Stats

Start time 7:20am
Exercise time 9hrs 26mins
Max HR 157
Av HR 131
Zone 133-143
In Zone 2hrs 18mins
Above 2hrs 05mins
Below 5hrs 02mins
Kcal 6233
Distance 161Km
Av Speed 19.9Km/h
Max Speed 67.2Km/h
Av Cadence 78
Max Cadence 101
Ride Time 8hrs 04mins

Settings
Weight 76Kg
Height 169cm
Birthday 01/04/75
HR Max 168
HR Sit 54
Sex Male

Pictures

Pictures from the big day are here

Done!

Unfortunately I didn't quite make the summit of Mont Ventoux at the end of the ride, I got within 6km of the summit and I had to walk 10km to get there. My legs had completely gone and my thighs were cramping up just trying to get my leg over the top of the pedal stroke. Thinking back it's easy to think that I could have just walked the last 6km, but I had completely had it. I'm pleased with my effort though, it was quite an achievement to get to where I did. There were broken bodies all over the road on the way up Ventoux, the ambulances were stopping, putting drips in people and carrying on to the next casualty, they were very busy! People were lying down all over the place and there were plenty of them uncontrollably retching (nice!), it is a brutal climb after the previous 4 Cols and 150+km. We managed to stay 1 hour ahead of the broom wagon all of the way, which was pretty good also taking into consideration that we started about 25minutes after the official start, due to the amount of starters (10,000). I felt fine at the base of Ventoux (Bedoin) and managed the first section up to the forest no problem and we had 3+ hours to do the climb, which I thought was plenty, but then the road just goes to 12% for 10km and it was too much. I got to the water stop, mainly walking, at Chalet Reynard (6km from the top) and they had run out of water, but there was a man with a hose pipe filling up bottles. I got there just after the end of race vehicle. It was still 25degC at Chalet Reynard, which is about 1600m, it was very hot all through the ride, not a cloud in the sky all day, it must have been well over 30deg C. The coach thermometer read 17deg at 4:30am before the sun came up! I had at least 8 bottles of isotonics, about a million gels and extra water and fruit at the feed stations and paracetamol (to stop the cramp) and I still got cramp. It was a good experience and I have lots of photos and even a video whilst we were riding along. I'll put them on my Photobucket site tonight and send out the link.

The pros do the course on Saturday, so I'll be seeing how easy they make it look!

Ready to go

I'm all ready to go now, the bike is packed and the trains are booked. So far managed to avoid the swine flu as well, which seems to be rampaging around our area at the moment!

Resting and eating loads of pasta is fun.

Total training effort

Totals
28 weeks training
Turbo trainer - 3,395minutes (56.58hrs)
Road riding - 2,338minutes (38.96hrs) - 949km
Off road riding - 510minutes (8.5hrs) - 55km
Total Time 6,243minutes (104hrs)
Total Distance 1004km

Non specific training - riding to work (approx)
Commuting - 5,600minutes (93.3hrs) - 2, 240km

Final training

Week 27
07/07/09 - Turbo 90mins in Endurance HR zone.
10/07/09 - Turbo 90mins in Endurance HR zone. Felt good, plenty of energy!


Tonight will be the last session on the turbo.

Final leg

Week 26
29/06/09 - Turbo 90mins in Endurance HR zone. Felt really tired with 20mins to go, which was probably due to the exertion of the previous ride kicking in.
03/07/09 - Turbo 60mins in the top end of the Endurance HR zone. Felt tough.
05/07/09 - Turbo 90mins in Endurance HR zone. Felt good, plenty of energy!

Final warm up!

Week 25

27/06/09 - 190km (115Miles) in 9hours. Feeling a bit more confident now as that was further than the Etape, just not as hilly. Went from Nottingham to Macclesfield and back, including going over Snake Pass twice. We had a good lunch stop in Buxton on the return leg and a few quick breaks to loosen up a bit, especially on the way back. My legs started to go with about 50km left, but still made it up the final short sharp climbs. The weather was pretty warm (20+) and very humid (98%).

Two weeks of training left before the rest week, I'm going to concentrate on some longish low intensity stuff to inrease the stamina.

