|
|
|
Last Updated: 2 Apr 2018 - 8:45:17 PM |
Hi all,
Well as I said in the last entry I was due to go to the team doctor to find out what was causing all of my breathing trouble this last few weeks. Surprisingly I have been diagnosed with asthma (Exercise induced to be exact) and what is even more surprising is it's been dated back to when I had pneumonia as a junior. Now I am on 3 inhalers and feeling so much better for it.
I spent the best part of the day in the hospital going through every allergy test and fitness tests etc.. until they finally got to the bottom of it. Since I last posted an entry I have only ridden one race and at present I am lying on my bed in my hotel room in Madrid waiting to go for massage. I start Classica Alcobendas tomorrow and then we drive 500kms to the north of Spain straight after the race to ride Vuelta Asturias from Tuesday - Sunday.
When I left Belgium this morning it was a sunny 26 degrees and here it is only 15 and raining I hope it picks up before tomorrow. It's a little odd for Belgium to be warmer than Spain at ant time of the year.
1 May Rund um den Henninger Turm / GP Frankfurt 1.1 Hors cat.
This race was until two years ago Germany's world cup event and still retains a Hors Categorie rating. The crowds were enormous and were estimated at 1.5 million by the TV stations. The hammer went down right from the start as TV coverage ran from start to finish live, that's 6 hours of non stop coverage and every team wanted a share of the limelight. There seemed to be a crash every ten Kms in this race a really fast course with a lot of climbs and descents. Luckily enough I managed to stay safe but had more than one close call.
The first major obstacle came after 55kms in the form of the Feldberg a 5 km climb fairly steep and climbing to 900m. I hung on well and really noticed the improvement in my breathing. Over the top in a dense fog and then 100 kph back down. When we got to a stage where I could hazard a glance back I saw that half the peleton was dropped and I was in the first group of 70. The parcours had not one flat section up and down all day and a real torture test. 130kms we had just come down a descent and swung right up a 20% climb when my chain snapped. I took a spare bike but despite getting in the cars 6 times I could not rejoin even with the help of one Peter Van Petegem who was out the back at the same time. We rode in together, nice guy.
7 May Classica Alcobendas 1.4 200kms
Early start this morning with breakfast at 6am. The rain was pouring down outside a vast contrast from the unusual good weather as we left Brussels airport basking in 30 degree sunshine yesterday. Most of the top riders not riding the Giro use this race and Asturias as build up for the Tour de France, and with the likes of Olano, Virenque, Jiminez, Escartin, Etxebarria to name but a few I had a feeling the hills would be a bit bigger than the Ardennes in Belgium. I got away early in a group of 15 and we built a lead of over 4 minutes by the time we hit the first category climb at Segovia, 16kms long and quite steep. Needless to say the under 60 kilos group let rip and tortured the rest of us. I ended up getting caught by the second group of 19 with Virenque, Escartin and two of my teammates (Van haecke and Roessems) 3 kms from the top. I stayed in this group to the finish so I was quite satisfied. Showered and changed then straight to the car for the 5 hour journey from Madrid to Oviedo.
I have had a few e-mails in the last weeks asking what a typical week of racing and training consists of so I guess this week was fairly average so to give you all an idea using heart rates (bpm).
Monday Frankfurt 1.1 200kms + 5 hrs drive home
Tuesday 3 hrs 100kms recuperation ride (1 hr 100-115 bpm 1hr 115-130 bpm 1 hr 100-115 bpm), Massage in evening
Wednesday 5.5 hrs 170 km 10 or so Hills (long > 4 kms) at threshold 175 - 185 bpm + 3 hrs travelling to hills
Thursday 6 hrs 210 kms team training in the hills + drive 3 hrs there and back.
Friday Recuperation 2 hrs (115 - 130 bpm) 60 kms, Massage in evening
Saturday Up at 6 am Travel to airport and on to Spain, arrive hotel 11 pm, then 2 hrs, 70kms with small intervals to unblock legs.
Sunday Race Up at 6 am for breakfast, race start 9 am --Alcobendas Classic 200kms bigggggg hillllllls. Climbing to 1900 meters at times.
Total = 1010 kms
That's all for now people, thanks for all the encouragement and talk to you all after Asturias.
Morgan
IrishCycling.Com: Would like to thank Morgan for allowing us to share his diary
|
|
|
|
