• Meals: Dinner

On arrival at the airport in Carcassonne, you will be greeted by your training coach for the week, who will transfer you to his period 16th century house in Chalabre, The house is full of quirky nooks and crannies and is in fact a converted shoe factory. Once we’ve all unpacked and settled into our rooms we will get together for our first evening meal of the week. Here we will have our first taste of the healthy, tasty food made from local produce and prepared daily by your very own trained chef. Over dinner we can have an informal chat about what individuals would like from the coming week, often skills like how to improve climbing and descending or maybe goals for the coming months, any areas of weakness etc. We will also have the opportunity to enjoy a glass or two of locally produced Midi-Pyrenees region wine, and a chance to get to know each other.

• Meals: Breakfast, dinner

After a hearty breakfast, your coach will spend time showing us how to put together a specific and targeted yearly training plan, and how to break this down into monthly and weekly periods. Each training plan is designed with personal goals, targets, weaknesses and limiters in mind, with a view to demonstrating over the week how to put these training sessions into action.

Once the finer points of creating an annual training plan have been discussed, and how periodisation works, it will be time for our first taste of French roads!

Our first ride will be an opportunity to see how to ride within the zones described in the training plan – for example a 2 hour ride in zone 3, developing aerobic capacity and endurance, followed by a 1 hour ride in zone 2 for recovery and base training.

At the end of every day our coach will discuss the reasons behind the type of training we have covered, what systems the training develops, and how, when and why to incorporate this type of training into an annual training plan. We will also be told how to recover, how to test for results and what results to expect.

• Meals: Breakfast, dinner

Our second day in the saddle represents the first real challenge of our Pyrénées Fitness Week, as we will enjoy a medium paced ride from our base at Chalabre to the summit of a moderately challenging climb, such as Col de Port. This ride will allow us to get used to spending long periods of time climbing in the saddle using moderate exertion, and a chance for our coach to advise us on the selection of gears, climbing technique and bike position.

At the summit of the climb there will be a short break for food and drink, and to discuss the finer points of descending a col. We will then descend the col before using the return leg to Chalabre to spin the legs in zone 2 and recover from climbing our first French col of the week. Once back at Chalabre, we will deservedly tuck into our delicious home cooked dinner, basking in the glory of the day’s achievements out in the Pyrénées.

• Meals: Breakfast, dinner

With any training plan, recovery is just as important as the training itself, as it gives the body an opportunity to adapt, replenish energy stores, flush out the lactic acid and repair damaged tissues. Without recovery, there can be no further training without risking illness or over training. With this in mind, we will enjoy a gentle paced recovery ride at an easy pace to, for example, the historic town of Carcassonne. This will give us an opportunity to take a more relaxed look at the vast and varied French countryside, and just enjoy being out on the bike. At Carcassonne we will have the opportunity to take in the beauty of this fortified town, sample local cuisine and tradition, before heading back to our base at Chalabre where we can relax and prepare ourselves mentally for the challenges that lay ahead for the rest of the week.

• Meals: Breakfast, dinner

Today we have a transfer out to a tougher ‘Hors Categorie’ climb – Plateau de Beille, for example. At just under 16km long, the climb is 1,255m with an average gradient of 7.9%, reaching a maximum of 10.8%. Don’t be put off by the statistics. At a regular pace the climb is completely manageable.

Today’s ride will allow us to work on our power and recovery, as we climb the col, group size allowing, riders will be shown how to take their turn on the front with sharp bursts of high exertion and then allowing the group to swallow them back up, and have a ‘rest’ at the back. Whilst riding in the group, we will be riding at medium to moderate exertion level. We will take time to work on climbing position, pedalling technique, how to accelerate out of the saddle on a climb, and how to recover in the group.

After a fuel break at the summit we will descend the mountain, with the intention of improving our technical ability and develop our descending skills, learning how to tuck into the aero position, brake for the corners, and then to accelerate out of them before returning to the tuck position. With an Hors Cat climb under our belts we head back to Chalabre in the support vehicle.

• Meals: Breakfast, dinner

For our final big day in the Pyrenees we will head up yet another col. Leaving our base we will head out to on flat roads, past meadows and lakes, before heading towards the foothills where the climbing begins. With the fun and games over, the serious business of tackling a Cat 2, such as Col du Portel begins. As we climb we will ride the first part in zone 4, allowing us to concentrate on climbing technique, position, and pace.

After getting used to the steady uphill rhythm it is time to shake it up a bit and we will ride the final part of our climb as if we are setting the pace at the front of the peleton, attempting to drop our nearest rivals, riding in zone 5, and with the final km to be ridden as close to your maximum effort (or zone 6) as is sustainable. Once at the top, we will have time to eat, drink and recover, before heading back to our base at Chalabre.

• Meals: Breakfast, dinner

Similar to riding day 3, today will be an opportunity for us to spin the effects of the week’s training sessions out of our legs and kick start the body’s adaptation and recovery processes. After our exertion on all of the climbs we’ve treated ourselves to, we will be offered a leisurely recovery ride over some of the less challenging roads on offer in the Aude department. It will give us an opportunity to truly enjoy the picturesque French countryside without having to focus so much on the training specific elements of our trip, and also a chance to talk with our coach on the road about the finer points of the training sessions and techniques we have covered during your Pyrenees Fitness Week.

We will once again make a stop to sample some of the local cuisine and enjoy a glass of locally produced red wine before heading back to our base at Chalabre for an opportunity to wind down after our week of training, and sadly, start packing for our return home.

• Meals: Breakfast

After our final home cooked breakfast of the week we will transfer back to Carcassonne for the journey home, hopefully feeling fitter and stronger and brimming with confidence!