Another lazy week for updating my blog.

I suppose i will continue from where i left off. On Monday I had weights. I didn't get my original starting weight for squats, so i dropped down to 100kgs and did 10 reps. It was quite painful. Lots of fatigue builds up pretty quickly with that many reps. After squats i did dead lifts. They went up pretty well.

On the Wednesday I had training at DISC. During my warmup my power numbers were right up there, which means im back on track for nationals. The efforts were done on small-medium gears. The efforts were less intense than some of the more recent ones.

Thursday. Weights. I had squats, working on my form. Happily, the form was pretty good. Hopefully i will be able to keep up the form once i start getting to higher weights. Following Squats i did deadlifts again. I haven't been doing power cleans or anything that involves arms lately, as my wrist has been sore. I should be able to do arm exercises again by Monday.

Yesterday we did gate starts on small-medium gears. During my warmup i hit some pretty good power. My timing has been good and so has my speed. I'm looking forward to the team sprint at National.

Today i had state training, We did skills work and and gate starts. My power numbers were alright, but not quite as good as yesterday's.

Is this everything?

It's almost a week overdue, so i guess i'll post now. The Monday after the sprint series consisted of lifting of weights (as if you hadn't figured that out by now). Because of the lengthy weekend I only did a warmup set of squats and some bench press. I PB'd in my bench press which was good.

On the Wednesday I rode down to DISC before warming up. My power numbers weren't too bad, which means they are coming back up (good sign, considering nationals is close). We did some speed endurance efforts on small-medium gears. They were pretty painful. We were all lying on the ground complaining about the state our legs were in at one point or another, but alas, it is a necessary evil.

The Thursday following the training session, i had weights. Volume day. Squats were a fair bit lighter than i'm used to and i only did 3 sets instead of 5. The legs were sore before that and they were definitely sore after that. After that i did deadlifts (dropped about 10kgs because i was losing back extension).

And now for today. Today was club teams racing. I raced the team sprint in second position. My team came second overall, so that was good. When i got home from said event, i relaxed for a couple of hours before going and doing a strength endurance ergo. The first half of the session was good, but once i got to the second part, that's when the pain started to kick in. By the end of it, my legs were just about ready to fall off. Once again though, it is a Necessary Evil.

A wise man (or not) once said: "ask yourself this question: Is this everything?" The question was asked a number of times during efforts, it kept me going and made me push myself to my absolute limits every time. Is this everything?

Undefeated, except in the qualifying.

Roller warm up started at 10:30. Got there a little late so i missed part of it. Today was state training. We had a couple of gate starts, flying team sprints and some other tactical drills. After the state training I went down to BBN to race the summer sprint series. It was a really windy day, so times weren't fantastic. I qualified for A grade and i raced well. I was undefeated throughout the day but because of my qualifying time i ended up racing for 3v4 in the final. I won the final and $10, so it was a good day.

It's safe to say i'm pretty tired after the weekend's efforts.

About 70kms/h

I didn't sleep too well last night. not sure why, but i still had enough energy to train. Before training i left early to go down to Brunswick to get my new road bike from the bike shop. It is an Avanti Quantum 2. It has a full carbon frame with a 105 group set. I have got RS80 wheels (carbon). It looks very nice as well.

Following the events of the morning i got to DISC (about 2 hours early) and had a chat with some people. During my warm-up my power numbers were down, but during the efforts they picked up again. The efforts consisted of chasing a motorbike for a lap and a half, which meant that we got some fairly high speeds.

I was happy with today, the power was down a bit but it's better than Wednesday. Tomorrow I have state training and the Sprint Series!

Almost like it was easy!

I was pretty flat on Wednesday. I rode in to training, i'm usually alright after the ride in, so i must have pushed myself too hard. There was also a head wind. Once i arrived at training i spent about 10 mins on the rollers. My power numbers were down in the power jump during the warm up.  After the warm up we started our efforts. Motorbike entries. Normally theses would have been fun, but because i was flat it wasn't as fast as i would have liked. My speed was still alright though.

Following Wednesday was Thursday (quite obviously) which meant the lifting of reasonably heavy things. If you've been following my blog, you would know that I have dropped about 10kgs on my squats to work on form. At the weight, my form was reasonably good. I think i will, however, stay at the weight until the technique is close to perfect before starting to move up. Following squats i did 5x5 press. The second set was probably the hardest, but every set after that went up really quickly (Almost like it was easy!). After press, i had power cleans. I only did one set. They went up alright.

The last two days of training have been pretty tough. Today, being Friday, I am recovering before a very long weekend of training ahead of me. Training Saturday, Sunday morning and then racing Sunday afternoon. I'm going to be sore on Monday.

ONLY 10kgs

Weights. Squats went up due to some weight being dropped. I am planning on dropping 10kgs for both volume and intensity days. This should allow me to work on my form and get passed my sticking point. Following squats i had bench press. It was volume day for bench press. The weight that i did is the same weight that i stalled on before moving to the texas method. That's a good sign. Next I did Dead Lifts. I got 2 reps done before stopping. I will need to reset some weight and work on form as well. Chin ups were next on the list, I only had a 10kg weight vest on because i am going for more rep and i think this will help strengthen me.

I feel motivated when it comes to weights, however, i would like to see more PB's.

Necessary Evil

Thursday was lifting of the heavy things. Squats were done at a weight slightly lower than normal so that i could work on technique. I think that i will be staying at a lower weight for a little longer to make sure that my form is good and so that i don't obtain any injuries. Following squats I did press, i think i will be dropping off a little bit of weight next time i do this. The weight is getting heavy enough that i will have to be increasing the weight by only half a kilo! Following press I did power cleans. I only did 1 set. The weight was equal to the highest on the board. Judging by my performance of the set i should be able to get the full 3 sets next time I attempt them. Weights are generally doing alright at the moment, so I am happy.

On top of today (Friday) being the first day back at school, I also spent the evening at DISC. Today consisted of longer efforts on medium sized gears. Each effort was more painful than the previous and the last one was very tough, but it will all pay off when it comes time to race! I am not enjoying the longer efforts quite as much as the shorter ones but they are a necessary evil.

The 3 days have taken a toll on my legs, they are pretty sore. Recovery time!

Cramps!

Today has been a fairly long day. I rode to training (about 20kms) and when i got there i helped my coaches unload the bikes and things which were previously used by the U19s at Nationals. Generally they did quite well, they came home with a number of gold medals. Once this had been done I tok my bike down to begin my warm-up.

The warm-up was 50 laps behind the motor bike followed by a power jump and an entry + 100. Then the efforts began. They were done on medium to big gears. I like using the bigger gears. The efforts were motorbike efforts and were quite fast. We did 4 of these efforts and i hit a max speed of 71.9 km/h.

After the day's efforts I rode home. I was taking it nice and slowly. Around 5kms from home i started to get some cramps. They were pretty big and very painful. I had to get off the bike and wait around for 10 - 15 minutes before i was able to continue riding home.

Today's efforts were good, i had fun. I am enjoying training and am looking forward to nationals. Nationals is 7 weeks out.