Starting last year, my girlfriend Rachel and I decided to undertake a physical challenge for charity – last year was the Three Peaks challenge. We could raise money by other means, but a physical challenge is infinitely more appealing than a sponsored event involving no real physical effort. It is also an opportunity to experience challenges we wouldn’t usually undertake and ultimately there is a gain for others as well.

Following on from the success of last years’ challenge, we are going to complete the End to End challenge on push bikes – we will cycle from John O’Groats in Scotland to Land’s End in Cornwall in 5 days.

Fundamentally this is a fitness site, and the point of this article is to outline our starting point from both a physical condition and training perspective. The additional details (sponsorship, logistics, organisation, equipment etc) are to be saved for following articles. Right now, I want to outline our preparations from a fitness perspective only.

Rachel and I train 4 times per week, with a very heavy bias towards resistance training, save for the occasional spin class, football match or indoor rowing session on the concept 2. Our training is for general conditioning, not event-specific. With this challenge in mind, our training has to change to become absolutely specific towards the event. Having climbed and driven through the highest mountains in the UK (many of which we will encounter on our bikes), I know exactly how unforgiving they really are. To put it simply, if we don’t prepare for the event, we will be quickly found out. There will be a huge and embarrassing spotlight on the lack of preparation for the ride.

Physical conditioning will be the most important point on the agenda outside of equipment, and our training regimen has to change as a result.

We are currently training 6 days per week on the indoor bikes as an initial preparation for the required muscles, finding and getting used to a comfortable cycling position and putting ourselves through the monotony of having our legs turning for long periods of time. The real work starts when the weather improves and we get outside – already we have a couple of 180 mile routes in mind, meaning we will have already cycled the required daily distance a few times before the challenge starts. I don’t want us to go into this unprepared, so the work starts now.

Straight from the off, it is important to mention we are not cyclists. We are not used to the specific strains on the body that cycling exposes you to. These strains are the constant flexion and extension of the knees, the saddle-soreness, the constant flexion of spine and hips by maintaining a forward-leaning position. The potential for disc injury in this position is much higher than usual, so we have to prepare our bodies for these stresses. Like a non-runner deciding to run upwards of 30 miles per week without any gradual wear-in time, it would be very unwise of us to go straight into 8 hour cycle trips.

Stretching and massage is now to become a very important part of our preparation. The variety in what we do is vital to prevent injury. We are taking care to ensure we stretch thoroughly almost every day. Additional massages using the vibrogym ensure we keep our muscles in a relaxed state away from training. I want to make sure we cover all bases in the preparation. We are at an advantage over many other people when it comes to physical preparation – I can take care of the training and nutrition plans, whilst Rachel has the injury risk and prevention strategies covered. Between us, we don’t have any reason to be ill-prepared!

Training

Like any long-distance event, we have to split the event into three main sections…

1. Endurance – the ability to maintain a constant pedalling level for 10-12 hours per day.
2. Speed endurance – the ability to maintain a good average speed for long periods.
3. Power – the ability to drive ourselves up the mountains we will encounter on our way.

Each of these are important in their own right, and each one will require special attention as we progress. Initially, we have to focus on the first two. From the off we need to be working on our endurance – without the ability to keep going, the challenge moves from 5 days to more, and we lose the very essence of what makes our challenge slightly different and a challenge. Lots of people travel the length of the country on bikes, but most people do it in 10 days or more.

The speed endurance is also important – we will need to average around 15mph for 12 hours per day. This is not a difficult speed to average over a couple of hours, but when you factor in mountains and traffic, it means we really will have to make the most of the times when we can pick up speeds. It also highlights the importance of being able to switch between effort levels and intensities in the same ride. There may well be days when we have covered less miles than we need to in order to make our daily total, so we will have to stay on the bikes for longer to hit the daily target. Each day we will have an end point in mind, and it is up to us to hit these points. If we don’t, our challenge is over.

Currently we are cycling 6 days per week. Three of these are long endurance sessions of around 90 – 120 minutes, with a cadence of around 100rpm. Twice per week we are performing a speed endurance session, aiming for an hour of a fast pace. We are currently hitting around 30-32km in an hour – a figure that will increase as we progress. Although this may not translate in the real world on real bikes it is a start.

The final weekly bike session is a spin class, ideal for combining the hills with periods of sprint intensity and rests – just like the real thing. It also provides us with a break – the grim reality of indoor cycling is the monotony. I’m not going to pretend otherwise – staring at a studio wall when your challenge is months away is a pretty boring rite of passage.

In addition to the obvious cardiovascular preparation, we are undergoing a heavy weight training programme over 3-4 days per week. The programme is really simple – heavy compound lifts, 4 sets of each, 6-8 reps (to failure).

• Bench press
• Squats
• Deadlifts
• Shoulder Press
• Chins
• Power Cleans
• Dips

Aside from the importance of strong muscles for the ride, I am conscious of the fact that I don’t want us to lose too much lean mass. We are undergoing a lot of stresses and strains, and as a result will need to be robust enough to cope. Losing muscle from endless cardio and not enough resistance work certainly won’t help us when our bodies are being dragged through the mill.

We have decided to document all of the details of the challenge, including the physical changes along the way. At a later date will add the changes in our physical capabilities, but for now we have the basic stats from a body analysis performed using standard personal training equipment.

Starting Physical Stats 31/01/2010

The above measurements are a snapshot of our physiological size at the very
beginning of our training. This is post Christmas, and the damage is still very
evident! Christmas 2009 was a particularly indulgent one, with excessive alcohol
and food consumption for 11 straight days, and a non-existent exercise regime.
The lack of work in the gym was only too apparent when we went back for the
first time… and nearly threw up in the shower afterwards!

So there we have it – an initial snapshot of our challenge, preparation and ongoing training! Keep reading to see the progress, and to learn more detail about the training for the challenge. As with most of the articles on this site, I will stick to the science and more specific training information. Feel free to interact and ask questions on any detail of the challenge and our training.

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