Road Bike Racing - Race prep training.

What are some of your routines the day before a race?

Easy spin, lots of time on the couch.

I do Giro de Frozen Yogurt. :D Easy spin and hit couple Frozen Yogurt places to try different flavors that I don't usually get.

Easy spin, lots of time in front of the couch

Not on the couch?

^^ignore my stupidity. Edited to reflect reality.

Easy 30

Very light ride around the block or so to make sure the bike is ok. The real prep before the race happens days if not weeks before the event. Not much you can do (rest or ride hard) that will impact the next day honestly.

Still trying to figure it out. Tried some 7/10 effort sprints with some tempo mixed in and felt bad, 30' easy and felt terrible. Tried some 10' tempo, 10' rest, 10' tempo and felt okay, tried a 20' easy, 5' TT pace, 5' rest, 1' on 2' off at just below LT x 3 then a few short sprints and actually felt decent. Probably sounds weird, but one of the fastest guys I know does 5' warmup 6-10 sprints in a gear or two higher than normal, then a 10' cool down. I'm going to try that and see what it does.

I still haven't found "it" yet.

I only do "openers" prior to a higher priority race, for early season or lower priority races, I just train as normal. If lower priority race is on a saturday, I usually either do nothing other than make sure my gear is clean and operating properly. If lower priority race is on a sunday, I do a group ride on saturday sitting in and saving a few arrows for race day, but making sure to get a workout none the less.

For priority races, I do the following (which is prescribed by andy applegate).

crit - 1 hour ride with 5-7 x 10-12 second sprints or spinups. OR (RR) 1 hr ride with 3-4 x 60-90 seconds at ftp with = rest.

Honestly, I've found no real difference in any of the 1 day before a race rituals.

it's probably different for each person, but for me this works every time:

20-25 easy miles with about 10 minutes of it a hard effort toward the end. i like to get off the bike feeling strong and ready to do more. just a little mental trick that keeps me positive up until race day.

I've found myself to need more saddle time than most to stay fresh. For instance, my recovery days I find I need to spend at least an hour (typically 1.5) to feel good the next day.

The day before a race that I care about I want about 2 hours. 1.5 of that at a real slow pace (not quite recovery, but bottom of endurance zone). With 15' SS, 5' TT effort and some sprints of varying length at 70% intensity with lots of leg speed.

However, the typical advice I've always received is 1 hour. first and last 20' at recovery pace with 2 x 5' VO2 openers in the middle.

I have an 80 mile RR on Saturday and a 40 min crit on sunday... was thinking of 5x5' V02 intervals today and then spinning easy for about 1.5 hours tomorrow... Or should I swap those around?

What are some of your routines the day before a race?

easy spin for 1-1.5 hours. if i'm lucky a sccoter or a canta (http://www.tweedehands.net/pics/00/00/34/04/52/1c.jpg) will pass me, then i'll pace off of them for +/- 5 mins.

after that, not much, maybe a beer or ten. it may sound like an unorthodox prep, but it's had some interesting (http://myshavedlegs.blogspot.com/2007/03/im-punk-rocker-yes-i-am.html) results.

I have an 80 mile RR on Saturday and a 40 min crit on sunday... was thinking of 5x5' V02 intervals today and then spinning easy for about 1.5 hours tomorrow... Or should I swap those around?

two days easy, with a few small jumps tomorrow.

I have an 80 mile RR on Saturday....

ah, it must be nice to be in CA! the concept of racing 80 miles in February is totally bizarre to most people around here.

The day before a race, I do a moderate intensity ride with 3 or 4 LT-10 intervals. An hour and half max.

Two days before a race, I veg.

This is all from my coach's instruction...

ah, it must be nice to be in CA! the concept of racing 80 miles in February is totally bizarre to most people around here.

And the forecast (http://www.weather.com/outlook/driving/interstate/weekend/USCA0061?from=search) is 82 degress!

And the forecast (http://www.weather.com/outlook/driving/interstate/weekend/USCA0061?from=search) is 82 degress!

the weather may be nice, but you're still stuck in CA. :D

Training: Day before, anywhere from 1-2hrs easy spinning on the road (rollers/trainer the day before is kinda bad mojo unless its unavoidable) with at least one or two good jumps to make sure my legs are still underneath me.

Food: I try to stay away from anything too greasy, heavy, or things that are harder to digest and tend to sit in my stomach too long. I also like to eat dinner as early as is reasonable the night before.

I ride for some time, enough for my legs to swell up and then shrink a bit. If they only swell up then it's not enough. My legs swell up a bit when I ride after taking a day off.

Time could be as little as 15 minutes, as long as 1-1.5 hours. Sometimes I'll ride more just because but that's usually race energy getting wasted.

