What training when you race every sunday?

simplesimoncardiff

Hi guys i'm a little stumped with what to do during the week when i'm doing a Cyclocross race every Sunday until Christmas.

I want to set myself up for a decent year next year where i'm actually going to do some races but want to get the best results in these CX's.

I commute every day on the bike and do just over 100 easy miles a week with that and continuing with my usual swims and runs most evenings.

Any ideas?? :roll:

sheffsimon

simplesimoncardiff wrote:

Hi guys i'm a little stumped with what to do during the week when i'm doing a Cyclocross race every Sunday until Christmas.

I want to set myself up for a decent year next year where i'm actually going to do some races but want to get the best results in these CX's.

I commute every day on the bike and do just over 100 easy miles a week with that and continuing with my usual swims and runs most evenings.

Any ideas?? :roll:

Make 2-3 of your commutes hard, intervals, sprints, hill sprints.

Cross is a series of short hard efforts, up hills, across muddy bits, with easier (not easy) bits in between.

I found a run once a week made all the difference to my running in cross. Also used to do hill efforts on a field, sprint intervals. No long steady miles - pointless for your CX efforts. Used to finish cross mid Feb, then upped mileage in prep for road season, didnt bother with rest/recovery in the eighties

Always found swimming mind-numbing so I would bin that straight away

mackdaddy

What races are you planning to do next year that you need to train for?

This will affect what you need to do alongside the CX

Alex_Simmons/RST

simplesimoncardiff wrote:

I want to set myself up for a decent year next year where i'm actually going to do some races but want to get the best results in these CX's.

Make a choice.

Bronzie

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

simplesimoncardiff wrote:

I want to set myself up for a decent year next year where i'm actually going to do some races but want to get the best results in these CX's.

Make a choice.

Alex, would you say that racing cross (at the best of your ability rather than just as a bit of fun) and then switching to a full summer of road racing is not possible or just difficult to get it right?

Just interested as there is a guy in our club who races cross at a fairly good level, and then seems to be able to switch to TTs and road races without ever seeming to take much time off. I can never understand how he manages it.

Pross

IME the period from the close of the cross season until the start of the road season is sufficient to do both. In a way it's a shame that the cross season doesn't run between January and March rather that October to January as it would be good interval training ahead of the road season. I know plenty of people who have excelled at both - Julian Winn used to dominate local cross races and compete at National Trophy level before going into a Premier Calendar road season. Roger Hammond was another who did both well. I would only think you need to make a choice once you get to the very top. I'm not sure if it's the case anymore (probably not) but a lot of pros - particulalry Belgians - did cross through the winter.

rock_hopper

Agree with Alex, make a choice. You need to set goals, good cross season or good road race season then train according to your goals. You can have a good road race season while racing cross you just treat the cross as fun training rides and don't hope for results. Also, don't forget that any racing is mentally and physically demanding (more than training), if you've done loads of cross races you may be sick of racing by May time. Don't underestimate the psychological cost of racing! I made this mistake last year.

Pross, don't forget Roger Hammond is a full-time rider, the fact that he doesn't have a regular job like the rest of us makes a big difference.

Alex_Simmons/RST

Bronzie wrote:

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

simplesimoncardiff wrote:

I want to set myself up for a decent year next year where i'm actually going to do some races but want to get the best results in these CX's.

Make a choice.

Alex, would you say that racing cross (at the best of your ability rather than just as a bit of fun) and then switching to a full summer of road racing is not possible or just difficult to get it right?

Just interested as there is a guy in our club who races cross at a fairly good level, and then seems to be able to switch to TTs and road races without ever seeming to take much time off. I can never understand how he manages it.

One can race a lot and do so at a high level, just one cannot expect to have best or peak form for more than a couple of periods per year. It is sensible to make a choice about which races/events are priority.

Pithy Power Proverb:

Form = Fitness + Freshness. - A Coggan

Pross

rock_hopper wrote:

Agree with Alex, make a choice. You need to set goals, good cross season or good road race season then train according to your goals. You can have a good road race season while racing cross you just treat the cross as fun training rides and don't hope for results. Also, don't forget that any racing is mentally and physically demanding (more than training), if you've done loads of cross races you may be sick of racing by May time. Don't underestimate the psychological cost of racing! I made this mistake last year.

Pross, don't forget Roger Hammond is a full-time rider, the fact that he doesn't have a regular job like the rest of us makes a big difference.

At the time I'm referring to he was UK based - may have still been full time though. I would say that cross makes an excellent all-out 1 hour interval session. You can still treat it seriously though, OK you may have to decide if you're talking about winning at National Trophy level but at local level pretty much everyone doing it (in my area at least which I assume is the same as that of the OP) races on the road or MTB through the summer.