Turbo training

Week 25

23/06/09 - Turbo 90mins in Endurance HR.

115 Mile warm up on Saturday, so I'm resting until then!

London 2 Brighton

Week 24
21/06/09 - London to Brighton 54miles (86km). I was the first finisher out of our group, in 3hrs 26min. The start is so slow, you can't get anywhere until you get out of London and even then when you hit the first two little hills on narrow lanes, there are loads of people pushing and you can't get past, it's a bit like driving on the motorway in rush hour. You also have to be so careful of people just pulling across the road or stopping for no apparent reason right in front of you. It's quite slow when you get back into Brighton again as well as there are loads of traffic lights and you're sharing the roads with the cars again. So the ride was slow for an hour, I nailed it for the next 2 hours and a bit with a good climb up Ditching Beacon 900+ft at the 50mile point and then took it steady into Brighton for the last few mins. I then spent 5 hours on the beach waiting for all of our riders to come in......there was a BBQ and beer, so it wasn't too bad. Had a swim in the sea to cool off as well, not quite an ice bath.

Training update

Week 24

18/06/09 - Turbo 90mins in Endurance HR. It was a late one again, but it went OK, only got tired during the last 15 mins. London to Brighton on Sunday!

Training update

Week 23
• 13/06/09 -Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Felt good.

Week 24
• 16/06/09 - Turbo 85mins in Endurance HR Zone + 5 minutes at the end in the Threshold zone. It was late and I was tired but it went OK.

Training - Turbo

Week 23

10/06/09 -Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Felt good.

Training update - HR levels all wrong.

Week 23
09/06/09 -Turbo 90mins in Endurance HR zone. Did the last 30 minutes with the front wheel on a small chair! I think I’ve been training at too high a heart rate. As my HR never went much past 165 on the climb up Holme Moss, I figure my maximum must be around that, not 189 as I had estimated before. This probably explains why I’m so fast on the flat and why I die on the climbs. Need to concentrate on the (proper) endurance zone now for the next few weeks.

Training Ride - Holme Moss

Week 22

07/06/09 - 84.6km ride in 3 hr 38 min ride time 3 hr 55min including pee stop, banana and Gel stop and a few minutes sheltering from the rain! From Barnsley over millions of hills including the climb over Holme Moss. It was a very windy ride over the moors especially after we had dropped down from Holme Moss. Route

Training Ride

Week 22
02/06/09 – 38.5km ride in 1hr 24 mins through Stapleford and Ockbrock. Very pleasant ride and weather has been great recently. Route

Training ride

Week 21
31/05/09 - 34.5km ride in 1hr 7 mins to Hucknall and back (exciting, but it is a gradual up hill all the way there!).

Current Turbo session

At the moment on the Turbo trainer I'm mostly doing this:

Warm up, however long it takes to get the HR above 140

20 minutes with HR between 141-151 (usually around 146)

a.60 seconds flat out (usually 3 gears up from where I was)

b.4 minutes recovery (HR between 141-151)

c.30 seconds flat out (usually 3 gears up from where I was)

d.4.5 minutes recovery(HR between 141-151)

repeat a to d 4 times which should be a total workout of 60 mins.

die

5 mins cool down.

My turbo doesn't have any resistance settings, it just gets harder the faster you go, I aim to keep the revs around 90, but end up averaging about 86. I use Big ring front and I think it is the 3rd biggest sprocket on the cassette, but basically whatever keeps the HR in the zone at around 90rpm.

Training Update

Week 20

22/05/09 - Turbo 65mins in Endurance HR zone. Included 4 sprints of 1 minute and 4 sprints of 30 seconds 5 minutes apart. Felt pretty good.

24//05/09 - Turbo 50mins in Endurance HR zone. A killer. struggled to get HR up and keep it up through the whole session.

Week 21

22/05/09 - Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Included 4 sprints of 1 minute and 4 sprints of 30 seconds 5 minutes apart.

Week 19

15/05/09 -Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Included 7 sprints out of the saddle each of 30 seconds at 5 minute intervals.

