thewashingmachinepost

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reprinted from cycling weekly 25 april 1992

"i'm not that organised" says millar. "some weeks i say i'm going to do intervals, next week i'm tired and do five hours a day. this week, (between criterium international and tour of the basque country) leading if it's cold, i'll do five hours steady, if it's warmer i'll do intervals - you benefit more if you do the interval training, but not if it's cold."

winter - "i go out every day and do two-and-a-half hours if the sun is shining and it's dry and not really cold. i do at least two hours on the mountain bike or road bike. if it rains, i don't go out, even if it rains all week.

"i try to ride some bits like i would normally, but if it hurts too much, i pack that in. i use the same gears as in th season, but ride a little bit slower - on the hills i go two gears smaller.

"i don't sweat much, don't ride hard. when i come back i do 45 minutes weight-training, including the rowing machine. i sweat more than when i'm training."

pre-season - "i start by doing two hours every day, ride a bot faster, a bit bigger gears on the hills. if it rains, i don't go out until the third day, then don't do two days consecutively. the first week i keep within two-and-a-half hours a day, even if i'm out every day.

"the second week i go out up to three hours if the weather's ok, then i do half-an-hour extra twice a week, every week, with the maximum four-and-a-half hours before the end of january."

during the season - "if i do a complete week, i do at least 24 hours. pre-season, a decent week is 21 hours. i should have the condition to do five hours three times a week without coming home wrecked.

"with intervals it depends how i feel and what the weather is. at panasonic i had the trainer phil anderson was using - we did exclusively interval training, but the weather wasn't good enough to permit you to progress. often it was destructive more than helping you.

"on the flat i can't ride fast enough to keep my heart up - i have to do kilometre intervals and get slaughtered. it's really boring so i don't do it often. it's rare you get dropped on the flat in a race anyway."