zachsilvey

This may be a question for the Road Racing forum but I am not what you would consider the average road racer so I figured I might get more relavent results here.

I have challenged myself to race this year and I intend to be competitive (although realistically I don't stand a chance). My first race is on Feb 19th and I am planning on stepping up from casual fitness riding to more race focused training.

The plan is to alternate endurance/spinning and interval/hill training/sprinting and have a day of recovery each week.

Is this a good plan, It's not specifically periodic but I've got plenty or room to change things.

RichardGlover

Rule of thumb is that you shouldn't increase your total weekly mileage by more than 10% from the previous week. Also, it's usually a good idea to stop training about a week before, to give your body a chance to be fully recovered for the event.

You should probably get in a roadie group from a local club so you can learn how to ride pacelines and such (if you don't know how).

If you're racing on the 19th, you've got 3 weeks of training, 1 week of rest. That's not much time.

IMO, don't worry too much about the race on the 19th. If you can finish, that's all that matters. Focus your training on events further out; if you try to train too hard for the first race, you'll end up hurting yourself.

mkadam68

What type of race? (Different types call for diff. training.)

If you haven't "stepped-up to more race focused training" yet, and this is a mass-start race, it's too late: you're going to get dropped. Go race anyway! It will teach you what you need to do next time.

Your "plan" may be slightly out of sorts. How old are you? If you're older (30+), you should have only two hard days a week, including race day. If younger, your body can probably handle three hard days a week. Days immediately following these hard efforts should be recovery rides. Days in-between should be long, zone 1-2 rides, to maintain your aerobic engine and burn fat. These rides should be the "endurance/spinning" ride you refer to.

You should be riding at least 5 days a week, probably 6.

If a mass-start race, make sure you're doing training rides with a group of racers. This would be one of your "hard days". It will get you ready for race day like nothing else can.

There's lots more, but you'll need to provide specifics.

MrClyde

Good advice so far. With 3 weeks to go, I would ride as much as I could until about 4 days before the race, mixing hills, speed, endurance. I base the intensity on how much time I have to ride. If I only have an hour, and it's not a recovery day, I will push myself pretty hard. If I have 4 hours on a weekend to ride, I just put in a nice steady ride.

Then the week of the race, I would do an easy ride on Tues, rest Wed, easy ride Thurs, rest Fri, then go race. Get there plenty early, you will be nervous. Have a plan for getting registered, and warming up. I take the start time, and work backwards figuring how long I want to warm up, time to register, etc.

What type of race? How long? Good luck, have fun and tell us about it!