Criterium training program

Shift work and a new baby in the household mean that I won't really be able to log enough volume to be competitive at races over 2 hours in the future. Have decided I will focus on Criteriums and any short road races that come up. Am designing a training program using Friel's bible with this in mind. I also trawl the internet for other info but there is not much out there about criterium specific training.

Am in my third year of riding and approaching the end of my first season of racing c ( C grade Crits hoping to race B grade next season, think this equates to cat 4/3). Probably will be able to fit in 7 hours a week with one ride of 3 hours at the most and 2-3 other rides of 60 to 90mins. Have access to a HRM only.

- Should I concentrate on intensity given my lack of training time.
- If my races are only 40 - 90mins how does this effect my long ride.
- Any other pointers for Criterium based training.

As a seperate issue - To the professional coaches who post on this website a big thank you. The information I have gleaned from you has been like gold. To spread knowledge for free that you could easliy hold back for paying customers only shows your true character and love of helping others. Thank you.

Hi there

I was in the same position as you this time last year (new baby) so much like you, I decided to concentrate on shorter events, specifically, track racing and rather than specialise too much, I decided that I wanted to do reasonably well all round. Overall, I probably trained for less than 7 hours each week and I have just had my best season (apart from the weather). I followed a programme of longer intervals (20 mins+), shorter intervals (4-5mins) and some road rides. Max ride time has not exceeded 2 hours but most sessions/rides have been around the 1 hour mark. Closer in to the season and during the season, I introduced more track specific stuff and reduced the volume overall. I think that the key has been to make every session have a purpose. Reduced training volume has meant that I have been able to train more consistently and at a higher overall intensity. I have learnt this year that (for me at least) intensity definitely trumps volume!!!

Obviously not directly transferrable to your target events but I did spend a fair proportion of the year worrying that the loss of the longer rides would be detrimental and that has not proved to be the case. I am not sure how well I would have gone around Taupo this year though!!

Simon

Thanks Simon, that sounds like the plan for me then. Whereabouts do you track race? Have been meaning to get onlong to some of the meets at Manukau to see how things work.

I'm in Palmy and the nearest track racing takes place in Friendly Feilding!! It is an older track but has been resurfaced this year and there have been some new track records. I am sure you won't regret giving it a whirl - all the best.

After my son was born last year, i cut down my training time. None of my rides for the 13 weeks after he was born was longer than 2 hrs. I then posted a PB on my 5 hr training ride (it's a local sportive event), which i rode solo (both a time and power PB).

When i last raced 'seriously' (as a 2nd cat, mainly riding 1st cat races) apart from one sportive none of my training sessions were longer than 3 hrs. my races were mainly 3.5 to 5 hrs long.

Ric

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I am riding in Cat 1, but in the Netherlands where the race scene is 95% criteriums.....and if you can't ride a criterium you're not going to get anywhere. I have always struggled in crits - I am much more an "endurance" type, I can't sprint, and going round corners dangerously fast is not my favourite way of spending an afternoon.

However, I can't avoid them so I have forced myself to adapt my training specifically to deal with crits. These races are usually on sunday so after a day of recovery riding on monday I'll hit a 5 x 5 minute session on the road to train my VO2 max. Wednesday I'll do 2 or 3 sets of 6 times 1 minute flat out, with 1 minute rest. Thursday I will do 2 x 20 minutes at threshold, with 2/3 x 20 second sprint / 10 seconds easy repeated for 3.5 mins in between. If done right these are a killer, especially if you go straight into a 20 minute block straight afterwards so you have to recover whilst still working hard. For mne this gives the best simulation of that unique "criterium pain" feeling.

One more point - I find that I never got any good at crits until I leaned to ride them on the 16/17 most of the time. To accelorate out of the corners you need to be in an easy gear and really spinning it. Getting "accordioned" on the 12 is a great way to get dropped really fast. I mean imagine what would happen if you came out of a tight bend in a car in 4th gear.....stall!

I therefore do this in training by doing the above intervals at 100-110 rpm.

Hope this helps - it's turned me from someone who never finished a criterium to a mid pack finisher....and round here the crits are unbelievably fast.

You can do a lot of good with 7 hours/week.

Not that I'm making recommendations but I find it interesting to look at the pedal force - speed relationship shown for a criterium in Figure 8 in the discussion of Quadrant Analysis here:
http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/power411/quad.asp

which should gives some clues about what to expect and to work on. It might sound silly but one way to get good at racing crits is to, umm, race crits!

Aerobic fitness is the primary physiological determinant of success in these races but you also need good neuromuscular power to deal with the regular and rapid changes in power combined with courage, skill and plenty of cunning/nouse.

Hence, while doing the work to improve your aerobic engine is fundamental, some specificity in training to overcome your weakness relative to the event is always worth considering. That may be skills (e.g. holding a wheel through fast corners), it might be physiological (e.g. sprinting or bridging gaps), it might simply be experience (so race and learn from good riders).

Here's one tip:
Always start a crit from the front - get yourself on the start line. If the pace ends up too hot for you, at least you can then drift back but it's much harder if you are already at the back.

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