miles a day over 3 days with climbs of only 250m. Last years C2C ended up at over 180 miles and it was the most painful thing ever. Start stop constantly over a 12 hour period. The lactic acid in the legs was unbearable!