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Old 06-21-13, 01:45 PM
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chasm54
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We can't tell you how you would do as a racer, the only way to find out is to pin on a number and compete. And times don't mean much, when racing it isn't the average speed that kills you, it is the repeated accelerations and your ability to recover -or not- while maintaining your position in the bunch.

But on the basis of the times you have posted, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be competitive. The Cat 4 race I did on Tuesday averaged 24 mph. That is substantially quicker, for thirty miles, than you are going for twenty minutes. It is, of course, misleading to compare times because in the race one is in a bunch, drafting and so on, but still, the difference is stark. A couple of weeks ago I raced in a veterans road race, 50-59 age group, that averaged 23 mph for 50 miles over a not entirely flat course.

Training 200 miles per week is great for building aerobic fitness and endurance. But racing requires intensity. If you want to give it a try - and despite the three-hour drive I'd encourage you to do so - you need to build in some high-intensity interval training. There's a host of good examples in the workout recipe sticky in the 33 in the racer's forum.
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