17/05/09 - Mountain Bike ride in the peaks - 25km, starting in Edale, up to Hollins Cross, Mam Tor, Rushup Edge, Mount Famine, Edale Cross and down Jacob's ladder. Weather was OK apart from 20 minutes of hard sideways rain on Kinder. Pictures and video (including crashes!!!) here.

Evening ride

Week 19

13/05/09 - 30km ride in 1hr 4mins. Nice easy evening ride followed by a Thai curry, mmmmm. Pink eye is getting better.

Training Update with pink eye

Week 19

11/05/09 -Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Was a bit run down last week after the big ride with conjunctivitis and a cold, so laid off the training a bit. Back on it this week though, especially with the prospect of mountain biking at the weekend.

London to Brighton

It's not the Etape.........

but I'm also doing the London to Brighton with colleges from work.

Check out the sponsorship widget.

Thanks.

Evening training ride

Week 18

05/05/09 - I survived the ride last night, it was 81km (50 miles) in the end, with some pretty decent hills and it took us 3hrs 13mins. We took the hilly route through Ambergate on the way in to Matlock as well. Legs are feeling it today and my knees took some time to loosen up on the way into work this morning.

Tickets are booked

Booked the train tickets from London to Montelimar today!

Training update

Week 17

03/05/09 -Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Took it pretty easy as I'm on a big evening ride tomorrow night.

Training update

Week 17 …..12weeks to go
28/04/09 -Turbo 70mins in Endurance HR zone. Felt really good, had a few short bursts standing up to get the lactic acid going. Longest turbo session yet, probably could have kept going, but I needed to go to bed and I’d run out of juice.

Tyres and Cassette on.

The new tyres and cassette were on for the ride on the 26th. Well pleased with the continentals, I thought it was going to make the ride a bit harsh going from the 26c Kendas to 23c Contis, but they were much smoother. They feel rally sticky too

Didn't need to use the extra teeth on the new cassette, good job really as there wasnt a sniff of a mountain.....

Training ride

Week 16

26/04/09 – 76km ride around Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire in 2hr 44mins. Really nice ride with fantastic weather, felt really good. Roughly this route.

It's good to be off the Turbo.

Training

Week 16

23/04/09 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Did 2 minutes as hard as I could half way through and again at the end. Felt pretty good although the first flat out session made me feel a bit sick

Training analysis

Going back through my training diary I have noted the weeks when I have had a session which felt particularly hard:

Week 3
12 days later in Week 5
13 days later in Week 7
11 days later in Week 9
14 days later in Week 11
22 days later in Week 16

Every two weeks (ish) up until recently?

Training

Week 16
20/04/09 -Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. A hard one, legs were aching most of the way through, but once I’d got over 30mins it seemed to get easier?

Need to get the 12-27 cassette and the racing tyres fitted this week ready for the weekend ride which will start seeing the distance increase. I've got some Continental GP4000S tyres to replace my Kenda Kontenders.

Training in the Wirral

Week 15
19/04/09 - 56km ride around the Wirral in 1hr 56mins average of 29km/h. Not bad, felt pretty good all the way around. It was pretty windy and was a bit rolling, but no serious hills.

Did this loop twice.

Training update

Week 15
14/04/09 -Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Been away this week so not much activity on the bike. Felt good.
15/04/09 - Training ride with London to Brighton team mates, bit of a meander really, only 30 odd km, with a pub stop. Nailed it on the way home though to stretch the legs.

It's taken a while, but I'm actually getting used to riding a road bike. It felt all wobbly at first, but now it just feels quick!

Half Way

Week 14……Half way!

Wow, half way through the training now, that's a bit scarey.

08/04/09 Turbo 65mins in Endurance HR zone. Did 2 minutes as hard as I could 10 minutes from the end. Felt really good during the session and had to make sure the HR wasn’t going over 151

Training update

Week 13
04/004/09 49km ride from Derby to Ashbourne and back, ride time of 1hr 50mins plus stops for map checks. Had to dodge the road kill, but we found a few small hills and a particularly steep one out of Ashbourne.


Week 14
06/04/09 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Did 2 minutes as hard as I could half way through. Felt OK, but I'm feeling it today.

Stomach bug.

