At the start of this month I began the training programme that will hopefully lead me to a place on the podium at cyclo cross National series. Better still prepare me for some cross racing in the homeland, Belgium.

I've chosen to use the theory of 'cycles' to plan and monitor training.

This is a marcocycle lasting 7 months. The macrocycle is split into mesocycles lasting 4-8 weeks.

Each mesocycle will have a specific objective.

Mesocycle 1 - General Preparation - build fitness, core strength, weight loss, re accquitance with handling and geometries of cyclo cross bike

Mesocycle 2 - Specific Preparation - specific skills (dis-mounting, climbing, cambered turns), improved speed, improved lactic capacity, plyometrics

Mesocycle 3 - Competition - maintenance of technique, further improvement of anaerobic lactic power

Each mesocycle is split into 1 week microcycles. Largely they remain fairly repetitive during the Meso 1. Though this will help me understand what elements of Meso 2 I need to develop, do in high volume, high intensity or maintain.

Blimey what alot of homework I've given myself. BRING IT