Matt Bostock training and sports nutrition blog

On the Isle of Man there’s currently only 3 active cases of coronavirus and for the most part everything over there has returned to normal. For me on the other hand, being based in Manchester means that life is still far from ‘normal’. I choose to live in Manchester throughout the racing season because the alternative is travelling across the Irish Sea every week. But this has left me in a kind of limbo this year - waiting and praying for some racing to re-emerge.

I’ve spent the best part of 5 years now with the same focus and goal in my life: winning races. I’d go from one race to the next, desperate to improve and to show myself, and everyone else, what I can do. In all this time, the longest period I’d ever gone without racing was 4 months; and with a bit of time off at the end of the season, (followed by Christmas and New Year), these months would simply fly by.

Excluding the one race I had in March before lockdown hit, it’s now been around 11 months since I last raced my bike, and honestly, it’s been a real struggle - especially as I consider myself a natural racer. From my first memories of racing round the NSC track in the RL360 Cycling league, I’ve been deeply competitive - and I’ve always drawn added strength from competing against others. Training with no real goals in sight has been more difficult than I could have ever imagined, and when training is your day job, it’s easy for it to feel just like that… a job.

And yet, thanks to the support of RL360, I’ve had the opportunity to enrol in a Level 3 Sports Nutrition course this year - something I’ve always been interested in. This has given me something to focus on outside of training, as well as giving me the knowledge to better my own sports nutrition and myself as an athlete. It’s also helped me enjoy riding my bike once more; the pleasure of being outside after a day of sitting and studying does not go unnoticed.

Things have also started looking up again recently in that I plan to race again soon! While the UK government have put a 15 minute limit on group exercise, a local track league in Manchester have introduced new rules to help them operate within these restrictions. The plan is to hold sessions consisting of 4 races (each race will be around 10 minutes long), and this has enabled the league to continue running throughout the winter months. I’m especially excited to start racing on the track again because this will mark the start of my preparations for track racing at the 2022 Commonwealth Games - where I hope to improve on my 6th place position in the Gold Coast and hopefully stand on the podium.

I want to thank RL360 again for all their support, especially during this time when training has been more difficult - it really means a lot. I hope I can bring you a more positive update soon, but in the meantime I’ll be doing my best to keep up my training for the remainder of the year and also improving for 2021, 2022 and of course the next Commonwealth Games.