The Start of Winter Training

I’ve finally got settled out here in Spain now and have started my preparations for the 2013 season, I started training properly on the 1st November. I’ll tell you one thing I’ve found it’s amazing how much harder training feels after a break compared to just before you’re A race. I’m sure I’m not the only one though who’s finding it tough but you have just got to man up and get on with it. Plus at least being out in Spain I’m able to train in t-shirt and shorts everyday not the miserable weather you are all getting back in the UK at the moment.

I have also been using my new bike which is a Starley JKSR 1, it’s a cracking bike and I would say it feels very similar in riding position to my my BMC Pro Machine. It’s got quite an aggressive set up which feels fast and really racy. Perfect for those of you that like racing around on a road bike doing chain gangs, road races, or being jack the prat and sprinting for the 30 signs! There will be a full review on this bike in my next blog post. Starley-JKSR-1-Road-Bike

I also want to say a big thank you to clif bar who sent me a massive pack of nutritional products before I came out to Spain. I’ve been using them a lot these last few days and I swear they have been key in helping me get through the days in one piece as I think when you’re smashing it or 5-6 hours a day you have got to make sure you’re eating right and have the energy to get through the sessions and complete them properly. I’m not someone that can take all the sweet stuff you can get from some brands but the Clif bars are made out of all natural ingredients, they give you sustained energy and taste bloody good.

clif-bar2

Back to the Training and I’m going off a 10 day block which I will repeat 3 times and then have 4-5 days really easy before doing another 3* 10 day blocks. For this first block in each 10 days I’ve got some decent running sessions which focus on speed such as 500 meter reps and Ks etc, some hard bike intervals, and threshold bike intervals, and a couple of really hard swim sets which focus on speed and threshold pace. I’ve made sure that I’m spacing the key sessions further enough apart that I’m feeling good and can hit them hard. I’ve also got your standard 45 minute runs, and base miles etc on the bike in there as well. The plan seems really good and waking up to blue sky every day really does help with motivation, and the fact that I’m staying at a training center it means you are constantly surrounded by people who want to train.
I’ll be listening to my body though and making sure I don’t do to much to soon as I know there can be a lot of temptation being out here but at the end of the day if you have a plan and stick to it, don’t try and be a hero going out with everyone all the time the pieces should fall into place and I’m sure I will be reaping the rewards next year.

Now I’m settled in here I’ll do a blog post every week and let you know how my training has gone in more detail. I’ll aim to do the next one on the 10th November which will be after the first 10 days. I hope I’m still in one piece by then! I’ll put some pictures of the rides we have been on and some of the trails which we have been running on as they really are fantastic with some stunning views.

2 Responses to “The Start of Winter Training”

  1. Jim Keeble

    Joe it would be interesting for you to put your routine onto the next blog. I.e. what your sessions consist of for each discipline each day. The rate of perceived effort expected for each one etc.

    Reply
  2. Joe Skipper

    o.k mate I will go into some detail on the first 10 days and let you know what the perceived effort was and what I was actually doing.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)