training for cx

phelim12

i have been cycling into work twice a week approx 32ml, thought i was fit but after doing 1st cx race of the yr yesterday and only lasted a couple of laps, i realised i need to start training specifically, and ideas of good websites to help me or any good advice would really appreciate.

Pseudonym

go out and ride as hard as you can for an hour - that would be a good start...

DHTT

Interval Sessions, On the commute make sure you're sprinting out of every corner, a good session for a cx race lasting an hour would be 20/40

Progressive warm up for 10 minutes,
20 Second Max Sprint in the Big Chain Ring
40 sec recovery rolling the same gear
Repeat 5 times for one block.
3-5 Min easy riding
Repeat block up to 5 times.
10m Warm Down.

Also include some technical sessions on the Cross bike, after attempting my first I crashed about 3 times, eventually getting beaten by 12 year olds with better skill (Dismounts etc)

APIII

Not sure I'm the best to advise, but I find a cx race is mainly about short efforts with a bit of recovery inbetween. I've started doing 30 secs on 30 secs off for 5 mins, then rest, as many as i can manage. Also 4x5's and 2x20's as all courses are different.

Pseudonym

short efforts are useful, but unless you can push out a sustained effort for 60 minutes (preferably longer) at race pace, you will only see the leaders once every few laps..

FransJacques

Both Pseudonym and APIII are correct b/c it depends on the course type:

- on courses with long hills you'll be able to recover on the way down, it's just the way it is. You can't pedal the whole time b/c you've reached terminal velocity so you may as well deep breathe to slow your heart rate. Here's my HR trace from Hog Hill which is hilly, but the HR trace is flat b/c my HR was always being pushed up by the hills: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/115656459

- even on a flat courses where you have the power down more consistently you still need to accelerate out of corners or up stairs. Here's the HR trace from a flatter race: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/118702301

So both are peaky but if there are downhills you can relax more.

For fitness I ride an impromptu course in a park (maybe with hills?) or even on a football pitch (make sure no one's playing :-) Pick a few trees to make a course with lots of 180 turns. Practice sprinting (seated or standing) for 200 meters, then jam on the brakes, practice feeling your tyres grip in the corners then sprint back to the tree you came from and repeat.

BUt don't ignore technicla skills and bike handling like remounts and cornering. People practice re-mounts but ignore cornering. Cornering and general "smoothness" are harder to quantify but soooo important. Incumbent in this is total understanding of how to corner sharply and especially on fast sweepers where the leaders flow and the guys geting lapped are on the brakes too much. I'm one of the latter so I know of what i speak.

Know the cornering limits of your tyres and once you've pre-ridden the course, make a call between rolling resistance and cornering grip and adjust tyre pressure accordingly.

Best plan is to race as much as you can so get out there!

andyp

Sound advice from Frans Jacques.

I was reading this the other day which has some good analysis and some recommend sessions:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/09/ ... outs_99624

hammerite

I find races to be pretty much full on effort for an hour. You do get what I call a micro recovery in races, this might be a tight bend, short singletrack section, or a steep downhill. You'll still have plenty to think about to get through these, but you won't be working as hard to negotiate the obstacle.

So in training you really do need to be doing a flat out effort once a week (midweek if you are racing at the weekend). So in an hour-ish session you might do 10 min warm up, 20 min flat out, 5 min recovery, 20 min flat out, 10 mins recovery/cool down. You can add in another 20 min effort if you like, but don't exceed an hour effort total as you'll not recover from your previous race/be rested for your next race.

As Frans says a technical session is useful. Added to what he suggests try some off camber turns/traverses of slopes, they cause no end of problems in races I've done.

Worth adding in a couple of 20 min runs a week. It isn't an issue at the moment, but once we've had a load of wet weather you might find that conditions force you to run a large proportion of course towards the end of a race once it's been churned up.

If I'm racing on a Sunday and training fully my week might look like...

