question for those who race

Do you girls all race in an all women's field or are you racing with the men?

Down here in South Fl I have to race with the men, and I am not strong enough to keep up- so it is discouraging me from racing again, yet I will race and I will try not to get lapped to soon!

When I was in Albuquerque, we had enough women to fill a field(well us + juniors).

If any of you do race with the men, what do you do to get stronger?(I have to race with the 45+ and they average between 25-27 mph for a 45 min+3 lap crit)

"what do you do to get stronger?"

"Ride Sally ride" phrase comes to mind. I don't just ride on the road.

Road training: try to map out a course with least amount of stop signs or traffic lights. As you get really fit, even the 30second stop will cause your heart rate to drop back toward resting rate. In fact, this is one way to gauge your fitness, how fast can your heart rate drop to the resting rate. But during training, you want to maintain the "stress level" without allowing a break. Soo find a route with least amount of stops. Also do reps on hills. Even a one minute hills.

And choose your training to help you improve in the area you are weak. Can you sprint well?
Can you climb well?
Do you have the speed on the flat?
Do you have an explosive acceleration? (need this for the crit)
Cornering ability? (also for the crit)
How is your mental toughness?

I also do a lot of work out on a trainer. Mine is a mag trainer and when I was into it I would be on it 4 or 5 times a week (cause of schedule problems) and work out on it for 2 hours each time. I had a set routine on what I wanted to do.
Spinning work out (try to improve my spinning and smooth it out, more efficient)
sprint work out
2 hour grind the pedal work out (simulate a long hard mtn climb)
...

There are several really good books on bike training. I gave away mine after I "quit" riding about 6/7 years ago. So don't remember the titles.

I knew a guy who trained on his cross bike. Knobby tires and all to increase the rolling resistance while everyone else was riding their racing bike. When he got on his racing bike, it was riding on air for him.

hope this helps.
Shawn

Hey Shawn,

Thanks! I guess I should of included this earlier..

At the moment I average about 200 miles a week, I do intervals on most rides(one or two on every ride, and then some rides are interval rides). I work on riding at a high cadence, and do at least one long(er) ride a week. And then once a week I do a group ride(that was this morning but when they turned around I continued on to get in some extra miles). I ride on average 5-6 days a week, with one rest day, and then one or two recovery rides in the mix.

At the moment, I can hang in on the group rides that average 22-23mph, it is just getting that extra bump up to the next level that I need. (well with stops for the lights the computer says the average is around 18, but when moving we are always in the low 20s)

Hi,

I've noticed that we do not necessarily improve gradually. Sometimes, the improvements come in incremental steps. And you may be just sitting at one plateau, 20-23MPH.

Your next incremental step will probably get you into 26-28MPH range. This may come about from adjusting/changing your daily routine, your diet, sleep. At this level, 26-28MPH on flat, no wind, no drafting, its not just about what you do on the bike, it's how you spend the rest of the day becomes really important too. Again what you eat, drink/not drink, sleep.

200 miles of training/week is the minimum to become competitive is what I've heard. Personally it's more about quality time.

smilingcat

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ehirsch83

Do you girls all race in an all women's field or are you racing with the men?

Down here in South Fl I have to race with the men, and I am not strong enough to keep up- so it is discouraging me from racing again, yet I will race and I will try not to get lapped to soon!

When I was in Albuquerque, we had enough women to fill a field(well us + juniors).

If any of you do race with the men, what do you do to get stronger?(I have to race with the 45+ and they average between 25-27 mph for a 45 min+3 lap crit)

---

I've raced in women's fields, but I did a lot of training races this summer where I was the only girl.
Keep riding with the men. Do some fast group rides and hang on for dear life. Learn to be a good wheelsucker and to jump on the surges. You'll still get dropped a lot at first, but you'll be able to hang on longer and longer. Supplement the sufferfests with some of your regular training rides, but spend more time focusing on technique, accelerating out of corners, and improving all skills, especially the stuff you're already pretty decent doing.

I raced collegiate women's B this year (my first year riding), and my sprints (which did well enough) hardly got up to 27mph. After doing some of those tough training races that sound like your masters races, I could hang for half of a flat road race course with the 26mph average (road races are the hardest for me, and this was much better than I expected), the 19-22mph rides became "normal" instead of "fast," and I could hang on for several crit laps drafting behind a cat 2 and 3 guys. Sure, I wasn't any closer to winning one of those, but I definitely improved and I learned a lot. Of course, in training, I might've gotten more tips from the others than you'll get in a real race, but still, just keep at it. If anything, it can help you break out of your current plateau by pushing you farther out of your comfort zone than you thought you could go.

[QUOTE=ehirsch83;239639]Hey Shawn,
At the moment I average about 200 miles a week, I do intervals on most rides(one or two on every ride, and then some rides are interval rides). I work on riding at a high cadence, and do at least one long(er) ride a week. And then once a week I do a group ride(that was this morning but when they turned around I continued on to get in some extra miles). I ride on average 5-6 days a week, with one rest day, and then one or two recovery rides in the mix.
[/QUOTE

The quality of your time in the saddle is what matters most.

If you're doing intervals on most rides, you're probably not really getting an efficient interval workout on any of them. It's impossible to recover from an effective interval workout by the following day. There are a HUGE variety of intervals (longer duration, shorter duration, flatter, flat from a standing start, moderate climb, steep climb, etc). Each type will train your body to do something a bit different. Also, the number of intervals you're doing is a bit low.

If you ride the same way all the time, you become really good (at doing the same thing).

You need to vary what you do.

If you want to continue to be self-coached, I recommend Joe Friel's Cyclists Training Bible. This book is designed to teach the self-coached cyclist how to develop an effective training program.

Hope this helps!

Lorri