Report Womens Training Weekend
The 2009 Cycling Weekend for women was held last weekend in Avon Rí Leisure Complex, in Blessington, Co. Wicklow. Combining solid training sessions with training presentations and a talk from guest speaker, Jamie Costin (multiple Olympian), the training camp served as a gathering for cyclists from around the country who wished to improve their skills on the bike. Photos courtesy of Paddy Doran.
Due to the thick fog that greeted us on arrival in Avon Rí, we shuffled around our schedule, and had the training presentations in the morning, before heading out on the bikes. With three presentations on offer, the riders had the choice of two. Richie McCauley (former International rider) is the team manager for the Irish Development Team this year. He talked to the group about the positive effects of including V02 training in your training programme, and distributed sample training programmes, and a sample test that can be used for calculating the speed that you should train at for your interval training.
Top Irish coach Paddy Doran talked about training principles for effective time trialling, and also talked about race tactics. The latter talk was particularly useful for the racers. Paddy works with some of Ireland’s top riders, including Ireland’s best female cyclist, Siobhan Dervan, who finished in 24th place in the 2008 World Championships.
Following this, the riders were split into groups according to the number of years of cycling experience on the application forms. Richie took the racers, with Paddy coaching the triathletes and semi scratch cyclists. Anto Moran took the touring cyclists, while Hugh Byrne was assigned to the beginners. It was fantastic to see so many new faces at the training camp. On Saturday some of the riders realised that they were a bit too strong for their groups - so by day two, with some reshuffling of people, the groups were more evenly matched.
Most of the groups spent much of the Saturday spin picking up tips on cycling skills, and how to ride as a group. Many of the riders were used to cycling alone, or with just one training partner.
The racing group did Lactate Threshold training with Richie, in the form of 10min pieces, with the group working to get a fast pace, akin to riding in a break. By the final piece the pace was rising considerably with the group getting a sniff of home. Richie’s on the bike advice was helpful for the riders, with it doubling as a prime opportunity for Richie to assess the strengths of the riders attending the camp, which was included as part of the criteria for selection on Irish Development Teams.
On Sunday there was a slight change in personnel with Mick Usher stepping in for Hugh Byrne, and Geoff taking the semi scratch group and triathletes. Paddy took the group of leisure cyclists, with the addition of accomplished cyclist Kate Rudd, who was on hand for advice on bike skills for the riders. After the spin the groups taken by Mick and Paddy regrouped for a fun bike skills session.
Hugh Byrne worked with newbie Haiyun Wu, who deserves a prize for being the most improved rider of the weekend. Haiyun came to the camp with little cycling experience, and having never been on a road bike previously. On Saturday she had a steep learning curve, with one to one coaching with Hugh Byrne in the morning, and a bike skills session with former Olympian, Jenny MCauley, in the afternoon. On Sunday she took to the mountain bike with Hugh Byrne, and came home a different rider!
Junior rider Heather Beirne took full advantage of the opportunity to learn from more experienced riders, from helping Jenny with the Saturday skills session to learning how other athletes balance training and study. It’s a good time for her to figure out a routine, with her Leaving Cert another year away.
On Sunday morning the mist that was threatening lifted quickly, and the racing group were led by Jenny over the Wicklow Gap, around by Laragh, and back home via the Sally Gap. It was the same route as last year, with 20min knocked off the time…. not that anyone is counting. The group of 7 were tipping along at a good pace with the lunch deadline driving them on.
After lunch Jamie Costin spoke to the group about the importance of an athlete’s training environment from support network to training partners, and the importance of regular massages. Following his inspiring talk, I know half the camp are on the verge of handing in their notice in work to take their sport to the next level! Jamie is one of the top race walkers in the world. At one point he was ranked 5th in the world, and he represented Ireland in the Sydney and Beijing Olympics. Jamie (who spent some time working in the Cycling Ireland office in 2005) spoke about his motivation in getting back to world level racing following a horrendous car crash that happened 9 days before his race in the Athens Olympics… despite breaking his back in two places Jamie was back at the top, competing in the Beijing Olympics. We’d like to thank Jamie for coming along and inspiring us with his knowledge and experience, and wish him luck with his upcoming races.
Thanks to everyone who helped out for the weekend, Paddy Doran, Richie McCauley for their presentations, and to coaches Hugh Byrne, Anto Moran, Geoff Liffey, Mick Usher and Kate Rudd. Thanks to all the riders for coming and making it a very enjoyable, sociable and competitive training camp. Finally thanks to Jenny McCauley and Valerie Considine for putting in so much work to organising the weekend.
CONNACHT CYCLING
