Copyright

All photo's are Copyright of Scott Swalling or the tagged Photographer. (Background photo Scott Swalling Photography).

About Me:

24Hr MTBike racer and general bike rider, climber and mountaineer. Good coffee drinker and cake eater (any cake, seriously, don't leave your cake laying around). Also, I like to try new things that challenge me.

Thursday 25 April 2013

2013 Training

Well simply put, I made a 2013 training plan, some Strava Challenges help fulfill these plans and I am rapidly approaching the last few 100k's of the April block, in time to taper and be ready for the Gorrick 100 on the 5th May and the 24Hrs of Exposure on the 11th/12th May.

Watching the improvements over the weeks, some of which seem to come with no effort and some when you think you are having the worst session every, have maintained my momentum.

I do have to say, that the incorporation of the Strava challenges to the training goals, for me has worked well.  I am mildly competitive (until you put me on a start line) so Strava doesn't get me wound up, but rather helps keep me motivated.  Entering a training challenge devised by someone else seems to work for my psyche and gets me on the road, trail and even the turbo more often.

But the key thing I put in every training plan is one rest day or recovery day a week, this may include a ride still, but it will probably be very short slow and involved a lot of messing around.  This certainly is one way to maintain the love, losing this would make it hard to train.

I also always have the caveat "if the body says no, the body says no" this has been played only a few times this year, which means I must have something right at present.

As I now head into the race season, the training cycles shift and become a little more flexible and a planned week in the Italian alps riding and another climbing will also break up the season, yet still provide valuable time at altitude and exercising in a more relaxed manner.

The only real questions that remain are, which gearings to use for which races on the singles?  Everything else is currently on track, even with some major development around home in the form of a massive garage and workshop.

As usual, a massive thanks goes to my Nik and indeed my cycling partners and my sponsors for keeping me active and equipment in working order and supplying it.

The race season start is counting down. Tick, Tock, Strain, Puff

Weldtite sponsorship

Some great news from Don'tfalloff Race HQ, Weldtite www.weldtite.co.uk are sponsoring me for  Endruance races and whatever other types of races I squish in to this years calendar.  They join cycleworks.co.uk and Alpkit, and are yet another UK based company.

I have been a member of their Review Team for the last year and can honestly say they make some great products and are really ace people.  So when it came to looking for some additional support, they were my first choice by a long shot.

Below is the first little shipment of products that I received to keep the wheels and cranks turning, clean and lubricated for the year, which looks like an exciting one.


Right now I think there is CX bike that requires some of that Dry Lube (the red cap) and some riding on dusty trails.

Thanks Lorraine, Paul and all of the Weldtite team.  :)