2 weeks till first race, training advice needed

carbon337

I need some ideas/comments on this last 2 weeks pre race training plan I've created. I've been training hard doing plenty of miles and turbo work over the winter. Its a race on a car track so i imagine sprints and short efforts, my first ever race and wouldn't mind having a good shot at it.

Im thinking

This week:
Sunday - MTB muck about in morning and quick turbo session at 6pm.
Monday rest day
Tuesday - Hard turbo session with my club - intense concentrating on efforts - HR zones 5 and 6
Wednesday - gentle turbo spinning light session 30 mins
Thursday - Hard Turbo sufferfest HR5/6
Friday - rest
Saturday - club chaingang - hour and half nothing intense
Sunday - club 50ish mile gentle effort more longer time in saddle.

Next week:
Monday - rest
Tuesday - Hard Turbo as above
Wednesday rest
Thursday - Either Turbo or 1-2 hr road ride
Friday rest
Saturday - 1 Hour road test bike shifting etc and loosen legs
Sunday race.

Opinions welcome from those in the know.

Pseudonym

it's a bit late now for any training to have a profound effect if your first race is only 2 weeks away...

carbon337

As i said I've been training hard for a while just thinking of some last minute conditioning/specific training i could plan.

Hard week followed by a less hard week.

Pseudonym

at this time of year, I would just keep training as normal and simply taper a few days prior to the race - presumably this race is not your main target this season..?

carbon337

No just my first try at racing - will see if i enjoy it before committing to a few more later in season.

Pseudonym

racing in january is not my idea of enjoyment tbh - I wouldn't set much store by it. Just use it as part of your training...

Team4Luke

depends on category of race and what category/standard you are. For first race of season you should taper right back and recover, knock volume and intensity down and let some training effect come through, above would be fine say if that was 50% less than what you normally do. First week isn't too bad but you haven't left any recovery from past training or from the first week, you off again on week 2 Tues doing another hard turbo, where is the rest from week 1, just the monday !
Be confident to rest and not train rather than must do more to prepare.

Mettan

Unless you've got super-human muscle physiology, make sure you taper off before the race (as alluded to previously) - there's nothing worse than having tip-top cardio but heavy legs after 10 laps.... - (keep your last 1 hour session (on the day before) at recovery, no harder).

Pseudonym

Team4Luke wrote:

First week isn't too bad but you haven't left any recovery from past training or from the first week, you off again on week 2 Tues doing another hard turbo, where is the rest from week 1, just the monday !

'week 1' is hardly a big week - less than 8 hours by the looks of it. You shouldn't need any more recovery than that...

carbon337

Ah well different opinions all ready.

Week one is what i do now - week 2 is less. Thats why i thought id post to see what others have to say on the rest or tapering off aspect.

Also - its a Saturday night, the wife is watching bloody Bridget Jones...again - what else is there to do other than talk about random crap like this.

Alex_Simmons/RST

Mettan wrote:

Unless you've got super-human muscle physiology, make sure you taper off before the race (as alluded to previously) - there's nothing worse than having tip-top cardio but heavy legs after 10 laps.... - (keep your last 1 hour session (on the day before) at recovery, no harder).

Most people don't train enough to warrant a taper.

And it is quite common to ride really well day after a hard day.

For the OP, I wouldn't be backing off as much as you are suggesting. Just train normally and race. Depending on the category, fitness may not be your main issue. Knowing how to race will be. That only comes with experience.

MarksMintness

carbon337 wrote:

Also - its a Saturday night, the wife is watching bloody Bridget Jones...again - what else is there to do other than talk about random crap like this.

Ditto! Good luck with the race mate - give us all an update when it's done!

danowat

Taper?, for cycling?, nah, no need.

Team4Luke

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

Most people don't train enough to warrant a taper.

I agree with that statement. But the majority are not blessed with big engines that can keep stacking in the training, many though are training at their limit of their ability and with everyday life/jobs do need plenty of recovery, then that depends if they are training proper and not just riding. I've found very few have the confidence to back off and belief that they have done the training required and the time is right to let it work and not keep training. The OP is talking about his first event so real big deal here, but for more important targets then different matter.

chilipapa

January races....yuck.
You say all winter, to a lot of riders that's just a few weeks so far. Is this a TLI ? just trying to get a better idea of how long you've been training for this and what the race is.
You might find the going okay. My first race of the season is march 10th and I'll be quite cross if they go hard seeing as how we have up until late September to battle it out.

carbon337

Erm its on the British Cycling site - on Croft racing circuit in Darlington.

I'll only be cat 4. Been generally improving since last january when i was 15.5 stone - im now 11.5 stone. Only decided on doing this in december its part of a small winter series. Wouldn't mind having a good go - im quite a competitive person coming from a reasonably competitive sailing background. I'm hoping to do well and be inspired for more racing this year and generally just improve through the year. I think im getting a bit inspiration from a guy in my club who said i would be hung out to dry and "it will be funny to see" comments.

SBezza

It is a winter race, just get out there and try and enjoy it, gain some experience, and use it as a training race. As mentioned above tapering is not really needed on the amount of training being done in the OP, there is only 2/3 sessions in the first week that are hard, the other session look like easy(ish) riding. If you spent time tapering every week, or couple of weeks for a race, you would never get any training done.

I would take the advice Alex has given you, just keep building for the more important races in the summer.