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UPDATE: ANDREW MC QUAID SEAN KELLY RACING TEAM
By Andrew Mc Quaid
May 9, 2006
This type of race suits me I think, as a big strong rider who likes the cobbles, so I would like to have a small peak for it, therefore in the month of May training will revolve around it.
Training: My Training programme is designed around my SRM power meter which most of the M-Donnelly Sean Kelly team riders have. We have 2 team doctors who set our training programme based on test results and every day we email them our SRM file from the days training. Chief Doctor is Dag Vanelslande, who is also the team doctor for the Discovery Channel Professional cycling team, and his apprentice who helps us a lot is Michael Opsomer
The race: The race has 21 sections of cobbles, a total of 35.2 kilometres of cobbled paths, with a total race distance of 175km so strength and endurance are key for doing well in it. I have heard that most years the race is one of attrition, with the bunch getting smaller and smaller as the race goes on, not from breaks going, but from people getting dropped. Then towards the end of the race a small break of the strongest riders will finally get away and fight for the win. Hopefully, I will still be in the bunch towards the end of the race and will be strong enough to go for a result.
So training with Roubaix in mind started on the 1st May where I rode Leige Bastoigne Liege. The race was not successful for me but I made sure I got the full distance of 180 km in to get the endurance in the legs. From that day a hard block of three weeks training and racing started, with the last week before Roubaix being an easy week to freshen up and taper for the race.
Sessions: I have three different training sessions, separate from racing, which I will do in the hard three week block.
The first is Power Endurance Training. After warming up for 30 minutes, I find a flat road, I usually do them on an outdoor track which is nearby, and there I do 10x 1km big gear with a cadence of 70 and pushing out 350watts directly followed by 1km small gear cadence 100-105 at 180watts. So all these 1kms are directly after one another: 1km big gear – 1km small gear – 1km big gear – 1km small gear – and so on. Until I’ve done 10x big gear and 10x small gear. After that, I train at less than 250watts until I have 3, 5 or 6 hours done on the bike. That’s 3 sessions of this in the 3 week block. one 3 hour one, one 5 hour one and one 6 hour one. This also counts as an endurance spin.
The second session is Anaerobic Capacity training. This is a short but spicy workout. After a warming up of a half an hour, I do 3 blocks of sprints. In between the blocks, there should be at least 10 minutes of easy riding at less than 250watts. One block on its own consists of 3 sprints of 30” all out, with only 30” of recuperation in between. So this is 30” sprint all out big gear – 30” recovery – 30” sprint – 30” recovery – 30” sprint. I ride on until I reach a total workout of 2hours.
The last training session is called Progression Training. This is designed to increase your threshold. I do this on the BT indoor trainer as I find it difficult to do on the roads around the house. After a warm up I start the session at 250watts, then every minute I increase the Watts by 5.
This continues like this for 20minutes where I will finish the interval at 345watts. It is very hard to stay at the exact watts your supposed to but in the twenty minutes the level of difficulty is increased slowly as can be witness by my heart rate which does rise gradually. I am also supposed to try and keep the cadence between 85 and 90. I do three of these type of intervals, with 10 minutes easy riding in between.
Races: On top of these training sessions I will also race twice a week, which leaves two days per week for recovery. If the race is a local kermesse, which are around 120km in length I will also do 2 hours easy riding that morning to get the distance in. And if the race is over 160km I will make sure I get the full distance in.
The final week: Finally comes the week preceding Roubaix. This is a relative easy week designed to help me freshen up and be strong for the race. The Sunday before Roubaix I will race. Then on the Monday I will have a rest day. Tuesday is an hour and a half easy. Wednesday will be an hour and a half anaerobic capacity training. Thursday I will do three hours over some of the cobbles which the race will go over. Friday is another rest day. Saturday I will do my usual pre race training, an hour with 4 to 5 short sprints just to get the heart rate up. And then Sunday is the race, hopefully I’ll be feeling good.
