When you hit Form...

Form's a funny thing. It can come and go. Suddenly here, suddenly gone. Top athletes talk about it a lot. It's that feeling when everything feels effortless, things just "click."

Coming back after Christmas, my fitness had really dropped. Combination of weather and viruses. I've been determined to try and get back in shape and I've managed - on average - 100 miles a week on the bike since.

The last couple of runs out, I've really felt like my fitness is coming back. Things just aren't as tough as they were a few weeks ago. Miles in the saddle are really helping to get my aerobic fitness back.

I thought about when I first started riding today. For three months I went on club rides and was the last up everything and always battling at the back of the group. Then "click". One day, my fitness just came. I was faster going up and on the straights. Like someone had just flicked a switch. My form had come.

Next weekend I'm helping to coach/advise a bunch of riders who are doing a charity ride from London to Ashton-under-Lyne. Shree Bharatiya Mandal, Indian Association aim to cycle up from Wembley over the Easter Weekend in support of Willow Wood Hospice and Tameside Hospital (any support you can give them is appreciated).

One of the pieces of advice I plan to give them is to get out in the saddle and put miles in their legs on the road in order to try and reach some form. Not in a gym, not running, but on a bike! I'll be posting my hints and tips for them here on the blog, for ease of reading.

For that route, which will be couple of hundred miles, my estimate will be they will need to put in at least 500 miles of bike riding to get some sort of basic fitness. Let's hope everyone has the time!!

With more miles in the saddle, I'm really hoping to build on my fitness over the next couple of months and arrive into the spring with at least 1500 miles in the legs ready for the Sportive season to start. Please let the weather be kind! How's your training going?