A first time A2A skater's training

Do you want to just finish the whole 87 miles in tact, or do you have a time you're shooting for?

Some casual suggestions based purely on my own past experience (2 years doing the 38 miler and 4 years doing the 87) -

Find people to practice 'pacelining' with. Being able to hang with a pack is critical to improving your time on A2A. Less wind-resistance and more momentum going downhill.

Spinning is excellent cross-training if you have to lose a day to rain or other commitments. The people I knew who took spinning classes even just once a week had a speed and effort advantage over those who didn't, but who also started their training at a similar fitness level. I noticed a dramatic improvement myself the year I got on the stationary bike even just once a week. It's just these days my boredom on the stationary bike wins out over my desire to improve my A2A time!

Having a good stretch/yoga routine you're comfortable with will help your body become limber enough to improve your A2A experience, and will help you on the side of the road when your limbs have locked up completely around mile 60 :-)

During and after the event you will be very thankful if you had included brutal-hills as part of your training a few times a week. But don't forget to balance it out with LSD (long steady distance), which doesn't necessarily have to be hilly to get the heart-rate benefits.

It's a great idea to use those mammoth 3-5 hour hilly skrides to get to know your own particular hydration and nutrition needs. Insufficient drink and carbs during an otherwise well-trained A2A can wreck your whole effort.

Be sure to include a rest day each week, even if it's 'active rest'. A good time to do that would be the day after a mammoth 3-5 hour hill-climbing event. This'll give your muscles the time they'll need to rebuild, repair and come back stronger.

 Have fun training. I look forward to your progress reports!