Not done much training this week due to a minor stomach bug, but I'll be out on the road tomorrow morning, in search of a hill or two.......

Training

Week 13
30/03/09 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Good session, legs aching a bit from the ride yesterday and the last 20mins were hard on the legs.

Cassette

Ordered new cassette from UKBikestore Friday lunchtime and it turned up on Saturday morning and all for £1 postage! Nice one.

More training

Week 12

27/03/09 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Good session, Had the new SDG Ti Fly-C saddle fitted and what a joy………..mmmmm.
29/03/09 52Km ride in 2hrs 10mins. Early start, fantastic blue skies and no wind. Fingers and toes were freezing off though as it looked deceptively warmer than it was. There were patches of frost and the odd car passed with snow on the roof! I took me 15 min in the shower afterwards to regain the feeling in my toes.

I love SDG

My bum loves my new SDG Ti Fly C

Saddle fitted.

Saddle has arrived and is fitted ready for tonight. I've been let down by SBR sports though as the cassette has gone out of stock. New order placed with UKBikestore.

Training update - Good session.

Week 12
24/03/09 Turbo 65mins in Endurance HR zone. What a difference from Saturday!! Felt really good, kept the HR up at the top end of the zone and the cadence high for the whole session. Managed an extra 5 minutes as well. What was the difference? No idea, but I wasn’t tired before I started, I’d had a 2 days off, still did the commute though. I had my pasta and tuna for lunch plus a free sample Maximilk protein drink. I started drinking the SIS Go 10 minutes before I started and it alleviated the full stomach problem. Tunes by Pink, if only all sessions could be like that….. Got rejected by the blood suckers due to a recent mole removal so no excuses from that now either.

New bits ordered for the bike

I've been meaning to get a lower (slightly) gear ratio for some time now. As I am running 9 speed Tiagra the choice was a bit limited. The only cassette I could find was the Ultegra 12-27, but everyone seems to be out of stock I eventually found one at a reasonable price from SBR sports. I'm sure my legs will appreciate the two extra teeth whilst climbing those French "mountains".

I bit the bullet and ordered a new saddle too. I've read loads of stuff on the web and the conclusion I've come to is that there is no perfect one size fits all saddle. I suffer from numbness with my current Selle Italia Filante and I was considering one of the specialized BG saddles , but there were conflicting reports on those as well as the Selle SMP saddles (which are very expensive). I have SDG Bell Air saddles on my other bikes and get on well with them so I went for the SDG Ti Fly C, which is similar, but with more of a nod to the road than the Bell Air, it also had 41% off at Chain Reaction. We'll see how it goes.

Weekend rides planned for the next three weekends, so the weather needs to get back to how it was on Saturday, looks a bit wintery outside at the moment.

Training update.

Week 11
18/03/2009 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Got the HR up and managed to keep it nice and high in the zone (141- 151). Changed the music from the usual Green Day to Seasick Steve and Guns ‘n’ Roses. Having the SIS Go during the session and the Recovermax afterwards really fills my stomach!
21/03/2009 Turbo 40mins in Endurance HR zone! I nearly died after 20mins, managed to keep it going for 40mins, just, but struggled to keep my HR up in the zone. What’s going on? I supposed to be getting fitter…. I was tired before I started and I only had water during the session instead of the GO, I had been out the previous two nights as well so hopefully the combination of factors was the killer. We’ll see next week. Giving blood on the 25th so will have to take it steady for a day or so after that.

Training update

Week 11
16/03/2009 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Felt really good at the start, but it was really hard to get the HR up and I had to push higher gears or pedal at a much faster cadence to keep in the zone. This in turn knackered my legs so I’m feeling it a bit today. Hopefully this means I’m getting fitter……

Training Update.

Week 10

13/03/2009 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Felt reasonably good and managed to get a quick sprint in at the end.

14/03/2009 Ride to Mansfield 30km in 70mins into quite a strong head and side wind. This was the same route as the 24/01/09, the discrepancy in distance is due to me cocking up the HR monitor in Jan and having to guess a bit. Felt really good. I’m sure the Recovermax makes a difference (even if it is only my mental state!).

