Training Plan for first season racing

Slo_Rida

I'm gonna hit Loughrea on the 24th of February for the West Coast Wheelers open. It should be a good one to open with and I'm really looking forward to it now. If anyone here has done it before let me know what you think of it and any advice you might have...
Slo

Found this:
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/24839052
That hill looks harsh enough...5km and it's a lot more than a drag!

Opera_Leonardo

Have you decided if your starting at A4 or going in at the deep end at A3?

Slo_Rida

Opera_Leonardo wrote: »

Have you decided if your starting at A4 or going in at the deep end at A3?

That was never in doubt...A4 for sure. I'll do well to hang in there even. Sure I'd be thrilled to score a point in A4 this season. Then next year see if I can make an impression in A4 with the view to getting upgraded. Obviously if I discover some unrealised talent and win my first ten races I'd upgrade but that's not too likely!!

Opera_Leonardo

I'm thinking of joining a club soon, they are looking to send a team to a 3 day race in Donegal (in June I think) but it's only open to A3's!! So I think I'll go for an A3 to really put the pressure on. A3 tends to be a smaller group so hopefully will also be a bit safer, albeit a bit faster oh and longer runs.. did I forget anything. Did you join a team yet?

Well if you score 10 points during the season your automatically upgraded anyway so take it handy in your first few races.

colm_gti

Opera_Leonardo wrote: »

I'm thinking of joining a club soon, they are looking to send a team to a 3 day race in Donegal (in June I think) but it's only open to A3's!! So I think I'll go for an A3 to really put the pressure on. A3 tends to be a smaller group so hopefully will also be a bit safer, albeit a bit faster oh and longer runs.. did I forget anything. Did you join a team yet?

Well if you score 10 points during the season your automatically upgraded anyway so take it handy in your first few races.

You've never raced before and you're hoping to go straight to A3?

Slo_Rida

Opera_Leonardo wrote: »

I'm thinking of joining a club soon, they are looking to send a team to a 3 day race in Donegal (in June I think) but it's only open to A3's!! So I think I'll go for an A3 to really put the pressure on. A3 tends to be a smaller group so hopefully will also be a bit safer, albeit a bit faster oh and longer runs.. did I forget anything. Did you join a team yet?

Well if you score 10 points during the season your automatically upgraded anyway so take it handy in your first few races.

Jesus I won't need to take it easy to avoid scoring points! If I was to score points I'd be over the moon...not holding my breath though!
Yeah I signed up only yesterday so I have a club sorted.
Good luck with the 3 day, I think stage racing is more interestng than one day. You need to be an all-rounder to compete.

Opera_Leonardo

@Colm_gti. I done a few races towards the end of last season with A4's. Found the pace fast enough but not out of my comfort zone. I didn't really get much winter/pre season/mid season done for 2012 (it would have been my first racing season). Only got some serious miles under my belt from end of June, maybe I was fresher at the end of the season! I went in one A3 charity race, again near the end of the year, but couldn't keep with them, but I wasn't too far of the pace. I realise it will be fairly hard getting up to A3 pace but a few races and a few club outings with other A3/A2 riders should help getting upto speed.

Thanks Slo. Anything can happen in races so you never know, be prepared, if the chance comes take it. I was talking to a friend this evening and he mentioned a run done here in mid Feburary, its a mock race (theres a funny name on it which I forget now) to get you used to the pace of whatever category you'll be racing in. If your club or other clubs are running one it would be a good idea to do it.

Slo_Rida

I decided I'd jump up onto scales this morning before work to see had anything changed. I was 13st 6lbs when I started biking in mid-September. To my utter amazement I'm down to 12st 8lbs!!
I knew my clothes were gone a bit baggy but thats almost a stone gone...FROM WHERE!!!?
I expect by the time I line out for Loughrea I'll have hit 12st 6lbs which will be the full stone gone...again...FROM WHERE!!?
Anyway that has to be a help on the hills! Good times

Hmmzis

Slo_Rida wrote: »

I decided I'd jump up onto scales this morning before work to see had anything changed. I was 13st 6lbs when I started biking in mid-September. To my utter amazement I'm down to 12st 8lbs!!
I knew my clothes were gone a bit baggy but thats almost a stone gone...FROM WHERE!!!?
I expect by the time I line out for Loughrea I'll have hit 12st 6lbs which will be the full stone gone...again...FROM WHERE!!?
Anyway that has to be a help on the hills! Good times

Weight loss can be sneaky some times. Since you see yourself in the mirror every day the changes are not that apparent until one morning you realise that 'Oh dear, that suit is wearing me now!'.

