Training vs. Racing



ewep

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Jan 31, 2002
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I wonder if this has happened to anyone else. I train a minimum of 5 days a week (usually 6) and get "wonderfull" results on my hill and interval training. Come race day however I seem to fall out of the bus on hills and interval type work (chase in the bunch, relax in the bunch). I don't know if I'm doing the wrong training, or maybe it's the race day blues (On race day I want to do better than before). I feel rather stupid as I did some hill training this morning and felt much better than during the Edenvale race on Sunday. It feels like I've hit a brick wall when starting a race. I'm scared of the hills :( although I know I've done enough training and feel as if I've got no power/energy. I start carbo loading 3 days before the race. I must confess this only happens in the first 1/2 - 2/3 of the race. The last part of the race is usually great! :) Can anyone please help me PLEASE :'(
 
Ask yourself this question: "What do I do differently on my training days and on race day?"
One thing that jumps to mind is warm-up. During your training rides you probably start-off slowly, and once you hit the hills, your muscles are warm without having used much of your available energy stores.
What's the bet that when you start the race, you try your best to stay with the early bunch? Your muscles are not warmed up and you expend alot of energy during the first 10km or so.
Another thing that happens is that during this 'initial' surge of work, your blood sugar level drops and you feel weak. It takes awhile for your body to bounce back from the shock of sudden work, and you feel stronger (the last part of the race).

I know it's difficult to warm-up before the race because of the starting pens. Try and cycle around the area at the race, and do some light stretching while waiting in your pen.
I use heat rub on my legs to 'artificially' warm them up.
 
Couldn't your hitting the wall be caused by maybe training too much during the week leading up to race weekend?

I only train three times a week (4 times only occasionally), and on race day I always surprise myself!! The training sessions are usually high intensity though...I give it full effort the whole way.
For example, the bulk of my training for the argus will consist of weekend 100km races run on approx. the same route as the argus. I find that these races (I do 4-5 of them) are suffiecient. Although I must admit that i have an edge living in the Cape...I can ride up Ou Kaapse blindfolded!
 
Agreed on the warm up - it makes a HUGE difference. Even if you have to take your rollers/trainer with - do it.

What you do the day before the race might also make a difference - you should never completely rest the day before the race. Have an easy work out with a few short intervals - that'll have your legs ready for the race instead of 'stale'.

The way you train might also be the problem - too many people train at a hard, steady rate. This is great for endurance but normally results in you getting dropped when the bunch goes 100% on a hill. Try replacing some quantity with quality - do shorter sessions (about an hour) with harder intervals.

Over training might be the final key - take an extra rest day per week for a few weeks and see if you feel stronger or weaker....

Whatever happens - kick some booty! Good luck.
 
Just had another read of your article and it might be your race breakfast...

Avoid milk before a race, it clots in your stomach and could form a barrier that impedes digestion (resulting in lack of energy).

Leave at least two hours between breakfast and race start.

Personally I like Oatso Easy - Raw oats left overnight in orange juice is also good (it tastes better than it sounds!!!).
 
Thanks for the advise everyone. :D I'm doing a 100km this weekend and I'm gonna try a few of your ideas. Of me overtraining I don't think so. When I used to run I did 6 days a week as well. I think my routine will be messed up if I only train 3-4 days a week (no pun intended ;) ). Thanks again guys!!!
 
Ewep.. I sit with the same problem. I did about 2000k's in Dec. (Long slow rides @about 70%). Took 2 weeks leave in Jan, and realy gave it gas (I did about 1700km for Jan). This was long rides (70-90%), Did a lot of hills climbs, including 2 x Hellshoogte, when that is my route of the day, do Vissershok at about 15km/h (80-90% effort) and do the Wednesday night Kilarney 1hour race. It just feel as if I did not train at all. I'm constantly think about reasons why it feel as if I didnot train and I narrow it down to 3 main reasons. ONE : I dont warmup before a race (maybe I need to leave home 15min earlier and do some warm up) TWO: Maybe preparing so long for this one ride, you loose that spark because it's still a month to go (This spark will be back within the next 2 weeks when the funrides is over) and THREE : Maybe I'm worried for nothing instead of concentrating on the basics in the funrides. Time in the funrides should be of no effect. But I'm doing the 114km race in D'Ville this weekend and I'm going to do it as if it is my Pre-Argus run (carbo load, vooma, mentally want to do well), think about doing it under 3 hours and really believe that I trained hard enough to achieve that)
 
Carboloading tenda to make you slow for the first hour, save it for longduration events, not fast 2 hours races.

If you do your intervals "inside" our capacity it may become a trouble when racing were you have to respond and manage other peoples capacities that might be "better" than yours.

Racing is not training... don't buy the Friel/Carmichael concept, you have to suffer during training so you adapt to going into the red and back again several times. It's necessary to be able to recover during the race between the "red" efforts. The only way to learn that is to race a lot or train harder.

