Week one is slightly misleading if we are being honest. However on Saturday morning a group of men dressed in varying colours of Lycra assembled on our drive to start again on the build up to full fitness following our injury problems. Whereas lime had never been so popular, Jamie had obviously just arrived from his Milk Tray delivery run and missed the "wear neon" text message.
We started doing most of the preparation for this route towards the end of January with the aid of two very helpful individuals, Barri Rawlings and Simon Gow.
Barri runs a bootcamp training session which is a high intensity, high impact, high everything fitness class. It is so good I actually attended more than once! Check out the website at www.bmifitness.net and if you get a chance to attend this type of fitness class I would highly recommend it for strength, stamina and generally just enjoying moving around more than you do now :-)
Simon Gow, is a Biomechanics coach who hosts a spin session at one of the local Gyms in Wrexham. All of the team have attended one of the eight week courses that build up with endurance, strength and speed sessions. He also helped set up my bike which I thought would be just a case of changing the seat post but ended up involving an iPad, video and a Reebok step the like of which I have not seen for a good few years.
We honestly could not be doing this without them. More than just the classes they run, the support and encouragement we have received from them has been excellent and truly motivational. There is nothing like being shouted at to go, go go as you ride or cycle up a hill with Simon or Barri and these proved a good basis for our general fitness improvements over the last few months.
Without going into too much detail I have lost around a stone in weight and become far more aware of what I am eating and when I am eating it but the classes are great fun and I now feel worse if I dont exercise. Which is odd.
I also thought I was reasonably naturally fit. I managed to run a 10k once in around an hour with next to no training (although I paid for it afterwards) but have come to realise that was not fitness it was willpower. As a result when I started both of the training courses above, willpower had a lot to do with my desire to "not be left behind" in the first session. This had two effects. One, I nearly died in the Bootcamp warm up let alone the fitness test and camp that followed and Two, I nearly died in my first spin class which was a "recovery ride" i.e. to relax after an exerting ride.
But we have stuck with these classes for the majority of the team with Monday, Wednesday Friday Spin classes and Tuesday and Friday bootcamp sessions I can honestly say I am probably in better physical shape than I have been for the last fifteen years.
Week 1 training
Last week two of us had bootcamp on Tuesday and Friday and Spin starting again on Monday with a Lactate threshold test, and endurance rides on Wednesday and Friday. The observant amongst you will note that Bootcamp and Spin are both on Friday and I can tell you that this is not easy with a strained knee tendon and when you forget your cycling shorts. I really had underestimated how beneficial they were especially on a saddle that is not your own.
Favourite phrases for the week heard during the sessions:
"Sweat is like fat Crying"
"Boom, Boom, Boom.."
The other two are sticking more with the idea of hitting the road whenever possible so are not attending this type of training.
Rides
The above has been supplemented with regular Saturday rides and some weekday rides where possible. We have done the following main routes:
Shotton - Chester and back - Two main bicycle paths linkng these locations and around 30 miles
Llandudno to Wrexham - around 60 miles along a reasonably flat coastal path with the wind at your back :-)
Ludlow to Wrexham - Around 60 miles after getting the train at an ungodly hour in the pouring rain.
Many trips to Prestatyn and back from Doddleston.
This is not the complete list of rides as there have been other smaller routes around Wrexham, including a really short, sharp route leaving Wrexham and including Marford Hill, Llay Hill and Griffin hill from Llay into Gresford. I only actually realised how steep that was when we reversed the route and there was a person walking their bike in the opposite direction!
Week 1 rides
There was the usual Doddleston to Prestatyn round trip by Lee, whereas Richard Mike and Barry were embarrassed by two far fitter/more experienced cyclists on a trip from Wrexham to Chester and back.
This is a relatively easy 25-30 mile loop but includes the downhill benefit of Marford Hill as you leave Wrexham but does have the uphill drag into Penn-y-ford that you can see as the graph. One thing I found having done this a second time is that the benefit of going into Penn-y-ford as opposed to using the bypass is the quality of the roads is much better
The team also benefited from a lovely hale shower halfway along the road from Saltney to Broughton retail park which caused a slight stoppage at a bus stop. I am not sure we can use this tactic for the LEJOG trip though and still claim we cycled.
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Riding in a straigh line whilst leaning on a 30 degree angle is an unusual feeling and without getting too Eric and Ernie about it, we really could have done with wipers for the sunglasses we were wearing. This was also the point where I reached for my water bottle and then had the interesting thought as to where that may be now...and had I actually picked it up out of the kitchen in the first place? Turns out I hadn't but note to self that trying to do any reasonably sizeable ride without a drink is not a good idea.
This was also the point where a few people tasted the "juice" that Barri had brought with him. It was a concoction of a variety of fruits and vegetables "I'm getting Celery.." is the only quote we can provide as to what this tasted like that does not breach our family friendly policy.
There was also a moment of amusement for myself as I headed down the hill in Hope at a reasonable pace with the group right behind me and Richard a short distance ahead. Head down, to keep up the pace I cycled along to reign Richard in when I realised there were no longer three other people right behind the back wheel. It turns out the home-made mud guard that Mike uses to directly aim water at your face if you are right behind him had fallen off and the team were busy collecting the bits, as opposed to my initial belief that I had developed a turn of speed akin to Sir Chris Hoy and had left them in my wake.
On a personal note, knee is sore but holding up. Actually more painful after coaching rugby today and having to run a little more so still needing to treat it with care but grateful that it is improving.
