Getting Back To Fitness

So since my last post i've been training hard and have begun racing again. Getting back into fitness after and injury and illness takes time. You've got to get the body used to making those race type efforts again, the ones that really hurt, and pushing past the boundaries of endurance when your body has had enough.

On the 13th of July my knee injury had gone and my shingles had cleared up, my motivation was high and I was ready to get back on it. Training started slowly, doing two small sessions on the rollers each day, a one hour session in the morning and thirty minutes in the afternoon. Any other time and I may have complained about being on the rollers when the sun was shining but I was riding my bike again, and that all that mattered. When you cant do something you have always done, you wont know how much you miss it.

These Roller rides then moved to the road and I started putting in some longer 3-31/2 hour rides. I rode down to visit my favourite bike shop, Colin Lewis Cycles, as Simon had installed a new espresso machine, that needed testing out. Following these longer rides, under the guidance of Stephen my coach, we introduced longer intervals and started getting me race fit again.

I First raced on the 14th of July. In this race I really suffered a lot. I was hanging on for most of the second half of the race, clearly I had not paced it correctly and had attacked a lot at the beginning, feeling fresh and raring to go, only to find that I couldn't last that long. The next race was similar. Then after a few weeks of good solid training in my legs I did the Brentor road race, riding to and from the race to get some extra hours in, clocking up 160km over the day, and a 7th place in the race. Finally the legs were coming back. Since then Ive placed a top 20 in a circuit race and 7th in the Worcester Trophy News road race.

Next week Im off to ride a UCI 1.1 in Overijse Belgium, which is the race i've been focusing my training on for the last few weeks, and then the team will also here who is riding in the Tour Of Britain for Madison Genesis, which has been my dream for a long time. Fingers Crossed!!!