The first week of training is over. I am constantly hungry and having a sweet-tooth. My body is trying to adapt to the load. I trained with couple of amazing training partners, including Ondra Cink, our elite mountain biker. I alternated between road cycling, mountain biking, gym work and hiking.
I was surprised how quickly the body adjusts to a lack of physical load. As every year, at the start of November I return from a period of relaxation to a training regime. After a month of doing basically nothing the body always takes a while to get used to the training load again. However, I did not expect it to be the same this year after only a ten days break.
Focus on explosive strength
I started the first training day in the gym. I completely changed my approach to power training this year. Instead of lifting hundred kilogram weights I focussed on dynamic elements of Olympic weightlifting with much lower loads. It was my explosive strength that suffered the most from my injury and this is currently my priority.
Mountain biking with Ondra Cink
On Monday afternoon I went mountain biking with Ondra Cink, one of our best XC riders, a medallist at the World and European Championships. I have long looked forward to cycling cross-country with him. I started competing on mountain bikes and it remains a discipline I love. During the season I don’t have many opportunities to ride on my full-suspension Epic bike, but during the winter I make great use of it. Ondra showed me some new single tracks and advised me on my technique. Although we only rode for two hours, that was more than enough for me. I got back home, had a protein shake and nodded off. I woke with hunger.
Food, food, food
During the off season I didn’t eat much. The body switched almost immediately into a relaxation mode and I completely lost my appetite. I even tried a three-day fast in order to rest not just my muscles, but also my digestive system. It was not that difficult. However, this has made the hunger I’m suffering now even more intense.
The following days I ate almost non-stop. At first I was upset that I wasn’t able to eat healthily or avoid overeating. However, I quickly realised that subsequent feelings of guilt are much worse than the actual dietary misdemeanours. I didn’t put on weight during the off season so now I could allow myself some leeway. It is actually desirable. An extra kilo or two over the winter is a benefit. It’s just important to make sure it’s not more than that.
Easing off
The first training after the break was a solid shock for the body. The ten-days break had a much greater impact than I had expected. I preferred to take a lighter approach to further training. I didn’t really have a choice, I was exhausted. I set out on a hike and then did yoga instead of weightlifting. For cycling I selected my younger fifteen-year-old brother as my next sparring partner. We went on a sixty-kilometre ride to my favourite bakery. I couldn’t even really term this training.
Mountains in Andorra and great teammates
In the second half of the week I travelled to Andorra. My body was slowly beginning to adjust to the training load. In the morning I still needed at least two espressos and a moment of persuasion before I set off to train, but in the afternoon I was not feeling so tired anymore. My eating habits too were returning to reasonable limits.
I continued with similar training sessions. Gym, hiking, running. At the end of the week I again went mountain biking. Originally I thought it would be just three of us – me, my teammate Enric Mas and Carlos Verona. In the end a large group of us set off including nine-time stage winner in the Vuelta, Joaqim Rodriguez, and one of my childhood heroes and MTB legend, Joan Antonio Hermida. I still have his poster up in the loft somewhere. It was a wonderful experience for me to train with him. And despite being “retired” for two years he is still in exceptional form.
I have therefore completed a sort of a warm-up week. I will continue in the following days in a similar spirit. I will slowly start to increase the training intensity and will try to get my appetite back under control. I have some room to manoeuvre regarding my diet, but I don’t want to use it all up immediately. I would rather save it for Christmas; I have a weakness for my mum’s baking.
Next weekend in Prague
At the weekend I’m returning to Prague. On Saturday (17th of Novemeber) I will attend a workshop on mental training, and in the evening I will go to Motol velodrome to watch the National Track Cycling Championship. On Sunday I plan a long training ride and on Monday I will return back to the Pyrenees.