Overall development

Third period of base training is just underway after a week of rest and recovery. Not quite total rest and recovery, but this time almost. I chose to exaggerate the resting week, because it is only the day after tomorrow that I'll hop on a plane to Alicante for the second training camp with the team.

Last block was solid – to the plan and no problems whatsoever. This is the way (knock knock, some might say or do). The block was highlighted by the skiing event, which was one heck of an experience as I wrote. Also, I managed to do my road season opener in the Finnish (or what was left of it) late February and actually managed well – a snap over five hours. As a conclusive remark, all the skiing, indoor training and on the bike outdoor stuff was effective in terms of overall development. Here I am tempted to refer to my profession as I want to elaborate on overall development.

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Ok, here we go. This is an extremely brief intro.

Training, whatever the sport, is not just about completing the planned activities. Obviously, it is more than. In addition to physiological response and development, training usually influences people in many aspects. Say, you complete a 3-week block of base training with something new added into it. After three weeks, one does inherently an analysis whether the training has worked or not. The keyword is the analysis: what did you plan to do, did you do it, how was it, what was good, what wasn't so good and the list goes on. Once answered sufficiently to the questions you are willing to ask yourself – learning can happen and future development benefited.

Secondly, training in cycling is often considered practically physiological. But it is not, it has a great impact of psychology. A good block of training can facilitate self-confidence, self-regulation, mental toughness and again, the list goes on. A good block of training should make a psychologically stronger athlete as well as enable physiological development.

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Why did I want concentrate on overall development? Simply, because I felt that the last block of training taught me lots. I experimented with new stuff, and found bit that shall be included in my training in the future. I also found stuff, that perhaps weren't that effective. Thus, re-testing before totally discarding is required after a bit of modification. Psychologically, I believe I learned bits and bobs. And as mentioned, physiologically it was good. This all makes the second block of base training satisfying and I am eager to begin the third block of the season.

I was planning to add photos to this update. However, as lengthy as this is, I don't want to make it any longer. And as I am not anykind expert in selfies or -elfieswith any letter in beginning, finding photos is tough and there is hardly any space on my memory card to save any selfies.