Training for Mid March race

rsturbo

I have been racing for the past year and recently put in plenty of base miles so fitness is fairly good.

I was going to follow the program in 'time crunched cyclist' which is 6 hours a week, 3 x 1 hour rides with intervals ranging from 10 mins (80-90%) to 2 min (100-115%) power intervals later on into the program.

Percentages based on an 2 x 8 min TT maximum efforts where the highest average is taken as your FT

1 or 2 long steady rides at the weekend also included.

The program lasts around 11 weeks peaking around 8 weeks which will be around race day.
I have placed in the top 6 in my first couple of races (only had a day licence so no points) so would like to try and get my cat 3 this year.

Is this a good training plan? Need an 8-11 week plan.

Thanks

Rik

rokkala

Looks alright. Sounds like you could lose some weight.

rsturbo

Didnt mention my weight pal! RAMSAY!!!!!!!

ozzzyosborn206

1 or 2 long steady rides at the weekend also included. included in what? 6 hours isn't enough total for a week however 6 hours mon to fri then two 3-5 hours rides at the weekend should make you a strong 3rd cat if not 2nd cat

plankton_brain

Snap.

Except I dont have lots of lovely base miles behind me. The TCC plan does give a range of duration for each session. 6 hours is at the bottom end.

Be interested to see how it works for you come March.

celbianchi

ozzzyosborn206 wrote:

1 or 2 long steady rides at the weekend also included. included in what? 6 hours isn't enough total for a week however 6 hours mon to fri then two 3-5 hours rides at the weekend should make you a strong 3rd cat if not 2nd cat

You don't need 12-15 hrs a week to ride competitively in 2/3/4 races.

fastercyclist

celbianchi wrote:

You don't need 12-15 hrs a week to ride competitively in 2/3/4 races.

True. But you do need more then 6.

Anonymous

fastercyclist wrote:

celbianchi wrote:

You don't need 12-15 hrs a week to ride competitively in 2/3/4 races.

True. But you do need more then 6.

I may as well not bother at all this year then.

Pokerface

NapoleonD wrote:

fastercyclist wrote:

celbianchi wrote:

You don't need 12-15 hrs a week to ride competitively in 2/3/4 races.

True. But you do need more then 6.

I may as well not bother at all this year then.

You don't do road races anyway!

Pokerface

fastercyclist wrote:

celbianchi wrote:

You don't need 12-15 hrs a week to ride competitively in 2/3/4 races.

True. But you do need more then 6.

Really depends on the person - doesn't it?

A naturally gifted cyclist can do 6 hours (or less) of training a week, and still show up and ride competitively on the weekend.


Me? I could train for 40 hours a week and still suck in 2/3/4 races. Training time doesn't make the cyclist.

Anonymous

Pokerface wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:

fastercyclist wrote:

celbianchi wrote:

You don't need 12-15 hrs a week to ride competitively in 2/3/4 races.

True. But you do need more then 6.

I may as well not bother at all this year then.

You don't do road races anyway!

I do. Well, I turn up and ride...

Last year I was really limited by both mine and the wife's work...

This year not so much...

joeyhalloran

I was doing 3/4 race on around 6 hours a week last year, only done a few and I even got some points in one tough uphill finish and a circuit where about 1/3 of the field dropped out. Over winter I have been doing ~3-5 hours a week and my FTP is exactly the same as it was the week before the top 10 so looking for similar results this spring/summer.

You may not achieve all you can do on 6 hours a week, but you can get quite far if you follow a good plan.

Just me experience/circumstances.

rsturbo

Guys, thanks for the advice.

I'm doing a total of 8 hours now, but was recently advised to do 2x20 Mon, Thursday then fast club run on sat with a longer steady run on Sunday focusing on recovery.

I'm not sure what to do.[/u]

inseine

Been riding as a 2nd cat for nearly 30 years and I rarely put in more than 7 a week. Trouble is doing more doesn't do me any good so I'm stuck.

ozzzyosborn206

inseine wrote:

Been riding as a 2nd cat for nearly 30 years and I rarely put in more than 7 a week. Trouble is doing more doesn't do me any good so I'm stuck.

obviously you know your body pretty well, but surely if you put in two weeks of 15-20 hours then an easy week you would fly?

inseine

obviously you know your body pretty well, but surely if you put in two weeks of 15-20 hours then an easy week you would fly?

Well I don't think I ever have so I can't say one way or the other but I'd have to knock down the intensity so that might be self defeating.
Anyway this is not about me, I'm just saying that we're all different and of course this would work for some people.

BigDarbs

Its not as simple as comparing hours between riders.

I am a 3rd cat, easliy held my own in races last year and won a few bunch sprints. I very, very rarely (if ever) do more than 6 hours a week.

The key is making all of the rides count, I do no long steady rides at all. They are all tempo pace or above, intervals, turbo sessions etc. generally around 1.5 hours up to to 2 hours. Riding 3 or 4 times a week (Tues, Thurs, Sat, Sun)

I did the 120 mile Dragon ride, other sportives and raced a few 50 - 60 mile road races, endurance wasn't an issue. Of course I am sure I could be faster, but in road racing it is definitely not always the fittest rider who wins. If anything the key is a good sprint and the position in the bunch with 1/4 mile to go!

The biggest difference in my racing came when I added lots of sprinting for 30 limit signs and street lamps to my training. Sitting in the bunch is not that difficult, its making the sprint count that is the difficult part. (I should add that I am not a natural sprinter, I enjoy climbing far more, but the reality is most road races/crits are flat, ending in a bunch sprint)

rsturbo

Thanks for that info bigdarbs, really useful info.
I think that based on my time and the types of races I will be competing in this type of training sounds perfect.
I am a fairly powerful rider and can sprint ok so the intervals and power sprints will help big time.

I am just concerned that by not including 2*20 blocks my ability to ride hard and fast for a length of time will be overshadowed by my ability to Sprint well.

Is this the case or will riding at tempo with sprints suffice?

rsturbo

Thanks for that info bigdarbs, really useful info.
I think that based on my time and the types of races I will be competing in this type of training sounds perfect.
I am a fairly powerful rider and can sprint ok so the intervals and power sprints will help big time.

I am just concerned that by not including 2*20 blocks my ability to ride hard and fast for a length of time will be overshadowed by my ability to Sprint well.

Is this the case or will riding at tempo with sprints suffice?

BigDarbs

I do 2*20 intervals on the turbo from early Feb, as either my Tuesday or Thursday session, then from early April they are replaced with my club Tuesday evening time trial.

My personal view is that training can become over complicated. If you want to ride fast then train fast, working on the areas you know you are weak. I get plenty of rest with 3 days off a week, so am unlikley to overtrain. I enjoy climbing, have worked on my sprinting and understand the benefit of intervals, but does it really matter whether an interval is 20 seconds or 30 seconds with 2 or 4 minutes recovery... I don't think so.

If you are weak on climbing, do lots of climbing, if you are weak on endurance do lots of... etc etc.

Race craft can only generally be learned from racing and talking to racers who get good results. I made a difference with my racing simply by watching who won, then in the next races follow their wheel to see what they do and most importantly when they do it!!

rsturbo

Cheers mate, know what a need to do.

rsturbo

Cheers mate, know what a need to do.