Next steps though is to consider a Garmin 800 to make sure we can track our route and include routes from the internet so if anyone reads this and can offer advice then we would love to hear from you.
We started doing most of the preparation for this route towards the end of January with the aid of two very helpful individuals, Barri Rawlings and Simon Gow.
Barri runs a bootcamp training session which is a high intensity, high impact, high everything fitness class. It is so good I actually attended more than once! Check out the website at www.bmifitness.net and if you get a chance to attend this type of fitness class I would highly recommend it for strength, stamina and generally just enjoying moving around more than you do now :-)
Simon Gow, is a Biomechanics coach who hosts a spin session at one of the local Gyms in Wrexham. All of the team have attended one of the eight week courses that build up with endurance, strength and speed sessions. He also helped set up my bike which I thought would be just a case of changing the seat post but ended up involving an iPad, video and a Reebok step the like of which I have not seen for a good few years.
We honestly could not be doing this without them. More than just the classes they run, the support and encouragement we have received from them has been excellent and truly motivational. There is nothing like being shouted at to go, go go as you ride or cycle up a hill with Simon or Barri and these proved a good basis for our general fitness improvements over the last few months.
Without going into too much detail I have lost around a stone in weight and become far more aware of what I am eating and when I am eating it but the classes are great fun and I now feel worse if I dont exercise. Which is odd.
I also thought I was reasonably naturally fit. I managed to run a 10k once in around an hour with next to no training (although I paid for it afterwards) but have come to realise that was not fitness it was willpower. As a result when I started both of the training courses above, willpower had a lot to do with my desire to "not be left behind" in the first session. This had two effects. One, I nearly died in the Bootcamp warm up let alone the fitness test and camp that followed and Two, I nearly died in my first spin class which was a "recovery ride" i.e. to relax after an exerting ride.
But we have stuck with these classes for the majority of the team with Monday, Wednesday Friday Spin classes and Tuesday and Friday bootcamp sessions I can honestly say I am probably in better physical shape than I have been for the last fifteen years.
Week 1 training
Last week two of us had bootcamp on Tuesday and Friday and Spin starting again on Monday with a Lactate threshold test, and endurance rides on Wednesday and Friday. The observant amongst you will note that Bootcamp and Spin are both on Friday and I can tell you that this is not easy with a strained knee tendon and when you forget your cycling shorts. I really had underestimated how beneficial they were especially on a saddle that is not your own.
Favourite phrases for the week heard during the sessions:
"Sweat is like fat Crying"
"Boom, Boom, Boom.."
The other two are sticking more with the idea of hitting the road whenever possible so are not attending this type of training.
Rides
The above has been supplemented with regular Saturday rides and some weekday rides where possible. We have done the following main routes:
Shotton - Chester and back - Two main bicycle paths linkng these locations and around 30 miles
Llandudno to Wrexham - around 60 miles along a reasonably flat coastal path with the wind at your back :-)
Ludlow to Wrexham - Around 60 miles after getting the train at an ungodly hour in the pouring rain.
Many trips to Prestatyn and back from Doddleston.
This is not the complete list of rides as there have been other smaller routes around Wrexham, including a really short, sharp route leaving Wrexham and including Marford Hill, Llay Hill and Griffin hill from Llay into Gresford. I only actually realised how steep that was when we reversed the route and there was a person walking their bike in the opposite direction!
Week 1 rides
There was the usual Doddleston to Prestatyn round trip by Lee, whereas Richard Mike and Barry were embarrassed by two far fitter/more experienced cyclists on a trip from Wrexham to Chester and back.
This is a relatively easy 25-30 mile loop but includes the downhill benefit of Marford Hill as you leave Wrexham but does have the uphill drag into Penn-y-ford that you can see as the graph. One thing I found having done this a second time is that the benefit of going into Penn-y-ford as opposed to using the bypass is the quality of the roads is much better
The team also benefited from a lovely hale shower halfway along the road from Saltney to Broughton retail park which caused a slight stoppage at a bus stop. I am not sure we can use this tactic for the LEJOG trip though and still claim we cycled.
.JPG)
Riding in a straigh line whilst leaning on a 30 degree angle is an unusual feeling and without getting too Eric and Ernie about it, we really could have done with wipers for the sunglasses we were wearing. This was also the point where I reached for my water bottle and then had the interesting thought as to where that may be now...and had I actually picked it up out of the kitchen in the first place? Turns out I hadn't but note to self that trying to do any reasonably sizeable ride without a drink is not a good idea.
This was also the point where a few people tasted the "juice" that Barri had brought with him. It was a concoction of a variety of fruits and vegetables "I'm getting Celery.." is the only quote we can provide as to what this tasted like that does not breach our family friendly policy.
There was also a moment of amusement for myself as I headed down the hill in Hope at a reasonable pace with the group right behind me and Richard a short distance ahead. Head down, to keep up the pace I cycled along to reign Richard in when I realised there were no longer three other people right behind the back wheel. It turns out the home-made mud guard that Mike uses to directly aim water at your face if you are right behind him had fallen off and the team were busy collecting the bits, as opposed to my initial belief that I had developed a turn of speed akin to Sir Chris Hoy and had left them in my wake.
On a personal note, knee is sore but holding up. Actually more painful after coaching rugby today and having to run a little more so still needing to treat it with care but grateful that it is improving.
Next steps though is to consider a Garmin 800 to make sure we can track our route and include routes from the internet so if anyone reads this and can offer advice then we would love to hear from you.
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