By Cian Keogh
I raced until November 1st last year and then had a few weeks off. At the beginning of January I came down with Covid-19 and it really knocked me just as I had finished my first big week of training.
My heart rate was constantly high for a few weeks and when building back up fitness again riding 2 hours on the bike felt more like 4 hours. I was back to myself again at the start of February and I completed a regular power test to see where I was at, working closely with my coach Thomas Fallon.
My numbers were back to what they were when I’d returned to training in December after my off-season. I was quite happy with that as it suggested nothing was lingering from the illness.
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Here’s a sample week from when I began training again in February. The emphasis was on building endurance again, with some added Z3 work.
- Monday Feb 14th: 40 mins spinning the legs
- Tuesday Feb 15th: 4 hours with 3x 10 Z3 blocks end of ride NP 235w
- Wednesday Feb 16th: 3 hours with tempo work and 3x 10 Z3 blocks during ride. NP 255w
- Thursday Feb 17th: 4 hours Z2 ride NP 220w
- Friday Feb 18th: 4½ hours Z2 Ride NP 215w
- Saturday Feb 19th: Rest day
- Sunday Feb 20th: 5 hours with 4x Z3 blocks NP 250w
Total: 21 hours 1000 TSS
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I had a solid 5 weeks of good training in the legs but hadn’t done much top end work, accepting that it would take a bit longer than previous years to build my fitness.
I began my season in France at 2 1.1 UCI races. It was a high level that I’ve not experienced before and certainly an eye opener as to how strong the World Tour and Pro Continental cyclists are.
The second UCI 1.1 I raced was the hardest race I’ve ever done. It was surreal to line up with teams who ride the Tour. At one point I looked beside me to see Pierre Rolland. I created the first break and we were shortly caught by the peloton but it was a nice feeling to get ahead for a while. I made it to 170km of the 200km race and kept riding until I couldn’t pedal anymore.
It will just take some time to adapt to this new level. I’m so grateful we have a team like EvoPro to help Irish riders compete abroad regularly and to help with adapting to that lifestyle. The team base in Belgium is perfect and the train station is a few minutes away direct from the airport.
I think it’s key to regularly race abroad as I’ve found in the past that with too much time between races on the Continent you need to brush the cobwebs off again to get used to the racing style and level. This delays development.
Unfortunately last week I contracted Covid-19 again, this time not as bad and more like a head cold. I got back racing over the weekend with the aim to get around and get some good back to back racing days in the legs in preparation for riding abroad again shortly.
