Sam Bennett has outlined his arduous daily routine in great detail as he works himself into the kind of shape he needs to fight for bigger wins this year.
Sam Bennett is meticulous about his training and is looking for further improvement in 2015 after an excellent debut campaign in the paid ranks last year.
His first races are now just a matter of weeks away. He’ll be looking to hit the ground running in a couple of early-season 1.1 ranked Europe Tour races in Majorca at the end of January.
Riding for Bora-Argon 18 as the team’s designated sprinter, the Carrick-on-Suir man has been busy trying to improve his speed and power over the winter months while keeping his weight down.
Trained by well-known Colorado-based coach Neal Henderson, Bennett outlines exactly what he did in a recent training week.
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- Name: Sam Bennett
- Team: Bora – Argon 18
- Date of birth: October 16th 1990, (24)
- Weight: 69kilos
Training goals at this time of year
This time of the year it’s about training consistently and trying not to get sick. Keeping the weight down is key and maintaining the intensity in my training is also important.
I feel great at the moment. I spoke to my coach and even asked him was it right that I should feel this good at this time of the year.
I was on antibiotics there a while back and only had about two weeks done before that.
But the form came along quickly once I started training. I was surprised.
This time of year I’m doing a lot of weights in the gym. I feel more powerful than last year.
The last two weeks I didn’t feel so strong but I’m putting out good numbers now.
I did some 5 minute, 20 minute and 1 minute tests and I set personal bests for the 1 minute and 5 minute ones.
I’m sensible about my diet now too. I cut out bread and I’m eating at the right times.
I’d like to be under 70 kilos for the racing and if I come down lower than that I go great. But I won’t drop to 66kilos like I did when I was with VC La Pomme.
I know my body now and how it responds to training and diet.
Typical weekly routine - at a training trip to Calpe, Spain
Celebrating his Rund um Koln win last April with his team mates from NetApp-Endura, now with new sponsors and rebranded as Bora-Argon 18. Bennett will be looking for more of these wins and can claim even bigger victories with good health and the rub of the green from time to time.
Monday
Today I did one and a half hours on the bike. It was just a short coffee spin. The An Post Chainreaction boys were in Calpe training as well so I started with them.
They were getting used to their new gear and were going easy so that suited me.
I did 45 minutes with them and turned around.
We were just chatting, rolling along. So I got to know some of the new faces they've brought into the team for this year.
Tuesday
In the morning I was prescribed three hours with some standing start sprints that settle into Vo2 max efforts.
Basically this effort is almost like a track start. You’re over-geared at the start and then you break into a full-on sprint out of the saddle and then back into the saddle for a minute. I did that six times.
At the end of the ride I did three 10-minute efforts at around 300 watts. These were followed by a 10 minute rest in between; when I say rest I mean easy riding.
The day was fine so I stayed out for 4 hours 20 minutes.
I had an easy week the week before so I felt good.
I didn’t know what the weather would be like in Ireland when I got back so I wanted to push on and make the most of it.
In the evening I went to the gym and did 40 minutes. I did some planks and side planks for my core.
(Explainer: Planks are similar to getting into the push-up position. But rather than your body weight being supported by your hands and feet; you put your elbows and forearms on the ground. Your core is worked when you stay in that position.)
I also did some squats, jump squats with weights for my legs and some single arm dumbbell rows for my arms.
This gym session was short but hard; 20 minutes doing exercises with a 10 minute warm-up and cool down.
My core is bad at the moment so I must work on that.
I’m only holding the planks for maybe 30 seconds but I’ll be increasing that every week.
I do them every time in the gym and by the end of this week I had a total of 15 minutes of planks.
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For the squats I’d be doing five sets of each exercise.
I got a massage from the An Post-Chainreaction masseuse Hans at the end of the day. That was great
In a publicity shot for An Post-Chainreaction just before the 2013 season got underway. It proved to be the campaign that would bring him a stage in the Tour of Britain and a number of other results that led to a contract at ProContinental level for last year. With the passage of time, it's very interesting to read an interview he did with stickybottle back then “I’m done making excuses; people must be fed up with it. I’m taking any chance I get now” He may have since progressed to a higher level, but Bennett remains very close to those in the An Post-Chainreaction camp and they at times extend to him the facilities their own riders enjoy.
Wednesday
For the morning I was prescribed three hours but I did just over four, with six 5-minute intervals at threshold watts.
Then I finished with three sprints in a big gear, out of the saddle.
But they were done as if I was in a race so I replicated being in a lead-out with a one-minute build-up to the sprint.
That was a hard day, it didn’t look it on paper but I felt it afterwards.
In the evening I did 40 minutes in the gym. The same as yesterday but increased weights for the squats and increased time for the planks.
Thursday
I planned to do 4 hours and I did that - two minutes over it actually.
It was an endurance ride and it was okay to feel fatigued after two hard days back-to-back.
I was out with Sean Downey (An Post-Chainreaction) and it was just him and me.
We hadn’t spoken for months and it was unreal how quickly the day went.
In the evening I went to the gym again for 40 minutes.
Again, I did the same exercises as the last two days. But the ones with weights involved heavier weights and lower reps because I’m trying to build more power.
Each day this week I’m going to the gym and my legs are more dead so the sessions are getting harder.
But I want to build that stamina in the legs. I wanted to overcook it to see how the body reacted.
I got another massage – badly needed.
It would be interesting to see what Bennett could do in the green of Ireland on an World Championship or Olympic course that suited him, and backed by a strong team.
Friday
I was meant to do an hour and a half coffee spin but I heard Saturday was meant to rain so I went with the An Post Chainreaction lads and ended up doing tomorrow’s session today.
I ended up doing 4 hours 50 minutes. I felt good even though I had a lot done that week already.
I wanted to go to the gym again in the evening but I was too tired so I decided against it.
Saturday
I was down to do 3 hours with efforts but I decided to do the three hours on the road and then do the efforts on the turbo later.
So when I got home I did another hour on the turbo. It was broken down into 1 minute ‘on’ followed by 1 minute ‘off’ for 20 minutes.
So there was a 10 minute warm-up followed by 20 minutes of that on-off, 10 minutes easy riding and then the remaining 20 minutes. I felt really, really good here.
I got another massage. That was a nice end to the day.
Sunday
Again the weather was good - even though it was meant to rain. I did 3 hours 26 minutes but I felt tired; holding the watts was hard.
The An Post-Chainreaction lads started doing efforts and they asked me to join in but the legs wouldn’t turn.
