The truth!

joker77

Training

Cycle

30Kms
1:09 hr

Enniskerry

60-70% Hr

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 7.5kms, 20mins

Gym - Cycling Specific Pull

Upstairs
Squats - 50Kgs
Deadlift - 100Kgs
Chins - 35 (5 sets)
Power Cleans - 40kgs
DB Ground Row - 14Kgs

Downstairs
Leg Raises
Plank Walkout
Back Raises
Ball Rolls
Squat Jump
Ski Run
Hip bridge / leg extensions
Plank

Cycle home - 10kms, 30mins

joker77

Measurements - 2012-01-14

Stomach: 81.5cms

Body weight: 72.5Kgs

Training

Cycle

90Kms
3:17 hr

Newtown Mount Kennedy

Coaching session with Aidan Hammond - Echolon, crosswinds, headwinds, rolling sprints

Too many biscuits ate this week....

joker77

Training

Cycle

85Kms
3:04 hr

Blessington

joker77

Training

Gym - Cycling Specific Push

Upstairs
Squats - 55Kgs
Bench - 60Kgs
Press - 30Kgs
Single Leg Squat - no bar (pilot squat)
Side Lunges
Dips - 36 (5 sets)
Step Ups

Downstairs
Leg Raises
Plank - arm/leg up
Box Jumps
Split middle split jumps
Side to Side Jumps
Hip bridge / leg extensions
Plank / Push-ups

joker77

Training

Cycle

38Kms
1:28 hr

Warm up
8 x Standing Start Sprints
Spin
8 x Standing Start Sprints
Warm down

joker77

Training

Gym - Cycling Specific Pull

Upstairs
Squats - 55Kgs
Deadlift - 100Kgs
Chins - 40 (5 sets)
Power Cleans - 40kgs
DB Ground Row - 14Kgs

Downstairs
Leg Raises
Plank Walkout
Back Raises
Ball Rolls
Squat Jump
Ski Run
Hip bridge / leg extensions
Plank

joker77

Training

Cycle

23Kms
0:56 hr

Cadence

Warm up
39/21-16 1 minute each high cadence
Spin
39/21-16 1 minute each high cadence
Warm down

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 7.5kms, 20mins

Gym - Active Recovery

Warm Up, Stretching, Light Swim, Jacuzzi

Cycle home - 10kms, 30mins

joker77

Measurements - 2012-01-21

Stomach: 81cms

Body weight: 72.5Kgs

Training

Cycle

51Kms
2:08 hr

Training Group - Strength Endurance

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 7.5kms, 20mins

Gym - Cycling Specific Push

Upstairs
Squats - 55Kgs
Bench - 60Kgs
Press - 30Kgs
Single Leg Squat - no bar (pilot squat)
Side Lunges
Dips - 41 (5 sets)
Step Ups

Downstairs
Leg Raises
Plank - arm/leg up
Box Jumps
Split middle split jumps
Side to Side Jumps
Hip bridge / leg extensions
Plank / Push-ups

Cycle home - 10kms, 30mins

joker77

Training

Cycle

51Kms
1:52 hr

Blessington

8Kms
0:20 hr

Pick up car

joker77

Training

Cycle

51Kms
1:53 hr

Strength Endurance

Embankment, Seskin Hill x2

joker77

Training

1 Hour Turbo Trainer

martin999

appears tp be a decent regime. are you sticking to it? need to loose approx 5kgs. any ideas? 6 foot in height and 102kgs in weight. am fit but food is my problem.

joker77

martin999 wrote: »

appears tp be a decent regime. are you sticking to it? need to loose approx 5kgs. any ideas? 6 foot in height and 102kgs in weight. am fit but food is my problem.

On the first question - I'm not sure how you mean am I sticking to it? I use this as a training log to record when I train?

The second question - any ideas on how to lose 5kg? Yes, lots, but would depend on what your diet is currently, how you train etc.

