sbskates

i worked hard all winter mainly on teh trainer, i am almost 30 lbs lighter and feel good. i had a rough month or two with work and weather i lost some base. i have 3 weeks before a short cat 5 race. anyone had any success with cramming some training in in 3 weeks and it worked. my plan is each week is high intensity short 1 hr interval sessions . a fewdays a week. and two 3 hr rides on the weekend and a recovery ride. anyone wanna share what worked for them.
i just hate missing out on the spring road race season after that was what i worked for all winter then at the last 2 months before it started i lost time.

botto 

relax.

donrhummy

If you do, I'd say do the next 2 weeks SUPER hard and then take that last week as a recovery with no more than 4 20-30 minute easy recovery rides. Without that recovery week, you'll be worse off than if you simply continued with easy riding for the next three weeks.

Snicklefritz

Everyone is different, but I think there is probably more you could do to screw things up in 3 weeks than make major gains....if you're 3 weeks out, think of the race more like a training ride. I'm sure others with a lot of racing experience will have some more specific suggestions.

Be sure not to go overboard and cram too much in otherwise you could just burn yourself out. What "overboard" means will be different for everyone. keep track of your sleep hours/quality as well as other things like resting or recovery HR and just generally how you feel. If you start feeling like doo-doo and start getting sick (sold/flu/whatever) then back off a rest a bit.


It's probably best to ramp up from what you are doing rather than to just jump in and go hard for 3 weeks.

waterrockets 

Stay off the crazy volume. Sprints and intervals are fine, but only one workout in each zone each week.

Concentrate on making your mind tough, getting your pack position and reactions internalized, learn what your leg sensations mean, and understand your pacing/fatigue scale.