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I'll be spending the 2 weeks before mostly panicing.
Is it too early to start carbo loading?
I'm planning to ride every day in the two weeks before hand, but mostly just flat 10 mile rides on my road bike at tick-over. I think it's really important to keep the legs turning over so they don't feel flat come race day.
But then I've not done much MTB racing and nothing like this, so I'm just applying running principles to the situation really, so would appreciate some input from those better qualified.
Well I have a training plan [that I never got to use] based on something Matt from Torq wrote for the mag a couple of years back
It goes something like
3 weeks to go - very hard training week
2 weeks out
Mon - rest
Tues - hill reps
Wed - Rest
Thurs - rest
Fri - easy spin out
Sat - 5 hrs moderate
Sun - rest
1 week out
Mon - rest
Tues - Hill reps
Wed - rest
Thurs - rest
Friday - easy spin or rest
Sat - race
Try and ride a bit over the next 2 weeks. GO away walking for a week. Rest in the final week before the event.
Any training plan has gone out the window, I feel quite a bit less prepared than last year.
The 3 weeks thing I posted up there was the last 3 of 13 BTW, as you were asking about tapering
I am into the final hard week of my second 4 week build period, then I have an easy recovery week, then 2 weeks to peak and a week to taper. I was up at Kielder at the weekend just to check out the area for the first time, rode the Lakeside way and all the red routes including the 1900ft climb up to deadwater fell, about 50miles with over 6000ft of climbing and legs felt good. Gear and bike is about sorted, just need to service the bb, forks & shock over the next few weeks, overall training going well, making good progress and feeing pretty good so far 😀
Some good tips guys, I recently participated in some sports science research and got my proper heart rate zones etc, bit late to be using them now though! My VO2 max is 63 apparently, racing roadies are about 70 so not too bad.
As I've got 3 totally different events to train for on the day for Killer Kielder I'm doing as much as I can fit in including early morning swims (motion is similr to kayaking) and doing evening duathlons.
I think generally there's not much point doing loads of miles at this stage, some short sharp sessions will give you more bang for your buck I reckon.
I'm doing the coast to coast virtually in the metro centre on saturday on a tacx turbo trainer with gps software whilst selling smoothies made by pedal power, a good solid 12 hour fund raising session for the Calvert Trust!
My top tip would be focus on what its going to feel like when you finish, this will help you get there.
I'm not able to do it now so have a Kielder entry for sale! £40?
Just back from two days at Kielder, 50 miles both days brought all the memories back from last year. Everything is a lot soggier than last year the reservoir is very full due to the amount of rain we've had. The trails are OK but the long sections of fire road are a lot heavier than last year. I live locally and I can't see this really changing much unless we have 2 weeks of glorious sunshine. The main thing I had forgot was how much of the singletrack around Kielder was on loose, rocky and very bumpy ground! my backside is in agony today. If you've never done it before I would recommend a waterproof goretex or similar. The forecast for the last 2 days was good but we got SOAKED for an hour both days and it won't be funny riding all day soaking wet. As the one of the girls in the cafe said when someone told her it was always raining at Kielder she said “ That's why we built a reservoir here.” says it all really. Be prepared for bad weather as it comes from nowhere around here pretty much on a daily basis. And my final tip: eat as much as you can throughout the race as it is unrelenting! Still it'll be great race you'll never forget.
My only fear is .......THE MIDGE. 😉
I was up there on Saturday. Did the ride over to Newcaslteton and Deadwater. I'll echo the above. It was very wet on the ground and some of the fire road was really tough going. It has about half an inch of what feels like wet sand on top and was really dragging.
Very little mud on the proper trails as always. If it doesn't dry up massively I'll be running mudguards as I go soaked. I was out for 5 hours and the next five would have been pretty uncomfortable had I continued.
Going up on sunday for a recce.
Doing the xborder loop so will report back on Monday.
Can't be as wet as it was the first year . . .
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/30189432@N00/sets/72157622027919649/with/3859481981/ ]Kielder 100 on Flickr. 2009[/url]
Can we all pray for sunshine!
Trying to up the fundraising on my killer kielder epic on the same day, link to my fundraising page is www.justgiving.com/killerkielderchallenge all for the local charity Calvert Trust Kielder.
cheers
Matt
Any tips on tyres guys given loose conditions, surely kielder doesnt warrant anything more than a crossmark?
I stuck a crossmark on the rear last year.It was fine.
Ive been up to kielder a couple of times this year. Both times with a crossmark xc on the rear/ ardent on the front. Last one was ok, one before that I ripped the sidewall on the descent from the radio mast just over the border.
I think I shall be putting another ardent on the back on the day.
guys, went up yesterday, although its been raining on and off for a while here it didnt seem particularly bad, just the usual sandy conditions
I will be marshalling at the cut off/ 100 mile checkpoint again so say 'Hi' if you can speak at this stage - Oh and wear some nice lycra too 😀 Oh and when you get to me there will still be about 5 miles left to go
Ah yes the 'its just at the top of this hill' ladies pain and misery were brought to many when they realised they had several miles still to go! Seriously though thanks for marshalling.
Ah yes - good luck with the 3 disciplines ! OMG I'm tired just thinking of it
Looks like we have timed that weather window just right 😥
Still ,at least it will drown some of the midge 🙂
There will be no wind (so lots of midges) and pouring down with the wet stuff a quality day out! 😈
asscheeks. looked at the five day forecast this morning and was quite optimistic.
just had another look.....buggery.
Trying to look on the bright side ,as far as I am aware, rain =less of the midge.
Trying to look on the bright side ,as far as I am aware, rain =less of the midge.
Just keep telling yourself that....
I always thought it was bright sunshine and strong winds that kept them at home....
What forecast are you using. BBC says light rain.
BBC - search Newcastleton.
Didn't you watch the program on chaos theory? There is no way they can predict. As long as it is not windy I do not care.
until thursday pm - it isn't really worth looking at the detail
http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/325?area=Newcastleton
But whatever the forecast, it could be doing [i]anything[/i] locally on the day.
Seriously, the BBC can't forecast tomorrow's weather accurately, never mind the weekend's! 😆
Youre' all right of course , but it doesn't stop me looking. 🙂
Pacelets are up at http://tinyurl.com/k100pacelet2011
Can someone double check the figures for me? A couple of the checkpoints were only 1 mile more/less than a feed station, so I just used one figure for simplicity.