YVONNE McGREGOR

© Associated Press

WEEK 3
Date: August 11

Revelling in "Turbo Torture"

The name of the game from now up until departure to Sydney is virtually all work and no play.

My whole day revolves around what training session has been planned. Yet it isn't just the training that counts. It is so important to maintain good nutrition and energy balance and gain as much rest and recovery as you can before your next session at this stage in preparation.

This aspect is so often overlooked by many sportspeople but you are, in effect, feeding a high-performance engine and consequently need high performance fuel for optimum performance.

For me it is of particular importance because most of my days now are split sessions with racing at weekends. Last Monday saw the start of my final intensive phase of build-up to Sydney. I've finished my heavy volume block, and have now commenced a two-week block of "threshold" work before the final "top-end" work - the real icing on the cake.

I've never had problems getting out of the door to go training and this present phase is great because of the variation of road work and track work at Manchester velodrome and the beloved "Turbo Torture": a fairly innocuous machine that your own road bike fits on but on which you go nowhere (other than to hell and back!) yet suffer enormously.

It is mentally taxing because it is such a concentrated effort and there is nothing to look at other than your power output, heartrate and the floor! Loud music is permissable, indeed essential, to keep one's sanity - and to keep the neighbours away!

I'm probably one of the few cyclists who actually relishes a good hard session on the turbo, it doesn't mean to say I don't curse at the prospect, but it is a very satisfying feeling to finish a session absolutely spent, knowing you've got the best out of yourself.

My absolute record is training everyday on a turbo for five weeks after I'd broken my collarbone - and even I would admit that it became pretty mind-numbing in the end and it certainly tested my powers of motivation to the extreme.

On Thursday, I was at the velodrome training with Chris Boardman. Well to be honest, I was just following his wheel but at 50kph it was most definitely training, I can assure you! Chris is presently training for the original hour record of Eddy Merckx, going back to the basics of an upright bike with the rider and not aerodynamics being the major factor.

Peter Keen, our coach, had planned ten-minute blocks of threshold effort at 50kph but the drag effect I gain from riding a few bike lengths off Chris' wheel allows me some shelter and I can then dictate the effort by riding closer or further from his wheel. It was a really enjoyable session, very tough but mentally it was something a bit different and most definitely motivational. Thanks for that Chris!

Having recently moved house to Cheshire and constantly on the go with training and racing abroad, keeping in contact with family and friends tends to play second fiddle, but I'm hoping to have a couple of days in Bradford soon to catch up before my departure.

Everyone gets really excited for me prior to a major Games, whereas I merely see it as my job and a natural conclusion of all I've worked for. Yet their support is something I really do value as they have been there from the very beginning.

First and foremost I feel I deserve success for myself for all the time and total commitment I have put in through the years but close behind I would dearly like a medal for Pete Keen, my coach, who has become a good friend over the years and has given up so much of his valuable time to help me.

Finally, without the funding from the National Lottery and the support from the World Class Performance Programme in the last 2 years it is highly unlikely that I would still be competing at this level because I could just not afford to do it anymore.

Cycling has begun to make quite marked inroads into the international ranks through lottery funding and theWCPP, and medals at Sydney are a very realistic prospect, particularly with the Olympic sprinters and Jason Queally in the 1km and, of course, Chris Boardman ... and I will be doing my damndest to improve on the 4th place I managed in Atlanta!

Read Yvonne's diary for WEEK 1 ...

Read Yvonne's diary for WEEK 2 ...

Read Yvonne's diary for WEEK 4 ...

Read Yvonne's diary for WEEK 5 ...