Achieving Prime Cycling Performance

Intro..

Oliver Williams approached CPS In-Motion in July 2016 with the sole ambition of gaining top form for races in the 2017 season. Ollie had reached what he thought was his peak ability in 2015 having good results in the  Tour of Cambridge, at the 6 stage Giro di Sardegna and Crystal Palace series. Suffering an injury in 2016 put a sizeable hole in his training and motivation, and he felt he wasn’t able to get back up to speed in time for a guaranteed a stellar season ahead.

As the Giro di Sardegna was his first event of the year, our main focus was to reach initial form in time for April but also use that as a stepping stone for the other planned races throughout the summer. Ollie had maintained some consistent riding throughout the summer of 2016 which allowed us to lead him in to his programme strong, yet not fatigued from heavy racing or training. Because of this we had the luxury of extended resistance programme phases which would provide the stimulus for a vastly improved foundation to base endurance training on.

Training Strategy

Ollie’s weight was both his advantage and disadvantage as his absolute peak power was progressive, but power-to-weight would be a hindrance on steeper gradients…so we set about including a nutritional plan. Ollie assigned a personal nutritionist who was able to work well in coordinating food intake recommendations aligned with prescribed coaching activities. Over the final specific conditioning phase of Ollie’s training, he had managed to decrease non-functional mass by as much as 7kg, improve the quality of his lean muscle and still enjoy his preparatory period and training camp break with the range of culinary treats that provided, without calorie restriction. Ollie had vastly improved his critical power curve at the longer duration end of the profile and confirmed positive direction (through BSX Insight measurement) of his lactate threshold power and duration.

Prime Cycling Performance

Ollies winter preparation was starting to pay dividends in time for the Giro di Sardegna 6 day event. There, he secured an exceptional result high in his age-group GC, either maintaining or improving his competitive edge each day.

Following on from achieving desired success with that initial objective, Ollie prepared for a multiple criterium and SERRL races…already achieving a 2nd place and finishing in the top 10 for his age group at the Tour of Cambridge, improving by 10 minutes on his time from 2 years prior. Ollie anticipated securing his Cat 2 license, although this wasn’t achieved in time Ollie has had an exceptional season, and one of, if not the best of his recreationally competitive cycling career.

His results at the London Ride 100 (4h 13min), and top 10 positions in several SERRL Road Races/ Cat 3 road races, plus a very solid result at the Albi World Champs in France (4hrs 18min) confirms he reached prime cycling for much of 2017. Ollie intends to capture his Cat 2 license early in 2018, which will free him up to exploit some bigger race goals throughout the season and continued progression following another productive preparatory period before 2018 after a ‘for fun’ Tough Mudder event.