Slo_Rida

Hmmzis wrote: »

Weight loss can be sneaky some times. Since you see yourself in the mirror every day the changes are not that apparent until one morning you realise that 'Oh dear, that suit is wearing me now!'.

Indeed!
I used to give a hoot about image (weight-wise that is) but for the next 2 years I don't care if I get skinny, I just want to see what I'm capable of on a bike and if it's interesting then I'll go skinny for a while, if not I'll get back in the gym like my rugby days!
But it has to be a huge help on he hills!

colm_gti

Slo_Rida wrote: »

Indeed!
I used to give a hoot about image (weight-wise that is) but for the next 2 years I don't care if I get skinny, I just want to see what I'm capable of on a bike and if it's interesting then I'll go skinny for a while, if not I'll get back in the gym like my rugby days!
But it has to be a huge help on he hills!

I was hung up on dropping weight last season too, aiming to be sub 80kgs by the beginning of the 2013 season, but now I couldn't give a fiddlers! There are no real climbs on any race in Ireland (when I say no real climbs I mean Cat 3 or more), and I found I was losing power slightly as weight dropped off. Power is more important for those drags. As a result I've gone from being ~82kgs at the end of the season last year to ~87kgs now. Most of that has gone onto my legs and core, thanks to a 6 week block of strength and conditioning in the gym (squats, deads, etc etc). Like you, I come from a rugby background, so I had a lot of the strength training know how to start with.

Opera_Leonardo

Cycling definitely helps loose a few pounds. Rem that muscle is heavier than fat so don't be surprised if you step on the scales someday and you're heavier than you were "last time". That's the "good" weight. I found cutting back on the ole tipple also inadvertently helped me loose a few pounds. Keep up the good work Slo.

Slo_Rida

Did an epic 120km group spin yesterday. It was quite hilly...well one extremely long hill really with 30km/h average speed.
I was well happy with how my legs went, I think my muscle endurance has really come on so that was one good outcome from yesterday.
I ate very well after it, can of coke, pasta bake and chocolate milk. AND I even managed a 40 minute recovery turbo session this evening. So I should have recovered fully now. Hopefully I'll get a hi-intensity turbo done during the week. I think the long spins are over now and it's time to train the lungs for that burning sensation of race day! I'll leave the epic group spins alone for a few weeks and work specifically on my own needs.
I'll upload the garmin stuff tomorrow...

Slo_Rida

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/261246019
Some elevation profile, effectively going "up" for 60km!

Opera_Leonardo

On the back of some of your earlier posts on weight, it prompted me to jump on and see what it showed. Big surprise, similar to yourself, 68kg. I can't rem the last time I was that weight, prob about 10!! I also got a Garmin 500 this week so I hope to get some routes up shortly so you can have a look at some of our hills.

This is my second prober week out on the bike. I'm doing some runs with an A3 (20+ years cycling) friend which is good for me. He thinks I should be well able for the A3. I'll take that with a pinch of salt until the real pressure comes around.

Are you getting out on your own Slo or perhaps with just a friend or two rather than the group runs? Do you find the pace of group spins ok, too fast, or even to slow?

Slo_Rida

Opera_Leonardo wrote: »

On the back of some of your earlier posts on weight, it prompted me to jump on and see what it showed. Big surprise, similar to yourself, 68kg. I can't rem the last time I was that weight, prob about 10!! I also got a Garmin 500 this week so I hope to get some routes up shortly so you can have a look at some of our hills.

This is my second prober week out on the bike. I'm doing some runs with an A3 (20+ years cycling) friend which is good for me. He thinks I should be well able for the A3. I'll take that with a pinch of salt until the real pressure comes around.

Are you getting out on your own Slo or perhaps with just a friend or two rather than the group runs? Do you find the pace of group spins ok, too fast, or even to slow?

Well done on the weight! Yeah send on your hill data...IIRC you're based in Donegal...serious climbing country!
The group pace is grand now, I've improved my muscle indurance a lot and that is what used to let me down on such long hard spins.
Good luck with the A3 stuff...

