Honing race "speed" prior to season beginning.

I have a massive "base" at the moment of 20hrs a week endurance riding, plus some SST, and am now starting weekly preseason "training races".

I am totally comfortable in all aspects of the race apart from the "jumps", especially if I have to close a gap to a faster rider who attacks, or jump from the peloton to a breakaway where I feel my "raw" speed lets me down. I can usually get there in the end, but it isn't easy, and on sunday I missed the move when the other elite riders went off the front, as I was initially blocked and then couldn't quite bridge, and I was extremely pis*ed off.

Does anyone have a good workout (intervals) that addresses this sort of "speed"? I'm guessing something along the lines of 50s/10s or 40 / 20 but I'm unsure of how many reps, and at what % of FTP etc.

I have a feeling months of endurance riding has dulled my speed.

Any thoughts?

I would say that those "training races" themselves should do the job for now unless you're ready to start some kind of a peaking process. That's what I do during my team rides, a few jumps here and there just to get me ready to do more structured L6 work later in the spring.

__________________

Instead of doing those short intervals with limited recovery, you might try L6 intervals: 10 x 1' @ ~150% FTP, or 5 x 2' @ ~130% FTP. Make sure you recover at ~50% FTP for at least 3 minutes between reps.

You can also break them into sets: 2 sets of 6 x 1' @ 150% FTP, w/2' between reps, 5'-10' between sets, or 2 sets of 3 x 2' etc.

These will improve your anaerobic capacity. If you reduce the recovery times, you may compromise your power output on the later intervals, although with the 1' intervals sometimes I can do 150% FTP with 1' rest for quite a few reps.

I know a couple of guys like this. They have great sprints but almost always get dropped mid ride (training rides at race speeds). Here's my recommendation.

(1) Get the to front. It is too easy to sit in on group rides. Take your pulls and do them often. Attack during the rides (without being a jerk). You have to hammer yourself (to a reasonable extent) while training to keep up with the big guns IMHO.

Also, don't get to caught up on the number of hours or miles. It's really the quality that matters. I get in about 1-2 hours a day, 3 days a week, plus another 4 to 6 hours on the weekend and I can usually hang with mid-lower end CAT 3s in our area. But, when I ride, it is with a purpose; either to hammer or to recover.

(2) Make sure to go after the intermediate and town line sprints during the training rides if you can. If the group doesn't do them, try hard break away efforts at times. These all out efforts are great for building peak power.

Hill/power intervals are also great for buidling power for these peak efforts.

(3) Depending upon where you are getting dropped, there are perhaps other things you can do. If on the hills, try to drop some body and bike weight if you can. If it is the high speed efforts (27 to 30 + mph) where you get clipped, check your gearing (a 53 x 11 is a must for our rides during summer). Aero wheels can also make a real difference. I picked up a set of Spinergy Stealth Carbon PBO wheels last year that gave me about a 1 - 3 mph advantage over conventional wheels. That doesn't sound like much, but it is the difference between hanging on during these hard efforts and being left for dead off the back.

(4) Try to pay attention to when the hard charges will come. I know a number of guys who love to stomp as soon as I come off a hard pull. (No deed goes unpunished....) So, I make sure that they are midway through a rotation from me, or I cut my pulls back a little when they seem frisky to keep from having them hammer me during such a time of short term recovery need.

(5) I think the biggest mistake a lot of riders is they don't eat and drink enough. If this is happening mostly in the last 1/2 or 1/4 of the ride, you may find that eating and drinking a bit more will help you to maintain your power longer. Cytomax is my personal favorite drink as it prevents lactic acid cramping.

One person's opinion. Good luck.

I would say that the first thing you might ask yourself is, "Why was I in the wrong place when then the smack went down?" The second thing to ask yourself is, "Given where I was in relation to the guys laying down the smack, is it reasonable to expect a rider of my talent level to get up to them much faster than I am capable of?" or a better way of saying this is, "Can other riders do the same chase that I just did and make it across?" I am just suggesting that you may wish to be sure that you are not being unreasonably hard on yourself and that you might be able to make up for your perceived weak jump by racing smarter.

Also, those anaerobic efforts that potal_bag described can be effective but you will want to be careful in using them. Too much is not a good thing. I can't recommend doing them week after week for long periods of time. Do these for few weeks at any one time then take a break from them.

I'd suggest that you need to give yourself some time for your form to come around. It's only February and the season is long for elite riders in NL, I am sure. Keep doing those early season races and your jump will improve. You have described your training in other posts. I am not sure that adding formal L6 work right now (in addtion to all the other training and racing that you are doing) is really a good idea.