Trainsharp Testimonials - Douglas Dewey – Team GWR - U23 National Time Trial Champion 2011

Mid-way through the 2011 season I realised that something needed to change. I felt like I’d been training hard, consistently and as much as possible for the past five years, and I was improving, but not enough. I’m naturally a target driven person so just ‘getting stronger’ is not a satisfying result for me. I wanted numbers, analysis and most of all I wanted wins. Every cyclist wants to win and unfortunately for me, despite having had a successful year in 2010, I still didn’t win a single race. I was worried. What was I lacking? What was I doing wrong? I don’t believe in ‘talent’ – I think it’s a myth spread by people who aren’t prepared to train hard enough, used as an excuse for their lack of success. I believe in training, but I was training as hard as I thought I could and only perceiving steady improvements year on year. I was hungry for progress.

I spent a long time searching the internet with the help of my brother, and the recommendations of various people in mind. In the end I stumbled across Jon Sharples at TrainSharp partly by chance, and asked the opinion of an old friend, and previous coached athlete, Tom Copeland. He said only good things about Jon and so I trusted him and made contact. I was actually racing in Belgium at the time but Jon made the effort to communicate as much as I could want or need and I enlisted his coaching.

Initially my training was mostly based around a heavy racing schedule, and targeted maximum recovery, but once I was back from Belgium it was time to get specific and target the National Time Trial Championships. Having finished 3rd in 2010, my sights were set on getting the jersey. I had only got stronger over the year and I know that time trialling is one of my strengths. After the championships I was aiming to finish the season at the Track Nationals competing in the Individual and Team Pursuit. My previous personal best for the individual pursuit was 4:47 in 2009 so I was pretty unsure of what I could do. I told myself I might be capable of a 4:35 but when I mentioned this to a few people they commented, not un-subtly, that this was a very fast time. Hint taken!

I suppose the rest is history as they say. I won the under 23 National Time Trial by over a minute, and narrowly missed out on two bronze medals at the Track Nationals, coming fourth twice! Rather frustrating, but good results none the less. I also achieved a 4:32.6 in the individual pursuit, which put to bed any of my personal doubts.
I’m really happy with how I’ve progressed merely over the last two months of the season. It’s been all change for me training-wise, with lots more specific sessions and zone-based power training, which is something I’ve never done previous to Jon’s guidance. He’s introduced me to a different mindset when it comes to training, using patterns to enable the body to recover quicker and thus train harder, whilst slowing pushing the boundaries of what I perceive as possible on the bike. Off the bike he has also instilled a greater sense of self belief in my ability, backing up morale with scientific evidence. I’m extremely excited about what I can achieve in the 2012 season after a full winter of training under Jon’s guidance!