Day One Back; 120km of Riding

As planned we jumped straight back into riding with more intensity than we had before. The plan being 600km + a week, whilst only doing maintenance work on my other events. It was critical I develop my legs for riding more than anything else.

This morning was only a short session, 40km long mostly small chain work. Legs felt revolting after the race on the weekend. I found my hamstrings were the worst and surprisingly my knee gave me no trouble. I knew it was important to do this small ride in the morning to help recover.

I am a strong believer that active recovery is of far greater benefit than doing nothing. Through my years as a swimmer we never had days off to recover, it was always an easy set in the pool. I think this theory is applicable to all sports. Flushes out all the soreness a lot quicker than lying about.

In the afternoon I did 80kms of riding. Focusing a lot on big chain work trying to increase my leg strength. During the race on the weekend and the previous race at the Gold Coast my average cadence was around 98. I think this is a little too high, and Rich suggested 85 would be a better number to maintain.

I experimented through my training and discovered when pushing the big chain ring it was a long easy for me to build and maintain speed, which seems logical. Just don’t have the strength to keep it up for the duration of a race.

My coach Dean had already pre-empted this theory and had scheduled a long block of big chain power building so I can make the move from a cadence rider to a more power rider. Strength would be the key here, so along with the rides I would be hitting the gym to work on my gluts, hamstring and quad strength.

By the time I have completed the 80km I was literally dripping. It’s really hard to paint a visual picture without seeming over dramatic, but if I had of jumped in the pool and got out, it would have been the same. Good training for riding in the heat, but it was a little ridiculous.

Legs are feeling a lot better now after today. 120kms, average speed 35.5, little under 3 and a half hours of riding. Solid day. Tomorrow I have a 5 Hour ride. Hopefully I can get up to around 150kms or so. Will be interesting to see what gears I push, and how long I can maintain a big ring!