Part one of our Athlete Q&A is with London based Cyclist Sarah Hamilton-Cliff, she discusses her goals for the future and some new training routines for the future. Listen to Sarah's experiences over the past few months and also hear from her coach, Ian Jenner, on their goals and aims for the future.
Name: Sarah Hamilton-Cliff
Age: 46
Country: UK
Discipline: Road cycling
Long term Goal: To continue to build strength and performance on the bike, participate in more challenging Sportives and local competitive events. To beat my fellow bike club members up the hills.
Where have you been based during this lockdown phase and has there been any restrictions which has affected your training?
At home, Greater London. I have not been able to participate in my usual club rides and a the Sportives which were built into my original training plan as goals, have been cancelled. I was due to have a two-week cycling break in Italy in May, which would have included the special edition, 50th year Nove Colli. Luckily, I was already well-equipped at home in terms of my turbo trainer set up and have good access to outside space.
How have you stayed motivated & focused during this time? -
Through using my training sessions to also hunt down Zwift badges and participate in online group rides. I’ve also given e-racing a go.
Has there been anything new that you have incorporated into your training and routine due to restrictions which you will continue with in the future?
Probably e-racing. I have also started to incorporate off-bike strength training.
What have you been focusing on in the past few months, both on and off the bike?
off-bike - flexibility/mobility as working from home has taken its toll physically, also strength training. On-bike, Ian has continued to challenge me, and I’ve set a number of power PBs during lockdown.
What excites you most about returning to normal routine?
Aside from seeing family and friends, eating out, cinema etc - club rides, long endurance rides in the sunshine, overseas riding, possibly an Autumn TT and local hill climb competition. Watching the TdF!
How has the reliance of a coach helped you through this period?
Having a coach and training plan has been brilliant in keeping me focused and keeping the momentum going in terms of my fitness. Exercising has kept me sane during lockdown and has been an outlet for all the changes to normal life we have been grappling with. Ian’s encouragement and support has been an important part of keeping going and staying positive, I have valued it enormously.
Has there been any positives which you can take from the past two months which you feel has benefited you in the long term, both in sport and outside of sport?
Working from home has some real benefits that I’ll be seeking to incorporate in the long term - less commuting time; a bit more time with my partner; more time to focus on nutrition and eating better, rather than on the go. When we do return to the office, I am considering commuting in by bike if I am brave enough.
Coaches Corner: Dig Deep Coach Ian Jenner talks about his strategy with Sarah over the past months and their goals for the future.
Sarah works hard through the winter for a trip that she does each year to Italy and a couple of weeks cycling in the hills of Emilia-Romagna. With Covid 19 we quickly realized that this wasn’t going to take place at the given time although there may well be an option later in the year for her to go depending of course as to how things played out in the UK, so time to re address the goals
We took our foot off the gas and decided even before the UK was locked down that we would switch to indoor only and mix things up a little. We added Pilates into the calendar, reduced the length of weekend rides and started on Zwift. Sarah was not fazed at all and not content to just roll around Watopia, she undertook a bit of racing with the odd TT thrown in for good measure. Although we reduced the weekend rides, we switched to a more structured format so shorter rides, but we packed more into them.
During this time, we focused on developing her FTP (which we increased, twice) and we also had a focus with All Time Power PB goals all of which we reached. Given that we had great structured sessions everyday all we needed to do was be consistent with our training and chip away. No need to ramp things up at all.
In short Covid 19 really allowed us to focus our training effectively, we achieved more by doing less and accomplished some great things given the circumstances.
