Get fit or die trying!

Where to start – thankfully not completely from scratch as I am moderately fit and eat pretty well unless it’s the weekend or I’m in the pub, but I’m pretty flaky when it comes to any kind of endurance, particularly the uphill variety.

I’m a regular at the gym but don’t exactly push myself to any kind of limit and get bored pretty fast. I did manage a few 12 mile stints back and forth to work in the summer, and even managed a 55 miler back in the autumn but have slacked off dreadfully since the weather got frosty and the mornings dark; so without a plan (I do like a good plan) I can see the Big Ride ending in a sorry mess after a couple of days.

While browsing for training tips I came across some nice simple beginners cycling tips to help with technique, which I read carefully, but promptly lost interest when I got to the highly technical comments added by helpful souls who are clearly not beginners at all. The cycling world must be terribly modest by nature – I’ve yet to find a ‘beginner’ who is as useless as me – they SAY they are, and then sprint up hills and bounce skilfully down them while I puff and pant and fall off. Reference to ‘zones calculated from a magic number’, ‘functional, lactate and anaerobic thresholds’ just make me feel stupid, so I am going to do a makey-uppey training plan and get my jolly clever husband to vet it (did I mention that he’s a qualified personal trainer?)

On the positive side, I have signed up for a 3 mile charity run in March, which is a bit of a joke as I never actually run anywhere, even in the gym, so I feel a 3 point plan coming on – running, cycling up hills and cycling long distance.

Oops, I’m doing it again – writing about it instead of doing it. Next post will be my outline training plan. Must faff less and do more!