Slo_Rida

I was out with a buddy yesterday, 50km spin with a hill early on for a warm up. We took it easy on the first 35km ish and then worked on some roll overs then into a sprint. Basically rollover 3 times each, spending ~30secs on the front then pick a sign and go balls out to it, recover at about 29kmh for a couple of minutes then repeat. 3 of these. It was good enough, max HR was 189 bpm which I think is about 97% of maxHR. I'll try another session like this maybe Saturday week and see if I can get another bit out of the legs/heart. Long-ish spin on my own tomorrow and then hill reps Tuesday morning with the same buddy.

It's getting exciting now, only weeks til race day and I'm feeling fit! Actually starting to believe I won't get dropped now!!!!!!!!!!!!

Opera_Leonardo

Sounds like your on top of it. Your doin all the right things. It's hard knowing exactly what the max heart rate is!! When you get to that stage it may be to late. When your have the finish line in sight and theres a chance of glory you may find your max heart rate rises. That's a piece of data you can/will only glean from a race situation.

It's nice looking forward to the season, never thought I'd feel like this about doin a bit of cycling. I think following your thread and your progress is bringing the excitment to the fore.

Slo_Rida

Opera_Leonardo wrote: »

Sounds like your on top of it. Your doin all the right things. It's hard knowing exactly what the max heart rate is!! When you get to that stage it may be to late. When your have the finish line in sight and theres a chance of glory you may find your max heart rate rises. That's a piece of data you can/will only glean from a race situation.

It's nice looking forward to the season, never thought I'd feel like this about doin a bit of cycling. I think following your thread and your progress is bringing the excitment to the fore.

Sure it'll add a bit of interest for everyone if we share our race experience. I think if you keep everything as positive as you can then you will make a lot more progress than if you are in a "mood". The way I approach it is: even when things go badly (and they will), get your moan out of the way and then extract the positives from it and move on. Problems are a test and it is not how you act that's important it's how you react. The other motto I use when there's a tough decision to be made is "Do it and then it's done" so that one last hill rep or that one last sprint...just do it and you can look back at it with no doubts.

Opera_Leonardo

Good attitude. I'll just take it as it comes. While it would be nice to mix it with the more experienced riders I'm thinking if I can stay with them for most of the race and than see what happens next year if I'm still interested. I did win a charity run last year which got me thinking how I would fair out if I did a pre-season and was involved in the races from the start of the season. Whatever happens I think we're both on the same wavelength give it a go and see what happens.

ratracer

Best of luck with the racing lads, I think it'll be just the sportives for me this year, with a view to racing next year. The plan will be to get in with a fast group that are working together and push myself on a bit. have quite a bit with work/study that I just didn't get as much training in as I hoped all winter. That should be finished by the end of summer and then I hope to get a lot more miles in on the bike. I've enjoyed reading this blog, and will keep a look in on it over the season.

I'll be over in Loughrea as a spectator or marshall if needed in Feb.

Opera_Leonardo

Cheers ratracer. My experience with sportives/charity spins is they always turn in to a race anyway unless they are controlled, so stay near the front. The racer's always make their way to the front for the start.

I had toyed with the idea of of going to Loughrea myself but there is a race in NI on the 23rd Feb that the local lads support and use as a pre-season warm up. So I'll prob do that myself. Nice of you to lend support to Slo. We'll be looking for a report from race side on the man in the hotseat.

Slo_Rida

ratracer wrote: »

Best of luck with the racing lads, I think it'll be just the sportives for me this year, with a view to racing next year. The plan will be to get in with a fast group that are working together and push myself on a bit. have quite a bit with work/study that I just didn't get as much training in as I hoped all winter. That should be finished by the end of summer and then I hope to get a lot more miles in on the bike. I've enjoyed reading this blog, and will keep a look in on it over the season.

I'll be over in Loughrea as a spectator or marshall if needed in Feb.

They'll bring on your endurance anyway, great training. But if you felt like trying a race near the end of the season it might give you the encouragement/interest to get a good winter done and anyway you might be in good shape by then and be able to enjoy the race. Best of luck whatever way it goes anyway...

