A Lesson in Time Management by Annabel

After catching up with Lucy last month, it’s Annabel’s turn to give us an insight into her winter training regime and how she’s managing to fit training into a busy, university schedule!

I’ve had a hectic winter period juggling training, uni work, exams and the odd shift at the café I work in. I’m in uni 9 ‘til 5 most days of the week and also have some weeks in the laboratory where I spend all day playing with dangerous chemicals, this is the fun bit! This obviously takes a lot of hard work and time management to keep balanced but it’s a good job I like keeping myself busy!

I work closely with my coach to make the most of the time I have available (the availability feature on TrainingPeaks is a lifesaver) and this has definitely made it possible to get quality hours of training in. The other challenge in training during the UK winter is the weather, and hasn’t it been the worst winter yet?
One thing about me is I really do NOT like riding the turbo, so I try my best to go out in all weathers. I don’t mind rain or wind too much but the main challenge this winter has been the amount of snow and ice, especially up in North Yorkshire. On these occasions, I admit defeat and jump on the turbo.

As well as training hard, it is equally as important to keep my mind happy during the winter period. The support network in the team is really strong, it's been great having Jo and Rick to check up on me and just generally to have a friendly natter. Also, me and Lucy live pretty close to each other, so we’ve been on a few rides together which I’ve really enjoyed, it’s nice to see a friendly face and have fun whilst also getting training in.

I’m lucky to be supported by my university’s sport scholarship programme which allowed me to take a few weeks away from the academic side of my life and focus on training. I used this time to escape to sunny Calpe in December with a few of the team and more recently on my own as a post exam treat.
It was a great week away with the team, meeting the new girls and also catching up with everyone.  This was really valuable to get some long hours in the legs with the girls and getting to know them more after my relatively short time with the team, after I joined at the back end of last year.
As well as this, it gives you a bit of an extra push to keep going during the dark, damp months after seeing where the other girls are at. There are some seriously strong girls in this team, the 2024 season is not going to know what’s hit it!

Looking forward to the next month or so, we have our official team camp in just over a week which I’m very excited for! It will be a big week of riding, which I think I’m ready for after my various escapades abroad and some big hours at home. My power numbers are definitely going in the right direction too so hopefully it will be a successful week with some friendly competition within the team.
I’m also looking forward to the social and team-bonding aspect of the time away. Spending time together is a great way of building the close-knit relationship in the team and this gives us a strong starting point for success when we kick of our season at CiCLE Classic in mid March.

Thanks Annabel, we’re all looking forward to seeing the full team together in Girona and getting our first impression of how the team might perform this season.