My 5th Crit and my worst yet.

Don’t give up. It takes a long time to train to train your muscles for this kind of racing. The best thing to do is keep racing because no training can replace a race conditions. You might want to check with the local clubs and see if they offer training races. My local does these every other week. It is great to get out in a training race and meet others. Most of these riders will offer advice to help you along.
[FONT=Times New Roman]Back when I was racing Crits. I would do intervals at least twice a week, two longer fast pace ride and a recovery day before the weekend race. Crits are more about burst than long rides.[/FONT]

Stick with it, and it will get better.

That being said, you will still have good days and bad days. And things will happen in races that you can't predict or won't be prepared for ("that's bike racing"😉. So even when you are on top of your form, a bad day will sneak in there :-)

Training: I agree with intervals 2X/week. That is the meat of my training plan right now. I also get in one long sub max endurance ride each week, and either a race, or another hard training day. Two on the bike recovery days, and a day off completely.

Skills: I try to incorporate some skills training into every week. Everyone's handling skills can always improve, and for crits, "skills" generally refers to cornering. On a technical course, skills (or lack thereof), could be more of a liability that lack of training. You need to practice taking corners at speed, holding wheels through corners, gearing appropriately so that you can accelerate out of corners. Practice choosing the best lines. Practice sub-optimal lines, because in a race, you won't always have that ideal line at your disposal. I could go on and on about this because it is such an important factor in bike racing.

Pre-race ride: some people take the day before a race off. I try to get in an easy ride with some "openers" (short efforts to get the legs working, but not worked over).

Warm-up: This depends on the duration of the race and how fast I think it is going to go out. For crits I usually warm up for ~45min. A lot of that is just riding easy-moderate, but I try to get in at least two 30s all-out efforts. These are just like the "openers" from the day before. Some people like to warm-up on a trainer near the car. I always bring a trainer to a race in case there is no where good to warm up on the road, however, I prefer warming up on the road if at all possible. (This is partly because I am usually so nervous by that point that just feeling my bike respond to me reminds me that I know how to ride/handle it and that calms me down!!!)

I wouldn't worry about it. You won't improve at a constant rate. Rather, there are peaks and valleys with the peaks and valleys increasing gradually.

Anyway, I'd start to worry if you're consistently doing worse and worse. In that case, you need to take time off racing to recuperate, then build up again.

You could have just had a bad day, probably for the reasons you listed. Try not doing those things next time to see if it helps.

No worries here. More than likely this won't be the last time you get dropped/pulled from a race. Most importantly you gotta learn from it though.

On first blush, your yo-yoing (I presume you were in the back of the peloton most of the race) severely hurt chances of making it to the end. I know you've heard it before on this forum many a time, but the effort is so much easier being near the front where you don't have to slow as much (if at all) and sprint as hard (again, if at all) out of the corners. It will take some effort to get near the front, but it's effort well spent once you're there - things tend to smooth out nicely.

Getting up front and staying there takes aerobic strength and power; aspects you're still developing. There are no shortcuts - intervals of 10-20mins at threshold and 3-5mins at just above threshold. Meat and potatoes stuff - keep it simple.

Secondly, that max effort the day before the race is a no-no, IMO. Save testing for a 'testing day', not right before a major race. You should go into crits reasonably fresh, not recovering from the previous day's ride...

You'll get more opportunities, so don't let this one get you too far down. You're never as good as you think after a good day, nor as bad as you think after a bad day...

Thanks a ton guys. These are the kinda things I really needed to hear.

One good thing, with my Saturday efforts, at least now I have a reasonable Max HR (190) to work with. Riding at 90% is a HR of 171. I have been doing 2 minutes at this level lately when riding solo, but much longer in group rides. At 164, I feel like I am at, or close to, my Sweet Spot. I have another race this Sunday at Ontario. I'll try and plan better this time.

I would say rather than using your 'working' max HR, on a hard training day do a 30 minute TT and use the average HR as your LT and find a HR zone calculator that works a a function of LT rather than MHR. The cycling training sticky has several.

Also in that sticky is a table where several physiologic adaptations are listed and the HR zones where these are achieved. It really makes me appreciate the benefits of interval work in the LT and VO2 ranges.

Deafwolf said:

Very frustrated with myself this time. I believe I ax'd myself with poor preparation. I rode 34 miles the previous day with the cycling group. There was one long hill in that ride and I blew up on it on purpose in the attempt to find my max heart rate. (I achieved a 188 for what it is worth). I drank my recovery drink and wore light compression stockings (calf high) for the remainder of the day and night. However I still felt fatigue set in early. Not to mention I ate a whole package of macaroni and cheese (I can't explain this one very well) for a late dinner and only got 5 hours of sleep.

Lets recap. A hard ride and little sleep... not the best prep. Randomly eating a whole package of mac 'n cheese - sounds like someone had borderline bonked during the ride prior to the race. If you dig that deep and basically deplete your glycogen stores you'll have an ravenous desire to eat lots or random stuff and unless you recognise this and deal with it as soon as you finish your ride (well, within 30 minutes) then you'll have a hard job replenishing your primary source of fuel for hard efforts.

