I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head
Southland – You have been good to me.
If you are reading this blog, I have no doubt that you either know about the Tour of Southland or can find the results easy enough.. SO I will leave that to you.
I will just fill you in on what the results dont tell you…
My goodness its good to be back! Not just back in NZ, not just back winning the odd bike race but BACK. Feeling at home at the front of a bike race, making the right moves and (gulp) climbing really really well? After a whole week of racing, a stage win and a second on GC – all anyone one wants to talk about is my 3rd on Bluff Hill and 2nd on the Crown Range. Yes both hilltop finishes and both where I got my solid frame to the top within close proximity to the front of the race… Surprising? Not really to me…
The equation for climbing is made up of 2 parts.. POWER to WEIGHT… When I stepped off the plane in NZ I decided that it was time for a different approach, an attitude adjustment if you will.. It wasnt actually focused on the climbing, it was more to bring back some all round power – the fact that I got myself up those hills was a fabulous by-product and a testament to how well this new theory worked (for me).. I spent a good chunk of time internalising a really complicated situation in my head, decided to look at what made the new-school top sprinters good, you know those cheeky ones who are better than just sprinting, namely TT’s and/or classics – picked out the basics for training; and ran with it…
Decided that dessert was an important part to training, wine wasnt a bad thing and doing what ever it takes to make it through the training session was worth it… Better head phones, new music, coffee, living room (instead of garage) erg sessions, naps, recovery mixes, massages, a PS3 (wait the last one really didnt have much to do with it).. All small prices to pay to make training that little bit more comfortable… Although the price to industrial clean our living room carpet from all the sweat may be a slightly larger cost; Still worth it
SO for me it was a lesson learnt. For the first time in a LOOOOOONG time: I enjoyed training, I enjoyed putting myself to the sword, I enjoyed the twisted sense of achievement I got from some brutal erg sessions… I found a new zone of training, almost a sense of desperation pushing me through the days. Now I know where that zone is and know how to find it, I wont be forgetting it.