Slo_Rida

Did a good hard 116km on Saturday including a very hard drag and a good hill. The pace coming in the main road for the last 35-40km was very high and I was very happy with my contribution. I did all my turns until about 5km to go when the pace shot up, a good few were dropped but I held on the back...delighted to see I'm getting a bit stronger on that front.
I didn't get a recovery ride in Sunday but got to the gym Monday for a stretching routine.
Great to see the muscle indurance is improving still, just need to work on the high end stuff and general climbing now...still hate the hills and even worse, they hate me!! I'll get a few in in the next few weeks.

Slo_Rida

So to compliment Saturdays group spin, myself and 2 buddies did a hill rep session. 50km warm up with a couple of mild digs on the drags just to wake up the lungs. Then into a 3km hill, basically as hard as we could. We did 6 of them and for the first 5 I felt I was getting better at them, then #6 was a bridge too far and I was done. The 6th was only a bonus anyway as we had said 5 was enough.
On the first one, I felt OMG I'm not able for this at all but on the second one I got my head right and made sure I kept into the lads, by number 5 I was flying and the playing field had almost levelled! It showed me that I have to get into the right frame of mind to suffer BEFORE the pain starts because if it takes me a practice go to really find the power then I'll be dropped in the races and the whole winter will be wasted. I still feel that hills are my weak point so if I do this session 3 more times before the race season starts I might get myself to a point where I can stay alive on the hills. I don't expect to be winning any KoM's, all I want is to be still in the race when the hill is over.
So, again, another positive session. I will take it easy now until Sunday and just do a long, not-too-difficult spin, probably on my own. Then next week, either Tuesday or Thursday, I will do something like this hill rep session again. I don't want to burn out or peak early so if I do one hard and one easy session per week I won't need a rest week and should be in good form come February 24th!!!!!!!!!!

Opera_Leonardo

Yeah it seems getting into the right frame of mind, finding the right gear that enables you to find a good rhythm is all that is to the ole hills!! After spending hours busting your b*??! to get to this point it all seems, well, simples. I have some routes from the garmin I will upload as soon as I figure out how to do it. Ah the joys of new technology. Got some good miles in this week, a bit strange out on a bike with snow on the side of the road and on the hills that I was on. It a pity the Garmin's don't have a built in camera (I will claim copyright on that if anybody from Garmin is reading) there were some idyllic scenes.

Are your training buddies racing with you this season Slo?

Slo_Rida

Opera_Leonardo wrote: »

Yeah it seems getting into the right frame of mind, finding the right gear that enables you to find a good rhythm is all that is to the ole hills!! After spending hours busting your b*??! to get to this point it all seems, well, simples. I have some routes from the garmin I will upload as soon as I figure out how to do it. Ah the joys of new technology. Got some good miles in this week, a bit strange out on a bike with snow on the side of the road and on the hills that I was on. It a pity the Garmin's don't have a built in camera (I will claim copyright on that if anybody from Garmin is reading) there were some idyllic scenes.

Are your training buddies racing with you this season Slo?

We were out in -1.5degrees Tuesday! When I arrived to pick up my buddy, ice had built up on the front of my bike and on the cables...FREEZIN!
Yup we're doing Loughrea in just under 4 weeks and a few more during the season...should be a good learning experience. Are you ready for racing yet?

colm_gti

Slo_Rida wrote: »

We were out in -1.5degrees Tuesday! When I arrived to pick up my buddy, ice had built up on the front of my bike and on the cables...FREEZIN!
Yup we're doing Loughrea in just under 4 weeks and a few more during the season...should be a good learning experience. Are you ready for racing yet?

Just registered for Loughrea, see you at sign on

Slo_Rida

colm_gti wrote: »

Just registered for Loughrea, see you at sign on

Spectacular!! Really looking forward to it now. Man if I blow after 20km I'll be distraught :-O

Opera_Leonardo

I'm not sure if I'm ready for racing yet. Being realistic I think it will take a few races to get up to speed. I may be fit enough by the time the racing season starts but just the unknown factor of A3 pace may/will get me. With the weather being so wet and cold it's hard going flat out on training spins. As the weather (hopefully) picks up it will be easier to go with a little more speed. I hope to get out with group of mixed (A2-A4) riders this weekend if the weather holds up, I'll have a better idea where I'm at after that.

You'll be fine Slo, if things keep going the way they are you'll have plenty of support and encouragement with you.