Eoin Mullen is facing into one of the most crucial weeks of his season so far as he prepares for the next round of the UCI Track World Cup in New Zealand on December 5th and 6th.
The Aran Islander has been based in the UCI’s headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland, for a number of years now and all the training is geared towards producing the maximum amount of power in the shortest period of time.
Here, in the latest of our ‘My Training Week’ series, he lifts the lid on what he’s doing.
This is what Mullen did last week and because it was an easier week than usual on account of travel to New Zealand he ‘only trained for six days' Easy!
Profile
- Name: Eoin Mullen
- Team: Sundrive Track Team
- Date of birth: 6th August 1993
Training goals this time of the year
- Continue to develop explosive strength
- Improve standing starts
- Be ready for the UCI Track World Cups in New Zealand (Dec 5/6) and Hong Kong (January 2016)
General goals for the year
- To gain selection for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro
- To perform well at the World Championships
Mullen has had an up and down year with an appearance at the UCI World Championships in March sandwiched by nasty crashes. He's fully recovered now, though, and raring to race two crucial upcoming World Cup events in New Zealand and Hong Kong.
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Monday
Morning
This morning I did an easy gym session because I just got back from the Revolution in the UK and I was tired from all the travelling.
I managed 6th in the sprint event there but because there was a hole in the track they had to cancel the keirin event on safety grounds. That was a bit of a bummer.
The goal of this session is to ease the muscles back into doing some work. It was nothing strenuous, maybe 60% of my maximum.
I did some squats, leg presses and dead lifts. Interestingly, one of my legs is longer than the other so I have to do single leg presses separately or else it’ll hurt my back!
I’ll do some maintenance work as well on my upper body.
Afternoon
The afternoon consisted of just 90 minutes easy riding on the road to loosen out my legs after the weekend.
Tuesday
Morning
After yesterday’s relatively easy day it was time for some work today so I did a power session in the gym.
The emphasis here is on more explosive stuff so I do some jumps and explosive squats.
To increase my explosive power I do low reps but with a lot of weight. This recruits my fast twitch muscle fibres.
Some of the exercises would include box jumps and squat jumps. I’d maybe spend around 90 minutes in the gym at most.
But after the gym I’ll do a lot of foam rolling and stretching. This helps me with recovery.
Afternoon
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Another split session today with power jumps on the track.
These are where you come in slowly – maybe 30kph - and then go full gas for a lap (of 200m) and accelerate 4 times during that. This is short but very taxing!
Wednesday
Today’s a recovery day so I’ll just do 90 minutes on the road bike.
Thursday
Morning
Another early start for a strength and power session in the gym. This will be similar to Tuesday’s session.
Afternoon
Here I’m back on the track for some 500 metre efforts.
In one drill I’ll start behind a derny and bring me up to speed and then I’ll come off the back of it for a lap and a half by myself, full gas.
I’d only be behind the bike for maybe 50 metres and the remaining 450 is by myself.
You get out of the saddle for the acceleration and the focus is on high cadence and low gears.
Friday
Another track day today but this time I went to Grenchen for the session, just because they’ve a 250-metre track, unlike the 200-metre one in Aigle.
I went here to try and nail my flying starts so I did around three or four efforts.
It was a full day travelling as well so I didn’t want to dig a hole for myself.
Saturday
A stressful enough day today as I had to pack for New Zealand. I managed an hour on the watt bike but it was just for recovery.
I fly to Barcelona tomorrow and onto Dubai and Melbourne and New Zealand then so I wanted to be rested for that.
Sunday
Travel day today!
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