Start of winter training

Not only is it the start of my winter training plan looking at the view from my window, it’s also the start of a long winter. My first week has not been a great start thanks to the lingering fresher’s flu and a slight lack of motivation but the first few miles on the bike have ticked over and the first few metres in the pool have been swum.

Although it hasn’t been a big week on the bike I have still been busy helping to progress my cycling career. The big news is that I am now part on the universities elite sports performance scheme. For now this means I am able to gain free access to the gym, nutrition advice and a strength/stability coach for the year. I am hugely grateful of the support offered to me by the university and I am sure this will help improve my season next year

Over the next few weeks I will gradually begin increasing the mileage on the bike and spending more time in the gym pretending I want to be there. I will try also try and find some form before the BUCS hill climb on the 26^th of this month. Although I will not be training specifically for the event I still want to represent the university well and help win at least the team gold medal if not more.

I will try to keep you up to date with my training over the winter months and give you an insight into my inspirations and opinions on events in the world of cycling (as requested my Mr.Gordon).

First Cat Licence!

Goal Achieved

This post has come a little later than planned thanks to me catching up on a summers worth of partying in one week. The big news is that after 7 months racing I have finally picked up enough points to secure my first cat. Despite what some people thought my ‘first cat’ isn't actually a pet as a reward for racing this year but it is in fact a first category licence allowing me to race in higher ranked events across the country. 

Going into my last race of the season I needed 7 points which is equivalent to 15^th place. It was another quick race and I knew it was going to be difficult to get in a breakaway so spent majority of the race in the peloton looking after my legs before the inevitable bunch sprint. The breakaway was caught with 1km to go which set me up well for the sprint and with copious amounts of gurning I held on for 10^th place. In reality it was a disappointing result as had my legs have felt better I should have won it. However I was so happy to achieve my goal and it instantly made every hour of training worth it.

Season Summary

Overall I am very satisfied with my season having achieved my main goal although it was far from perfect. However that fills me with confidence for next year as if I can avoid injury I will be strong enough to win elite races.

This season was a vast improvement on last year due to three main factors. The first being the volume of training I did during the winter. This laid the foundations for my season as it makes your body become incredibly efficient at using fats & sugars when exercising. I started the season stronger than everyone thanks to the training and was able to continue this through the year.

The second factor was finally finding some confidence. I have always lacked confidence but this season I was going into every race thinking I was going to win. That doesn't mean I was the guy walking around telling everyone I was going to win but I kept the thought in my head. As it happens I only won two road races this year which wasn't great but I was still happy to have 10 top 5 finishes having had just 2 last year.

The final factor was the support of Russell Ford and other during the season. I ran every training idea, race plan and problem through him for the whole season. It was a massive help having someone to tell you what you were doing was right as it stops you over thinking. His help this season means I have just about forgiven him for swearing at me in a race 2 years ago!

Now my season has finished I will start looking at goals for next year and will be helping Sheffield University continue their outstanding results in BUCS competitions this year. Winter training begins next week and I am already looking forward to next year.