ImprezaDrvr

Preface this with an apology for the length of the post.

Did my first road race in a few years over the weekend in Galisteo, NM. I've been training this spring as opposed to just riding and I'm definately stronger now than I have been in a long while. But, I finished behind the curve in the race and, having gained some maturity since my last race, I'm looking at this one and trying to identify what I need to work on. Race was Cat 4, 47 miles total over an out and back course with rolling terrain and a crosswind the whole time. I got dropped pretty much at the first acceleration that the group made up some of the rollers. The crosswind killed me from there and I couldn't bridge back up. About 1/4 into the race I came upon a team-mate that had a mechanical and small crash. I waited for him to get a new wheel and by then I was feeling better. We worked together and got him bridged up to a small chase group, which he stayed with but I got dropped from after a little while. That effort to bridge him up was pretty much the end of my day, though I did finish the race. Got to the turnaround and waited for a couple more team-mates that were caught up in a crash. We hooked up with two more and only a couple of us would work. By then, I was fading fast and the pace was taking its toll. One teammate attacked and stayed away, one went off the back of the group and I hung on with three other guys for a little while longer, but finished alone and completely spent. The legs just didn't have it.

I took last week relatively easy, and had done so the week before as well with some weather moving through that dropped my motivation to zero more days than it should have. I rode more up tempo last Monday and Tuesday, with Wednesday being the longest and hardest ride I'd done over that two week period. About 46 miles with a 2 mile climb that I felt good on and a PR over the route I took by a decent margin (speed was up about 1MPH over the route). Thursday and Friday I only managed to get about 14 miles a day. The first problem I see is that I didn't have a ride over 50 miles in the two weeks before the race, so my body wasn't as used to the time in the saddle or the effort over a longer period. But, before that my long days were in the 60 mile range, mid to middle-upper tempo. I generally throw in a couple of hard efforts on some of the short climbs (less than 2 miles) here, but don't push too hard on the longer rides. Outside of not having done a longer ride in two weeks before the race, I'm wondering if I should stretch them out from 60 milers to between 70 and 80? Most of the road races I'll do are in the 50 mile range, so is 60 not long enough for my longer day?

I've been bringing some speed work in as the spring progressed, primarily with half hour to 45 minute efforts. The only intervals I get are on short climbs; I haven't done any real interval workouts. But the race on Saturday was pretty much over for me with the first acceleration on a short series of climbs. I just didn't have the legs. On club rides here I generally am one of the stronger climbers on climbs under 2.5 to 3 miles. But my legs were still a bit sore from the abovementioned effort on Wednesday before the race and I'm also thinking that my warmup wasn't long enough. It's possible that either less effort the week before or a longer warmup would help this, but I'm not sure if I should try both or focus on one more than the other. I usually don't need a huge warmup to put a hard effort in. What do some of you do the week before a race in terms of your training? How should I bring intervals into my training so I can get some of the quickness without sacrificing the power over the long haul?

Outside of that, it actually turned out alright. My placing wasn't high, but my team-mate that had the crash finished in the points and told me that our working together to bridge him up probably made that possible. I feel good on that front and felt good in the few miles we were chasing. But that taxed me too much. Basically, I think I need to work on being able to respond to accelerations in the group and keeping some power on reserve for the entire race, but I dont' know what I need to do to address those areas. I'd love some help from you folks here. I've got a crit in two weeks that's pretty short with one power climb in it, and the Iron Horse the weekend after that. Can I make some adjustments to help my quickness before the crit? I can see myself getting dropped on the first lap after seeing how I responded to the jumps this last weekend.

roadbuzz

First, good job in gutting it out. You worked hard and you did what you could for your team. What goes around comes around.

You'd probably get a better response to the training questions in the T & N forum. Here're suggestions from a pack filler (worth their price).

In general, you probably have pretty good base fitness. So, say you have three rides a week to focus on some of the basic aspect of conditioning for racing; endurance, accelerations, and tempo.

Endurance - work at a pace/effort below your lactic threshold that you can hold for the target distance. Don't be religious about the pace, adjust for circumstances or what you feel like doing. My point is, if you're going to do it every week, it has to be enjoyable, not a death march.

Accelerations - you got to be able to take the gut punches without letting the pack get away. Do 3 or 4 minute hard intervals with maybe 5 minute recoveries. A hill or incline can help. It helps me to think of it in context, the race situation, rather than just going hard for x minutes. You're pushing hard enough and long enough that you really feel the oxygen debt building and you (and the guy who would be next to you) really want to quit, then when you hit the top, keep pushing for a minute. Refer to any training resource (or search the T & N archives) for better details on pacing, how many, how much recovery, etc.

Tempo - I don't know if tempo is the "right" name. Longer intervals, say 10 or 15 minutes dieseling along at or above your LT. Hard enough that you're pushing yourself and need a little recovery, but not super uncomfortable. Ease up for a while, then go again. These are the efforts that I enjoy. Again, don't be religious. If you want to charge a hill, go! Just save enough strength that you don't pop and can't get the complete work-out. Again, consult some expert resource for detail.

Of these three, accelerations are the fundamental weapon for thinning the pack. Everybody out there can ride fast in a group. After some period with this regimen, you might start working on sprints. Again, I refer you to the experts for when and if.

As far as race prep, here's a pretty good article on race week tapering. (In fact, that archive, https://www.ultrafit.com/etips.asp, has a ton of good stuff, searching or browsing.) In most cases, i.e. "C" races, just start easing up on the distance and intensity a few days before the race and include a couple of short, hard 90 second intervals in each ride. Taper appropriately for the importance of the event. Too much tapering is a lot like not training.

Since you've only got a couple of weeks, this thread (you've probably already read it) has some good crit advice. Good luck, have fun, and don't be the guy they remember for the wrong reasons.

ImprezaDrvr

dive, the problem is that, physically and mentally, I couldn't stay at the front when they took off. I firmly believe that it's both physical and mental, and that training better will help both aspects. As for sprinting to catch up, that's sage advice if body and mind can do it. The problem is getting my body and mind to do the sprint to catch up and then hang on through accelerations or the hard pace.

roadbuzz, thanks for the advice. I figure looking around here will get me some advice, as well as over in T&N and talking to other guys on the team here. I want all of the advice I can get. That thread about crits is pretty good, and I think I'll try to cater my training in the next two weeks to speed. One way or the other, regardless of the type of race, I need to get faster.