One Lap Wonder: Jamie Staff
Story posted 19th of March 2008
By Larry Hickmott
The Great Britain team get down to some serious training for the Team Sprint. L-R Chris Hoy, Ross Edgar and Jamie Staff.
What ever happens on the track next Wednesday at the UCI World Track Championships, Jamie Staff has already won a huge battle just to be at the Championships. With competition within the Great Britain team for spots in the Team Sprint squad being fierce over the winter, Staff gambled on chasing a spot in the Team Sprint as his sole event and that gamble has paid off.
The former Team Sprint and Keirin World Champion will go into the UCI World Track Championships as Britain’s choice for man 1 in the Team Sprint but being in the form of his life he does admit that he would love to do other events. He did however commit to the Team Sprint earlier in the season saying “I discussed it with the coaches and I know I would have had a really hard time to beat Ross (Edgar) or Chris (Hoy) in the Sprint so I decided a while ago to put 100 per cent of my energy into the Team Sprint.”
“I have two lovely kids, a lovely wife, and a lot going on so it’s good that I can just focus on going as fast as I can for a lap around this track and I know I can give that 110 per cent.”
Jamie is one of five riders nominated for the Team Sprint event along with Jason Kenny, Chris Hoy, Matt Crampton, and Ross Edgar. Talking to him this week, he says preparations are going well and that he is now into his tapering for the Worlds.
Asked what tapering means, Jamie explained “we reduce our work load while the intensity of the efforts are still there. This allows your body to recover more and basically you get a lot more rest time so you don’t feel fatigued like you would on a normal training day. There is the mental process as well where your times on the track are getting better and you start focusing on your event that is coming up.”
He says that conditions though can have a bearing on the track times and that after doing really fast times at an event like Revolution recently (17.5’s), it can be disappointing to come into an empty Velodrome the next week and expect to do those times again and then don’t.
Jamie goes through some video of a start with Mike Hughes of the EIS.
“It’s hard and although we keep a record of the times sometimes you just have to ignore them like at the moment. As long as you’re putting 100 per cent into your efforts, that is all you can do. Another part of the taper is the level of equipment goes up and we’re on near race kit and in race suits.”
Jamie is also cutting down on the days he is on the bike and this week is only training Monday and Wednesday before travelling not very far to the team hotel and coming to the track again on Saturday. He’ll then rest Sunday and start the championship week with training on Monday before his race on Wednesday. Asked what he does when he gets a day off, Jamie replies “fatherly duties!”
Jamie is father of twins who were born in 2005 and says that he tries not to run around too much after them! “I’m off the bike pretty much for those days although I may jump on the turbo to spin my legs for 20 minutes. I think it is healthy to not focus on what is coming up and instead get involved in other avenues in your life, and I am lucky I have a lot of those in my life.”
Pressures of being in the spotlight -- Jamie does an interview with the BBC who are covering the World Track Championships live.
“They help keep your mind occupied because you don’t want to get too stressed on it this far out and having sleepless nights. When we get to the hotel, things will change a bit and that’s when there will be long days spent in bed watching TV. It’s like recharging a battery and that’s what we are doing, charging our batteries up as far as we can and expending as little energy as you can and hopefully getting it right on race day when you’re 100 per cent ready to go.”
By way of example of how the rest helps he says “two weeks ago I did four days that week and every session I could feel the underlying tiredness even though I was doing good times. Then last week I came in three times with a rest day in between and I did feel a lot better and my times were better, and because I know I’m going to throw in a few extra days off in the next week with reduced efforts on the track, I know I’m going to feel even better”.
One thing is for sure knowing the fan base Jamie has, come next Wednesday and one of the exciting events, the Team Sprint, the British crowd are sure to get behind the big man with the even bigger tattoo and push him and the rest of the sprinters around the track in their sprint for a rainbow jersey.
Good luck to them all.
RELATED LINKS
Jamie Staff
British Cycling Websites World Track Championships Home Page
2008 Copenhagen World Track Cup
News
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GB Chasing Women's Olympic Spots
Interviews
Bradley Wiggins Interview March 2008
Back to the Fold for Steve Cummings
Chris Hoy Interview Feb 7 - 2008
