Yvonne (29) is training for the Zuiderzee Classic. On September 28, 2013, she cycled 220 kilometers. She blogs about her preparations for Sante.nl.
Yvonne: Here I am again! Last week I was busy training for the 220 km that I will cycle during the Zuiderzee Classic. I try to plan my workouts somewhat ahead. Especially on weekends I can cycle long distances and work for hours. During the week, after work, two hours of cycling is about the max.
Last Saturday I slept in and did my shopping. Then around dinner time I crossed 50 km on the mountain bike in the woods. Because of the time, there were hardly any people in the woods; what a rest. Nature smelled wonderful and on the way I saw three deer up close; cool face!
Tour through the Netherlands
On Sunday 4 August I did a 180 km tour from Driebergen-Rijsenburg (Utrechtse Heuvelrug). My friend, his brother and I were planning to make a shorter trip, but it was going to be a beautiful summer day, so we decided to cycle a bit further. The alarm went off at 6:30 am; quite early for a Sunday morning, so take a deep breath first. "Do I have to get out? For real? Then I thought to myself, 'Oh yes, tour! Training for the Zuiderzee Classic! Come on, let's go!' Yoghurt with muesli, glass of water, bars and filled bottles for the road, sunscreen, helmet, gloves, bicycle...I'm ready.
The tour was fantastic, 80 km went over all the climbs in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug and the other 100 km went to Oosterbeek, Arnhem and Wageningen. In total we took about 1400 altimeters, so the acid was quite in the (upper) legs at the end of the ride. Along the way a lady, Siegrid, has joined us. We didn't know her, but she cycled alone and we rode about the same pace; cozy! In this way, the four of us toured kilometer after kilometer at a nice pace, sometimes with each other, sometimes with a larger peloton. Everyone visibly enjoyed the beautiful trip on a beautiful summer day.
No time for a rest day
When I got home, my stomach started ringing; so eat and drink something first. After a nice shower and a well-deserved Italian ice cream, the legs went up; peace! Unfortunately no rest day on Monday; I always give spinning lessons. So another hour of banging. Fortunately there were a lot of enthusiastic people in the class so I got through that hour well. I can't take it easy in my class because I've been training all weekend; heavy climbing is heavy climbing! I could feel my legs, but I knew I had rest days on Tuesday and Wednesday. Great moment to complete my planning, but more about this next time!
Fun fact:Siegrid will also be cycling the Zuiderzee Classic! She has signed up with my team, absolutely great! We are now four ladies. Do you want to sponsor us? Look at www.zuiderzeeklassieker.nl.
Read all Yvonne's blogs .
