A rare mid-season weekend off for the Bedford Blues players has not meant a let up in the intensity of the training, with Mike Rayer and his coaching staff putting them through what he described as "a week of pre-season training."
That meant the squad were put through some rigourous fitness drills to ensure that they are in top shape for the Championship regular season run-in and building up towards the play-offs.
Far from shy away from the beastings though, Blues director of rugby Rayer has been delighted with the response from his players as they took the opportunity to concentrate on fitness that part-time sides cannot always do due to time constraints.
He said: "Our boys respond to simple hard work but, for instance, when you play Pirates on Sunday, January 1, and you've got Doncaster five or six days later then it's difficult to do that in a week, so perhaps as a consequence our performance wasn't quite there.
"But if you look at the build-up to games like Pirates or London Scottish, we've been able to get one or two real tough sessions in.
"Our psyche with the lads is that they go better on real testing sessions, but across the course of the season it's impossible to do that.
"It's just getting that balance and making sure we do the right things.
"The players have got to understand when we are having an 'easier' week it is meant to get them right for the Saturday and respond accordingly with a performance."
A 43-10 win at home to London Scottish last Saturday saw the Blues rebound from the previous week's defeat at Doncaster Knights in impressive fashion, securing the bonus point before the half time interval.
Rayer was pleased with the way his side played during that game, particularly in the second period due to the tries that were scored as well as managing to keep the visitors out after they had grabbed a try, despite having two men in the sin-bin.
It was the perfect way for Bedford to go into the bye week and the director of rugby is now aiming to make sure the squad are in the right place mentally ahead of next Sunday's trip to Leeds Carnegie and the final games before the play-offs begin.
"A lot of it with us is between the ears and getting our mindset right," Rayer said. "If we're in the zone and someone beats us then you just hold your hands up.
"Sometimes if we're ten or 15 per cent off, particularly this season, you get burnt by that because it is a lot more competitive.
"But it's a learning curve for us all there and we've got to respect the opposition.
"We're slowly moving towards these play-offs now and everyone is starting to get excited. The difficulty for those of us on 50 points or more is that we know we are already there.
"Now we've set some goals moving forwards that will keep up focused each and every week."
Not much is likely to change in the top eight of the division between now and March, save for one or two clubs swapping position. That has given Rayer some scope to try a few things out ahead of the play-offs, with Bedford currently second in the standings.
Even so, he has still set the side targets to ensure they do not let their standards slip in the final four games and is also looking for those players that have not been with the club during the play-offs before to make an impact.
Rayer said: "There are sides that are down the bottom that are scrapping for every win they can get and that makes it interesting as well because we have still got Plymouth and Moseley to come.
"Every win for them is absolutely vital for their quest to stay in the division because every win means they carry a point forward for each one.
"They're going to be tough and interesting games. The relatively new boys for this season have to step up the nearer we get to the play-offs.
"Although our boys have got a couple of years experience in the play-offs, we know what the lads that were brought here can bring and we're expecting big things of them.
"It's down to the guys that came in this year to stake a claim and force their way into the team."
