A Typical Training Day

To switch things up from racing, this blog is about what I get up to on a typical training day.

Usually I’ll wake up at around 9am; this varies depending on how late I went to sleep on the previous night or whether I’m meeting a group. For the purpose of this blog, I’ll run through a solo training day. Sometimes I’ll wake up particularly late as I almost always have the whole day to train and feel it is more beneficial to get extra hours of  sleep rather than trying to get the ride completed as soon as possible. From waking up, I’ll clear up the previous nights dishes and have some breakfast. I like to make a mix and match from a selection of cereals and cram it into a large bowl which is usually over-flowing!

From here, I’ll do any more small jobs such as feeding my dog and then get ready for the days training. I get changed, head downstairs and grab a selection of snacks for the ride; typically a banana and a handful of bars. I have a rough idea of where I’ll be going for the ride, especially if I have some efforts to complete but never have it plotted into my garmin; generally choosing the way at junctions according to how I’m feeling at the time. With a 2-4hour ride you tend to either loop around the North of the Island or the South when living on the Isle of Man. I definitely prefer heading North, towards Ramsey. I’ll complete the training ride and usually attempt to stop at the cafe that my Mum works in, it’s within 5km of our house but often by the end of the ride I’ll be tired and want to get home and make a start on lunch.

When home, I clean myself up and upload my ride. I like to be fully settled before making lunch, this isn’t the best for recovery as it means it can be up to a couple of hours after returning home that I eat. It’s something I need to work and I’ll often make up a shake if I know I will be a while or have been on a strenuous ride.

A quick clean up is then followed by some time to relax or some quick work on the computer (replying to emails/ booking travel etc). I like keeping occupied so in the evening I’ll almost always either ask to cook tea or take my dog for a walk. Cooking is something I’ve really grown into and is a great time killer, my Mum also enjoys it so we tend to take turns.

Another clean up and that’s me typically done for the day, heading to bed after this. Not too exciting but there you have it. This isn’t the case for a lot of days as I’ll chuck in some foam rolling when close to a race, clean my bike if it has been wet and often will have a split day. The example above is quite a dull day but to be honest lots of them are!