pre race taper

[slowfoot]

4 days from now i am in a 36 mile citizen's race the "owasco flyer"
i am a slow cat 5 and 54 years old

i beat on myself last week with a long race/rides and short L5 stuff, 5 of 7 days. total about 150 miles ( a lot for me)

this week has been:
monday i did L 1-2 for 90 min
tues off for work
wed 3X10 at 85% on trainer d/t weather

what should i do for the next four days?

the race has over 1500 ft vertical in bascially two hills, one short the other longer.

last year i got caught up in the pack in the beginning and cooked myself in the first 1/3 of the race.

any other advice?
thanks

dave

 

[Alex Simmons]

Just train as normal and have a light ride the day before. You don't train enough to warrant a taper.

 

[baker3]

Just train as normal and have a light ride the day before. You don't train enough to warrant a taper.

Also eat/hydrate well in the days leading up to the race and avoid alcohol.

 

[slowfoot]

Also eat/hydrate well in the days leading up to the race and avoid alcohol.

i did 30sec/30sec hard x 12 early in the week then a long L-3 then an easy spin the day before.

i drank and drank and drank the 3 days before and was surprised how chronically dehydrated i must be.

i paced myself well (thanks to advice from wyoming dave and rdo) not getting caught in the slinky peloton action and saving my matches for later.
i was surprised at staying with the second group easily and helped bridge to the main peloton at mile 15! that was an error cause i got deep into anerobic and the next hill was murder. but i just couldn't help myself!

we built a paceline and i worked with the 6-7 people to get to the big hills quickly. what a blast to cooperate with people you don't know but all working together for the good of all!

there was a 4 person crash (no bad injuries) that brought everyone together but the stronger ones quickly rode away on the 6-8 % hill.

there was a long 2-3 mile continous ascent to cap the 2100 of vertical ascent for the race that strung everyone out and i spun in circles to ride away from most of the group. then a 30mph solo descent with several tight curves until 5 of us (4 guys and a women who provided great encouragement) formed up for the last 10 miles.
there are 3 short but about 10% grade hills leading to the finish. i had enough left to sprint to the line after the last one.
despite being dead tired i had enough snap to pass 3 of the 5! i might have done more but i had no clue when my legs would have frozen up so i started sprinting later.

the race and numbers were a breakthrough for me, 20.9 mph average for 38 miles, about 2300 vertical. out of 300+ riders i finished 107 , don't know how i did in my age group (sadly the 55+ now) but who really cares.

thanks for the advice from all of you.

dave

 

[CalicoCat]

i did 30sec/30sec hard x 12 early in the week then a long L-3 then an easy spin the day before.

i drank and drank and drank the 3 days before and was surprised how chronically dehydrated i must be.

i paced myself well (thanks to advice from wyoming dave and rdo) not getting caught in the slinky peloton action and saving my matches for later.
i was surprised at staying with the second group easily and helped bridge to the main peloton at mile 15! that was an error cause i got deep into anerobic and the next hill was murder. but i just couldn't help myself!

we built a paceline and i worked with the 6-7 people to get to the big hills quickly. what a blast to cooperate with people you don't know but all working together for the good of all!

there was a 4 person crash (no bad injuries) that brought everyone together but the stronger ones quickly rode away on the 6-8 % hill.

there was a long 2-3 mile continous ascent to cap the 2100 of vertical ascent for the race that strung everyone out and i spun in circles to ride away from most of the group. then a 30mph solo descent with several tight curves until 5 of us (4 guys and a women who provided great encouragement) formed up for the last 10 miles.
there are 3 short but about 10% grade hills leading to the finish. i had enough left to sprint to the line after the last one.
despite being dead tired i had enough snap to pass 3 of the 5! i might have done more but i had no clue when my legs would have frozen up so i started sprinting later.

the race and numbers were a breakthrough for me, 20.9 mph average for 38 miles, about 2300 vertical. out of 300+ riders i finished 107 , don't know how i did in my age group (sadly the 55+ now) but who really cares.

thanks for the advice from all of you.

dave

Hi Dave,
Congradulations on a good race. Learning when to work and when to sit in takes a lot of practice and experience (and I am still learning myself). But it sounds like you paced yourself well, so good job!