Training for the London To Brighton Cycle
As seen in the OC News shared on Friday 21st February, Vatche Kassardjian (WG 1987) will be taking part in the London to Brighton Cycle on 15th June. During his training journey for the race, Vatche would like to share training updates with OCs in hope to motivate them to either join him or challenge themselves as well in another way.
If you would like to join Vatche’s team, please contact him at vatchik@mac.com
To read the first of Vatche’s training updates, see below:
“We’re coming up to 15 weeks before the London to Brighton cycle, and training started in earnest on Monday 17th Feb.
I’m keen to train well, finish in a good time, and improve on last years' time. It’s a fun cycle, a charity cycle, but when asking for money I want to have earned it - I want people to know that I’m not just going to cruise round, have a burger and a couple of beers on the way, but I will suffer as much as I can bear!
I guess that brings me onto the next point. I don’t want to suffer at all on the cycle! I want to enjoy it. That doesn’t seem to fit, with suffering and earning the kind donations that people will give, but being fit and prepared for the cycle will mean I will enjoy it more than a 7-hour slog feeling sorry for myself.
So, I plan to train well. Same as last year. I loved the cycle, and I loved encouraging people up those hills (as I bounded past at least some of them).
Reflecting, there was so much sacrifice. We had an 8-month-old terrible sleeper at the start of training, and a 4-year-old who needed the support that 4-year-olds do.
I had to fit the training in at nighttime and early in the morning, with many 5am starts for the long cycles on the weekends. It wasn’t easy but there was a great sense of achievement, and my super supportive wife and older son were so proud when I finished, and we had some generous donations to the British Heart Foundation to boot.
I’ve been working on core strength, building cycling essential muscles, and recovery (HIIT) over the last 6 weeks or so. This has meant meeting my trainer once a week at 6:20am on Hampstead Heath - icy, lucky he’s such a warm character. I’ve edged in a few weekly longer cycles on the Peloton, while easing out for several (very) short cycles on the road bike. Last weekend I had a 40km ride on the bike early on Sunday morning, and, once I defrosted, I planned out where I am and where I need to be to beat last years' time (3hrs 31 mins moving time, 3hrs 42 mins total time). I’ve also been playing lots of Fives, which should help with explosiveness and recovery. It’s not climbing Everest, but it’s a challenge and I’m looking forward to it.
I’m encouraging the team to get organised and get training. Most of them are cycling on a regular basis to work, so that is a great help, and we’re looking forward to some of the longer cycles to build stamina, probably from mid to late March.”