I'd say the best thing for you to do is to have a read of the sticky in the Nutrition and Diet forum, then create a new post yourself in the Fitness Logs forum - and ask people for some input

joker77

Measurements - 2012-01-30

Stomach: 80.5cms

Body weight: 71.7Kgs

Training

Gym - Cycling Specific Pull

Upstairs
Squats - 60Kgs
Deadlift - 100Kgs
Chins - 42 (5 sets)
Power Cleans - 45kgs
DB Ground Row - 16Kgs

Downstairs
Leg Raises
Plank Walkout
Back Raises
Ball Rolls
Squat Jump
Ski Run
Hip bridge / leg extensions
Plank

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 7.5kms, 20mins

Gym - Cycling Specific Push

Upstairs
Squats - 60Kgs
Bench - 60Kgs
Press - 30Kgs
Single Leg Squat - no bar (pilot squat)
Side Lunges
Dips - 46 (5 sets)
Step Ups

Downstairs
Leg Raises
Plank - arm/leg up
Box Jumps
Split middle split jumps
Side to Side Jumps
Hip bridge / leg extensions
Plank / Push-ups

Cycle home - 10kms, 30mins

joker77

Training

Cycle

54Kms
1:48 hr

Delgany - just Dave Mc, fast pace

joker77

Training

Cycle

45Kms
1:31 hr

Brittas - speed

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 7.5kms, 20mins

Cycle home - 10kms, 30mins

joker77

Training

Cycle

62Kms
2:13 hr

Seskin Hill, Blessington, Seskin Hill (Big Ring)

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 7.5kms, 20mins

Gym - Cycling Specific Pull

Upstairs
Squats - 60Kgs
Deadlift - 105Kgs
Chins - 48 (5 sets)
Power Cleans - 45kgs
DB Ground Row - 16Kgs

Downstairs
Leg Raises
Plank Walkout
Back Raises
Ball Rolls
Squat Jump
Split middle split jumps
Hip bridge / leg extensions
Plank

Cycle home - 10kms, 30mins

Cycle

36Kms
1:14 hr

Embankment

joker77

Training

Cycle

47Kms
1:43 hr

Clonee

Cycle

26Kms
1:01 hr

Work, Cruagh

joker77

Training

Gym - Cycling Specific Push

Upstairs
Squats - 60Kgs
Bench - 60Kgs
Press - 30Kgs
Single Leg Squat - no bar (pilot squat)
Side Lunges
Dips - 48 (5 sets)
Step Ups

Downstairs
Leg Raises
Plank - arm/leg up
Box Jumps
Split middle split jumps
Side to Side Jumps
Hip bridge / leg extensions
Plank

joker77

Training

Cycle

40Kms
1:35 hr

Glencullen, Enniskerry, Bray, puncture, Kilternan, home

joker77

Measurements - 2012-02-12

Stomach: 81.5cms

Body weight: 72.8Kgs

Training

Cycle

114Kms
3:44 hr

Red Group - fast

joker77

Training

Cycle

34Kms
1:26 hr

3 x 30 secs
5 mins easy
5-6 mins 90%
5 mins easy
5-6 mins 90%
5 mins easy
3 x 30 secs

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 45mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 45mins

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 45mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 45mins

joker77

Training

Cycle

29Kms
0:59 hr

Enniskerry (fast)

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 45mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 45mins

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 32kms, 1:08hrs

Cycle home - 44kms, 1:23hrs

Pre-season race, marshalling

joker77

Training

Cycle

26Kms
0:50 hr

Tallaght, puncture

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 45mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 45mins

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

joker77

It's my first venture into Open Racing on Sunday, all going well, and I thought I'd use this log to put down some thoughts / observations / ramblings about my preparation, mental state, concerns, focus, goals etc about the upcoming racing season.

Last year was my first year road racing - I competed in the club league with my club Orwell Wheelers - the league being comprised of 4 other clubs - St. Tiernan's, Irish Road Club, Lucan, and UCD. The league is split into Scratch, Semi-Scratch, Semi-Limit and Limit - with Limit being the entry point so that's where I started last April. I was promoted up to Semi-Limit, got a few placings in that group and was comfortable at that level and the end of the season. I felt I progressed a lot during the year in terms of responding to the demands of racing, and was ready at the end of the season to push on take the next step into Open Racing.

