Racing?

[Eden]

Every day is probably a bit too much. I ride 5 days a week, but in addition to my rest day I usually have one day that is strictly 30min of core/strength training plus some very easy spinning and another day that is only zone1/2. Right now during the winter you want to emphasize slower endurance rides over hard work outs - longer slower rides are better than hammer fests.

I won't really try to go into it in depth here - there's lots of good literature already written that's better than I can try to explain it, but I would recommend if you don't already have one, you get a heart rate monitor and look into zone training. Some may argue that its better to train with power, but as far as beginners go hr monitors are relatively inexpensive and a really good place to start.

[Mimosa]

Like eden says, in preperation for the new season you should start training 5 times a week by now. That can be a mix indoor on the rollers (during bad weather), riding in the evening (in the dark) and doing a long run (3-4hrs) on your day off. And contacting the womens team eden suggested is also a good idea. I found that if you want to ride at a certain level then you need to find people who share that level to really get the information needed. Having teammates really helps to find the races you are looking for and they can help you get used to riding races. Don't back down, the first half year in racing can be overwelming, you need to learn a lot fast and the hard way (sometimes literally *auwch*) and you can get some very disappointing results before you get better.

.... but in the end you'll love it

[AuntieK]

Hey, Sulis!
You've gotten some great advice here. Glad to see you want to start racing.

Last year, I jumped into racing with little experience. I would seriously consider racing your first year as a citizen (unlicensed) racer. This would be where you would just buy a one-day license like Eden suggests. I wish I had know about racing citizen last year because I got my rear kicked by those fast Cat 4 racers!

I've also considered joining the club (WWCC) in your area, but it's a little out of the way for me. They look like a great club, I hope it works out better for you come spring. Luckily for me, a more local shop is starting up a race club soon, so hopefully I'll be out there with them.

Good luck to you & hope to see you at those races this spring!

[Eden]

Citizens category? We don't have it around here I guess. There is a series held at a local (car) race track that is not USCF (USACycling) sponsored that has a beginner category as well as cat 4 so I guess its like that. No one is required to have a racing license to race there since its not sponsored and its a really great way to learn if you have something similar available. We haven't had enough women racing to have a women's cat 5, but our fields are getting bigger and bigger so we can hope!

Oh, by the way Sulis -if none of the above made much sense- when you race there are 4 categories for women. You start as a cat 4 (men have a 5) and you move up either through experience (25 races with 10 or more particpants to go from 4 to 3) or points. Points are earned by getting a top 6 finish. Around here we don't have enough women to separate any fields except for 4's. After you upgrade the 1,2,and 3's generally race together and are scored together.

[RoadRaven]

As Eden responded to your question about whether you should ride every day, you MUST remember to build in rest days - its an important and often overlooked part of training.

When you come home from a hard ride, and your muscles feel tired and/or sore... it is because you have extended and stretched them and what you are feeling are tiny tears in the muscle. In the next 24 hours the muscles repair themselves according to the recent demands on them.

So recovery days and tapering and base training are all important parts of developing and strengthening your muscles so that they can respond effectively to the demands that something like racing will bring.

Sometimes I have ridden 7-8 days in a row, but 2-3 of those rides have been only about 10-20kms long, on flats, at low resistance and slow speeds. When I do very hard ride, such as hill reps or speed intervals or a road race or time trial - I HAVE to ride the next day at low intensity just to help disperse the lactic acid - my legs are too uncomfortable otherwise.

So build in rest regularly and if you cant take a day off every 3-4 days, then make sure you designate an active recovery day which is riding at low intensity as I described above.