First post catch up

Etape Diary

All turbo trainer sessions include 750ml of SIS Go followed by a recovery drink (Maximuscle Recovermax or SIS Rego). Training is in addition to the daily commute to work, which is 5 miles each way (20mins) total of 3hrs 20mins riding per week.

Week 1
05/01/09 Turbo 35mins in Endurance HR zone
07/01/09 Turbo 40mins in Endurance HR zone
09/01/09 Turbo 40mins in Endurance HR zone
11/01/09 Turbo 40mins in Endurance HR zone
Week 2
14/01/09 Turbo 40mins in Endurance HR zone
15/01/09 Turbo 40mins in Endurance HR zone
New bike received on 17/01/09 J Scheeeerrwinnnn….
Ride to Mansfield 30Km 64mins lots of calf cramp.
Week 3
19/01/09 Turbo 45mins in Endurance HR zone - Felt harder than usual – 3 week syndrome?????.
21/01/09 Turbo 45mins in Endurance HR zone - Good at the start, felt sick near the end (had a big curry 1hr before!) but did 2 mins high intensity at the end).
24/01/09 Ride to Mansfield 34km 80mins (Via Hucknall).
Week 4
26/01/09 Turbo 45mins in Endurance HR zone
28/01/09 Turbo 50mins in Endurance HR zone
30/01/09 Turbo 50mins in Endurance HR zone
Week 5
02/02/09 Turbo 50mins in Endurance HR zone
04/02/09 Turbo 50mins in Endurance HR zone - Felt really hard, not sure if properly hydrated.
07/02/09 Turbo 55mins in Endurance HR zone

Week 6
11/02/09 Turbo 55mins in Endurance HR zone
14/02/09 Turbo 55mins in Endurance HR zone (SIS Rego afterwards – legs a bit sore)http://s233.photobucket.com/albums/ee65/playfords/Road%20Bike/?action=view&current=EtapetrainingFeb2009_high.flv
15/01/09 Ride to Edwinstowe 35km 80mins + on to Mansfield 12km (headwind) 30mins. Total of 47km in 1hr 50mins. (Had a SIS Gel at Edwinstowe and a cup of tea! SIS Rego in Mansfield – legs a bit sore again).


Week 7
17/02/09 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone, felt pretty good (Not sure if the SIS Rego is doing its thing as my legs ached the next day, need to use the tub up so I’ll keep using it and then go back to Maximuscle Recovermax).
19/02/09 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone.
21/02/09 Turbo 60mins (total of 34mins in Endurance zone!) I nearly died on the Turbo (slight exaggeration)....I watched the race DVD that came with my trainer and I blew up after 20mins, after that I couldn't get the heart rate up at all (Max 140) and I was really blowing. I managed to carry on for the full hour, but I was coughing and wheezing afterwards and my lungs felt like they were full of fizzy coke!! I'm hoping that I have a bit of a virus or something.


Week 8
23/02/09 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Felt really hard again especially on the legs? New Giordana body clone bib shorts arrived and are very good. (Spurs beat Hull 2-1, at the KC). Legs ached the next day, still on the Rego.
25/02/09 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Better this time, HR kept up well.
28/02/09 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Felt pretty hard on the legs.
01/03/09 Mountain biking in the Peaks. Hathersage Circuit 30km, 1000m+ climbing including Shatton Moor and Hope cross. Very muddy. Link - http://s233.photobucket.com/albums/ee65/playfords/Mountain%20Bike/Hathersage%20circuit%20Mar%2009/ 3l of SIS Go during with Rego, a pint of tea, a bacon butty and half a flapjack after for recovery mmmmmmm.


Week 9 – 19 weeks to go…..
03/03/2009 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Struggling with tiredness, could be overdoing it??
08/03/2009 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Went OK

Week 10
10/03/2009 Turbo 60mins in Endurance HR zone. Good hard workout this time, first time for a full hour in the zone plus warm up and warm down. Back on the Maximuscle Recovermax, stopped drinking so much coffee at work. Legs are hurting throughout the session now as I need to push myself harder to keep the HR up. Weight still exactly the same as is was 10 weeks ago (75Kg)!!!