HIS COMMENT
What impressed me most about Simon was his desire to achieve and his willingness to work hard. When a rider has this level of motivation, he just needs a bit of guidance in the right direction. Initially, looking over the structure of his week, I could see that he generally either rode easy or went for a ‘bash’ with his mates. We want to maintain the social element while also adding some structured days. This will give Simon the ability to push himself further than before.
One big change was making him more time-efficient, reducing his total training time by one hour and giving him more time with his family. In one week, we have worked on everything from active recovery in Zone 1 all the way through every zone, focusing on endurance, aerobic threshold and finishing off with some sprints. This will benefit everything from his road racing to his time trialling. With his continued dedication, I’m sure he will achieve his target of 21 minutes for 10 miles.
I have also given Simon a core conditioning workout to help his posture and efficiency on the bike. Simon is an all-round strong rider, but lacks self-belief. He needs to take chances in races, trying different tactics; even if they don’t always come off, he’ll gain a lot of knowledge about himself in the process. He may sacrifice a top-10 one week to work towards the win the next. His friends and partner will play a big role in helping Simon develop confidence by giving regular positive reinforcement.