cmsuter

I am a junior, who is determined to actually put enough time in in the off season to race next year. I am looking to race Cat 5 because I have been to many races to watch and the junior race never has more than 4 guys in it. I don't know how to go about my training though. All I know is that you have to put in a lot of base miles before you can start doing speed work. Can somebody suggest some kind of training plan for me? Or just layout a sample type week. Thanks a lot. Maybe I'll see one of you at the races next year.

nitropowered

As a new rider, I would recommend to just ride. Ride as much as you can. Ride with groups. If you are tired, take a day off (ride no more than 6 days a week)

Get a bunch of miles under your legs, try out a few races then you will find out your strengths and weaknesses that will help develop a plan.

jonestr

you can get the Cyclists Training Bible, but all it will tell you is what nitorpowered just told you.

It is a good read anyway and will prepare you for what lies ahead.

Also, you probably shouldnt ride much over 300 hours for this coming season.

Pablo.

Train hard and rest harder.

cmsuter

I've been riding road for about 3 years now, but this is the first year I'm going to race. I'll check out that Cyclists training Bible though.

jonestr

Racing is definitely a different beast than just riding around. If you are a junior just getting your feet wet just go out and do some races. Do the cat 5 race and then do the junior race.

If you are still a junior you should not be putting in a ton of hours. Your first season will mostly be learning the ropes and then you can start a structured training plan in your second year as you need to have a good idea of your strengths and weaknesses along with your goals for the season. Those things are hard to determine if you do not have a season under your belt.

One thing to do is to keep some log of your rides that records the duration and intensity along with things about bike fit and whatever else you want to throw in. This will be very valuable when writing up a plan for your second year.

cmsuter

Alright, thanks. My long term goal is to be racing Cat 1 by the time I'm 21 so that gives me about 5 seasons of racing. Good luck with your upcoming season everyone.

ridethecliche

Honestly, one of the best pieces of advice I can give you is to forgo the high zoot stuff (trick wheels etc) and use the money to get a powertap or SRM or Quarq or whatever so you can start training with power. (Work part time and what not if you need to save up somehow plus having some income is really important when you're racing. I'm not sure about your situation but I couldn't ever ask my parents to pay for things that I wanted since we're first generation immigrants and they couldn't afford it. If yours can, then good for you but remember to get what makes you stronger in addition to what makes you faster. This can't be stressed enough.)

Read coggan/allan's book as well.

Till you can get a powermeter and start training with it, train using HR. Get an LT test to figure out your HR zones. Your Power at the zones will change, but your HR zones won't move very much. Using HR might not allow you to post trick data or measure your shorter intervals efficiently but you can use PE for that. Using something like HR or power to train will give you a big performance boost since you'll be able to train between certain zones and will lead to good adaptations over time.

If you want to train hard and seriously, get Friel and start using your HRM.

If you have a nice climb in your area, then start timing yourself on that weekly/bimonthly to track your performance. Seeing yourself improve is a huge training motivator.

Good luck!