Came into it feeling strong , very confident , I had been training well and making the transition from what I thought was the correct training and path last year to knowing I'm bloody working for it and gains are there to see and to be fair to myself I feel I have deserved them as I've really stepped up , I got over the blip I spoke about in the last blog and I'm making small improvements week buy week in myself my diet ,my core training and all the details in between , leaving the training side in matts capable hands .
My power tap wheel which has been pretty bullet proof for ages has given up on my so its been shipped of for a service which left me with a hr monitor and the power on the taco flow turbo , knowing from previous sessions on the turbo it reads about 15-25w higher than my power tap so at least I had something to work with , but hating the turbo I went down the hr route on the road .
Hr is something I've not really used tbh so I set up training to the hr zones to match the power zones.
All seemed pretty good , efforts felt roughly the same and it helped with keeping me in the zones as I noticed as soon as I shut of the power my hr dropped very fast , then it was a struggle to not go really hard to get it back up straight away then drop off to get it back down ,
The problem came when I started getting tired later into the block , and this is why I think hr is a great additional tool but not something you should blindly follow .
I was getting fatigued and as the hr dropped I pushed harder , to the point of destroying myself blindly looking at the numbers even though I knew the effort was way beyond what it should be .
I feel like I'm saying this a lot and it seems to be a very recouring theme but Matt saved the day again, back it all back down and reevaluated everything to get me back on track, the session on the turbo showed I was about 10-15 bpm down on the zone for the power effort so a big hit going 10-15bpm harder than you should be for a few weeks , try it I promise you won't last long :)
I've got a four day rest over Xmas which is great and it really splits it all up , the new bike science Bristol store will soon be open so we can really get the testing back on track , I've got two new completely different bikes to sort out , I need to find a front wheel for racing , got a photo shoot coming up for a local photographer who wants to do some cycling shots , get the sponsor decals done for the bike and helmet ,and the hard work of getting weight down and getting race ready really starts in the new year .
Really exciting times ahead and everything is moving so fast but I'm getting my head down and pushing hard .
Need to say a few thank yous before I sign off for Xmas , most people know who they are and I try to show my appreciation through the year .
Firstly Matt bottrill , had great faith in me before I did , gives me the focus and belief that you can do anything if you work for it and want it enough , would be miles behind where I am without him , a coach is nothing without total trust , and I feel very lucky to call Matt a friend and mentor
Andy sexton from bike science , been a great help with the bike fits and helping me to find the kit that works best for me , not many sponsors support you to find the best kit for you even if it's not their own
Blake and nopinz for the kind supply of the great kit to test , really lucky to get a chance to try some real trail blazing kit
Larry at velouk, been very kind to include the blog on webpage 3000 views later and going strong , and it's great to see they support the little guys in the sport
And of course my family , who put up with a grumpy ,super focused ,training and racing blinkered ass for most of the year but still manage to support me .
If I've missed anyone I'm sorry but I really appreciate the faith people have shown in me and given me encouragement along the way .will pay it all back 100% on the bike ;)
Here's to a fast 2015 #smashit
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