I have started training for Lost Dot 101 which starts on 10th May in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. It's a 1200km (ish) route finishing up in Cordoba, with a few checkpoints and parcours, but otherwise free route. I've mostly been doing indoor cycling and going to the gym, partly due to my injury last year and also the weather is a bit gross. I've been trying to do 2 high intensity interval based sessions a week, and 2 strengthening and condition sessions, focusing on building strength and stability. These have been all over body workouts, targeting my core, my arms and upper body, my legs and lower body, and also I've done some sessions specifically for my back, neck and shoulders. I invested in some personal training sessions, ensuring I've got good technique when doing the different weights and exercises, as I'm very wary of injuring myself again.
I'm also trying to do some daily stretching and yoga, to improve my flexibility and posture.
Going forwards, I'm continuing to do 2 interval sessions a week, and 2 strengthening/conditioning sessions, in addition to more outdoor cycling. My aim is to do 2 outdoor cycles a week, hopefully increasing this to 3 a week, and maybe even 4/week by March. It gets easier as the weather gets better and it gets lighter outsider for longer.
One cycle is an easy shorter ride (a few hours) and the other will be a longer one. I'm hoping to gradually increase the distance of the longer cycle. My aim is to get to 100km by the end of Jan, then up to 200km by the end of Feb, and 300km by the end of March.
I'll also need to start doing some longer back to back rides. All going well, I will start by doing a long ride (150km +) and then trying to do another 100km ride the next day. And then just gradually increase the distance of both, so I can hopefully do two back to back rides of 250km.
Words by Fran Scott
