Imogen Cotter has gone from beginner cyclist to pro rider at brake-neck speed in the last few years. In October she won the elite women's road race at the National Road Championships in Co Wicklow. She is soon bound for Girona and life as a professional rider with Plantur-Pura, the women's team of Alpecin Fenix.
In recent months she's been at home in Co Clare, pounding the roads, pushing herself on the home trainer and hitting the gym as she gets set for the biggest season of her career. In this piece she talks is through her winter training week.
By Imogen Cotter
My training this winter has ramped up pretty gradually. I will generally have one or two rest days a week, one session a day on the bike on the other days, and a couple of gym sessions a week.
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It’s the first winter where I’ve really gotten into the routine of doing weights and core sessions and I’m actually enjoying them. I feel like getting the professional contract for next year has just given me that extra bit of motivation and determination when it comes to all of the less enjoyable parts of training.
That includes the gym sessions when I’m feeling tired, getting out in the rain and wind, even the small things like getting enough sleep and avoiding as much chocolate as I’d usually eat.
I’m on a deload week this week after a four-week building block. So I’ll give you a rundown of my training from last week. I’ve been doing all of my training solo at the moment as I just like to follow my own routine.
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I have an extra bit of a lie-in if I don’t feel like I got enough sleep, listen to podcasts on my rides, have a slow breakfast etc. I love Zone 2 – I feel like those long winter rides are a bit like therapy or meditation to me.
Monday
I started the week off with a rest day after a big weekend of Zone 2 riding. I brought my bike down to the guys at The Hub bike shop in Limerick because it just needed a bit of TLC – the disc brakes were making a weird noise and I also really wanted to get some mudguards fitted. I left the bike with them to collect tomorrow.
Tuesday
Storm de Barra hit today so after I collected my bike I hopped on the turbo and got three hours done in Zone 2. I hadn’t spent three hours on the turbo in a long time – probably not since lockdown last year. I had snacks, drinks and Netflix to get me through so it wasn’t too bad and I found the time went by pretty quickly. I find the turbo takes a bit more out of me because you’re constantly pedalling so I felt fairly wrecked after that ride.
Wednesday
I had a 2½ hour session in the morning with a mix of high and low cadence work. This is some of my favourite work to do. I really feel the benefits of doing low cadence work in a high gear – it’s something I only started doing in the last year but I feel like it aided my climbing ability a lot. I did this on the turbo as the weather was still quite bad. In the evening, I had the final session of the Bike Like Me sessions with Cycling Ireland. I was on the turbo again for another hour guiding the Intermediate Youths through a session but the time flew.
Thursday
I felt exhausted when I got up this morning. The training hasn’t been particularly intense but there’s just been a high volume recently. I knew I needed to just get through my 3 hour Zone 2 spin this morning and I knew it wasn’t going to feel great. Once I was done I felt relieved. I had a few hours of recovering and eating before I headed into the gym. I had weights on the program this afternoon – the squats and stability work was really the final straw for my legs before tomorrow’s rest day.
Friday
Rest day! Hallelujah. I had a lie-in and a bit of an admin day. I booked my flights and found accommodation for moving to Girona in January, which will be a nice treat after all my rides in the rain. In the afternoon, I headed to the gym. I did about 45 mins of core work and then I had a 15 min stretching session. My back and hips felt quite tight so I felt great after getting this done.
Saturday
Four hours in Zone 2. During winter, I’d be more focused on keeping my heart rate in Zone 2 rather than staring at the watts. I will look at the average watts every so often, but I feel like it’s more important for me to stay in the heart rate zone. I did this spin on my regular training roads around Gort and in towards Ennis. It was really raining when I first headed out and I really noticed the difference that my mudguards made on a day like today. It was nice not to be sitting on a wet chamois for the ride.
Sunday
Five hours Zone 2. Again, a really bad day weather-wise. I was wrecked before going out on the bike but I promised myself a coffee once I got to Lahinch which kept me going. I was told before I went out that there was a small storm hitting the west coast from 3pm onwards with really strong winds. I, of course, stupidly decided to head along the coast and got caught with the strongest headwinds for the last 90 mins of my spin! It was one of those times when I just felt like I was battling with the bike for this last segment. I was so glad to get home – even more so because I have two rest days following this.