If you train hard enough it will become impossible to train hard for 5-6 days. Go for 1 race/w and two hard training sessions, the rest should be recovery rides only.

Doublebiker
 
Carboloading tends to make you slow for the firt hour...
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Interesting statement (can you eloborate, Doublebiker?). I've never heard of CHO-loading making you slower. Many athletes assume that eating a big plate of pasta or a large pizza the night before a race is considered CHO-loading. Proper loading is not as simple as that.
What difinitely makes you slower is consuming heavily sugared (HI GI) food or fluid just before the race. The sugar will rapidly enter your blood stream and increase glucose levels (high blood sugar). Your body reacts by pumping insulin into the blood to 'disolve' (for lack of a better word) the excess sugar. The blood is now drained of 'fuel' (low blood sugar). By now you're 10 mins into the race, and the bus decides to test it's passengers. The result? You don't have enough 'fuel' onboard to cope with the increase in exercise intensity, and you bonk.
Eldron's post regarding the time frame (2 hours) between breakfast and race start is very important. Have your pre-race meal early enough so that blood sugar balances are restored by the time you set off.
 
If you carboload for 3 days, as the original poster said, the carbos binds so much water to your body that's you somatimes can feel quite "swollen", carboloading for so many days tends to make you slow for the first hour. "

Normal" carboloading (1-2 days) don't have the same effect.

But I don't think this guys problem is the carboloading, he just don't have the speed. Maybe motorpacing would be a good idea. Motorpacing gives you the same kind of workload as fast groupriding. In a group you never have the same workload for very long. You go hard for 10-20 strokes, coast, goes hard and so on. Your workload goes up and down all the time. Compare that with traditional intervaltraining where you tries to keep the SAME workload for several minutes.

Racing is more about being able to go full blast, recover, full blast, recover.
 
Thanks for all your suggestions guys. Went for a 100km race, had a good breakfast (with no milk), a warm-up and a relaxed ride. I had a great time! I did find (especially on uphills) that if I stick to the way that I ride during training, I did much better and was more relaxed. Thanks once again ;D ;D ;D
 
Well done, ewep. Important thing now is to make notes of what you ate, when you ate etc. etc. Take that info to your next race and onto the Argus! ;)
 
I think quite a few of us are experiencing this at the moment. Most of my friends have the same issues, we have done every race for the last 5 weeks, training a few times per week, no long slow Sunday rides, and the tension level increases the closer we are getting to the Argus. I personally am nervous about the Ride for Sight after the start I had during the Germiston Century. Same as you, blown away after 10 minutes. I read an article by Brice Fordyce relating to runners, whereby he advises they ride the race, but not race the race in preparation for Comrades. Perhaps ride without the timing chip, forget the seeding index etc. The problem with using the Ride for Sight as a gauge for Argus time which many people are doing, is that if the time is bad, they will panic and train big miles for the 2 weeks before Argus...don't, at this stage, rest is more important. Safe riding.....
 
Yep, I agree. I've done my training for the Argus. Two weeks to go, and all that's left to do for me now is lotsa rest and recovery with easy spins to retain 'muscle memory'.
 
ewep said:
I wonder if this has happened to anyone else. I train a minimum of 5 days a week (usually 6) and get "wonderfull" results on my hill and interval training. Come race day however I seem to fall out of the bus on hills and interval type work (chase in the bunch, relax in the bunch). I don't know if I'm doing the wrong training, or maybe it's the race day blues (On race day I want to do better than before). I feel rather stupid as I did some hill training this morning and felt much better than during the Edenvale race on Sunday. It feels like I've hit a brick wall when starting a race. I'm scared of the hills :( although I know I've done enough training and feel as if I've got no power/energy. I start carbo loading 3 days before the race. I must confess this only happens in the first 1/2 - 2/3 of the race. The last part of the race is usually great! :) Can anyone please help me PLEASE :'(
eerr
 
ewep said:
I wonder if this has happened to anyone else. I train a minimum of 5 days a week (usually 6) and get "wonderfull" results on my hill and interval training. Come race day however I seem to fall out of the bus on hills and interval type work (chase in the bunch, relax in the bunch). I don't know if I'm doing the wrong training, or maybe it's the race day blues (On race day I want to do better than before). I feel rather stupid as I did some hill training this morning and felt much better than during the Edenvale race on Sunday. It feels like I've hit a brick wall when starting a race. I'm scared of the hills :( although I know I've done enough training and feel as if I've got no power/energy. I start carbo loading 3 days before the race. I must confess this only happens in the first 1/2 - 2/3 of the race. The last part of the race is usually great! :) Can anyone please help me PLEASE :'(
ererrr
 
Flyer,
Go away already! We can't see any of your posts. You're just a ghost in the machine for all we know.

:mad:
 

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