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UPDATE MARCH 24TH I last left you at the team launch and the season was about to start. Well it’s now well and truly under way and quite a few kicking’s having been had and a lot of suffering has gone on. Spent more time swinging on the tip of my saddle than I have anywhere else the past few weeks. But it’s going to make me stronger, at least that am what I keep telling myself.
The first race was Fayt le Franc on Wednesday 1st March, a 1.1 ranked race on the edge of the Belgium France border. With Pro Tour teams riding, including Mark Scanlon with Ag2r, it was going to be a hard intro into the season, especially as the freezing temperatures did not agree kindly with me at all. I lasted an hour and a half then legs completely went and I got dropped on a hill, well actually on the crosswind line out section after a hill. Managed to get into a nice little group and rode hard enough into the finish, about 100km, missed the finishing laps. Scanlon was motoring I believe, he finished 5th, with his team mate winning.
Next up was GP de Lilliers in France on the Sunday. A 1.2, not quite the same standard as the last race but still a good field with a lot of the top French amateur teams. I faired better in this, was still there after 2 and a half hours, even survived the Rabobank division 3 team led crazy line out just before that point, though after 2hrs 45 my legs popped, I was too near the back and got caught behind a split. Still 140km racing for the day felt better than previous race so not too disappointed.
Then my first Pro Kermesse in Belgium the following Wednesday. I was looking forward to this. These are about 60km longer than the average Kermesse, and you need a Belgium licence or a continental or above licence to do them so I hadn’t been able to do them before. Even the pissing rain on the way to the race didn’t dampen my spirits. Though first lap going over wet cobbles [had a bad experience on wet cobbles last year my little finger still hasn’t recovered] and getting caught too far down the back in a line out did.
Someone let a wheel go myself and Paidi killed ourselves trying to get back in touch but with a Landbouwkredit led line out we didn’t stand a chance. Race over. Hanging around in the van in the cold waiting for the race to finish was quite morale sapping for myself and Paidi but we managed to see the funny side. Very important in situations like this. You can’t let the bad times get to you because in cycling there’ll be more bad times than good but the bad make the good so much better..
Next weekend a trip to Paris was undertaken. Went down on the Saturday stayed in the ‘does exactly what it says on the tin’ Formula 1 hotel then rode Paris Troyes on the Sunday. A 1.2 race the same standard as Lilliers with some really friendly Russians thrown in too. A bit of a pattern is emerging I’ve noticed, again I got caught too far down the bunch, some lovely crosswinds and race was over for me, I tried to go through the groups managed to get through a few but never got back in touch with the front group. Myself and Paidi stuck in what was left of the bunch we were told by our manager to stop at the feed zone and get into the van, due to the cold weather. Really annoyed with this race as I had good legs just gat caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, for the past few weeks I’ve had trouble getting to the front of a bunch, and once I get there 2 minutes later I’m back down the back again. It’s something I’m going to have to work on.
Then mid week another 1.1 was thrown in, Nokere-Kourse. A few pro tour teams, and some very good quality lesser teams it was going to be tough. With Nicholas Roche riding it for Cofidis and David O’Loughlin doing it for Navigators there was a nice contingent of Irish riders to have a laugh with before, during and after the race. Great to have so many Irish about.
The race itself was a 60 km big loop, and then 10 laps of a 12km circuit, with a 500 meter cobbled drag for the finish, and another drag at the back of the circuit. I got through the big lap comfortably, was even close to getting into a break that stayed away for awhile I left it just that bit too late to jump across and couldn’t make it. However, on the 2nd of the small laps Rabobank were chasing the break, the bunch lined out, and no surprises here I was too near the back and got caught behind a split. The bunch rode away. I thought my race was over very annoyed with myself. Luckily though, a lap later my group seemed to stumble back into the bunch. The bunch had caught the break and sat up. I was delighted to be back.