So. If you can imagine doing all the worst things 24 hours prior to a race, bar crashing or having your bike stolen and packaging them all into one then you pretty much did it. Congrats! 😄

But as they say it's a learning experience... one to remember. A few hard digs to wake up the legs is a good thing. Going out for a couple of hours and throwing in a all out blast up a hill until you can go no harder... probably not the best when you're fairly new to the sport. When you've got a couple of years under your legs and maybe doing a couple of races at the weekend that'll be another matter completely.

You could have always tested your max hr towards the end of the crit - and it would have looked like a really spectacular do-or-die effort

If you remember these little faux-pas the next time you're out for a ride the day before then it's all good... We've all done silly stuff like this but some of us prefer not to repeat it. 😉

Thanks Swampy. Your mention of depleted glycogen stores makes sense.

Quenya, I have read that about determining my anaerobic threshold, but my old HR monitor only displays the current He. It doesn't clock an average. An all out effort for 30 min, I can probably maintain a He somewhere between 165-170.

Deafwolf said:

...Quenya, I have read that about determining my anaerobic threshold, but my old HR monitor only displays the current He. It doesn't clock an average. An all out effort for 30 min, I can probably maintain a He somewhere between 165-170.

One of the nice things about HR is that it has a lot of built in averaging. The bad news is that means it takes six or seven minutes to come up to a working average during a twenty to thirty minute well paced Threshold effort which makes it difficult to pace the start on HR but the good news is that the numbers you see in the final fifteen to twenty minutes of say a 30 minute effort won't jump around a lot and are a pretty good estimate of your HR at FTP.

I agree with Quenya, if you're gonna train with HR, it makes more sense to baseline off your HR at FTP rather than HR max. But simpler still for folks without power meters is to baseline training off of perceived exertion (RPE) and time your efforts for the system you want to work. IOW, just pick a stretch of road or steady climb of 12 to 30 minutes for Threshold work and ride a steady effort that's hard but not so hard that you blow up and can't finish or so hard that you can only do one if you planned on two or more efforts. But also not so easy that you don't feel like you're trying could easily hold a conversation or don't need an awful lot of focus to stay on top of things. So you're basically doing mini time trials backed off just enough to complete each one and to complete the set without blowing up.

You don't need a meter of any sort to do training like this and as much as we like the numbers the real data is stored in your legs. If I started all over again without a PM I'd train like that before I went back to HR based training.

Basic durations and systems:

- More than 2 hours -Endurance pace
- 1 to 2.5 hours - Tempo
- 12 minutes to an hour - Threshold (typically 12 to 25 minutes done in repeated intervals)
- 3 to 6 or maybe 8 minutes - VO2 Max (typically done as 3 to 5 minute intervals that add up to 25-30 minutes of total work with 4 to 5 minutes of rest between each interval)
- 1 to 3 minutes Anerobic work with many variations and differing goals
- 5 to 30 seconds - pure sprint work.

Do efforts in one of those ranges to focus on that system and do the efforts as hard as you can given that you need to complete the individual efforts without fading and complete the set. So something like 90% of your best effort for the duration of interest with the possible exception of sprints where you want to be well rested and hit each one as hard as you possibly can.

Do a lot of that, especially the Threshold and Tempo work and your speeds and staying power will improve.

Good luck,
-Dave

Deafwolf said:

Thanks a ton guys. These are the kinda things I really needed to hear.

One good thing, with my Saturday efforts, at least now I have a reasonable Max HR (190) to work with. Riding at 90% is a HR of 171. I have been doing 2 minutes at this level lately when riding solo, but much longer in group rides. At 164, I feel like I am at, or close to, my Sweet Spot. I have another race this Sunday at Ontario. I'll try and plan better this time.

And rule #1 is to relax and remember that you're doing this for fun. Do what you can and don't get too hung up on the numbers. This is a process that you will get exponentially better at every time you line up. Good luck bro.

DirtyHarrison said:

This is a process that you will get exponentially better at every time you line up.

This is why I think it's harder to take a bad day. But remember also your body is a complicated machine. A tiny variable might be the difference between a day without a chain or the day when they resurface the road with molasses!

And if the variable happens to be psychological rather than physiologic, doesn't sound like that's the case this time, it's much harder to predict/prevent.

quenya said:

This is why I think it's harder to take a bad day. But remember also your body is a complicated machine. A tiny variable might be the difference between a day without a chain or the day when they resurface the road with molasses!

And if the variable happens to be psychological rather than physiologic, doesn't sound like that's the case this time, it's much harder to predict/prevent.

Bad days happen and they're usually pretty explainable if you keep a detailed record of your training and racing. If you start noticing a trend of 'tired', 'sore' or 'lack of sleep' then something's up.

At least in Cat5, where's there's no prize money, no points based on finishing position, you always get your 'reward' - your credit towards upgrade.

swampy1970 said:

Bad days happen and they're usually pretty explainable if you keep a detailed record of your training and racing. If you start noticing a trend of 'tired', 'sore' or 'lack of sleep' then something's up.

At least in Cat5, where's there's no prize money, no points based on finishing position, you always get your 'reward' - your credit towards upgrade.

