This is the first year I've been serious and dedicated to training properly for the season. I've got a good coach, who has me lifting for strength during these early months, on top of plenty of base miles and endurance rides. Our early race season is coming up really soon, and because I've been lifting, I don't have any speed right now. My legs are just too worn during the week. This month I have started doing a little more interval work, which should be helping my speed. This month I've also gone down to 1 hard day, and 1 easy maintenance day of lifting a week. But I still feel sluggish, which my coach told me is to be expected as long as I'm lifting. My question is how long should it take after I stop or severely slow my lifting before I notice my speed bump up to race level? These early season races (late Feb, early March) are not the most important to me, but it would be nice to do well in them. My race season and A priority races range from March to August, so it's a pretty long season... not to mention cross in the fall. Should I just suck it up, be patient and continue lifting till the end of February, or would it be advisable to ease off on the lifting, and be prepared to do well in the March races?