Re- juggling.

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BY: Melanie Alexander

Published: 1st December, 2010

Autumn mountain biking is always enjoyable, with no other purpose than to enjoy and loosen up on the bike again. I've not done as much as I would like but definitely enjoyable. A group of friends organised a days coaching on our local trails with Dirt School which took us back to basics, where to put your weight on the bike, how to corner ect.. with a chance for bad habits to be picked up on resulting with plenty for me to keep working on.



Photo by Al Scott.

December has come around quickly and it is definitely the time to start putting the miles in. I have been busy for the past couple of months after gaining a couple of art commissions which is fantastic but unfortunately I am not in a position yet to reduce my hours at work any further so I have been squeezing a few hours on the bike in between work, physio exercises and the commissions which have been eating into my weekends and evenings.

At the beginning of October it did not bother me too much but now December is here I know I need to juggle my time around to get more out of the days. I completely agree with putting the base miles in over the winter and enjoy the long steady rides. I  have decided to re-juggle things to make sure I get the base miles in but also find time to work on the commissions because I want to be successful in both. From next week I am fortunate enough to be working part time on Wednesdays and Thursdays giving me the opportunity to fit two good training rides in during the week. These, together with two long rides at the weekend, recovery and spinning intervals on the remaining days I am hoping will get me in good shape for the start of next year plus still provide enough time to work on the commissions.

 I would like to return to Dalby for the World Cup in April and as at the moment I do not have enough points my aim is to be in good form for the first two NPS rounds.

Physio exercises and one legged turbo training though very boring have been successful and on my last visit to the physio I was told my left glute is now slightly stronger than the right, so the exercises have worked. I have exercises to continue further strengthening but no need to return to the hospital.

The thing I do need to watch out for is not burning my self out. Last year I upped the hours I rode over the winter months aiming for 15-16 hours a week, but the way I did it resulted in not enough sleep and very little rest time. I had a really nasty chest infection in January which took a month to shift, followed by cold after cold. I was commuting a couple of times a week meaning waking at 5.30, commuting for an hour and a half,  teaching then cycling home and not getting home till 7 then doing the same again the next day. I know this works for some people but for me it didn't work, I wasn't going to bed early enough and did not get enough sleep to be efficient.

It will be interesting to see how the training goes now, hopefully it will work!


 
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