Due to my being caught behind a split early my attitude to the race suddenly changed once I was back in the bunch. I really wanted to finish the race, but I figured if I did nothing I would get caught behind a split again and race would definitely be over next time. So I decided if I was going to go out I was going to go out fighting, finishing suddenly wasn’t so important. I moved to the front of the bunch and started to try get into a break. Next time over the cobbles I was 3rd rider over and just ahead of the bunch with a few others, though that didn’t last long. I gave it a few more tries for the next lap but didn’t have the required luck to get away. And that’s when the legs started to hurt. I went into survival mode again. Lasted until 4 laps to go until I was well and truly cooked. Still, was best I’ve felt so far so had to be happy with it. Would be nice to finish a race though.
After that race we had two weeks off doing the big races, time for some good training and local Kermesse riding to try get some good form for when we returned to the fun of 1.2’s and 1.2’s.
Up until now training had mainly consisted of recovery between the races, with some endurance training to keep a good base, with some power or VO2 sessions on the BT as the only reasonably hard training.
However this changed when I went for a physiological test and the doctor was able to pinpoint why my legs suddenly go from feeling good in a race to disappearing altogether. I lacked a proper base, during my stay in Australia I had raced too much and trained at too high an intensity. No proper low heartrate endurance miles were done and it is what I have to rectify now. I thought training hard for 5 to 6 hours was good for me when I couldn’t have been more wrong. In Australia I was still averaging 25 hours a week which I thought was a great base, but it was at too high an intensity.
So training for the next month consists of a lot of 4 hour spins keeping the heart rate at 120-130 and the watts between 180 and 200. Harder than it sounds. Also some 140 heart rate, 70 cadence, power sessions on the turbo have to be done. A kilometre of power followed by a kilometre at a high cadence of 100. 10 kilometres of each. I actually prefer doing this to the 4 long hours. Also for the foreseeable future only one race per week.
And that’s been my life for the past while really. Apart from racing and training not much was going on. Was a very tame Paddy’s day for most, racing the next day so a few beers locally was what we kept it to. Made up for it two nights later, one of the sponsors of the team gave us VIP tickets to a Gent football match. Ciaran, Paidi, Micael and myself were able to go, had a great time With a free dinner and some free drinks also it was great to have a change of the house Thank you Mr ACLVB.
That really is that. Next up is the World University Championships on the 25th, then some great races are lined up for April. I’ll keep you posted.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- MARCH 2nd 2006: Ok its been awhile since my first entry so thought it really was time to write another, a lot has happened since my last entry, did a few races, got a lot of training miles in, changed continents, had a week at home,
and then I finally met up with my new team and unpacked my stuff here in Belgium, where ill be spending the next 7 months through good times and I'm sure a few bad ones.
When I last wrote I was headed for Melbourne for the Bay Series Criteriums. Well they were savage. The first four I only lasted between 15minutes in the first one to 30 minutes in the 4th one. As the races only lasted 1hour, and a lot of the aussies were going well due to their national championships being a week later, the speed was on from the gun. The speed combined with jumping out of the corners meant I wasn’t able to go the full distance in the race. However combined with training every morning and riding to and from the races, each day was a good days training.
And then out of pure pig headedness more than anything else I managed to finish the last crit on the Sunday. At this point I’d like to thank my father and brother for making me finish that crit. After their phone call in the morning which consisted of them slagging me for not finishing one yet, there was no way I wasn’t going to finish. Nothing like a bit of family abuse to get you motivated for a race.
After a very impressive Gala Dinner the night the Bay Crits ended, a great if somewhat hazy night had by all, I was back to Sydney to begin my last 6week block of training before I returned home. Meeting my sister at the airport hungover again she was not impressed but sure I convinced her I was going to be the serious athlete for the next 6 weeks.