I also eat a lot. One of my best race days was after eating a lot of spare ribs and not much else. Normally I graze on pasta and meat sauce.

cdr

for me the easy day is thursday.

Then friday is usually one hour, with 10 minutes of tempo and 5 sprints.

Try to get in an easy spin. If not, I try not to fret about it.

Gots me a TT on Saturday and 45min crit on Sunday. Did a sub 3 hour 50ish mile ride today, maybe 4K climbing. Got a decent walk and nap in after the recovery meal and am feeling good now. Tomorrow will be an easy spin around town, maybe 30-45 minutes. Hopefully I'll wake up Saturday morning with fresh legs.

There are two different scenarios, which often play out on the same weekend:

1) Saturday Race --> Prep
-I do two hours, with a good 10 minute effort and several 1min and 15sec openers. Nothing too hard, but getting the heart rate up.

2) Just raced Saturday --> Sunday Race Prep
-First thing, down a large quantity of Hatorade, water, apple juice, whatever. Then an easy spin around the parking lot for 5-10 more minutes.
-Second, eat a nice large meal. While I do believe that at some level WHAT you eat affects things, I think that's mainly going to come into play with getting down to race weight. Half the time, I'm eating McD's two hours after the race, with no ill effects. I'll get in a "healthy" meal if I can, yeah, but calories are calories after a hard day on the bike. 3 Double Cheeseburgers, small fry and a small drink.
-Third, sit around in the hotel room. Do as little walking as possible. Use the pool, but not the hot tub. In the room 2hrs before lights out. Give the body time to calm down before hitting the hay, otherwise you'll be up an hour later than you intended, staring at the ceiling.
-Fourth, wake up with time to spare. If it's an afternoon race, take the bike outside, but the helmet on, and RIDE to breakfast. That 20min spin might feel like hell now, but it will do wonders later on in the day when that first uptempo surge comes, and you have to react.

My race prep was lifeless. I raced last weekend. It was the first time I raced back to back and trained hard for a couple days. I took a couple days off, but when I went on my prep ride this morning, I could barely do any efforts. My legs feel heavy. Not good.

For a Sunday RR:

Friday night ( 2 nights before a race) go to bed early and get as many ZZZZ's as possible. Get up Saturday and chase my wife around the bed. :eek: Pack up and drive to the race. Check in, go for a 2 hr easy ride with a few good hard jumps in the middle then a long spin down for the last hour. Eat. keep my feet up. Pin my numbers. Lay out my stuff for the morning. Read or listen to music. Keep my feet up. Eat again. keep my feet up. Call the wife. Go to bed.

Get up good and early and relax with a nice fresh cup of coffee. Eat. Get stuff together and eat again. Go sign on and spin for an hour with a few hard jumps. Find out what media types are there. Shmooze them.

Try to be the last one to the line when they are staging. Get to the front during the neutral start (for the lazy, non accredited media types). Make sure someone from the team gets our jersey out there for the local newspaper.

Race like I mean it.

For a crit:

Same deal with less food and hit the line a bit sweaty.

For back to back days:

Same deal with more food and 2 easy days before hand instead of 1.

For anything longer than 2-3 days:

Same deal. Try to get a good, short, hard training race in 4 days before the first race and then 3 days of 2 hour easy spins with jumps.

Did I mention that I like to keep my feet up if possible?

Remember; Don't walk if you can drive. Don't stand if you can sit. Don't sit if you can lie down.

Remember; Don't walk if you can drive. Don't stand if you can sit. Don't sit if you can lie down.

"I'm not lazy, I'm just really committed to my recovery"

Coworker: "so you will go ride your bike for endless hours but you won't walk up two flights of stairs?"

Usually the day before a race I just play with my kids. And eat lots.

I was sloppy last season with race prep... this season will be different.

No beer 2-3 days before races and really nice clean eating with lots of good carbs. Focused on nice 8 hours a night sleeping too.

I'll be trying the hour ride on the day before a race: 3 1 minute efforts and a few jumps and some nice spinning.

A lot of my pre race hoopla has to do with getting all my food/fuel/gear/bike/wheels ready and getting some good mental prep in.

I like visualization, seeing attacks happen in my head and feeling how to respond and feeling strong and in control. I will say that i try not to do visualization stuff too close to lights out as it really gets me pumped up!

Oh, and if the legs really feel like garbage on the day of a race, lots light massage with the "stick" has helped in the past to get the blood flowing nicely.

Oh yah, LEGS UP!!

For me, the day before is usually inversely proportional to the race. For a long road race, I would do 10 miles to make sure the bike is all set. For a short crit, I might do 40-50 miles the day before.