This year I took out a Cycling Ireland A4 license, which is the entry level license for open road racing (for anyone reading this that is not familiar - the Cycling Ireland website will have information on the various categories and races etc). Over the winter I was placed in an A3 training group that was going to prepare a team for the Gorey stage race at Easter Weekend. Aidan Hammond was responsible for putting together a training plan for the group from November up to Easter, which would get us in good shape to compete in Gorey.

When the membership night at Orwell came around - the option was there to take out an A3 or an A4 license, it was up to the individual to choose where they wanted to start. I didn't like the idea of placing myself in a category without earning the right to be there, and also at that stage didn't know what condition I would be in come the start of the season - it's hard to predict at the start of a training plan how it's going to go, what distractions are going to come into play (we'd a 5 month old baby), so I opted for the A4. We were under the impression at that stage that if things were going well, when Gorey came around we could choose to upgrade to A3 in order to compete (Gorey is for A1-A3 only - no A4s). Since then the rules have changed, and upgrades for A4 to A3 must be earned, which is a situation I'm happier with - I feel every individual should start at A4 and have to work their way up.

So with my A4 license, and a training plan from Aidan Hammond, and a good group of 6 or 7 club members from Orwell in the training group, I set about putting my head down over the 4 months, getting into the right mental state to focus on the training, hopefully not get distracted, stay off the cigarettes (had my last blowout with them at the end of October), try not to get sick, train hard and be in the best possible physical and mental condition come the start of the season.

Which brings me up to where I am now - taking a little bit of time to reflect on how it's gone and where my head / body just before the first race, I think I'll leave the lessons learned until the end of the season.

Overall looking back the training has gone very well. Not perfect obviously - there's always room for improvement. The plan wasn't followed to the letter, and I also did a lot of additional stuff that wasn't in the plan that I felt would be beneficial to me, stuff like the weight training to develop strength, plyometrics to develop explosive power for sprints, but overall I'd say I followed the plan about 70% ish. Hard to quantify exactly how much, there was also commuting on the bike to Smithfield, Leixlip, and now Dublin Airport, so I tailored the training around the lifestyle I had and time I could commit to it - family life also factors in terms of how and when you can train.

So in terms of where I'm at - I'm feeling really good about my condition. Because of a change in jobs, I haven't been to the gym in the last three weeks, and this was probably timed very well with when I should have been laying off the additional training and just focussing on the bike. I'm feeling strong on any training spins I'm on with peers, I know there is a phrase 'Winter World Champion' - our coach mentioned about guys who are flying over the winter but do nothing in races - and I'm aware and conscious of this, but I don't think this is the case - I just feel ready and primed for action. Itching to get out of the blocks. Twitching at the thought of the first race, the real test, what all the winter's training has been building up to - to finally find out in a race situation what my condition is like - and where I stand amongst my peers. There is no bluffing on race day, you either have the legs, or you don't. Nowhere to hide if you don't.

In terms of mental condition, I am also feeling good. My head is in a good space in terms of experience from last year, how the training has gone, and how ready I am to race. I'm also well aware though, that being mentally prepared can only go so far, you cannot predict what will happen when the race starts. I have been trying to use the sports psychology concept of visualisation, thinking about the race and the various stresses I will be under mentally and physically - to develop coping strategies and preparation, and also thinking about certain situations in a race - tactics and strategy. Visualisation also about winning, this is the goal - so I have been trying to fuel the hunger for winning, and develop the ability to tap into the additional 5-10% of the max effort the body is capable that is usually not accessible unless you are in an extreme fight or flight situation. A lot of talk in cycling is about being 'on the limit' - the point where you can sustain a set effort for a set amount of time. This is measured under laboratory conditions, training plans are developed based on the results, so athletes know what their ranges are. My theory (I'm sure I'm not alone and lots of research has been done) is that there is an additional limit that is reserved - held back, unless you're in the kind of extreme situation where your life depends on it - say for example being chased by a tiger in the jungle. This additional limit, for a training athlete, if they were mentally able to push through that block and access it - could mean the difference being winning and losing.

