Looking for advice on how to train and tackle an uphill TT

[istigatrice]

Thanks, really helpful I'll keep it in mind.

I'd have 3 easy days leading up to the event, not just 2. Maybe skip the crit and move the 3x3 out one day, but everyone's preferences are different.

Would it be worth doing the crit and still moving the 3x3 out one day? I should be able to back up even if the crit is hard, just unsure if I can recover in time. If I do this the plan will look something like this:

Sunday: Easy hills ride
Monday:Rest/Recover
Tuesday: 45 minute crit race
Wednesday: 3x 3 minute intervals
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday: 60 minute ride with 5-10x 10 second sprints
Sunday: TT day!! Wish me luck

Not sure what to do on thursday or friday? Should I rest thursday and do an easy ride friday or ride easy thursday and rest friday?

[HillRPete]

I wouldn't do it, but I don't know even you
There is nothing wrong with ramping down the training a bit before a highlight race, to give the body an opportunity of catching up with the recovery. On the other hand, ramping down too much, and you risk losing your rhythm, and the body starts to shut down a little. But for most people really super hard days in a row, three days before a race, is an awful lot of training load. Maybe just check what your last week leading up to other events -- where you felt great -- was?
You could also consider a short easy spin on Thu and Fri as well, to keep the legs moving.

[istigatrice]

Maybe just check what your last week leading up to other events -- where you felt great -- was?

Thanks for raising that, it should have been quite obvious to do something similar...

Now looking back, I have two different approaches:

Feel good race 1: Roller session two days prior, 60 minute commute day before.

Feel good race 2: Rest day two days prior, day before 1x 15 minute effort.

I might trace feel good race 1, as before the roller session I had two hard days back to back... which would be similar to the crit and then the 3x3.

So:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Crit
Wednesday: 3x3
Thursday: Rest
Friday: roller session
Saturday: something emulating a commute
Sunday: TT.

[HillRPete]

So did you nail it then?

[istigatrice]

I hit my targets, I ended up doing the actual climb in 8:58 which I was really happy with.

The time trial didn't actually start from the base though, it started on a false flat section before the climb. I basically "warmed up" over this section to save my legs for the climb. My overal time was 11:51 which was fastest for my grade, but a lot slower than the others who went under 9 minutes for the climb (they were doing it in the low 10s, high 9s). I'm not sure what to make of that, did I pace myself too much on the false flat section, or did I hold back enough to go under 9 minutes for the actual climb?

So in terms of my goals I've nailed them, which is the important thing in the end. I think the training paid off because I had pretty awesome form in the crit tonight (tuesday) and grabbed the preme sprint (I'm a terrible crit rider [don't have the outright wattage] so a preme means a lot to me)

[nathanong87]

just by definition you lost time on flat, so either they were:

1. going harder than you
2. more aero than you

im sure 'warmup' means something different for people, but my idea for any tt, is from the gates, u are pretty much full noise. if you haven't warmed up by the start, you are already behind others. for any* tt.

[jekyll man]

the only part that matters is between the start and finish lines,doesnt matter what you did over part of it

[istigatrice]

I agree with you all, my time is my time. I just set a goal for a section of the course because I thought that was going to be the whole course. To be fair, they only changed the course the night before, I had only prepared to tackle just the climb so I thought I would stick to that. Horses for courses, I'll see how much faster I can go over the full course next year.