Track training...

The last few weeks have been super busy leading up to the UCI Junior Track World Championships this week in Glasgow. Our recent packed schedule of training camps and travelling resulting in the lack of blog posts, the routine of camps leaving little energy to ignite the imagination and try to write something worthwhile. It’s only now, lay in a hotel room overlooking the River Clyde, a few days into our taper up to the Team Pursuit on Wednesday, that I have got my head together to write something, and it still feels pretty boring!

It has been a whirlwind few weeks, with thousands of laps of the track in both Newport and Manchester all building up to the (hopefully) four and a bit minutes of effort this Wednesday. But now as the training all but stops, bare a few short efforts to keep the legs ticking over, and as the racing approaches, we have more time than ever to think over how our training has all gone. Time to mull over how the race will go and what it all means in the grandscheme of things. This is probably one of the biggest tests of a riders mentality, the days leading up to a big event when hour upon hour must be ticked off in a nonescript hotel room.
These worlds will without a doubt be the biggest races of our lives. The fact the championships is on home turf making it all the more special, and these tests all the greater. Yet if you handle it well, it simply isn’t a test at all. The usual nerves yes, but nothing more. I guess that is something, riding my second major Track championship and fourth straight European or World Junior Championships, that I have had plenty of time to practice.
It’s hard to really write about what has gone on aside from these most basic of mental elements, of the actual training itself. Infact I have been struggling to think of something worthwhile to write, a rare situation. I don't think the track training is particularly romantic, unlike the rich imagery of road miles and their surroundings and as such it is difficult to build a great image of us bowling around the track. Although maybe that's a good sign of the speed we are hitting?! I hope so... What I am sure of, is the pure and utter pain. It is very plain and simple, always there, no matter how fast or nailed the team may be.
However the pain may be strong, the opportunity to ride in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, to represent GB on such a big stage, to race with the boys, outweighs any sacrifices we have made and will ever have to make. For now we have to hope the early mornings and double days of the last few months will be reflected in our performance. That the work of all the support staff, our coaches and us athletes, will be rewarded with a performance we can walk away proud of.
 
I feel I should apologies for the boring post. Maybe the four walls of the various hotel rooms over the last few weeks have drained my creativity? I hope, if so, I am compensated with strength in my legs to reward all the hotel time! Or maybe I am pooling all my energy into my legs? Away from my brain... Something like that.
Regardless, this is the dream. I am nervous but I can’t wait to get racing!