There are almost three weeks since we arrived here in Krabi, Thailand. During this time I’ve had many interesting and unforgettable experiences. I haven’t written before because trainings are hard, so most of my free time I’m sleeping, oops! Also, sometimes I have so much information running through my mind, that I need more time to think about it and then to assimilate it! So now, I’ll try to resume my experience during these three weeks!
I don’t know what to say first, but well, let’s talk about training first. As a said before we have had many hard trainings, but for me, there were many things to think about on those trainings. I’ll give you just an example, so you can have an idea. One day we did a brick session: biking 30’ three times, doing it progressively (last 30’ is HARD!), then running 12’ HARD on the track! Well, so we did 30’ 30’ 30’ and then, we were running on the track. I started running good, but then I began to slow down the pace… mmmm then, Felicity (Abram) passed me! And I couldn’t follow her… well, my effort was not enough!! So I finished, so Brett told me to do 400 easy… I thought it was the cool down… but when I finished he told me to do it again… I wasn’t really happy about that, but well I just took a deep breath and did it again! This time I ran 4sec faster per each 400m!! How?? Why?? Many things to think about after that training! Coach Brett told me that when he asked me to do it again I wasn’t really happy…so I did a breakthrough and ran faster, that it was not because my legs were more relax after the 400 easy… it was something I had to think about… for those people that know me, does this short story sounds you familiar??? Well yes, for me too! Sincerely, I think I’m not improving as fast I as would like to, but at least I can do attitude changes faster than before, I still have to work on this! Now I have noticed that I can put my energy on the right task when I’m angry or something like that… it’s not easy! Sometimes I can’t, other times yes!! But well, I’ve noticed improvement! Not enough and not as fast as I want, but at least a bit…. I think I’ll be improving faster than before! I want to be at the Top of this sport, so I can’t be like this all my life! I need to move forward!!
Well, now I’ll talk about other things, not training… we’ve done many other things apart from training too. Thai massage is really good! Quite painful, but good! We’ve also visit some other places apart from pools, the track and roads (that actually it’s not bad! You can see many things, and a beautiful landscape!!)… Beach, islands and just hanging around… you can’t imagine how many different things you can see in this country! The culture is quite special… many things are similar to Mexico, but still very different… this weekend we did a boat trip to this famous island “James Bond.” It’s amazing!! Just beautiful! It was really worth to do that! (You can see the photos below on the link or your right…).
What else can I tell you?? I don’t know right now…but well, I’ll try to write more often… I hope you like my photos… not really good oops! I took them from the boat so they are not great, but at least you can have an idea of how it is here…
Nice roads to go for a bike ride…
Really good fruits here!
He is our neighbor…
On the way to James Bond island…
James Bond Island..
Look at this bike!
5:30am ready for the day
ReplyDeletepool time and ready to move up.
Proud of you Big Girl.
You make me smile.
It's VERY good to begin the day with a smile.
Go!
I like the following as a complement of what you wrote. It is in www.pezcyclingnews.com
ReplyDeleteIt talks about how to develop a cyclist since adolescence.
Enjoy it!
Indeed, learning to train may sound mundane, but it is the foundations laid that allow growth into the subsequent stages. Similarly, training to win sounds natural, but if you focus too much on the idea without developing the other core areas you may well sabotage your own development. So, let’s see where you’re at…
- Learning To Train: For many of my athletes, even those who have raced for years, this is the most readily bypassed stage. Athletes in this stage will tend to have no real goals walking out the door each day and ride how they feel. During this stage you should be focusing on implementing a workout plan,. Better yet, take the time to create weekly and monthly plans. I’d like the athlete to have a general annual plan, but at this stage the focus should be on smaller time stamps and creating success day to week to month.
- Training To Train: This isn’t quite as dour as it sounds. Training to train is as much a function of learning your abilities and deficiencies as it is the project of developing as an athlete. By the time you reach this stage you should have a solid grasp on planning the season to address event specifics as well as how to tackle your own growth areas. One key focus of this stage is to do the development work that sets the foundation for future success. Training to train is where you develop the year over year fitness that leads to upper category success. It is also where you start to learn the craft of racing.
- Training To Compete: Lots of riders think they are here already. They race, ergo they must train to compete. For me, training to compete is more about starting to specialize your training. It may sound cliché, but this is where you start doing the true event-specific work that makes the difference. Matching kilojoules, motorpacing, peaking and tapering. To be honest the nuances of training to compete are unique to each individual and this is where you should begin to take a full spectrum approach to your preparation. Nutrition, sports psychology and focused, preferably power-based, training takes the fore.
- Training To Win: If you compete you want to be here. Don’t be simplistic in what this phase means. It’s not training to win anything, it’s training to win at the elite level. By this time you have a solid grasp on the fundamentals and it really comes down to execution. You’ve probably already got your 10,000 hours to establish expertise, so you know the importance of the little stuff.
Where You Going?
Now that you have a start on where you’re at, you can begin to create where you’re going. It’s fine to aspire to the Pro Tour, but next to impossible to short-cut your way there. It’s just as fine to set out to get that elusive upgrade, or to improve your tactical acumen, or whatever it is that drives you to improve. That passion is what keeps you going, but don’t set an insurmountable expectation for yourself – it really is about the fundamentals.
Cheers,
Sergio