It’s well worth the wait. (I hope)

(If you’re of a certain generation these lines will ring a bell. They are from a Tragically Hip song titled Long Time Running.)

I was scrolling through this website the other day while writing a LinkedIn post and I noticed a pattern. I tend to only post these days when something epic/big has happened: no water, anniversary, Marc’s burst appendix, hockey practice with the Ottawa Charge, swim meet, cyclocross racing, etc.

I’ve been in a bit of a writing drought lately. I chalk this up to having the best of intentions to post here, feeling like I don’t have much to write about, and simply not feeling like sitting down in front of my laptop in the evening.

But hold onto your hats, cause I have big plans to write regularly again. I’m pretty sure I’ve made this promise multiple times… but this time I mean it. Because I have something exciting to write about.

Marc and I have registered to ride the L’Etape Du Tour De France Femmes Avec Zwift.

On August 6, we’ll ride from Vaison-la-Romaine to the summit of Mount Ventoux.

This is a 120 km ride, the last 70 km of which is on the same roads the professional women will race along on August 7 as part of the Tour De France Femmes Avec Zwift.
The highlight of this route is the climb up the legendary Mount Ventoux from Bedoin—15.7 km at an average gradient of 8.8%.

In simple terms: this is a lot. I’ve ridden Mount Ventoux twice. The first time was ridiculously difficult and the second time, I had to get off at the Tom Simpson memorial and walk the final 600 meters.

This event on August 6 will be the “feature” day of riding for us in a two week trip to France to ride up and down mountains, sit in cafes and eat ice cream and read books, visit markets and historical sites, watch the Tour De France Femmes Avec Zwift in real life, and just generally celebrate life.

The really cool thing about the L’Etape is that our anniversary is on August 7 and on August 8, it will be my (our) 10-year stomaversary. I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate both milestones than with my favourite person riding our bikes and enjoying our healthy, fit bodies.

Which of course brings me to why I plan to post more regularly. Back in the early days and years of this website, I diligently chronicled the ups and downs and ins and outs of training for and racing cyclo-cross in Canada, the U.S., and in Europe. I posted daily about everything that was going on, openly sharing my goals, hopes, fears, and innermost thoughts.

While I don’t plan on going this deep (well, who knows, I never know what is going to come out of my fingers when I start writing) this time around, I do want to share my training journey with you.

I’ve got a long way to go to reach the level of fitness I need to enjoy a two-week cycling holiday in France.

I want to go to France knowing that I have the fitness to do a long ride in the morning/afternoon and still have the physical and mental fitness to enjoy the rest of the day.

I want to start the L’Etape on August 6 knowing that I do not need to worry about time cuts and that I will without a doubt complete the event.

I want to be able to ride up mountains and enjoy it.

So this means I need to ride a lot this winter and I’ll be buckling down with my weights to help build more full-body strength.

My plan right now is pretty simple—I’m following the Zwift 12-Week FTP Builder program. I’ve done this program before and found it to be very effective.

I plan to do this program, see where I am with my FTP and then make some decisions from there on the best plan to hit the FTP number I want to have when I get on the plane.

Right now, my FTP is low. It’s 160 watts. For perspective, when I was racing cyclo-cross and was at my peak in 2010, my FTP was 260 watts.

My goal is to reach an FTP of 230 watts. This is a big ask. I’m a 53-year old menopausal woman who hasn’t trained seriously in many years.

Fortunately what I do have is an iron will and deep base of endurance training in my legs and soul. I also know what it’s like to really dig deep in training and racing.

And for my weights, I’m continuing to work with Luc Mahler at The Movement Company—he’s been awesome at putting together a doable and balanced weight program for me.

This winter will be a lot of Zwifting, fat biking, weight workouts, foam rolling, mobility work, hockey, and a little bit of swimming. I can’t wait.