I thought I would recap what I’ve got up to with my winter training and what the start of the season will look like for me.
A significant amount of my winter training has been on the track, at Derny sessions, Track League and various other sessions. The goal for track league has been to try lots of tactics as well as trying to attend fatigued and still perform well. This is so that when I’ve tapered and I am racing fresh, the difference will be even more significant. Racing fatigued can be demoralising at times, however when you get some decent results when even slightly less fatigued, you know it’s working, and that you’re going well.
I have also spent time on the road this winter generally clocking in 8-14 hours training a week, with a 2-4 hour ride most weekends. During the week I generally tend to do most of my training on the turbo and on zwift, this is because it’s easier to fit around my school work as well as the shorter, darker days which we have during the winter.
A lot of this training has been focused on the Senior National Points Race Championship which was originally meant to be on the 29th of January, however got moved to the 5th of March due to COVID restrictions in Wales. This delay has given me more time to train and prepare and I’m looking forward to it. Training for this has consisted of lots of intense efforts with minimal recovery, similar to what you would experience within the race.
My first big race of the season is the National Points Race Championship in Wales on March 5th. The field is really strong and consists of over 60 of the best riders across the country. The week after this I also have my first ever Junior National Road Race and my first road race ever: Hatherleigh National. It’s a 108km course with two big rolling laps, followed by two short, grippy laps before the false flat finish straight. I recced it with some friends as part of my winter training in some biblical conditions, with a huge headwind and downpours of rain, however it’s a nice fast course, and I’m excited for the start of junior racing.
Tom Adby 