YEAR TRAINING PLAN UPDATED

The original plan for next year cycling challenge was to ride the Badlands ultra-cycling event, which is very similar in terms of distance and climbing meters to the Basajaun that I end-up signing up. The two main differences are the location and the dates. Badlands is around Granada and Basajaun is around Vitoria, in the Basque Country. And the reason for signing up for one instead of the other was just bad luck or timing. For some reason, Badlands is way more popular and it was sold-out in minutes, while Basajaun still had open places. 

Another big difference are the dates. Badlands was at the end of September while Basajaun is at the end of July. Which shorten the time to get in shape and training by almost two months. Which will put a little more strain in the training ramp-up. And while I still can't go training due to the strong cold and throat infection I have for a week now, it It was a good moment to review the initial year training plan and adjust for the new dates, the type of training I will do and the number of hours I will be investing on a weekly basis. That also to make me feel better that I'm not out in the rain training or suffering in my Tacx/Spinning bike.

Every year I have an event to participate I like to create a plan with detail of what training I will do every week and which type of training every day of the week. I also plan the intensity and type of training per phases with a ramp-up towards being at top fitness just around the event dates.  I have been doing this for years now out of the The Cyclist Training Bible book from Joel Friel, which was a tip from a good cycling buddy 12 years ago. It is a great book to learn how to train effectively and focus effort, time and ways of training for best outcome. It had helped me a lot in the first years of cycling and I still use it every year to prep and review my plan.

Now the training is more or less completed and I need just to start getting the hours in. I've planned 2 "spinning" bike sessions per week, 2 fitness sessions and one long ride in the weekend. Leaving two days of  rest and recovery. That should be good enough. Later in the year I will select which events I will be participating and complete with more of them as they get confirmed or cancelled due to Covid. I have already included some of the traditional race bikes races that are around my region and will need to look for some new events for gravel / off road riding. The good news is that apparently gravel riding is really hype right now and I should have plenty of opportunities. Another thing I will be planning is a multi-day training ride (maybe two or three days) to get use to it and test myself and my bike setup prior to the race day. Maybe in the south of Holland and Belgium where the steep hills are.

Now I just need to get rid of this cold and start training!