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| With Sean Kelly and Pat Mc Quaid President UCI |
The first week I took as a recovery week. This was my first recovery week since I started back training and after the week in Melbourne it was much needed. I just went our and rode the bike for a few hours each day. A good week for catching up on sleep.
The last weeks then consisted of roughly 25 to 30 hours a week on the bike, with 9 gym sessions thrown in somewhere to make up a total of 8 weeks 3times a week in the gym.
On the bike I was trying to do 3 day blocks, with the first day being strength training, the second being 4 by 10 minutes hills with 1st 8 mins 10beats below threshold and then the last 2 minutes at threshold. The last day was an endurance spin with a few big gear sprints thrown in if I was feeling good. After a days recovery I would then start the block again.
This is what I tried to stick to when I could, but when the opportunity arose to go out with a good group training I would always choose this over training with my ipod. My favourite group rides were the Wednesday morning dawn patrol rides. This was an early start being out the door at quarter to 6 in the morning, but it was all worth it when at 9 o’clock we were sitting beach side eating scrambled eggs on toast in Manly, a northern suburb of Sydney. The 2 hour cycle home was always a pleasure after that.
That leads me to the 20th February, when I left Sydney and flew the horrible 40 hour journey home. The 4 hour delay sitting in the plane in Singapore did not make the journey home more pleasurable at all. But sure I got home in one piece and it was good to see the family and my own bed again.
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| Proud father and son |
A few easy days on the bike went down well, then I raced the Bray GP on the Saturday, unfortunately I missed the early group of A’s that got away and spent the rest of the day chasing, we caught all but one and I finished up 6 the in the race. That’ll teach me not to be at the back of the bunch talking at the start of the race. Then after a night out with my friends which is a rare thing these days, before I knew it I was on the plane to Belgium.
So here I am, in the Sean Kelly Cycling Academy, in freezing cold Belgium. In the house at the moment is just the team, which is made up of myself, Ciaran Kelly, the Concannon twins, the Cassidy twins, Roger Aiken although he just left today for the Commonwealth games in Melbourne back to the heat very envious, and last but not least Paidi a.k.a the Poddler don’t ask me why he’s called that. It’s a really good atmosphere in the house, with everyone getting on well together. Kurt lives with us also and we have good craic with him too.
We had a team launch in Gent on Monday, which was good fun it was good to meet all the Belgium team mates for the first time. Then it was back to reality yesterday with my first race. A UCI 1.1 ranked race in Belgium it really was an eye opener. The professionals really are at a higher level to the amateurs, although it was good to realise that their level is not impossible, with some good quality training and racing, and most importantly keeping the head, it is attainable. I managed to get 110km in the legs, so was happy with that. Good training and good experience.
That’s it really, I’ll try keep you posted on the happenings in Belgium as often as I can. Andrew McQuaid
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Ok, here is the first installment of my dairy for the 2006 racing season. At the moment I'm flying between Sydney and Melbourne where I’m headed for the Jayco bay series criteriums which start tomorrow. But more about them later.
Firstly, I think I must fill you in on what I've been doing the past while and how I ended up in Australia. Ill try to be brief. Right so, I finished University in May 2005, raced in Belgium for the summer, competed in the world road championships end of September, had two weeks at home, then I flew to Melbourne, Australia on the 5th October as part of the 8 man Irish team to compete in the Jayco Herald Sun tour 7 day race around the roads of Victoria. Wasn’t a very pleasant journey but I was happy to have finally made it to Australia.
The race started on the 8th October, not much time to get over jet lag but sure had to be done, and it consisted of a team TT, 4 road stages a mountain TT then a final day criterium around Lygon st in Melbourne. It is a world ranked race so there was some top class riders lining up to do it. For me, once the team TT was over I was more relaxed and ready to get on with it.