Which brings me neatly onto the subject of winning. Winning and losing. I watched the film Moneyball recently - and a section in it summed up neatly the kind of attitude I feel a lot of winners will have in any discipline - they hate losing. Ok it sounds pretty obvious - but in that film the main character was saying how he HATED losing. Hated it more than he like winning. Hated it above all else. That is the approach that I have also been trying to develop. That hunger, the little extra bit that pushes a person over the line. In a bike race - when you see the finish line and the sprint happens - if you were in a primed physical condition, had that driving hunger to win, and awareness that when you felt you were about to burst in the sprint you really had an extra 5 - 10% that you if you were being chased by a tiger you could tap into - you would be a formidable opponent.

I want to win. I want to win bike races. I want to go into every race with the ambition to win it. That is not always going to be the case, obviously, but that's my starting position. I'm not there to make up the numbers. And during the race, I want any opponent to know this, to feel it, to know that if they are going to win the race, they are not going to win it lightly.

Roll on Sunday.

joker77

Measurements - 2012-03-03

Stomach: 80cms

Body weight: 70.7Kgs

joker77

Race - Cycleways Cup Navan - A4

Warmup

18Kms
00:45 hr

Race

82Kms
2:15 hr

Disgusted. Felt good all day - finish ended up being about 6 kms before I thought it was going to be, and was caught by surprise.

joker77

Race report – Cycleways Cup Navan, A4

The race started at what seemed like a fairly slow pace for a race, I was right at the very back so not sure what was happening at the front – there were about 50-60 riders. The A4 race was down for 70kms, with the A3 being 86kms – but in the clubhouse beforehand it said 2 laps of the circuit for both, so I wasn’t sure where the 16kms difference was happening. From talking to clubmates before the race – they said last year the A4 ended up being the same – with maybe a neutralised start – so roll out for 10kms and get over the first hill, then away you go. I’m not sure if that ended up happening or not, but the start was certainly slow enough that it might have.

From starting at the very back of the bunch I moved my way slowly up through the middle of the bunch when gaps appeared – the plan being to get as much shelter as possible for the whole race – I’d no intention of being out at the front of the pack at all. Tactically what I wanted to do was be up the front third, preferably within the first 10, so that if any attacks happened I could counter / join them. An attack happened early enough – I was still about mid-way down the bunch at this stage, I didn’t reckon there was any danger but I also didn’t want to take the chance as it looked like 5 / 6 riders were trying to get away, so I moved from the middle to the outside and went up to have a look at what was going on. I tried asking a couple of riders how many there were (couldn’t see because of corners), but nobody was volunteering any information, so off I went to join / chase them. It petered out fairly quickly, I didn’t have to expend too much energy in the chase and it meant I could take up a nice position just behind the front.

From there we went around the first lap, no excitement, everyone just sizing each other up probably. On the second lap it seemed like Dublin Wheelers / Waterford Racing were intent on doing all the work up at the front – 2 riders each, so I kept close in case they got any ideas about a joint effort breakaway. They did, it was chased down, and around we went again. Coming half way around the 2nd and final lap – a guy from Waterford went off on his own – he looked a ripe old age (found out later he was 57!), he was let off for a while before the pace increased a little to catch him. There was a guy behind from Swords CC who was making noise for people to chase him down, but it was very obvious he was going to do zero work himself. Put up or shut up I thought.

We caught the guy from Waterford and kept motoring a bit, I noticed around the 72kms mark after chasing him and the increase in pace that my legs felt a little tight. I had a little twinge earlier in the race in my left hamstring, so after another couple of kilometres thinking the total distance was going to be 86 I moved back a bit to get a little bit more shelter, loosen the legs up, and get ready for the sprint finish.

The pace increased a bit, no problem there, then a couple of parked cars on the left caused a bit of a jerking around of bikes, I think there was a crash behind me but luckily none in front to we were ok to keep going. I was getting ready to move back into position when we turned a corner and there was a crown up the road. I thought “This can’t be the finish already!?!”, because we were only at 79kms, but then I saw the chequered flag and got out of the saddle fairly lively. I was too far back to really contest the sprint, but I managed to move past a few people and thought I came in top 10.

