220’s Winter Training Advent Calendar (Part 4)
Part four of our Winter Training Advent Calendar contains lots of useful tips, including why your Christmas tree shouldn't be the only lit up this December...
24 Eat Sensibly
Slap bang in the middle of winter, the Christmas and New Year period, with its parties and fine foods, is there to be enjoyed. But try not to let it become a total three-week blow-out. No-one wants to be dragging an extra 2-3kg up the January hills if they can help it.
25 Tape Up Your Cycle Shoe Vents
Tri-specific cycling shoes often have vents under the balls of the foot to force air in to cool your feet. No good in the winter. Five-pence worth of making tape will sort the issue and will be the best money you’ve ever spent when it’s 3°C outside.
26 Go On A UK-Based Weekend Training Camp
Outstanding scenery, the chance to train with other athletes and a concentrated does of mileage mean that two- or three-day camps are a brilliant winter proposition.
27 Be Visible
Winter = darkness, bad weather bad poor visibility. If you’re out on the roads at any time of day, make sure you’re in hi-vi colours and sporting more lights than Oxford Street at Christmas.
28 Get Out With A Group
When you’re not as focused on doing really specific session, getting out with others for long group rides or runs is sociable and passes the time in a much nicer way.
29 Have Two Pairs Of Training Shoes On The Go At Once
If it’s wet out, have one pair stuffed with newspaper drying while the others are in use.
30 Be Progressive
The same training each week will stop yielding results after a while. Make sure that volume or intensity are creeping up gradually to stimulate adaptation and improvements.
Matt Baird
Editor of Cycling Plus magazine 
