Blog About Sam's Thoughts And Riting Diary

In October I wrote a  blog post  which looked at areas I felt I could improve for the 2022 season. They were: Position.  Pacing. Lifting. Commuting. Do more work. Waste less time. Position I haven't ridden the TT bike outside yet, but I think  my position is better now than it was at the end of last season. Proof is in the pudding though. Pacing Nothing to say about this. Milo has been working on his burpees and it shows Lifting I started lifting in early September 2021 – before I had finished racing. Initially, I was lifting three days a week, but it was a bit too much, so I switched to twice a week in early October. My lifting has progressed quite nicely over the last few months. Deadlift is up to 125kg and Squat 105kg – both around two-thirds of lifetime best. It's most likely muscle memory firing back up, but I have had good legs for a workout in the evening after lifting in the morning. I'm going to try deadlifting sub-maximally on the morning before an evening ...

In my last blog , I wrote about the second part of my season culminating in the A21 Interclub TT. Long story short: I  snuck under 20 minutes  in average conditions, achieving a goal I had been chasing for a couple of years since doing 20:13 on the same course back in August 2019. Everyone has their favourite TT course, and the A21 is undoubtedly mine.  Having finally 'done a 19', I then went and  did another  on the same course two weeks later. This time, conditions were more favourable. It was great to get to the halfway point and know that I was on for a huge PB. Rather than straining every sinew to squeeze out every second on the way back, I was able to relax and attack the three slow parts whilst carrying some great speed in the interim. Incidentally, I probably went faster because  I was relaxed and enjoying it, rather than tense and fighting the effort. Sometimes easier said than done. I had intended to ride a few 25s after the A21 TT but, becau...

Back in June I wrote two blog posts:  one  about my training from March to June; and one about my first A race of the season,  Q100 .  After Q100, I ate and drank for a week with a handful of easy rides keeping my waistline in check. I also got my first Covid vaccine. Training With 10 weeks until Q10/19 on 22 August – my second and final A race of the season – I shifted my training so it was better suited towards my target race. An average week looked something like: Mon – off Tue – vo2 max Wed – easy 90 minutes Thu – race OR threshold Fri – same as Wed Sat – easy / openers Sun – race OR threshold With this configuration of three hard days per week, it was imperative that I kept my easy days easy which, prior to this period, meant sitting up on the hoods ticking over. I read somewhere that riding the road bike on the drops complemented the TT bike position because of the similar hip and torso angle, so I spent more and more time on the drops during these easy rides. ...

Last week I wrote a  post  about my training from March to June and the races that I did in the run up to Q100. There's something special about the 100 mile TT. In endurance running, the marathon is the gold standard, marquee event. Every runner wants to run a good marathon. Obviously, there are events that go further than the marathon – and the 100 – but there's something intangible about these two similar events that holds a certain mysticism. Why? I dunno. Perhaps it's the physical limitations. Sure, you can run or ride further but in order to race these events – that is to complete them as fast as you possibly can as opposed to just finishing – you have to spend the majority of your race on the precipice of failure. That, for me, is why I'm so drawn to the distance. Not only is it a momentous physical challenge, but you've got to be willing to hold your nerve for the best part of four hours trusting that all of the training, the nutrition and hydration plans tha...

 I wrote a post back in March about my winter training. This write up will look back on the three months since. When planning this season, I decided to opt for a 'twin peak' – one in June for the 100, the other in August/September for a 10 on the A21. I planned my season out on a macro level. It's a pretty standard way of doing things that gives you an overview of what kind of training to do and when. For example, between October and March the goal was to mainly ride steady – your classic zone two, around 70% max HR or 60-70% FTP base building. Having built a pretty good base by March, I then wanted to start getting ready to race. One mistake I've made in the past is to be firing on all cylinders in April which inevitably leads to a plateau and gradual decline in fitness; it's simply very, very hard to maintain that peak. So, by planning to peak in June – and scheduling my training accordingly – I would start racing in May with pretty average legs but, as the train...