The shortest stage of the race at only 4km, it was supposed to be 8 but they reduced it thank god I was delighted, was the stage I was fearing the most what with me not being very good at TT’s and the fact that there were some strong TT’ers in the team which I had to try keep up with. Anyhow, got thru the TT though I was tailed off bit before the finish I blamed jet lag, then got thru the next 4 road stages fine though suffered on the first one I was still blaming jet lag, suffered up the mtn TT, and made it to the crit on the last day so I was happy with that.
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The winner of the race was Simon Gerrans, a team mate of Irish riders mark Scanlon and Philip Deignan on the European professional team AG2R. David McCann finished 3rd overall and won the mtn TT stage fair play to him. In fact he might have won the race outright if it was not for him and a couple of other riders being sent in the wrong direction on the final road stage. That’s life I guess.
So that was that race over with. After a night exploring Melbourne’s night life, sure it would be rude not to, myself, Eugene Moriarty and Paul Healion headed to Warnambool, which is about 300km west of Melbourne along the coast. Our masseuse from the sun tour, Jeannette Ferris graciously allowed us to crash in her house for the week. We spent the week there doing easy spins on the bike, and carbo loading in our favorite café on the seafront in preparation for the longest one day race in the world, the Melbourne to Warnambool classic. At 299km long we made sure our glycogen levels were fully stocked before starting.
The race itself had to be the most boring and unpleasant race in the world. Starting at 7.30 in the morning felt like an ungodly hour, and at 8 hrs long there’s only so much talking to yourself and other riders you can do before you’re seriously bored. Eugene refused to talk to me for the first 5hrs, stating he wanted to save conversation for later on. Was a good call I was relieved of that rolling in the last 60km’s.
For the first 100km a break of about 8 got 10mins or so ahead, with the bunch taking it very easy. I was in the little ring for most of the first few hrs. Then the Australian pros in the race decided to race and lined it out in the gutter for awhile. This got rid of a few of the lesser riders and the race was on. From then it was just groups going away and coming back until the right move went.
The initial break also came back at some stage, I remember passing the English rider Shaun Snodden after about 200km, he had been up the road from the gun and even won the sprints competition. When I passed he wasn’t in good condition though, and I asked him about our conversation at half seven that morning where he said he was climbing off after 100km and indeed only brought 1 energy bar with him. He was in no mood to answer. Funny how peoples mind set changes once the race has started.
Anyhow back to the race, the right move went eventually with Paul Healion in it, myself and Eugene were quite happy to see it go and ride into the finish in a nice big group.. Healion was very aggressive in the race unfortunately nearing the finish he had stomach problems and fell back slightly. Still a good ride.
Myself I was too scared of the distance to race it properly. I wasn’t aggressive enough and regretted that about 5 minutes after the race had ended. I finished comfortably and realized I hadn’t emptied the tank at all. Made a mental note to myself that next time I raced that distance I wouldn’t be scared of it and would treat it like any normal race. Better to finish out the back and dead from trying than comfortably in the bunch.
Ok what happened next? The night the race finished we were all quite sociable. The next morning it was a struggle to get up for the crit that was on in Warnambool. After racing 300km and then a few beers its not easy to get up for a crit. Healion and Eugene both managed to finish in the top ten in the crit, myself I couldn’t really get going I couldn’t understand how they did it.
Right so, after that there was 2 weeks spent in Melbourne, did some half decent training and enjoyed a couple of good social occasions as well, the International rules match and the Melbourne cup horse racing being among the highlights[though losing a lot of money on the races was quite the downside wish I stayed in bed that day…]
Then, on the 5th November Eugene and I went off to New Zealand for our last race of the season, long awaited at this stage. We were on the Sycamore print team for the 6 day Tour of Southland. Again another world ranked race although with not quite as strong a field as the sun tour. With 4 split stages and 2 other days it was going to be hard mentally more than anything else, especially with the fact that racing in November was an alien concept for me.
