Ashleigh Moffatt: An update of what I have been doing and whats been happening!!

Hey,

I haven’t uploaded my blog in a while, which I do apologise for. I have been doing a few different things this season, including different training which has involved less racing. Therefore I would like to share with you what has been going on and explain why we (my coach Johann Wykerd and I) have decided to take this step this year.

This year I got a little older and got promoted to the U23 category. Going into U23 from Junior is quite a big jump, as many that have experienced this step up will agree with me. You are no longer riding with riders 1 year older or younger then you, but with riders that are 3-4years older and have a bit more experience then you.

I experienced this big jump into U23 on the first few cross-country races I did. One goes from doing 3 laps as a junior to 5 laps as a U23 and sometimes Pro-elite. This is quite a challenge on the rider not only physically but mentally as well. Due to one being used to riding 3 laps that takes ± 1h15 to adding an extra 2 laps and 30minutes onto the time, and so you need that extra strength and endurance to sustain your energy for that extra period of time.

I personally experienced this need of endurance on the first few cross-country races I did. Where I would feel pretty good for the first 3 laps and would slowly fade on the next 2 laps. As I didn’t have that endurance to keep the same pace throughout the entire race.

So realizing what I needed to do and what weaknesses needed to be worked on. I had to change the plan of action going forward as well as the training, this involved taking a few steps back and analyzing what had to be done. This included more strength work and endurance training, but with doing strength training (gym work) meant I couldn’t race as while. Making it quite a hard decision to make, so I made the decision to go off the racing scene for a while and do what was needed too as well as thinking about the future (next year). Due to different training that involved more strength work makes one muscles heavy slow moving (as you using the slow twitching muscles), so when racing you need ones muscles to work faster (using the fast twitching muscles). This therefore resulted in not doing races and explains why I wasn’t racing these last few months.

After doing about a month of strength training I decided to see how everything was working out and go do a race (the Howick Lizzard Classic).

I was excited to race again and see if the training was paying off, of course I was also excited to see everyone else at the race and catch up. So I went off to Howick to do the race all buzzed up and ready to roll, little did I know that what I was told about not being able to race was going to hit me. About 5km into the race I had no legs at all, they were turning but I felt like I couldn’t get going (going fast). I won’t lie it wasn’t much fun to ride that whole race with such heavy legs but it was good for me as I understood what was being meant by ‘doing strength work and not racing’ and it was a learning path in this experience.

I didn’t give up and decided to do another race, the Sardine Classic. This time the race went better I could feel my legs were heavy but they could go more than they were going in the previous race. I could also feel that the strength work was working as I felt a lot stronger when it came to using my arms, especially in the single track and having to push myself and the bike over the rocks and into the corners. So with doing these two races I realized what I was doing was correct and I was going in the right direction and I had to see for myself that the plan was working. As well as answering the question about strength training and racing.

I did do one more race the Saffire MTB Classic, but this was more for the experience and to have a bit of fun. As I raced the race on the back of a tandem with my beloved coach Johann Wykerd. This was defiantly a huge experience and a very different way of racing for me. For example the back person on the tandem has no control what so ever and for me I couldn’t see anything in front of me (being so short) except the colour orange on the back of Johann. I must admit it was challenging and fun at the same time, especially when putting so much trust and faith in the front person. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to sit on the front steering than Johann. There were some serious adrenaline pumping moments, especially when in the single track as I had no idea if an obstacle or corner was approaching. At times I just wanted to close my eyes and hope for the best as we flew down the track, whizzing past the treesJ. But of course with all my faith and trust in my amazing coach we made it to the end alive haha J. It was a great experienced and I thoroughly enjoyed it, thank you Johann Wykerd.

xxx

About Me

Facebook Badge

Blog Archive

An update of what I have been doing and whats been happening!!

0 comments:

Post a Comment