I know everyone (or at least magazines and training manuals) say you need a plan - and its true, you do.
But most plans set out weekly programmes of training sessions - 60mins on Tuesday, 90 on Thursday, Long ride on Saturday, etc
You can set out weeks of this with increases in distance or intensity, and rest weeks, and even a taper so you peak for a special event.
And I've constructed plans like this for 10 years.
Trouble is they don't work.
The first problem is that training doesn't happen in isolation - that programme of long rides on Saturday doesn't even get off the blocks once the family events, visits and trips get in the way.
Then there's your body - yes, you've decided it will do 70km, then 80 next week and then 90 - but it might not be able to do this neat progression.
Put these two problems together and you get the perfect storm of stressing out about your disrrupted training plan and then trying to catch up on inappropriate goals.
Before you know it your plan makes no sence, you've picked up injuries and are now drifting along not really sure what you should be doing.
Just recently I've started developing an alternative. I'll describe it over the next series of posts. (Part 1 of 7) Part 2
Italian events and European climbs