How is training camp??
Training camp is going well, I am one week in so half way through. Up until yesterday I was feeling great but yesterday day we did 6 hours and 112 miles and from hour 1 to hour 6 I suffered like a dog all day, I was just watching the time drag in, I thought it was never going to end. Currently I don’t think my endurance matches some of the riders in the team as they are all at least 3-4years older but riding with stronger people makes you stronger, right? But other than yesterday I feel I have been riding well and the coaches seem to think so, so that makes me happy and content, I'm known as the hard Irish guy that doesn’t wear gloves! On our first day we did 4hrs in the pouring rain and 6 degrees and some guys were shivering very bad I had to just act like I was cold too just to blend in. I would love to see them ride down gault's road in -3 degrees!
The team is all super nice, for the first two days it was quite difficult getting to talk to people but on Tuesday we had a team training session where we all had to work together and I feel it brought us all together a lot. The French is still a bit of an issue, I have found if you attempt to speak French they will respect you a lot more rather than coming in speaking pure English. I pick up on a few words everyday which helps! But it's not just me who isn't great at French, there is riders from, Spain, Ethiopia, Portugal, Italy and some other extreme places so they are on the same boat.
The routine in training camp is, we get up, get breakfast, go for our ride, come home, snack, chill, dinner followed by a massage and then bed, same thing every day pretty much!
How do I keep motivated?
Keeping motivated is for sure a really important thing! I feel to improve you need to enjoy what you do and want to do your training rather than making it a chore. But me, I've never really found it too much of an issue. I have a routine and you just get into the habit of doing it everyday. Last season with covid and nationals getting cancelled again, I did take a bit off a dip in motivation, its not that I didn’t want to stop riding my bike I just wanted to stop the training sessions and just ride my bike for a few weeks with no structure as I had no goals in sight as it was all cancelled, and that’s what I did.
I always remember Sean Kelly's quote is to a peak performance "you need to be more mentally fresh than physically"! Good form is in the mind in my opinion
But now I have big goals in sight I am more motivated than ever!
Diet and favourite food?
Diet is something I don’t take too seriously. If I feel I am performing well then I don’t think I need to change anything. But sometimes I might get carried away and step on the scales and the number could leave me annoyed for the rest of the day. But here at training camp we get weighed 4 times a day! In the morning, before training, after training and before bed. But the nutritionist calculates how much we need from day to day and serves the amount we need at meal times and I feel its been helping my recovery a lot and from now on I think I will focus more in the diet side of things, just eating the right foods for me because the results are for sure compelling. I am jealous of the bigger guys like the sprinters because they get a few extra scoops off food in the evening.
My favourite food would have to be the 'Papa's special'. My dad makes this meal which is a mix of everything really. I would tell you the recipe but I don’t think he would allow it, top secret! I also love Pizza but not too often as its not good for the weight, and absolutely no pineapple on it!
What do you do on your down time?
I like to watch Netflix and get caught up on what's happening at home and when home mum thinks I just like to annoy her a lot and eat all the food! The food bills must have been coming down a lot the last 3 weeks!
I also love the science side of sport and studying the body and how it works in different ways. I hope to one day be a successful coach as it interests me a lot! It also helps me with training and getting a little percent here and there.
My thoughts…
My thoughts is this blog isn't as good as the other two, but they cant all be good I suppose! Its just at training camp there isn't much happening, you do the same thing EVERY day. But when I go back to team house on Friday I will have more time to sit down at focus on what I want to say.
But yea, I'm having a good time here, the riders, staff and everyone is all really nice and I can't wait for the next one! My first race is early February so its something to look forward too! I may be a little tired from this two week block but I miss the thrill of racing!!
If you made it this far thanks for reading!
