winning in the kitchen, winning in the bedroom

After yesterday’s stage of the Giro d’ Italia, pink jersey holder Alberto Contador announced, “This Giro could be won in the hotel”.

As leader of the race he has presentations, press conferences, interviews… all these get in the way of his rest. It’s the same for us every day amateurs too. Work and family influence how much we get to rest up well.

I was talking to my sister, a mother of a 3 and 5 year old, yesterday on the phone. “You sound tired” I said, “I’ve been tired for 5 years!” she said.

For me, I’m always looking for those bits of spare time outside work and family to get on the bike and train. However, these next couple of days, I’m looking to use those bits of time to rest. Some early nights? A sleep on the bus tomorrow?

Active rest is also important. I like to do 20 minutes in the bath. Followed by a leg massage. After which I rub in some tiger balm. Go to bed and sleep with feet raised on a couple of pillows.

Food is important too. People talk of carbo-loading, but I’m pretty sure I’m carbo-loading all the time! A healthy diet, perhaps a bit more than usual, and plenty of fluids are the order of the day.

Hoping to be fresh and raring to go at 5:55 Saturday morning…..