The Long Cycle when Racing

kennyb3

Would be interested to hear from others with racing in mind how exactly they structure their long weekend cycle at this time of year.

i.e Is it purely endurance based with the idea of covering as many kilometres as time permits? Or is it 20mins easy, 20mins hard? Or something entirely different? How tired should it be leaving you feeling?

I ask as i got thinking about it during my spin Saturday morning. I did 101km solo, mainly made up of this plus diversions into donabate, garristown and howth to extended it. Although i know average speed can be rather meaningless i averaged 30.4kmph, so wasn’t exactly doddling. It was a good steady effort all the way and I was fairly tired after but legs weren’t too bad in that i managed a few reps of howth last night comfortably enough.

However just wondering if i should dial it back a bit speed/effort wise with the aim of going even longer? Although with club races and A4 only being circa 60k is this necessary? Or perhaps focusing on heart rate?

Anyway I cant remember a thread like this since i joined boards so very interested to see what others do/their thoughts.

Beasty

I don't - family commitments and all that - when they go away over the summer holidays I will be able to do some of the vets racing on Sundays though

Currently, however, my week is basically set up as follows:
Monday - rest (may go out for a short spin tonight as I'm not racing until Wednesday)
Tuesday - possible vets race/TT
Wednesday - Swords League (or track/Sundrive - yet to do this though)
Thursday/Friday - get some miles in on the commutes, unless I have a race on Sunday, in which case I'll definitely rest on the Friday
Saturday/Sunday - I'll try and get out for an hour or so on one or both evenings (with lights if necessary), if I'm not racing

Having said that, the intensity of Swords League races and 25m TTs is such that I do need a couple of days recovery some times (but I am older than a lot of people around here) - overall aim is to keep weekly distance between 150 and 200km including the racing.

I don't feel the need to ever do more than about 60km in a day (which would be commuting), as the Swords League races are never much more than 50km (the vets races are up to 80km, but less intense) - I feel it's more about accumulating the total miles rather than having to do them all in one go

kennyb3

I ll add my own week to add some extra details. Although i think its complicated by 2 factors;

1. I'm only about 3 weeks back proper tarining after 9 weeks of injury. of thos 9 weeks for 4 i was able to do about 100k a week spinning.

2. First full season. Last 2 years i ve taken up cycling late after running injuries - so no real base. 1,000km total 2009, 2,500km last year and about 2,500km in c/y.

Now the week

Monday - hill repeats (about an hour 20 with 30 to 35mins being hill work)
Tuesday - rest or very easy
Wednes - swords race
thurs - 1and half hrs easy/medium
Fri - 1hr easy
Sat - Long spin (circa 3 hours)
Sun - 1 and half hours medium

About 250-320km p/w

Beasty

I see last Thursday went to plan kennyb3;)

kennyb3

Beasty wrote: »

I see last Thursday went to plan kennyb3;)

A warm up, 1*20, warm down - perfect!