September 21, 2015
Today I received my first ever training plan.
I signed up to Transition Cycle coaching last week and filled out the questionnaire so my trainer (Jody) could sort my plan going forwards. Today I was allocated my first weeks training and it left me feeling a bit, well, weird.
After making some decent progress over the past three weeks I was a little shocked to see how little cycling was involved in my first week of training. Jody included only 4 hours of cycling this week and introduced two gym sessions and two rest days. This is how my week looks.
- Monday – Rest day
- Tuesday – Body weight strength and core
- Wednesday – Active recovery turbo trainer (30 min)
- Thursday – Rest day
- Friday – Bone density improvement
- Sat – Active recovery turbo (30 min)
- Sun – Road endurance (3 hours)
My first thought was what the hell am I going to do tonight. My second was what am I going to do all week.
I was training in excess of 12 hours a week and my exercise has now been cut by 2/3rds. Instantly I felt worried and began to fret quite dramatically at my work desk. I expressed my concerns to Jody who assured my that his plans would help me reach my peak fitness next September and that rest is a massively important part of this training process. I was told I was doing far too much and I needed to go back to basics and establish an elite level of core/tendon strength. I reluctantly took his experienced word for it, after all this is what I have hired him for.
After I gave the situation some thought I did feel really happy and relieved being enrolled in a structured training program. Admittedly I have been like a bull in a china shop, cramming as many miles in as possible and my legs – and other core muscles – aching constantly. I realise I need to go back to basics and ensure I have the core strength in my body before I hammer the miles.
I also expressed my concern to Jody that I was unable to walk for a few days after I do squad exercises. Looking back it’s obvious these muscles aren’t strong enough and needed some work. Jody’s reply was the following.
“It won’t always be like this so ride the storm my friend!”
I like the sound of that. I’m really excited to hammer the legs with my strength training tomorrow. I will keep you updated with how the training goes!
If you’re wondering why the featured image is a brick wall it’s because I’ve been quite bored tonight on my rest day, staring at brick walls!