Mon - rest
Tues - 45 mins recovery ride - 20 mins technical drills
Weds - 60 min hard session or steady ride/20 min run
Thurs - 60 min hard session or steady ride/20 min run
Fri - 20 min run
Sat - 45 min steady ride, make sure bike is ready for race
Sun - race

Only one hard session per week. So if I go hard on Weds, I'll go easy on Thurs. I'd only do a 20 min run with a steady ride, not run on the same day as the hard session. If I feel tired I miss out the hard session, better to allow recovery and be ready for the next race than go into the next race tired from all the training.

You don't need to do these session on the cross bike. I tend to only use mine for the hard session or the technical drills. The other rides will be on the road or the turbo, the turbo trainer is particularly good for the hard session as it's boring just to ride easy on it!

Supernaut

FransJacques wrote:

- on courses with long hills you'll be able to recover on the way down, it's just the way it is. You can't pedal the whole time b/c you've reached terminal velocity so you may as well deep breathe to slow your heart rate.!

On courses with long hills you whack it into a big gear and roll it down the other side as fast as you can, getting away from all the jokers who treat it as recovery
Seriously, the only time you should be getting any recovery in a cross is as mentioned above, micro-rests into corners and suchlike.
You need the ability to do an hour flat-out, and be able to go over and above this out of corners, up rises etc then grab a couple of seconds rest here and there. Some good advice above regarding different types of course, there is no single session that can cover everything you need in a cross race.

Monty Dog

Rather than 20 minute threshold sessions which are fine for 10 mile TTs they are of less use in CX where you may experience repeated maximal efforts. Look at Tabata Protocol which are extremely short and hard intervals which have been proven to have the greatest impact in terms of training effect. As FJ also says, do work on your technical skills too as you often make the biggest gains in the tricky stuff, particularly the ability to do rapid dismounts and remounts. I was racing on Sunday and was really pleased with my skid turn around a tree which gained me about three metres on the guy in front who promptly crashed and forced me to stop!

FransJacques

All good advice, however I will say that you should race as soon as possible for the following reasons:

- it will help you hone in on what you need to work on, maybe it's everything or maybe it's just sketchy corners and weight distribution,

- it tells you your level. Training is great but your first race will show you, rather brutally I might add, with no sugar-coating, where you are relative to your peers. Then you will know how hard you have to work in relation to your objectives.

- it's incredibly motivating to be in the thick of competition. Training can be dull if done alone. Visualization is key when training to know why you're doing what you're doing, and when you'll apply it in what phase of the race.

- it's incredibly fun and exhilerating. It's like a black mogul run that lasts an hour.

- it will give you practice in things you can't emulate in training like pre-race routine. For me food is key, nothing solid 2-hours prior to the race which I don't fancy passing thru my mouth again. Also gels, 30 mins before? 45 mins before? caffeine or no? I coached a newby on my team who thought he'd need his saddle bag W/spare tube & multi-tool bless him.

- finally you meet racers who you catch that racy buzz off of. They teach you stuff, will tell you of other races you didn't know about, or they might live close and you can share lifts.

phelim12

thanks for all the tips i'm going to recce a local park tomorrow on the advice of a friend aand practice a few technical turns and a couple of intervals. i get i'll let u know how i get on this Sun.

Retro1702

I'd also seriously consider getting hold of a copy of Simon Burney's excellent "bible" for cyclocross racing & training, either from the library or off Amazon etc.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyclocross-Training-Techniques-Simon-Burney/dp/1934030058/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319527531&sr=1-1

GiantMike

If you only lasted 2 laps it looks like you went off far too fast. While training will help, you need to remember that the adrenaline and enthusiasm of the start line is no substitute for fitness. Pace yourself accordingly and always finish a race unless you have a mechanical or fall off badly (and only then if they take you to hospital and won't let you get back on your bike).

Monty Dog

My experience of racing CX is that the first couple of laps are absolutely full-on - after the first few laps the field starts to string out and you can see the gaps and start judging your efforts / conserving your energy to try and preserve your place / improve your position. Only when you start getting consistent results and get 'gridded' at the the start, do you have the luxury of thinking about your race strategy. Focus the training on threshold efforts, short sharp intervals plus technical skills and you won't go far wrong.