The two of us got through the first 2 days comfortably enough, with side winds being the main source of complaint. On the third day I somehow accidentally found myself in the break of the day. Early on in the stage I went for some KOH points and the two riders who went with me kept going after the climb so I thought I better too. A 130km stage on undulating roads to Queenstown, 100km up and over with a strong headwind it was a hard day. We got caught with 20km to go and at this stage I was quite happy to see the bunch and rolled into the finish. I had won some sprint points which equaled prize money so I was happy out. Eugene had a good day finishing top 10 on the stage.
After my effort on that day I never really recovered and got it pretty rough for the last three days. With plenty of side winds and echelons I wasn’t able to cope physically and a little bit mentally. It was so windy the race was even stopped on one day as it was too dangerous and riders driven to 20km to the finish and told to start racing again from there. Some riders weren’t happy, me I was delighted. Eugene still managed to get stronger every day, much to my annoyance but sure he is a lot older than me [just had to get that dig in] and he got some good top 10 results on stages.
But sure I got through the race, and the after season officially began the night the race ended. The next day Eugene and I traveled to Queenstown where we spent a week living it up as best we could. We definitely gave it a good shot though we promised each other we wouldn’t tell any stories on each other so I can’t go into any details. Needless to say after 8 days in Queenstown I was sick of the drink already and couldn’t wait to get back into some sort of fitness.
So I arrived in Sydney on Monday 21st November. Getting from New Zealand was the most hungover day I’ve ever had traveling what with my 21st birthday being the day before but somehow I made it and I fell gladly into my sisters care.
And that’s where I’m living now, about 60km west of Sydney in a town called Windsor, with my sister and her boyfriend. She’s been living and working here for about a year now, where she lives is kind of the middle of nowhere but very good for training. And as I’m living rent free I really can’t complain at all. Especially as she works in an air force base where I get to use their gym and 50metre swimming pool for free. With the Blue Mountains being right next door it really is the perfect place to be for training.
After another week of taking it easy, and still recovering from Queenstown, I started training in the gym 3 times a week. Another week after that I was back on the bike as well.
For the past 4 weeks I’ve been mixing training on the bike, in the gym, swimming and a bit of running. Some sun bathing thrown in for good measure Also I've been building up the miles slowly, starting with 2.5 hrs longest spin and now up to 4hrs. I did do 6.5 hrs one day but that was totally by mistake, I though it be 4hrs but I ended up climbing as high as 1100metres was in a body bag by time I got home.
Been training by myself and my trusty ipod a bit, but there is also a couple of pros who live in the area so getting some good quality miles in with them too. Paul Healion has relatives near by so he’s been up a bit, we’ve had and Aussie pro Trent Wilson kicking lumps out of us on a few days training but I keep telling myself it will stand to me.
Even training with Brad McGee one day that was pretty cool, sound bloke. There’s also some good training groups which meet a couple of times a week, they meet at half 6 in the morning so I’ve only ever managed to meet them a couple of times it really is an ungodly hour to be training.
Also enjoying a couple of nights in Sydney, really is a cool city. Did the usual traveler thing over Christmas, with Christmas day on Bondi Beach and New Years Eve in the city centre watching the fireworks. A weird change being in 30 degrees heat over Christmas, hearing Christmas carols in shops when it’s that hot is just wrong.
And finally that brings me back to now. I am about to touchdown in Melbourne where I will race 5 criteriums over the next 5 days. Most of the top aussie pros do them, and I’m under no allusions I am in for a lot of suffering, especially as I’m nowhere near racing fit, but with getting in extra miles on top of the crits it should be a good weeks training.
After the crits I’m back to Sydney for 6 more weeks training, then I fly home to Ireland on the 20th February, stay there for a few days get over jet lag, and then I go on to Belgium to join up with the rest of the boys on the newly set up Sean Kelly Continental Cycling Team and the start of the 2006 racing season proper.
Have to say I’m really looking forward to meeting up with the other Irish guys on the team we’re all good friends haven’t seen them in awhile, and for seeing what racing for a full year abroad is really about.
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