8 days to my first race. ideas?



stormer94

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May 19, 2004
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8 days to go before my first race on Satruday the 19th. It's a 10 mile affair on reasonably flat ground. I'm in the 40 and over class, but squeaked in at 40 on the nose. :)

How hard should I be pushing it this week? I was going to train like normal right up to and including Thursday. Take friday off completely and race on Saturday. Should I also take Wednesday off??? OR???

I have been doing 10-15 miles on the bike (at about 85-90%mhr) and doing that everyother day (hoping to give myself a day of rest before hitting the cardio again). On the bike rest day I spend about a 45 minutes in the gym working the upper body (today I spent an hour). Friday, tomorrow, is bike day again. Might do something in the morning and again in the evening.

The race starts at 9am. How early should I get up before the event? Ideas on food before the race on race day?

I normally train in the mornings in a fasted state, and eat afterwards. A standard size water bottle usually lasts me about 25 minutes, for what that piece of information is worth.

At this point, I'm probably as ready as I'm gonna get. BUT, have about 8 days to still work myself out.

Any ideas appreciated.

Thanks,
-Bob
 
A few tips Bob, but basically don't worry too much in your first race. There's a lot to learn and you'll pick it up quicker if you don't expect too much at first.

I would take Thursday (2days before the race) completely off, then on Friday do a short easy ride (say 8-10 miles for you) with 2-3 harder race-like efforts of 1-2 minutes with easy riding between. A short workout like these keeps me fresh for the race, yet doesn't leave me feeling sluggish on race day.

If the race is at 9am, then you need to be up and eating at 6am at the latest. I would need to get up at 5am to be able to eat at 6am, but you might be different. Eat something you're used to eating at breakfast, cereal, toast etc.. and ensure you've finished eating 2hrs before the race. Eat enough though so you're not getting hungry before 9am. Avoid carbo drinks until you're on the bike warming up. Do not sip a carbo-drink on the way to the race if you're driving otherwise you will feel like s**t :).

When you get there I recommend you do a 20-30minute warmup and see how you go. Do 15 minutes easy, then do a few 1-2 minute efforts at a good pace with 2-3 minutes easy between, just to warm-up and open-up all the energy systems. Finish your warm-up about 5 minutes before the start so you don't arrive at the start line in a panic. The start will likely be very fast so try to start at the front and drift back as far as possible to save effort. The start of amateur races tends to be a little crazy fast, though it soon settles down. If you survive this then you're in with a chance, but the first time it's likely to be a shock ! :) Don't be too downhearted if you get blown out at the start and are off the back within a couple of miles (you might not be tho). We've all been there, it's just the way these races are. You'll learn what you need to work on in training, and that's part of the fun of it.

Good luck.
 
20-30 minute warm up...sprints?!?!?! ****, won't I be about shot before the race starts??? :p I'm thinking the whole thing should be over in about 45 minutes or less.

Although, when I ride, it seems like the first 10 minutes are always awkward and it's hard to get the heart rate up "comfortably".


I like the idea of taking Thursday off and piddling on Friday to keep fresh. That seems better than the idea I had of taking Friday off.

I did 10 miles today at 85-90% of MHR and then did (5) 1-mile sprints, but just concentrated on keeping my cadence up. It looks as though I used to like to peddle at about 80rpm and I'm trying to get the ole' fast twitch muscles more invovled and retraining to spin a bit quicker. When I first started riding a few weeks back, 90 just felt awkward, now it's starting to feel good. 100 feels outta control though and feels like I'm losing power when I do it, and according to the computrainer, it seems as though I am. I think I'm so busy trying to just sping my legs, I'm not getting any power out of them, kind of like the rotation happens so fast that I don't have time to remember to push or pull or do anything but just rotate.

I'm working on that. 85 is starting to feel real good, where 75-80 was good a few weeks back.

Also, on the computrainer, I'm noticing that I'm finishing certain courses in a faster time with less heart rate and less watts, which is what I find weird, less watts. I went faster overall and put out less power. I "THINK" what is happening is that I'm peddling harder on the flats where the watts are low and I'm gaining time.

This one course I do, I race against myself, and my old self sluggs along certain parts of the course at 14mph, and my new self does the same parts of the course at 15 or 16. So I'm gaining some fitness.... a little at a time. :)

-Bob