Week before race - timing my trainings, intensity etc.
superiorxridley
Posts: 2
Hi,
I am quite new to road cycling and have been competing for just 1 season. On 29.08 will be my last road race in this season. I want to perform as well as possible, but I have some questions about the last week before the race - how to use it wisely, without overtraining, but still holding the previous form and when possible, improve it a little bit. The race is just 68 km, so probably about 1h 45minutes.
The problem is, that 17-21.08 was full of track cycling competitions until friday - fatique and legs are still little bit tired (on tuesday! - probably I should have had a rest on the weekend).
Here is my schedule for this week (containing info of the last week)
22.08 - 1.5h, 39km (26kph) slow pace ride.
23.08 - 1h, 27 km (27kph) slow pace ride.
24.08 - rest, because felt tired.
25.08 - wondering about 2-2,5h medium pace ride (second option is to join 2.5h group ride @33-34 kph, to get some competition speed, but this is not that good idea, when still a bit tired??)
26.08 - 2h ride with intervals (warm up 45 mins slow pace, intervals 2km 42kph + 2km 32kph, repeated 5 times in a row, cool down 45 mins slow pace ride.) OK??
27.08 - what should I do here? I have a chance to go with a group, 10mins under 2 hours, avg 33-34kph... It would be almost the exact same distance and a little bit slower pace than on the real competition with a bigger group. But I am worried, that I won´t be able to recover from that ride. Other idea - 2 hour slow pace, 28kph. Even shorter?
28.08 - warm up, 1hrs, 3x60sec sprints involved.
29.08 - COMPETITION
I am quite new to road cycling and have been competing for just 1 season. On 29.08 will be my last road race in this season. I want to perform as well as possible, but I have some questions about the last week before the race - how to use it wisely, without overtraining, but still holding the previous form and when possible, improve it a little bit. The race is just 68 km, so probably about 1h 45minutes.
The problem is, that 17-21.08 was full of track cycling competitions until friday - fatique and legs are still little bit tired (on tuesday! - probably I should have had a rest on the weekend).
Here is my schedule for this week (containing info of the last week)
22.08 - 1.5h, 39km (26kph) slow pace ride.
23.08 - 1h, 27 km (27kph) slow pace ride.
24.08 - rest, because felt tired.
25.08 - wondering about 2-2,5h medium pace ride (second option is to join 2.5h group ride @33-34 kph, to get some competition speed, but this is not that good idea, when still a bit tired??)
26.08 - 2h ride with intervals (warm up 45 mins slow pace, intervals 2km 42kph + 2km 32kph, repeated 5 times in a row, cool down 45 mins slow pace ride.) OK??
27.08 - what should I do here? I have a chance to go with a group, 10mins under 2 hours, avg 33-34kph... It would be almost the exact same distance and a little bit slower pace than on the real competition with a bigger group. But I am worried, that I won´t be able to recover from that ride. Other idea - 2 hour slow pace, 28kph. Even shorter?
28.08 - warm up, 1hrs, 3x60sec sprints involved.
29.08 - COMPETITION
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Comments
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Nothing you do now will make any difference to your fitness one way or the other, so I wouldn't over-think it.0
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A good taper would maintain or increase intensity while cutting the volume by up to 1/2. Frequency should stay the same. Regarding tomorrow, the intervals should be fine and probably desirable. I'd go with the 2hr easier ride on 27.8 but put some riding at tempo, perhaps 10 - 20 minutes. Really nothing strenuous but something to keep you ticking over. Then what you have planned pre-race sounds good.
As a disclaimer, that's what I'd choose; I have no idea how fit you are or how you respond to training! My reasoning behind doing the intervals is to maintain the intensity, as mentioned above. Really, 27.8 is a recovery ride but the tempo stops you from getting too fresh - when you're fresh your HR can be higher for the same effort because of lower blood volume (it really does happen that quickly), which we don't want. Your muscles will be fresh and raring to go, while your heart will have to work harder for the same effort.
Respectfully, the idea that you can't gain anything in one week is garbage perpetuated by age old broscience :P Anything you can recover from, you can gain from. However, the things you're most likely to see quick responses to are really high intensity efforts like sprints (neuromuscular and CNS based efforts). It's just the gains from one week are quite small (very small) compared to the potential loss from fatigue.
Some other tips that are nice and easy to remember - eat enough and stay hydrated (obviously). If you can, get to sleep before 10 every night and sleep for a good 9hrs. Lastly, relax and enjoy yourself! Look at the fields, the birds, the trees and remember why you like riding a bike and racing; a healthy mind helps!
I'm on Twitter! Follow @olake92 for updates on my racing, my team's performance and some generic tweets.0 -
Respectfully, the idea that you can't gain anything in one week is garbage perpetuated by age old broscience :P Anything you can recover from, you can gain from. However, the things you're most likely to see quick responses to are really high intensity efforts like sprints (neuromuscular and CNS based efforts). It's just the gains from one week are quite small (very small) compared to the potential loss from fatigue.
Like I said - nothing you do this week is likely to make any difference to your form on Sunday.0 -
Respectfully, the idea that you can't gain anything in one week is garbage perpetuated by age old broscience :P Anything you can recover from, you can gain from. However, the things you're most likely to see quick responses to are really high intensity efforts like sprints (neuromuscular and CNS based efforts). It's just the gains from one week are quite small (very small) compared to the potential loss from fatigue.
Like I said - nothing you do this week is likely to make any difference to your form on Sunday.
this is very true but you can mess up your race, going into it, feeling tired and fatigued, if it were me, i d factor in a bit more rest the week before the race.0 -
Respectfully, the idea that you can't gain anything in one week is garbage perpetuated by age old broscience :P Anything you can recover from, you can gain from. However, the things you're most likely to see quick responses to are really high intensity efforts like sprints (neuromuscular and CNS based efforts). It's just the gains from one week are quite small (very small) compared to the potential loss from fatigue.
Like I said - nothing you do this week is likely to make any difference to your form on Sunday.
Ten lagers the night before might...0 -
Respectfully, the idea that you can't gain anything in one week is garbage perpetuated by age old broscience :P Anything you can recover from, you can gain from. However, the things you're most likely to see quick responses to are really high intensity efforts like sprints (neuromuscular and CNS based efforts). It's just the gains from one week are quite small (very small) compared to the potential loss from fatigue.
Like I said - nothing you do this week is likely to make any difference to your form on Sunday.
Ten lagers the night before might...
Well, yeah...
(I should have said nothing you do to try to improve your form...) 0 -
Agree with that. Might as well go into the last race well rested and see how it goes. Sometimes, if you've been training (a little too much), your best gains come from freshening up a bit.
But it's all quite individual OP, so your best course is to find out what level of freshness suits you best. Keep a training log and experiment with varying your approach.
But I am reasonably confident the ten pint approach won't suit you
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