Feel so close to the start of the season now. My first race of the year is the Perfs Pedals race on the 13th Feb, which I must say I am looking forward to more than my Birthday. Feel like a proper geek being able to recite the dates, locations and start times of my first 5 races without even looking.
Training on the whole has been going well, have dropped another kilo from when I last had my body fat percentage test so feeling pretty lean. Shame I got dropped on every single hill by Tom and Josh on Sunday-finished a 4hr ride at 11pm on Saturday after starting work at 7.15am and finishing about 6.30pm (uni assessment work). Have been feeling a bit rough recently as have had a lot going on at school and with moving in, being leaner at the moment and in such a germ filled environment I am being so paranoid about picking up any illnesses after such a hard winter training program. Been introducing some more Zone 5 intervals in this week which I am currently enjoying as a refreshing change and feel like my turbo traininer is in as much pain as I am.
Can't wait to get the race bike out and test my legs, am sure I am not the only one with a decent winter but am feeling optimistic. From looking round at blogs of my team mates, it looks like we will have a really strong team this year.
Wednesday 26 January 2011
Thursday 13 January 2011
Recovery
Lots of developments going on at the moment, new training wheels coming in so I don't have the fear of not pedalling in case my freehub explodes, Newport track on Saturday with the team, Cycling Weekly coming to see the team and do a report organised for 30th Jan, provisional race calendar out, its all good.
Quite amusing to see at the moment all the guys who were doing big talk about racing this year and then disappeared when the weather got messy are starting to come out of the woodwork again; fine, not a problem but pretty amusing to hear them start winding up the chat again. If you can't hack it, don't give it out! Especially thinking about some younger guys (because I am now old apparently) who have skipped some training but are now pumped up about looking good in the kit.
Talking of big game talk, race calendar has got me signed up for two Premier Calendar races- Tour of the Reservoir and the Lincoln GP- as well as Belgium races and plenty of regional stuff. After racing 50 times last year, sure I will be on about the same number this year, maybe with more track, but much more suitable racing hopefully. Getting my weight right at the right time of year is probably going to be the biggest challenge but no doubt it will get there as soon as I get my flat and can have a slightly more rigorous diet.
Had an easier week this week which was a complete surprise but my core, legs and immune system really needed it after some tough (quality) training. Back at school now and using the time off training to smash out teacher training essays. Worked pretty intensively on it so I can relax during the racing season a bit more. Got the last 500 words of my last essay to complete which is due in May and haven't even had the briefing lecture on it yet. I was never this well prepared as an undergrad.
Quite amusing to see at the moment all the guys who were doing big talk about racing this year and then disappeared when the weather got messy are starting to come out of the woodwork again; fine, not a problem but pretty amusing to hear them start winding up the chat again. If you can't hack it, don't give it out! Especially thinking about some younger guys (because I am now old apparently) who have skipped some training but are now pumped up about looking good in the kit.
Talking of big game talk, race calendar has got me signed up for two Premier Calendar races- Tour of the Reservoir and the Lincoln GP- as well as Belgium races and plenty of regional stuff. After racing 50 times last year, sure I will be on about the same number this year, maybe with more track, but much more suitable racing hopefully. Getting my weight right at the right time of year is probably going to be the biggest challenge but no doubt it will get there as soon as I get my flat and can have a slightly more rigorous diet.
Had an easier week this week which was a complete surprise but my core, legs and immune system really needed it after some tough (quality) training. Back at school now and using the time off training to smash out teacher training essays. Worked pretty intensively on it so I can relax during the racing season a bit more. Got the last 500 words of my last essay to complete which is due in May and haven't even had the briefing lecture on it yet. I was never this well prepared as an undergrad.
Thursday 6 January 2011
Miles and miles
Half way through a pretty hard training block, doing some 400+ mile weeks and my body is getting a bit stropy. In serious need of a massage. Had some great rides though and been good to try out a few climbs I haven't done in ages. Good to be going out regularly with people as can see everyone else having their ups and downs. Got a team meeting this Sunday and a talk on Nutrition. What I can't wait to see this weekend though is the race calendar. Spoke to coach Dan midweek and he mentioned a couple of Premier Calendar races, will be good to see what the next level is like and to compare it to what we did at Elite level and in Belgium last year-might mean going up near Durham again so can't wait. After all these miles it will be great to get some racing in, everything else is just waiting. Got a heavy next few days of riding, another hard week and then Newport on the 15th again. Bring it!
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