Our experience shows that when you leap into your training program without preparation you’re likely to come a cropper pretty early on. Before you know it you’ll find your training time was somehow swallowed up by a Tescos queue, or chatting with your mates. So this week’s Tuesday training article is all about creating a training plan you can stick to.

This is the question we put to you in last week’s Tuesday Training and it spawned a forum thread of various folk who have some fitness ‘issues’ they want to sort out this year.

Brothers, and BIKEmagic founders, Jeremy and Robin (the protagonist of last week’s piece) have their own fitness feud developing. The two of them plan to race at various venues this year. Jeremy is as determined to catch Robin as Robin is not to be caught. Then there’s Angie, Dave and others who’re either coming back from injury or want to swap poundage for extra horsepower.

Several people mentioned the Red Bull Mountain Mayhem as a goal, so that’s what we’ll do. We reckon the best way to tackle this is to sort our volunteer guinea pigs out with a fitness plan that will help them achieve their goals. We’ll then follow their progress, explaining each step we take and seeing what does and doesn’t work for them as they get nearer their goals. And finally see them all at the Red Bull Mountain Mayhem later this year.

1) Be realistic about available training time:

The first thing anyone starting on a training plan needs to do is be realistic about how much time they can spend on it. You might want to ride every other day and fit in gym sessions as well, but is that realistically going to fit into your life? It’s far better to plan one session a week and stick to it than to plan two sessions and then not make either of them. Once you start missing sessions you’ll get annoyed and frustrated, then you’ll be much more likely to pack the whole thing in.

2) Get yourself organised:
Once you know how much time you have, set about clearing regular slots. It’s far easier to stick to a programme if you earmark time that is dedicated to training every week. If you’re a family person establishing X evening as your regular training night should prevent an argument over who’s turn it is to entertain the children or walk the dog. If you’re training heavily it will also enable you to balance your training time. Name the day and the time and agree it with everyone else it might affect.

3) Start this week:

Once you’ve cleared some free time set a precedent and put the time to use. Even if you don’t actually go out on the bike make sure you don’t waste the time doing chores, meeting up with mates or watching TV programmes. Use your training slots to fully stretch out your muscles and prepare them for next week’s workout. This is especially important if you’ve skimped out on exercise over the winter. Or….

4) Get your technical preparation done:

Use this week to get your bike serviced and ensure you have all the equipment/spares you’ll need during your training programme. Think about:

• Servicing your bike – If you can’t do it yourself book it into a shop, today!
• Lights – Check they work; buy spare batteries.
• Tools – Make sure you’ve got everything you need, pump, puncture kit, allen bolt, chain rivets, money, etc.

Check you’ve still got keys for your lock.

Water – Is your bottle / Camelbak full of mould? Get a new one, today.

5) Using the commute:

If you’re planning to ride into work as part of your fitness plan use this week to scope out routes to work and the actual facilities you can use when you get there. Dreams of racing glory will soon fade if you have to clean up in a cramped work loo with only a small flannel. Check out this article for some BM commuting tips.

6) Team up:

If you’re the sort of person who needs outside motivation try finding someone with similar fitness levels and goals to you and organise to train together. We’ve got a folder on the forum specifically set up for this. There are around 50-100 ‘live’ rides at any time. Click through to find one in you area here.

And finally…
Next week we’ll be getting into the detail of the actual training programme to be developed in stages, building up to hit the fitness targets. So we’ll see you then with your PE kit all ready and raring to go having got yourself organised. Remember, if you deal with the realities and problems now then the actual getting fit part will be a breeze. Any questions? Sitck them on a new forum thread below…