SportsShoes Blog

JI have ust come back from a break off the bike and so I’m getting back into it again now. Went to the gym last Thursday and absoloutly died!! Apart from that I’m just doing easy riding at the moment as I don’t have any competitions for a while.  The weather’s pretty bad at the moment - typically it was lovely weather during my week off! I tried to go for a run to make the most of the weather but only managed 20 minutes and had aching joints for 4 days afterwards! I should be hearing pretty soon about whether I’ve got a place on the Olympic Academy Programme which I applied for at the end of August! Fingers crossed!

Trainings been pretty stop-start recently. I had my end of season break after the Europeans then got back on the bike, then picked up a cold, tried to train through it and it got worse etc etc! Im using Vicks first defence at the moment though and that seems to be really helpful - as soon as I feel slightly under the weather I start using it and *touch wood* seems to be doing the trick!

I found out about a month ago that I’ve been accepted on to British Cycling’s Academy Programme for U23’s! This has been my aim all year and it means that, when my A Levels are finished in July, that I can go full time as a cyclist It also means other things such as new bikes, so I have to leave my sponsor this year of BH -  they are great bikes and I would definitely recommend them. Also I will be going on the Athlete Whereabouts System…meaning that soon, testers will be knocking on my door at 6am!

I’m going up to Manchester this weekend for a few days on the track before my next competition, the Revolution meeting on 15th.  Other than that it’s going to be pretty quiet competition-wise for the next couple of months.

Better go… Need to get out training in that lovely winter weather!

Just come back from my long weekend in Manchester. It was really good to see all the other riders again and speak to them after their success at Manchester World Cup! We did a group road ride on Monday morning for a couple of hours that included a steep cobbled hill..it was the moutain bikers that took us up there! In the afternoon it was time to go over to the track for a bit of an induction talk and to collect new kit! On Tuesday we were up at 6 and left at 7 to ride to the track for an 8am track session.  It was strange being back on the track but it was a good session.  The others did madison training and me and Jess Allen did some rotating stuff behind the motorbike.  After that it was back to the flats for a quick lunch and a cuppa before riding over to the EIS for a biomechanical analysis.  This involved being filmed from different angles on my bike either riding normally or doing a 30 second effort.  This data will then be checked to see that there’s nothing weird going on position-wise on the bike! After that it was time to head on back home! It was really good to spend time with the other academy riders but a bit of a pain having to be back for school on Wednesday morning!

Well im now back from the Junior Track Europeans in Pruszkow and it was a very sucessful championships! We went on to win the final of the team pursuit, with both us and the Belgians posting faster times than in qualifying.  It was a really good atmosphere in the track and the crowd were really supportive, plus it was good to get the first gold for the GB team.

I then competed again the next day in the 2000m individual pursuit. I was pretty nervous cos I was warming up and watching the other athletes post times very close to my recently set PB and so probably panicked when it got to my heat.  I was off last against Jolien D’Hoore the World Junior Road Race Champion and 4th placed at the Junior World individual pursuit. I rode the first kilometre very fast and died a million deaths in the closing 2 laps, qualifying second fastest to D’Hoore by 0.2 seconds. This meant I was still in the ride off for gold and silver but it wasn’t the way I wanted to qualify. However, I came back to the final feeling confident and determind to give it everything but to control the first km.  I rode an evenly paced race and took the lead in the last 3 laps.  A strong rider, Jolien then kicked in the last lap but I still managed to win…by 0.4seconds!

This then meant another presentation and a second time listening to the national anthem! (I was glad I’d made the effort to get some nice new Nike trainers from Sports Shoes before I left for Poland to wear on the podium!) I also received another European Champions jersey…see pics!

I was really happy and phoned my family and gym coach then it was back to bed as I had another event in the morning!

For the next days event I was riding up a category in the U23’s 3000m individual pursuit so competing against girls potentially 5 years older, however the aim was to use it for experience.  I finished 13th in a respectable time of 3:50, 2 seconds slower than my PB but it was good to see where the standard was and how much I need to improve when I become an U23.

So all in all, a good trip and I returned hope with 2 gold medals and as Double European Champion!

http://track-pruszkow2008.eu/galerie/pretty_fast-31/1.html pictures from the event

Rode the qualification heat of the junior team pursuit this morning and we qualified fastest to the Belgians by 1.6 seconds! The team was myself, Jess Booth and Alex Greenfield and we all rode well apart from messing up the finish and narrowly avoiding a crash! The final for gold and silver is tonight!!!

Just finished the Junior National track championships and I won a bronze medal in the 500m time trial event and won the 2000m pursuit for the third year running. I also broke the national record by 2.6 seconds which I was really pleased about and it gives me confidence for the Junior Europeans which are less than 2 weeks away!

Not written for a while, been racing and training so much! My latest race was Colne GP last night where I was in the 3rd and 4th support race. It went well and I can definitely feel myself getting fitter! I had some track time in Manchester last week where I was team pursuiting with Jo Rowsell, Katie Colclough and Lizzie Armitstead, all members of the GB programme, and Jo, a World Champion at the discipline.  I’m looking forward to going to Belgium soon to compete in a few kermesses and crits over there, as the competition is always good and better quality than in the UK. After that my training will all be geared towards the Junior Europeans so sharpening up with lots of 100% efforts!

Just got back from Italy where I’ve been training in the warm weather It was fairly near Florence but thankfully I didn’t have to make use of too many of the surrounding hills as my preparation for the Track Nationals and hopefully the Track Europeans has begun! I found a nice falt stretch of about 7km where I did some standing starts, zone 3 efforts and high cadence efforts. I go to Belgium tomorrow with the Olympic Development programme where I’ll be doing some racing and some more training as there is an outdoor track near to where we’re staying.  My legs are starting to feel good now and I’m looking forward to the next few weeks!

I’ve been racing a lot recently and done ok! Got a 3rd in a National Women’s Series in Brentwood, Essex which I was happy with. http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/

A couple of days later I won the womens prize in a local mens circuit race in Brighouse and then got 10th in another Women’s Series race, a road race in Capenwray. This was quite a hilly race which doesnt usually suit me so I was pleased with the result.

Unfortunately the National Circuit Championships didnt go to plan as I missed the break, but I’ll put it down to experience…I wont make the same mistake again!  See Natural Circuit Championships

Trainings been based around the racing so doing a mix of stuff. Trying a new rollers session at the moment which is really hard: 2 mins @ 120 revs per minute, 2 mins @ 100 revs per minute x 5. Hopefully this will get some speed into my legs as I start the track training block in the lead up to the Europeans pretty soon.

Hannah

after a 4 day break I went back into the gym on Friday and since then my legs havent recovered! Im working on doing deep rear squats at the moment, which will give me greater mobility in the hips when pedalling and allow me to get more power through each pedal stroke but as they work more muscles than normal squats they’re pretty hard and instead of squatting 70-75kg I’m only doing 40kg! I thought that after riding to the gym and back my legs would have loosened up but even after a couple of 3 hour rides over the weekend they’re still feeling the effects! Today is just an easy 2 hour ride, then, after my last exam tomorrow I can celebrate with…a 2 hour turbo session…and more gym! Over the week I can enjoy being a ‘full time athlete’ until its back to school to start A2. This week will be a mix of long rides, a time trial, rollers, turbo and ‘on-off’ efforts