Preparing for Longer Races with Limited Time

[RyanH]

I've been holding off on upgrading to Cat 3 for two reasons: I want a win and I'm concerned I don't have the time to train to be competitive in 60-80 mile races. The latter concern was underscored by my abysmal performance in yesterday's road race. My post-injury power profile is close to personal bests, but my ability to throw down a sustained effort at the end of a 40-50mi race is non-existent. That'll come back by next season, but I'm concerned about when I have to race longer distances.

Here's an overview of what I'm working with:

Current Availability
1.5 hours/day 3x weekdays (1/2 hour is going to be dedicated to getting in and out of Downtown)
4-5 hours Sat/Sun

Current Ideal Training Week
Mon: rest
Tue: 2x20 @ 300w
Wed: 5x5 at 330w
Thurs: 2 sets of 4x30s at max effort (900w down to 600w)
Fri: Rest
Sat: 31mi fast large group ride plus 28miles to and from.
Sun: 12mi all out effort group ride plus 28mi ride to and from

Can I Be Competitive with my Availability?

• For a start, I figured I can start leaving an hour earlier on the weekend rides to get more miles in.
• I'd like to keep the Sunday ride since I like that ride a lot, but I could add a 20 minute climb on the way there and bring the mileage up to 60-70mi.
• I could replace the Saturday ride with more rides like this.

Thoughts and suggestions? If I upgrade, am I doomed to Circuit and Crit Racing?

[Tapeworm]

Overall my snap judgement is you have way too much intensity and not enough Z2 work. The overall volume is more than enough for races up to 4-5hrs in duration.

Apart from the potential physical benefits of some LSD work the main reason why longer rides here and there maybe of benefit is to get nutrition dialled for rides/races of that magnitude.

[RyanH]

Okay, I guess that makes sense. Looking back at the suggested training routine for a time crunched cyclist:

Day 1: [4x30sec efforts ON/30 sec off] x 2, minimum 10mins recovery.
Day 2: 2x20min efforts at TT pace, minimum 10mins recovery in between.
Day 3: Long very easy ride.
Day 4: 5x5mins @ TT pace +5-10%, 1 mins rest between efforts.
Day 5: Long easy ride (plus 4x sprints if you need it).
Day 6: Very long ride (~4hrs)
Day 7: Rest

I think I could modify my current schedule to something like:

Day 1: Rest
Day 2: 1 to 2 hours at Z2
Day 3: 5x5mins @ TT pace +5-10%, 1 mins rest between efforts.
Day 4: Long easy ride (or rest due to work)
Day 5: [4x30sec efforts ON/30 sec off] x 2, minimum 10mins recovery.
Day 6: Very long ride (~4hrs)
Day 7: 20 min TT at FTP, 30 min easy spin and then 35 min rolling hill climb race effort with first 10 min at 120% FTP, then return home at 1 hour at Z1/Z2

For Day 2, should I be trying to arrange my schedule to ensure I get 2 hours at Z2?
For Day 6, I have two group rides that I can do where I can sit in: option #1 is usually a Z1 effort with coasting and stop lights, option #2 is a flat paceline spin up the coast with minimal stoplights but I can probably keep it in Z2. Or, should I just ride by myself?

[Tapeworm]

The extra hour on day 2 should be modified depending on how you're feeling and current load.

Maybe consider alternating the ride on the Saturday, cruise one week, paceline the other.

[KWalker]

Dude, that plan is more than most of my cat 1 and 2 teammates ride. Provided you are not super heavy and your sprint does not suck, you will be more than fine. Don't overthink it, race a lot, and race smart. Ride as much as you can before the weekend group rides if you do them and if you do them try to take pulls, ride up front, and learn your limits.

90% of the time when I hear someone say they don't have what it takes to win a RR in this state they are either too heavy or can't sprint. I'm not the former, but I am the latter for sure.

[RyanH]

KWalker, I was looking at that plan earlier today and realized that didn't quite fit the limited time scenario. Realistically, I can usually only do 2 weekday rides due to schedule. It sounds like I should prioritize distance since that's what I'm lacking right now.

Historically, I was doing 9-10 hours per week. I think that's going to be more of a challenge to be competitive with that low of volume, right?

[KWalker]

I know plenty of guys that do 10hrs a week and race at a high level be it masters, 1, whatever. The thing is that they're all damn good races, their weight is on point year round/they never balloon up, and that 10hrs is very well organized. I can't drag and drop any one program, but most of them tend to ride 6 days out of 7 if possible or if its 4-5 days those days are all basically as long/hard as they can get. Usually one is related to doing work at 100%-115% of FTP, another is sort of SST/NM with hard bursts, the long ride will sneak in on the weekends, and if not they tend to do another block of the same work during the week.

This is from memory:

Mon-off
Tues- 3x20 with 30s surge every 2min (early season typically), otherwise a 5-6x5@110%-115% or thereabouts. Usually a variation of these two workouts (add surges and variable targets depending on race specificity so if you're doing road races 6x5 of 30s 125%, 3.5min of ~110%, 1min all out)
Wed- 60-90 low zone 2
Thurs- 3x15 of 15s NM burst, 15s-45s off/easy pedaling. This obviously starts easy and progresses over time
Fri-60-90 min low zone 2 or recovery spin
Sat-Long/hard group ride. If no group riding then figure it out, sometimes the need and time allows for a 5hr ride so they might just ride in zone 2 to build up aerobic endurance, other times time limits to 3ish hours and they might through some work into the ride. This would progress over the year as well.
Sun-Depends on Saturday and time. If Saturday was stupid hard even just 2hrs at a low zone 2 pace.

The key is using progressive overload and being consistent. You might start super easy in the winter. Then you make Wednesday a tad longer. Or move workout targets up. Then Friday becomes a zone 2 day instead of a spin. Maybe a few weeks you have more time so Saturday gets longer. Or harder. By the time February comes and that first block of racing hits you want to be at about 90%-95% of maximal capacity, volume, and intensity so you still have some room to build through races. You get the biggest benefit from consistency of aerobic stimulus and doing very basic, versatile work that will provide a broad fitness backbone. In CA if you can race often that's training on its own if you can race hard.