Etape du Tour May Training Diary
It's May and for Etapists, that means the really hard slog is over and the Etape du Tour is just around the corner.
Rob Harris is a veteran of the Etape du Tour and he's been writing a monthly diary for Sports Tours International to help its customers prepare for one of the hardest cycles they'll ever tackle.
This year is even more special as the Etape is split in 2 and some will be riding either the Alpe d'Huez or the Issoire and the toughest will be taking them both on.
While April was really tough, May is all about house-keeping and making sure you've ticked all the boxes and ready and raring to go. It is however also a busy time for us physiotherapists as the end of May and early June are generally the peak times for injuries, so make sure you keep up the stretching exercises.
Here's a snippet from the article:
May is about consolidating April. We gave you loads and loads to do in April and when you look back at the April article it is actually quite a tough read because all of a sudden you have got structured interval sets, you have got speed rides, volume rides, we are asking you to increase hills, we are asking you to increase intensity and for all but the most disciplined of Etapist or those without jobs, we will have only got part of it done.
So in May the plan is to look at everything we’ve done so far and bring it up to speed.
We need to make sure the foundations we laid in January, February andMarch are done. Really be honest with yourself and check and double check all the basic structures of the framework we’ve been putting into place and make sure that every box has been ticked.
Are there any elements here, such as cadence that we need to readdress during this month?
While you’re doing all of this, I’d suggest writing down any areas of weakness so that you can really work on them in May – again you really must be honest with yourself here. It’s a bit like revision.