Vision 1 Racing: Vicki Whitelaw Blog.
Here’s a quick update from Nicole Cooke’s Vision 1 Rider Vicki Whitelaw who’s been out training on her Focus bike.
Back in Italy and loving every minute! I’ve been punishing my body to the maximum with training, often barely able to move in the afternoons after a session in the morning. Oh, except to head down to the corner shop for my dose of Italian gelato!
Whilst living the life of a professional cyclist, I have very little need for the thousands of hairdressers in this country, gelaterias, well I am having trouble staying away from them! If it weren’t for my regular intake of this yummy food, I’m not sure I could get through a week of training.
For those of you into icecream-let me tell you it’s far better. It’s completely different. Icecream is hard. Gelato is soft and as soon as it hits your tongue, you are overcome by the intensity of the flavour. Often there are boxes of fruit or other natural ingredients by the door of a gelateria, freshly delivered and waiting to be added to the next batch of gelato. Proof that you’re getting natural home made flavours! It has half the calories and half the fat of icecream. So I guess that means it’s a “double scoop per favore!”
Next stop on the racing calendar is Plouay World Cup- an incredibly tough circuit of hills galore. So, in preparation, guess what’s been on my training program?! I think that in the last week I’ve covered climbs ranging from 3km right up to 20km long. I’ve sprinted them, done the very exciting ‘strength endurance” efforts on them, motorpaced them and for my sanity, I’ve also descended them. More times than I can remember. My legs better thank me for all this effort come Plouay next Saturday because right now, my legs feel completely detached from the rest of me. From tomorrow I have 3 days of ‘tranquillo” riding so I’m hoping I can find them once again.
The frequency of motorpacing has increased and I was enjoying these sessions until last Saturday when hill motorpacing was thrown into the program. Following my friend Sandro on his red scooter up the solid 3km climb to his house several times was the toughest session I had done in a very long time. I’m surprised I made it home after that one. Sandro is loving the speed we reach on the final down hill run into town. “90km/hr” he proudly says when we have our session debrief and plan our next meeting. Each week, with a wide grin on his face, he attempts to crank it up just that little bit more so he can tell his mates in the bar our latest motorpace PB.
There have been some great sessions on my Focus Chrono bike. I’ve been tweaking my time trialling position and technique and am excited by the progress. There are some great stretches of road in this area to allow substantial length intervals. They hurt like crazy, but I know they are good for me.
Following Plouay, I will be riding Trophee D’Or, a women’s 5-day tour in the centre of France. I’m eager to see how all of this training transfers into racing and am hoping by the end of the tour, I will be bouncing with good form as September comes around.
Ciao from sunny Italy,
Vicki x
Vicki Whitelaw & Vision 1 Racing are being sponsored by Focus for all their Bike Frames
Road Bike Frame: Focus Cayo 2009
Turbo Trainers & Rollers:
To help the team train Paligap have sponsored the Vision 1 Racing Team with: CycleOps Turbo Trainers & Rollers.
Components:
For various cycle components Paligap have sponsored the Vision 1 Racing Team with: Ritchey Cycle Components
