Be Inspired

Working with long distance cyclists I am often amazed at how the human body can be trained to cycle further and further. I thought it would be useful to help others learn from my experience by writing a blog article with some guidance on how to develop your ability to cycle longer distances.

So, how can I cycle further without getting tired? There are four main things that will help:

I’m sitting in the house after 10 days off from running due to a horrible cold. This is rare for me, normally I will train through anything, hating to miss any days. So was I right to take those ten days off? A few key factors led me to take time off: 1) I felt faint after mild exertion; 2) I had a hacking cough; 3) I was feverish; 4) it began as a mild sore throat, which I trained through and got steadily worse over three days. So on the Saturday when I was not sure whether or not to train I e-mailed my coach explained all the above and we agreed rest was best on this occasion.

I was first converted to training and racing with a heartrate monitor after pacing some key races badly. I had trained hard for these races and wanted to do well, but it became clear to me that I was not good at pacing. Since starting to use a heartrate monitor I have consistently used this to help me both train and race with some success.

There are many people who run mountain races who never win or get a podium finish. In fact, most people are in this situation and when I first started mountain racing, I never expected to win at all. The fact that I am sometimes lucky enough to stand on the podium is a lovely bonus but certainly not the reason that I am a mountain runner, or that I take part in races.

I’m sitting here thinking about the races I have run over the years. Some have been good and some have been bad, sometimes I’ve been on my period mostly I haven’t, by luck rather than design. So does being on my period mean that my athletic performance is going to be so impaired there’s just no point getting to the start line? Over the last few years there has been a lot more openness about this topic, so I wanted to find a definitive answer to this question.