Having been an exceptional rider at youth and junior level, Caoimhe O'Brien (19) of Torelli Cayman Islands Scimitar has begun making her mark in the elite ranks. Last season she won the John Beggs and Des Hanlon races; both part of the Cycling Ireland National Road Series. The 2021 season also saw O’Brien make her elite international debut on the road at Kreiz Breizh Elites Dames while she was also part of the U23 national team for the Europeans. In this dispatch she talks us through some of her recent winter training as she prepares for a big 2022 campaign.
By Caoimhe O’Brien
For
the last five weeks I’ve been based out in Spain getting a big endurance block
in. I’m back home now because of college - I’m in my second year of food
science in UCD.
Advertisement
Most
of my spins at this time of year ranged from 3 to 4½ hours. I train in three
day blocks with one to two days off - one day of complete rest followed by a
recovery ride the next day.
My
main goal for this block away was to build my base. The good, dry, weather in
Spain makes getting the long hours in a lot easier. I’m from Westmeath and the
roads are quite flat so it is nice to have a change of scenery and, especially,
to train on hillier terrain.
I
was staying in El Campello around 50km from Calpe. Being around an hour from Tudons
and Balcon de Alicante makes the rides a lot more interesting.
Related News
I
rode mid-high Zone 2, which is around mid to high 100s watts for me. I also had
a lot of Zone 3 efforts which were 10-20 minutes. I had a few Zone 4 efforts
near the end of the block; slowly getting me ready for the next step to be
ready for racing.
After
ever ride I do 10-15 minutes of core. I am never normally consistent with core
and stretching so I’m trying to make it a priority and get it done after my
rides.
Normally I’d have 16-20 hours of training each week. Every three to four weeks I have a critical power test which consists of three six-second sprints and tests of twelve, seven and three minutes. The results of these tests set my new zones and it’s really helpful to show the progression I am making.
Road
or home trainer?
I
prefer to do most of my sessions on the road. If I have to be in college for
the day I’ll do it on the turbo but I prefer the road. At the end of December I
also completed Cycling Ireland’s talent identification initiative, which had a
similar format to the critical power test I normally do.
During
this block I also tried to maximise the benefits from training by tailoring my
endurance and quality work around my menstrual cycle. For example around the
luteal phase, before your period, your body is under greater pressure than
normal. You have to reduce your training volume as a result. Paying attention
to these factors can really help to optimise your training.
Eating
well, getting the correct amount of sleep and good communication with my coach
is really important to optimise my training. Apart from the physical part of
training the mental part plays a huge role. I listen to a lot of podcasts on
mindset as well as meditating and reading sports psychology books.
