First 4 months training....

September:
• Month Training : 47.5 hours
• Monthly Road Miles : 367 miles
• Hours to date : 47.5 hours
• Mileage to date : 367 miles

Did the Prostate Cancer Tour of Britain ride in Stoke – 145k which took 5hr 40mins including stops. Rode with the Sharp4Protate team and a couple of Rapha Condor team riders (Kristian House and Ben Greenwood). This was my longest ride I had done (ever).
By the end of the month had done my first ‘200’k ride with Dan – it was hot – with punctures, drink stops, pee stops and generally dawdling took 9hrs – at this pace riding across America would take 9 and a half days so… work to do.

October
• Month Training : 79 hours (5 week month)
• Monthly Road Miles : 760km +8.5hrs on the mountain bike
• Hours to date : 126.5 hours
• Mileage to date : 1350 km

Did a couple of ‘200s’ one with Paul and one solo and a 150 – Karl joining the 150 as his first training ride (the first ride with all 4 ‘team’ rides out together). Solo ride was a highlight – 8hours 20 mins including stops out through the Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex countryside on a beautiful day. Group rides are getting faster (still ‘only’ 27-28kmh) feeling strong. Weather changed – now wet…

November
• Month Training : 34 hours (trips to Hong Kong, China, Beirut, Barcelona)
• Monthly Road Miles : 380km
• Hours to date : 160.5 hours
• Mileage to date : 1750 km

Always going to be a poor training month with two work long trips out the country and a planned weekend break running a half marathon in Spain. Didn’t really settle into the month once the clocks changed – weather wet and fairly miserable and not quite set up for riding in the dark – mileages shorter and no real plus points. Had my worst ride in months (a 70k ride in gale force winds and rain) it hurt and I struggled. To make matters worse rode in an old pair of shorts that when wet chaffed badly – didn’t expect to list nappy rash as one of my injuries!
Bounced back with a great solo ride through the Surrey hills after getting off the plane from China. Ended the month with a 1:29 _ marathon off the back of limited training – the end of my legacy training plan for the middle distance triathlon in May….. It doesn’t feel like I made the most of the training ‘opportunities’ through the month – a little frustrated at my lack of discipline and focus.

December
• Month Training : 13.5 hours (Holiday to New Zealand)
• Monthly Road Miles : 180km
• Hours to date : 170 hours
• Mileage to date : 1930 km

Off to NZ for a 4 week holiday and tapered a little early! Also quite busy at work. Managed to get four runs in whilst in NZ before the new year as well as doing 3 long day walks. Rode a bike once in NZ but I am not sure cycling round the Marlborough vineyards counts as training ride –nice wine though!
30/12 ripped a calf muscle in left leg running 45 minutes into the run out of Wanaka and a long way from the motel at about 7:30pm – amazingly a mountain biker riding the track I was on leant me his bike so I could ride back into town (easier than hopping), he ran back and we met in the town. Even noting this down it doesn’t seem real hard to believe he just gave a complete stranger his bike (and helmet)
Checkpoint: 4 months in and I have managed to cover about 1/3 of the RAAM distance on a bike. I am feeling a little out of my depth and I am beginning to get a grasp of just how big a challenge this is going to be. Not quite reaching the point of blind panic but it is beginning to look a little scary and quite daunting. Guess the only option is to get my head down, put the mileage in and see what happens…….