Seven steps to prepare for a multi-day sportive

Consistency is the key

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Consistency is important in any training schedule, but it’s all the more important when training towards a multi-day event. Ensuring there is consistency to your training over a prolonged period – ideally five months or more – is the key to being able to produce at your best day-after-day. 

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Whenever you take a prolonged break from training (more than five to seven days) you start to lose fitness. Ultimately this means that on your return to regular training then not only are you not going as well, but you also can’t quite handle the same training load.

Instead of cracking on with those hard hill intervals, you will need to take a step back for three to five days to get back into the swing of things. If you went straight in at the level you were training at prior to the break then chances are you won’t be able to handle the load and your fatigue levels will rise very quickly. As a result, you will need to include additional recovery into your training to compensate and by doing that will miss out on some of the hard sessions you may have penciled in to a consistent training programme.

This kicks off a vicious circle of missed training causing a loss of form, which means you can’t handle hard training as well, need more recovery and eventually miss more training. Keep your training consistent to give yourself the best chance of progressing quickly.