poor on longer road races
06-22-04, 03:07 PM
#1
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poor on longer road races
Need a bit of help with the longer road races.Im fine with anything around the 60/70 miles (can dig in)but longer races 80/90m I start to struggle.My endurance is pretty good as I had been putting the longer runs (80-100 mile) runs over the winter, but I just can't seem to do those distances at race pace.
I've got some races in mind at end July and August and was wanting to start training towards them and wondering how to focus towards the longer races.My training during the week would follow:
Mon: easy spinning recovery ride (30 mins)
Tues: Hard group ride or short intervals
Wed: short ride about 1hr 10-12 sprints 5 secs each, full recovery.
Thurs: Hard group ride or longer intervals/threshold work
Friday: Easy spinning recovery ride 30mins-1 hr
Sat/sun Race
Should I maybe tack on some extra miles on say tue or thurs training ride to focus on some endurance? OR getting in some hard long rides at the weekend when no racing is happenning?Any suggestions would be great.
I've got some races in mind at end July and August and was wanting to start training towards them and wondering how to focus towards the longer races.My training during the week would follow:
Mon: easy spinning recovery ride (30 mins)
Tues: Hard group ride or short intervals
Wed: short ride about 1hr 10-12 sprints 5 secs each, full recovery.
Thurs: Hard group ride or longer intervals/threshold work
Friday: Easy spinning recovery ride 30mins-1 hr
Sat/sun Race
Should I maybe tack on some extra miles on say tue or thurs training ride to focus on some endurance? OR getting in some hard long rides at the weekend when no racing is happenning?Any suggestions would be great.
06-23-04, 07:15 AM
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If you aren't seeing improvement as the season goes along review your training journal. It looks to me that your overal volume is there. Perhaps your intensity volume is too much.
Race pace will take you into the anerobic zone (frequently in my case) during a long race and it's important to have enough glycogen in the muscles in order to respond to those surges in pace/effort. Are you eating enough on the bike? It might be something as simple as a few extra GU packs early in the race or an extra energy drink at one of the feeds.
Lastly review your tactics. If you spend a lot of time in the wind at the front of the pack you are burning a lot of energy. Are you covering every break? If you race with the same guys every week you'll know who you need to mark and who you can let go. It takes a little luck to get into the right break.
It's not how long you were at the front, it's being in front at the line that counts.
Race pace will take you into the anerobic zone (frequently in my case) during a long race and it's important to have enough glycogen in the muscles in order to respond to those surges in pace/effort. Are you eating enough on the bike? It might be something as simple as a few extra GU packs early in the race or an extra energy drink at one of the feeds.
Lastly review your tactics. If you spend a lot of time in the wind at the front of the pack you are burning a lot of energy. Are you covering every break? If you race with the same guys every week you'll know who you need to mark and who you can let go. It takes a little luck to get into the right break.
It's not how long you were at the front, it's being in front at the line that counts.
06-23-04, 07:30 AM
#3
Tiocfáidh ár Lá
Bikerdave,
I tjink you need more miles in your training. I saw your post in the CX forum and that looks like what you are training for. You seem too focused on intensity. FWIW this is my mid season schedule:
Mon: easy recovery 25-30miles
Tues: Intervals session: Lately I have been doing pyramid intervals. 30 sec hard 30 recovery/ 1 minute hard 1 minute recovery then 30 seconds again. I'll do 6 of those and cover 25 miles.
Wed: recovery ride 30 -35 miles
Thursday: LSD Long Steady Distance 60 -65% and about 60 -70 miles
Friday: tune the bike and take a day off. only test ride bike
Sat race or easy 10-20 mile spin if racing Sun
Sun race or easy recovery if racing on Sat.
This is the schedule I try to do. Of course weather and other obligations make it difficult sometimes but I can come pretty close. You should increase mileage every week in the mid season if possible too. If you don't race on the weekend it would be good to do a practice TT or another interval session or a good 80 mile ride. It sounds to me that you need some long distance miles.
I tjink you need more miles in your training. I saw your post in the CX forum and that looks like what you are training for. You seem too focused on intensity. FWIW this is my mid season schedule:
Mon: easy recovery 25-30miles
Tues: Intervals session: Lately I have been doing pyramid intervals. 30 sec hard 30 recovery/ 1 minute hard 1 minute recovery then 30 seconds again. I'll do 6 of those and cover 25 miles.
Wed: recovery ride 30 -35 miles
Thursday: LSD Long Steady Distance 60 -65% and about 60 -70 miles
Friday: tune the bike and take a day off. only test ride bike
Sat race or easy 10-20 mile spin if racing Sun
Sun race or easy recovery if racing on Sat.
This is the schedule I try to do. Of course weather and other obligations make it difficult sometimes but I can come pretty close. You should increase mileage every week in the mid season if possible too. If you don't race on the weekend it would be good to do a practice TT or another interval session or a good 80 mile ride. It sounds to me that you need some long distance miles.
