TORQ in your Sleep 12 hour solo

How about this for a cheeky training ride?

https://www.entrycentral.com/honc

got any specific training plan on the computer or just spinning the legs for the time being?

The turbo is really just to keep me spinning through the worst of Winter and try to shed a few pounds. I'll be doing the occasional mtb ride as well, to make sure my bike handling doesn't suffer too much.

Thought I would add my goodwill to you BN! I admire your courage to aim for something new. I hope you get to enjoy the process and prep for the race as well. I'm subscribed and look forward to reading your updates. Well done m8

Good luck for this! Looking forward to reading more about the prep as well.

Thanks! @youramericanlover @xkittyx

BN - how's it going? Would it help motivation to give us a regular update on training?

Entries have opened! Howard sounds keen for the 6hr, I'm ambivalent.......

I realise it doesn't sound like much

12 hours riding sounds like a lot to me. Smash it mate!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXsQAXx_ao0

BN - how's it going? Would it help motivation to give us a regular update on training?

Good idea. I'll do an update and rough 'plan so far' after this evening's turbo session.

Entries have opened! Howard sounds keen for the 6hr, I'm ambivalent.......

Just saw that the other day on their facebook page. Will get the entry in soon :-)

Smash it mate!

If there's a 6'7" vets category, I might even get on the podium!

My view when riding for the past 2½ weeks

Those windows really need a clean.

my view

2.5 weeks .. jeez! Killing it ..

i am in such a bad shape strava-wise ..

i am in such a bad shape strava-wise ..

Digital EPO?

Right, slight update ahead

I've really not felt like going out recently, so making use of Zwift to get my legs moving. Typically doing rides of between 2-3 hours, 2-3 times a week. I won't be doing any rides longer than that until I start heading outside again, where I'll probably do a mixture of longer road rides, and shorter, more intense mtb rides. I intend to build up both mileage and ( to a certain extent ) speed gradually, as I've no wish to burn myself out before the event. Will be adding some upper body stuff soon ( mostly press ups and some rowing ), to get the arms, shoulders and back a bit stronger.

Been making a few small tweeks to my riding position on the turbo and road bike. The Talbot is pretty much dialled, but I'd like to be able to switch between my bikes without any risk of injury, from using drastically different riding positions. In terms of various things to watch out for physically, I get a little sciatic pain in my left leg and a certain amount of metatarsal pain in my right foot. Leg pain is mostly kept at bay with regular stretching and the foot pain is helped by decent footbeds in my shoes. I have a new pair of my current shoes to break in before then and some new inner soles to try out.

Food wise, there's a few things to sort out. My stomach can't handle the casual stuffing of pretty much anything that it could when I was younger, so will be trying out various snacks & energy products, to see what I can stomach best.

Speaking of stomachs, I will have to lose a decent amount of weight to make this less of a chore. I'm currently about 115kg, which I think is about 2x regular XC racers? I can't even bear thinking about a diet in the middle of Winter, so will move into that very gradually. Ideally, I'd like to be around the 100kg mark by August.

I had a couple of rides last year where I had to stop, due to getting really out of breath, and ended up seeing the doctor. After blood tests, a chest x-ray and an ECG coming up fine, it was decided that my breathing problems were linked to anxiety. I ended up trying some relaxation and breathing exercises and even using one of those little powerbreathe units for a while, but mostly, it was knowing what the problem was that allowed me relax a bit more when I started getting that breathless feeling.

Some good news is that I've compared the data from a recent ride to one from this time last year and discovered that for the same power output, my average heart rate ( when riding ) is a good 20bpm slower than it was. I'm definitely not any fitter than then, but not going into the red zone because of slight panic feels like a great improvement. Part of my training now will be to apply this relaxation to riding outdoors.

Sounds like you are doing well mate. Keep it up.

First time out on the bike this year. Thanks to @TomvanHalen for helping to get me out of the house.

https://www.strava.com/activities/853775559

I've just about got the mud out of my teeth now.

Do it...

Regarding food / energy on the bike I really rate Torq for something that actually tastes nice and is pretty neutral. Also skinny, I think, linked to some Skratch lab sweets that wiggle were selling off short-dated. I bought 6, thinking they would be packs. I got 6 boxes of 10 ha! Luckily they are really nice too, much better than gels tbh.

Happy to bring you some of either / both next time you're in London, or I'm up in Suffolk, which shouldn't be too long

Something else to consider. I'd not heard of the Scratch Labs stuff before.

Cheers, Tim!

Have entered the six hour - will be trolling you for the other six hours

Oh, but I never troll you about anything....

oh wait

I wonder how many times you'll lap me?

I wonder how many times you'll lap me?

If @Howard does his normal training routine, zero.