Agreed, but like a good student who is a poor test taker, for some riders it is difficult to achieve near their potential during a race.

quenya said:

Agreed, but like a good student who is a poor test taker, for some riders it is difficult to achieve near their potential during a race.

But just like the student that's a poor test taker, they've got to figure out why that is.

Is it because they're trying to 'cram' training in before the race and don't have the legs or do they have the power and just can't figure out tactics?

I knew riders who got so nervous it was unreal - we'd get together the night before for a group ride and "ride the nerves right out of him" He'd end up getting a good nights sleep and ended up usually riding better with slightly sore legs than he would have with fresh legs and no sleep.

There's a way to figure out most things - the hard part is finding that way. Sometimes the hardest part is just finding someone such as a coach or other knowledgeable rider who has the experience, ability and willingness to pass on info that'll help you progress.

swampy1970 said:

But just like the student that's a poor test taker, they've got to figure out why that is.

Is it because they're trying to 'cram' training in before the race and don't have the legs or do they have the power and just can't figure out tactics?

I knew riders who got so nervous it was unreal - we'd get together the night before for a group ride and "ride the nerves right out of him" He'd end up getting a good nights sleep and ended up usually riding better with slightly sore legs than he would have with fresh legs and no sleep.

There's a way to figure out most things - the hard part is finding that way. Sometimes the hardest part is just finding someone such as a coach or other knowledgeable rider who has the experience, ability and willingness to pass on info that'll help you progress.

I don't think we are disagreeing at all here. Luckily deafwolf is learning these lessons now when as you said he still earns his rewards.

Deafwolf, I am so jealous you have so many local crits I wish I could be racing as frequently as you are! Keep it up, learn your lessons and take your lumps, but don't quit writing up race reports because they are inspiring.

Best of luck.

I rode the Great Park, Irvine crit again yesterday. Again, another bad performance. I think I failed on the technical part this time as well as my conditioning. Due to a hairy schedule, I got no ride time in at all for three days, M,Tu, W.

I warmed up for a good 30 minutes on the track and adjusted my handlebars with the rep from the local bike shop. The hands felt 10x better in the drops and I could manage the shifters more comfortably. I still need to lower the shifters down the bar about 1-2 cm.

Had a mechanical problem. My chain was striking the front derailer and when I would stand and pedal, there was a lot of clicking noise. I am assuming my crank loosened and I need to open it up and tighten it down inside.

Beginning of the race, I was up near the front and people were starting out pretty hard. About 7-9 riders took off early and lined up. So I worked at catching a wheel, but I swear I just could not grab on. So essentially, I blew up in the beginning trying to hold a front group wheel without realizing that they were going hard and the group caught up to them anyways. I got dropped before finishing a single lap.

Next race, I will hang towards the rear when I start. I seem to perform better if I start in the group instead of at the front. This particular course is pretty easy on the turns.

I'll do some recovery riding today (Fri) and tomorrow, maybe a couple hours each, at a moderate, easily sustainable pace on some flats. Then I should be in better shape come Sunday's crit at Ontario. The race is at noon so I'll hydrate throughout the day. But since the race is maybe 30 minutes, I'll leave the water bottle in the car.

Also need to tighten down that damn crank. That'll probably make a big difference too.

Deafwolf said:

I rode the Great Park, Irvine crit again yesterday. Again, another bad performance. I think I failed on the technical part this time as well as my conditioning. Due to a hairy schedule, I got no ride time in at all for three days, M,Tu, W.

I warmed up for a good 30 minutes on the track and adjusted my handlebars with the rep from the local bike shop. The hands felt 10x better in the drops and I could manage the shifters more comfortably. I still need to lower the shifters down the bar about 1-2 cm.

Had a mechanical problem. My chain was striking the front derailer and when I would stand and pedal, there was a lot of clicking noise. I am assuming my crank loosened and I need to open it up and tighten it down inside.

Beginning of the race, I was up near the front and people were starting out pretty hard. About 7-9 riders took off early and lined up. So I worked at catching a wheel, but I swear I just could not grab on. So essentially, I blew up in the beginning trying to hold a front group wheel without realizing that they were going hard and the group caught up to them anyways. I got dropped before finishing a single lap.

Next race, I will hang towards the rear when I start. I seem to perform better if I start in the group instead of at the front. This particular course is pretty easy on the turns.

I'll do some recovery riding today (Fri) and tomorrow, maybe a couple hours each, at a moderate, easily sustainable pace on some flats. Then I should be in better shape come Sunday's crit at Ontario. The race is at noon so I'll hydrate throughout the day. But since the race is maybe 30 minutes, I'll leave the water bottle in the car.

Also need to tighten down that damn crank. That'll probably make a big difference too.

And one more suggestion - Don't be afraid to take a break if you're having a string of bad days/races. Sometimes a week of downtime will work wonders. Most non-pro riders I have been around over the years are usually overtrained rather than undertrained. Time off is the only antidote but usually the last thing you want to do!

To check this, an easy way is to take a resting heartrate every morning. Keep a log. You'll see +10 beats when you're crispy fried. Good luck Sunday!