The start of winter training has been crazy to say the least! With moving to university, I had no idea what to expect regarding training and school, but it has been better than I could have ever asked for. I started my time by trialling for my university’s top cycling team: Loughborough Lightning. To my surprise, I was successful and granted a place on the team for the next year!
Upon joining the team, I was also entered for my first hill climb, representing the university at BUCS. After coming back from an off-season break, I was not expecting much but I had managed to get third place with one of my teammates in the women’s team event! I had found that preparing for this event was very different from usual as instead of carb-loading and hydrating well beforehand, I was eating low fibre foods and hydrating sparingly in the few days prior to the event. I was constantly monitoring this with my Supersapiens sensor though to ensure that I was not placing myself in a position where I would be losing performance. I was also hydrating with the Precision Fuel & Hydration 500mg tablets to ensure that I was getting the most out of my hydration prior to the event. Thanks to the information provided from the Vox Performance Project calls, I was able to time my fuelling perfectly by ensuring that I had taken my last intake of carbs within 30mins the event to ensure that I was not falling victim to a rebound hypo, preventing fatigue.
I also carried this information into my winter training. During our first training camp, we ended the weekend with a 162km around the Peak District. I used my Supersapiens energy band to constantly check on my glucose and ensure that I was fuelling well to prevent fatigue later in the ride. I had never thought to eat so much on a ride but after experimenting with the band for a few months I had a rough idea of what was needed to fuel the effort. This included eating around 60-70g of carbs per hour which at first seemed like a huge amount but with practice and careful selection of foods this definitely didn’t feel like it by the end! I had never felt so strong on the bike but after months of experimenting with fuelling and monitoring this with my Supersapiens sensor, I feel like I have finally been able to take the guesswork out of my fuelling for riding. The process doesn’t end here though as there are always new things to learn and review following the Vox Performance Project calls. But after a year of working with Supersapiens and Precision Fuel & Hydration I can safely say I am in a significantly better place that I was last season and they have allowed me to achieve more than I could have ever imagined!
Until next time,
Philippa
