Colm Bracken will be 50 next year but has already submitted his application for a 2016 race licence. He says there are a few key things to remember when it comes to winter training and one of them is building up slowly. With over 100 career wins to his name we won't argue with the man.
Now aged 49 years and with over 100 career wins to his name, Dubliner Colm Bracken will return to the competitive peloton in the spring looking for more victories despite a health scare last year.
However, despite proving so prolific down the years and even holding the Rás yellow jersey in his pomp, he said winning never came easy to him.
The Murphy Surveys man insists it took discipline and sacrifice before he could be competitive.
Here, in the latest dispatch from a well-known rider, he outlines his six no nonsense pieces of advice for any rider looking to improve.
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Bracken leaves his rivals for dust in the Bikeworx Series at Mondello Park last year.
1. Be consistent
When you start back training in December you have to be consistent.
I’ve gone years when I’ve never missed a Saturday or Sunday in January and December – and that would be every weekend.
I wouldn’t miss it no matter what the weather.
You can’t be out every Saturday and Sunday in October and November and then start skipping them, that’s not how you train.
2. Start to build up slowly but surely
Start back easily. I did an eight-week build up all the time, then come February I started doing speed work and harder stuff and race simulation.
But before that I’m talking four-hour spins in a slow build-up for two months.
3. Train constructively
Make sure you know what you’re going to do that day.
When you start off training you start off nice and slowly but then introduce speed and hills and then over time you build into race simulation.
You have to know what you’re going to do and not make it up as you go along.
It’s also important not to take on the winter world champion - guys who are flying in November and December but disappear after January because they’re burnt out and tired or fed-up.
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Always train with your head on your shoulders.
4. Work up to the season
You switch off when you start back and you must keep it nice and calm.
Then towards the season you start to think of the races and you automatically put more into the training. It’s a natural build-up.
Some guys come out and they’re hammering you for a few weeks but you don’t want a situation where you’re suddenly fit in January.
You still have a whole month before the racing season starts or even more, and you say ‘Jesus what was all that about? I suffered for a few weeks after Christmas because someone was killing us’.
There’s no need for it when the racing doesn’t start until March.
5. Get a massage
I find them a great help and over the winter I might only get them once a month.
But then during the season I’d get them every week or two and I find if I don’t get them the little niggles build up.
I do a few stretches and core body exercises in the winter as well; they’re good for climbing and sprinting.
Not a lot, 5 to 10 minutes a day is fine with some core and press-ups. I feel it strengthens the back but the core work helps.
6. Train with a group
I could never do a winter on my own. I always had to be in a group because it makes it so much easier.
You have a bit of fun in the group, you’ve a higher speed, it’s team building and the time goes a lot faster, you don’t feel the pain as much.
A solid group to go out with in the winter it makes all the difference.
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