How is your cycling training? Are you struggling with motivation after the holiday? Maybe like me you have done no exercise for 2 weeks or so. I cant promise a quick fix or instant route back to fitness. But this article outlines some ideas for getting back in the saddle.
Over Christmas I read Matthew Pinsent’s autobiography A lifetime in a race. Mathew is a British Olympic rower who during a long and successful career won 4 gold medals in 4 successive Olympics culminating in gold at Athens in 2004.
The book is intelligently written and gives a fantastic insight into the mind of a champion. Rowing and cycling share many similarities both in the nature of competition and the enormous volume of training that they demand.
In fact cycling makes up a small part of the rowers training regime. There has been some cross-over between the sports including Rebecca Romero a female British Rowing Silver medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics who changed sports and went on to win Gold in Track cycling at the 2008 Bejing Olympics.
I was struck by the constant nature of their training schedule. Pinsent trained 7 days a week with a rest day every 3 weeks!! It is hard for non professional athletes to imagine the level of dedication and commitment that this takes.
Routines are funny things. When we are in one it is relatively easy to maintain it. It takes little effort or willpower to stick with it. However the exact opposite is true when we fall out of the habit and have to restart.
I have been in France over Christmas and haven’t done any cycling or rock climbing for 2 weeks. Usually I train about 40 hours per week split roughly 50:50 between the two sports. I cannot begin to describe how hard it is to get started again with training. In fact I have put off restarting my training for the last 4 or 5 days.
This is madness as it only makes the situation when I eventually restart even worse. I know that I will have lost fitness, strength, and stamina.
This form of “putting off” is very dangerous. Somehow we have to push it aside and force ourselves back into the zone. For me it becomes increasingly difficult. There is a fear of the training then as I know it is going to be harder than it would have been had I not taken time off.
The reality is that training is hard at any time. What varies is our enthusiasm and commitment to it. I have spent the last 4 days thinking about starting again. I have finally made a decision to start tommorow and now am excited to be doing so.
I have a tendency to think too much and to think about too big a picture. This often paralyses me and stops me starting something when I get out of the routine or habit. So in this case I have decided for the next 7 days just to get back on the bike. No great training plan or agenda. Just to ride again and remind myself how much I love it!
There will be plenty of time through the back end of January and February for detailed and focused training. But for now the important thing is just to get back into good habits !! I hope that you are not suffering in the same way, and if you are maybe you will bite the bullet too and get started again.
If you are tempted by an endurance riding challenge then take a look at the 100 mile bike challenge. Also I work with many amateur bike riders helping them to realise their fitness and weight loss goals. To find out more check out Century Training
This is a new web site and I would really appreciate your help in raising awareness. If you enjoyed this article please take a moment to comment or share it on Facebook or Twitter. I would really appreciate it. Thanks and keep cycling.
Luke Bream
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P. P. S. Are you getting the fitness and weight loss goals you desire? Maybe I can help you. To find out more check out Cycling Training
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