Was disgusted though that the finish got sprung like that – but it’s a lesson learned, a couple of kilometres before the finish is no time to go for a little rest. Plus – if the finish is going to be blind – do some proper reconnaissance beforehand. And lastly – keep the odd eye out on the side of the road for markers – found out later there were markers from 2kms out every 200 metres – now maybe with the near crash I was too interested in the wheel in front and my own position to worry about looking at the side of the road, but will be checking for them next week at Bohermeen.

Really looking forward to the next one now – yesterday will have been a good dry run.

joker77

Training

Cycle

20Kms
0:44 hr

Sandyford - Active Recovery

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle

26Kms
0:52 hr

Building Blocks

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

joker77

Goals

Didn't put anything clear in my rambling post above about what my goals are for this season.

Current status - A4, Semi-Scratch

Season target - A2, Scratch

I've started in A4 for Open Racing, Semi-Scratch in the club league. The goal is A2 and Scratch by the end of the season. Optimistic? Yes. But no point in aiming any lower. A3 is well achievable by the end of the season, so why not aim for A2?

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle

34Kms
1:10 hr

joker77

Race - Waller Cup Bohermeen - A4

Race

65Kms
1:41 hr

Finished just outside the prizes, just nipped in the sprint. Bit let down again, will write a full report tomorrow

joker77

Race report - Waller Cup Bohermeen - A4

Started down the very back of the bunch again this week, on the tight country roads and with the amount of inexperience riders, this was far from ideal. For the 1st lap (of 4) I was trying just to move up a little bit where I could through the middle of the bunch, but wasn’t having much joy. I tried the inside then for a while, and got some joy when everyone swung over to the right hand side of the road approaching a left turn. Probably not the safest for the whole bunch to be on the wrong side of the road...

Being near the front was difficult – it seemed like the entire pack wanted to be in the same position as me – between about 4th/5th and 10th/12th. It was very hard to maintain this position; any time I hit the sweet spot riders came from around the edges and swamped the front. I was shunted back quite a bit, and midway through the 2nd lap I found myself about half way down on the outside, when I spotted the winner from last week – a rider from UCD – off the front. I had open road in front of me on the outside so I put the foot down and rode up the outside to pursue. He was making a bit of ground on the pack, and seeing it was who it was I decided to go for it. There were 2 others chasing him, I got there ahead of them and was hoping that it would turn into a 4 man break – even though it was a little early I thought why not. We motored along for a while, but sure enough ran out of steam, I was on the limit quite quickly and we weren’t gaining any ground on the pack – they were obviously chasing pretty hard as well. We were caught after a while, had a chat to the UCD guy at the front – nobody was interested in coming around us and doing any work. He was still maintaining we should push the pace to ‘not leave it down to a sprint for the fat c*nts behind’ – but I needed some recovery time myself after that effort and was conscious it was only the 2nd lap.

I sat in for a while then, just trying to maintain position which was going ok until midway through the 3rd lap, don’t know how exactly but think I was boxed in and then swallowed, so ended up near the back again after a couple of failed attempts to move up – just couldn’t find the room.

Coming to the end of the 3rd lap I was able to get back in position. There was little attack after little attack, and I now know I wasted far too much energy being the one chasing them down. There was no need for me to do it, and coming into the last couple of kilometres I was on the red line. I dug in, got over the last hill before the finish in 2nd position; we had another couple of bends to go and then a drag to the line. The pace was killing me at this stage, legs screaming, then finally the line appeared and I was about 4th. I tried to put in as much as I could into a sprint but was spent. I knew two guys passed me, I thought I came in around 7th but was secretly hoping to have gotten that 6th spot. Hung around ages for the prize giving, but wasn’t called out in the top 8th. Gutted. And a little annoyed after having been told if you finish top 10 you should go and check with the people at the line to claim your place. After what happened last week and the messing I should have known to go do this. More fecking lessons learned.

From looking at the photos, as the winner crosses the line I look to be 6th, and in the couple of metres to get to the line it’s possible another 3 passed me, but if I’m honest with myself I don’t think so. No point in contesting as there’s no points for 7th or 8th.

Another week, another bit of frustration over what might have been. I really should be happy with how my form is, and after the second race finishing top 10 both times, with club mates telling me my positioning is good and I look comfortable, but I won’t be happy until I get that first place.

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins